Soup recipes: Beginner tips to making the perfect soup for chilly weather
Gather all your favorite vegetables and create the perfect soup by following these tips
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}There is nothing better than a warm bowl of soup on a cold night.
The only thing that makes the soup more satisfying is when it is made from scratch.
Whether it's a cold day and you're looking to cozy up with something warm, or you feel a sickness coming on, a homemade bowl of soup could be just what you need. Soup is also easy to freeze, which means you don't have to toss anything from that pot if it doesn't get eaten right away.
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If you've never whipped up a soup before, or your past soups haven't come out as well as you'd hoped, these tips will assist in perfecting your next batch.
Below are beginner tips, common mistakes while potting and inspiration for future soups.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Tomato soup is a great one for beginners to try. (Anjelika Gretskaia/REDA&CO/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
- What is the main ingredient when making soup?
- What is the secret to making good soup?
- How should I season my soup?
- Which soups are ideal during the fall and winter months?
- How can I make my soup creamy?
1. What is the main ingredient when making soup?
The ingredients you pull together for your soup are going to depend on your preferences and the kind of broth you are using.
There are certain meats and vegetables that work better with darker broths, like beef or tomato, while other flavor pairings are best paired with a lighter broth, like a chicken broth or vegetable stock.
"When you're cooking with a beef broth, I like to personally stick with darker veg to keep that color consistent, like a black bean, or a green bell pepper really enhance that dark flavor," Donte Regalbuto, sous chef in Ohio, told Fox News Digital. He also recommends adding broccoli to a beef broth.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"As for the meat. I would definitely stick with fattier meats, like a beef chuck or even a ribeye," he said.
"Some lamb would also be fantastic."
Alternatively, when cooking with a chicken broth or vegetable stock, there are plentiful vegetables and meats to consider.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Different vegetables go best with light broths versus darker ones. (Paolo Picciotto/REDA&CO/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
"You want to keep it light because you're using a chicken broth or a vegetable stock. So, I would highly recommend a cannellini bean. I think beans go perfectly with a soup," Regalbuto said.
He also recommends corn, cauliflower and string beans to maintain the lightness of the broth.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He added, "I think sausage would go perfectly in a light broth." Sausage is fatty, salty and not too dark of a meat to darken a light soup.
2. What is the secret to making good soup?
While there is no one secret to perfect soup, there are plenty of tips to follow. One is to make sure that you don't have too much, or too little broth.
"Every bite, you should have a nice spoonful of whatever's in the soup, not just the broth," Regalbuto said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}On the flip side, you don't want to have too little broth, or else your soup will quickly take on more qualities of a stew.
For some soups, you'll need to let them simmer for hours before it is ready to eat, but there are ways to cut down your cooking time for certain soups, like tomato.
Every bite of soup should have a perfect amount of broth and fixings included. (Craig Lee/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
"If you're going to make a tomato soup, for example, you can grab a tomato, some fresh herbs like thyme and rosemary, a little garlic, a little onion, some roasted peppers, throw that all in a pan," Regalbuto said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Then, he recommends using about a cup of broth and roasting the combination in the oven for 30–45 minutes.
When it's done, include all ingredients together in a pot of broth, and you'll have an easy, quick soup to indulge in.
3. How should I season my soup?
When it comes to seasoning a soup, what you choose to use is going to largely depend on the cooking time of your dish.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Regalbuto recommends one bay leaf in a pot of soup that you'll be cooking for several hours.
"You're really going to get all that flavor from the bay leaf if you're going to cook soup for a long time," he said. With a soup that you don't have as much time to cook, he recommends thyme and rosemary as the flavors will still pop without a day long cooking event.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Regalbuto noted that sage is another seasoning that brings "a nice, herby, salty flavor to any soup."
4. What are good soups to make in fall and winter months?
Tomato soup is very easy for beginners just getting started in the kitchen. The steps are not overly complicated and there aren't a lot of ingredients needed to make it appetizing.
Minestrone soup is a good one to make during fall. ( Dayna Smith/for the Washington Post)
Regalbuto recommends sautéing tomatoes ahead of combining with stock, or roasting in the oven and blending as it's "quick, easy and fresh."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}When roasting and blending, you will acquire a lighter hue of red tomato soup. If you plan to add herbs or fresh garlic to the soup, roast each with the tomatoes to soften the cloves and combine at the beginning stages.
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Regalbuto pointed to minestrone soup as one that he personally prefers to eat when fall rolls around again. For minestone, make sure you have a lot of time on your hands, as it'll take five or six hours to combine all the flavors into each spoonful of soup.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Minestrone is a fun recipe for beginners as it simply requires all of your favorite vegetables. Simmer veggies in a pan on the stovetop with oil and tenderize them well. Then, Regalbuto recommends adding your favorite stock or even water.
"I personally use water because I think it brings out most of the flavor through all those vegetables," he said.
5. How can I make my soup creamy?
If you prefer soups with a creamy texture, there are a number of ingredients you can add to a pot to do so. The most well-known, effective, classic solution is to add heavy whipping cream slowly.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}If you're feeling more advanced and creative, adding potato, egg yolk or cheese will allow for a creamy texture as well.
One trick to making your soup creamy is adding potatoes. (Harry Langer/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
"When the soup is cooking, it's about right when that broth in that soup starts to boil, you peel a potato," Regalbuto said. Then, add the whole potato to the broth. "Depending how big your soup is, sometimes you'll need two or three."
As you stir, the potato will break itself up and cook down into a mash and thicken the broth with time. Adding cheese is a salty way to add creaminess to your soups.
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"So, a creamy cheese that would melt well while cooking over a long period of time is a mascarpone or a creamy gorgonzola cheese."
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