10 wonderful warming winter soups
1st Jan 2015 Recipes
A bowl of hot thick soup is the perfect winter warmer, and can make for a very satisfying meal. Here are 10 of our favourite recipes.
The first soups would have been made in animal hides, the liquid heated with rocks in the flames of the fire.
Soup comes from the French word soupe, via the Latin suppe, meaning bread soaked in broth. The first restaurants in the 16th century were soup street vendors.
Homemade soup is very easy and frugal to make, and a pleasure to eat, but it is best to stick to a few key flavours and not throw everything into the pan.
One top tip is to make a big batch, but only add half the liquid, freeze, add the extra liquid when reheating.
Spiced pumpkin, carrot and sweet potato soup
Image via Fuss Free Flavours
Containing golden orange vegetables, this is a gorgeous colour, silky smooth and lightly spiced with a hint of vanilla.
Japanese style green tea noodle soup
Image via Maison Cupcake
If you are a tea addict this simple soup is made with green tea, flavoured with miso and packed with noodles, veggie protein chunks, chilli and vibrant fresh coriander.
Perfectly refreshing and not too heavy.
Pizza pasta soup
Image via Renbehan
This meal in a bowl soup is packed with the flavours of a good pizza or lasagne, with Bolognese, pasta, tomato and lots and lots of cheese.
Comfort food at its best!
French onion soup with cheese toasts
Image via Cook Sister
French onion soup is a classic which takes some time to make, but the effort of slowing cooking those sticky onions is rewarded many times over by this rich sweet soup, finished with the traditional cheese toasts.
Beetroot ribolita
Image via Botanical Kitchen
Ribolita is a classic Italian peasant dish, a vegetable soup bulked out with beans.
These types of stew-like soups always taste better when left overnight for the flavours to mix and meld, and then reheated. This non-traditional version includes beetroot.
Cauliflower and potato soup
Image via Greedy Gourmet
One of the beauties of soup is that you can add a little of a special ingredient to make something ordinary into something very special. Here a humble cauliflower and potato soup is given a touch of magic by the addition of some truffle oil.
Skinny minestrone
Image via Tinned Tomatoes
This bowl of minestrone only contains 198 calories but is packed with pasta and beans making it very satisfying.
Ideal for someone watching their weight but still wanting a filling warming meal.
Tom kha gai soup
Image via Goodie Godmother
Thai tom kha gai soup combines savour, sourness, heat and some sweetness into an addictive satisfying whole. The essential ingredient well worth seeking out is Thai ginger, or galangal.
When you find some, buy a large piece and freeze until the next time you need some.
Blackened corn chowder
Corn Chowder is an American classic.
This version dry fries the corn until it is almost burnt before transforming it into a rich buttery soup, served with avocado and coriander.
Butternut squash and apple soup with bacon
Butternut squash is such a pretty colour and velvety soft making it ideal for soups (I always use it in place of pumpkin).
This soup has some apple for a touch of sweetness and has an optional topping of crispy bacon.
Helen Best-Shaw" target="_blank">Helen Best-Shaw is a freelance food & recipe writer and blogger at Fuss Free Flavours
