I try to make recipes – and actually making them – as easy as possible. But sometimes finding the recipes can be the real pain. So, here I’ve compiled all of the recipes from my Seven Days of Soup series. These are perfect for the cold months but can really be enjoyed any time of year. And in order to make them more accessible to everyone, I’ve done my best to provide vegetarian/vegan, gluten-free, Whole30 options for each soup. There are still so many other dietary preferences, I wish I could accommodate for them all, but if you ever have questions about methods or substitutions to fit your needs, please ask away!
Quick Tips & Tricks
- A good soup pot – there is nothing worse than getting halfway through the soup, adding in only half the broth and then realizing your soup is already filling the pot to the brim. A large pot will come in handy more than you think. I prefer the 7 1/4 Qt Le Creuset dutch oven. They aren’t cheap, but they are worth every penny! The cast iron provides a quality of cooking to every dish; and with the lid, you can go from stove to table to fridge, back to stove, back to table, back to fridge over and over again. It cooks, serves, and keeps soups (and other dishes) nicely for days!
- An immersion blender – this is the secret to creamy and velvety soups. An immersion blender, if you’re unfamiliar, is essentially a handheld wand that you submerge into a mixture to puree the ingredients until smooth. You can use it to make smoothies, mayos/aiolis, cream sauces, and soups. They can be relatively inexpensive. This one from Target has all of the bells and whistles you could need – including a whisk, a chopper, and a blending jar (this is also perfect for Whole30 aiolis from The Defined Dish).
- Storing and reheating soup for leftovers – soup is one of those dishes that is arguably better the longer it sits, whether that’s on the stove or in the fridge. I’m not normally one for leftovers, but when it comes to soup, I’ll make big batches and keep them in the fridge and freezer (1/3 in the fridge to eat during the week and 2/3 in the freezer to keep longer). To freeze soup, either place into a heat-safe storage container and let sit on the counter until cooled, or into a large bag (just be sure to allow the soup to completely cool before placing it into the bag). No matter what you’re storing it in, never fill it all the way to the top! Leave a little room so that the soup can freeze and thaw without overflowing or shattering the container. These are my favorite glass containers – I always use them to keep soups and my Mexican Quinoa and you can reheat in them. Stasher bags are also incredible for leftovers like this because they are plastic free, reusable, and are heat safe up to 400 degrees. To reheat frozen soup from a reusable glass or plastic container (best set ever here!), use a sharp knife to cut a section and place into a microwave safe bowl. Cover the bowl with a damp paper towel and choose the reheat setting on your microwave. You may have to do it a couple times to get the soup fully defrosted and heated through. If you are using a plastic bag, remove it from the freezer and place in the fridge 24 hours before you will want to serve, once it’s softened within the bag, reheat the soup following the aforementioned steps. If you are using a silicon bag, like the Stasher bag, you can place it directly into the microwave or into a pot of boiling water until thawed – just be sure to follow the directions specific to the bag/brand you are using.
Soups
Day One. Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
Pumpkin Spice may be the prelude flavor of fall, it certainly steals the show up until Halloween, but as Thanksgiving rolls around, the spotlight shifts to butternut squash. This particular recipe is dairy-free, gluten-free, sugar-free, Whole30 approved, you name it. But it’s so customizable that you can really create it to fit whatever you’re feeling. And as this soup simmers on the stove, your kitchen will start to smell like Thanksgiving. It’s incredibly intoxicating and the perfect dish to put on if you’re having guests over. They’ll be so impressed and your kitchen will smell amazing, no candles necessary!
Day Two. Tomato Basil Soup & Gourmet Grilled Cheese
Tomato soup has such a nostalgic essence about it. From growing up on Campbell’s to my favorite recipe from a restaurant in Tulsa tomato soup reminds me of my childhood. But I took this classic up a notch by roasting the tomatoes, truly bringing out their full flavor. While the soup is full of flavor but free of gluten, dairy, sugar, and anything that isn’t fresh and delicious, the extra indulgent aspect of this dish comes in Dylan’s grilled cheese. Smoked gouda and smoked cheddar and bacon (Whole30 compliant bacon of course because we have to draw a line for health consciousness somewhere, i.e. no sugar, no nitrates, no preservatives, etc.). Try it today and thank me later.
If you’ve ever had a piping hot bowl of pho on a cold, dreary day you know just how incredible this soup is, it warms you down to your core and the flavors are unlike any other dish. Pho is a traditional Vietnamese dish consisting of a seasoned stock accompanied by thinly sliced beef or chicken, vegetables, rice noodles and various other toppings like cilantro, lime, etc. Think of this version as the ultimate chicken noodle soup. It has so much more flavor like ginger, cloves, lime, even jalapeno if you so choose. While these ingredients simmer in the broth, building up
Day Four. Loaded Whole30 Baked Potato Soup
What better way to warm up from the cold weather than with a bowl of hot, baked potato soup. It’s creamy, it’s delicious, but it has a surprise twist that will have you feeling more satisfied and less guilty. This original recipe came from my fellow foodie Annie over at Take A Bite; it uses cauliflower as the base as opposed to heavy cream, flour, and butter found in a
Day Five. Vegetable Quinoa Stew
This is one of my husband’s favorite dishes. Every time I make it he whispers to himself in utter disbelief the same thing, “I can’t believe one of my favorite meals has quinoa in it…” That, my friends, is what we call a wife
My husband, Dylan, is so excited to finally have one of his recipes featured on the blog! We are both originally from Oklahoma but since we’ve moved to Dallas we’ve been told many-a-time how Texans do their chili. I mean no disrespect to however you prefer your chili, but if you’re not doing it Dylan’s way, you’re just not doing it right (though I’m giving you TONS of ways to make it your own based on your tastes!).
Day Seven. Sausage & Vegetable Soup – aka Kapusniak (Whole30 Approved)
One of my personal favorites! It’s traditionally called “
If you’ve had a chance to try any of these, comment below and let me know which one and how it turned! And feel free let me know if you have any requests for more soup recipes! Soup season is just getting started!
Enjoy!