This collection of 21 winter soup recipes will keep you warm and fill you up. The temperatures have dropped, and soup season is in full swing. These hearty soup recipes are perfect meals for cold days… and in Chicago, we get plenty of those.
The best part of making soup is that they tend to freeze well. When I make my favorite soups, I like to make a double batch so that I can put half right into the freezer. This way, I have a comforting meal and an easy weeknight dinner waiting for me on a busy night. This strategy saves me so much time in the kitchen.
Preparing soup is a great way to feed the whole family without spending too much time in the kitchen. Most soups can be made in about 30 minutes of active preparation time and often preparing a double batch doesn’t significantly increase the preparion time.
Another one of the best things about making soup is that soup tends to be healthy and packed with veggies. When I make soup, I go through my fridge and pantry and search for any vegetables that I can add. Using all of the food in my home is a perfect way to reduce food waste and stop unnecessary spending at the grocery store. Soup recipes are easy to customize and I often like to throw in any extra frozen spinach or corn that I find in my freezer.
To save time, I often use store-bought broths or chicken stock. More ways to save time are to use rotisserie chicken and to buy pre-cut vegetables. Often you can find mirepoix, a mix of chopped celery, carrot, and onion in the produce aisle at the grocery store.
How to Host a Soup Swap:
If you and your friends love winter soups as much I do, host a soup swap! My neighbors and I had one last year and it was so much fun! Everyone made their favorite soup and packaged it up in two-serving containers. Then we all swapped soups! We each made just one soup but we left the party with three different soups. This year we want to host a larger soup swap since we enjoyed it so much.
My Favorite Winter Soup Recipes:
Roasted Tomato and Tortellini Soup
One of my favorite easy winter soup recipes, this hearty tomato soup is made with simple ingredients like cherry tomatoes, chicken broth, basil, and cheese ravioli. While I love roasted tomato soup on its own, adding tortellini helps to turn the soup into a more filling and complete meal. I like to add cheese ravioli, but you could opt to add a meat filled tortellini or ravioli. When I make this soup, usually I add the tortellini just before serving and I freeze any extra soup without the tortellini so that it doesn’t fall apart when reheated.
Slow Cooker Beef Lasagna Soup
Amanda’s one-pot lasagna soup has ground beef, Italian seasoning, marinara sauce, a blend of three cheeses, and a touch of cream. It is all the flavors and ingredients that I love in lasgana transformed into a soup. The total prep time is just 30 minutes, although she does provide instructions for preparing this soup in a crock pot.
Ribollita
Ribollita is a hearty and healthy Tuscan soup made by adding bread to vegetable soup. It’s an irresistibly delicious classic soup recipe that has been around for centuries. I learned this recipe at cooking class that I took while studying abroad in Florence. I’ve been making it once a year ever since.
The preparation time for this recipe is a bit longer since this soup gets topped with slices of onion brushed with olive oil and then roasted in a dutch oven. The roasted caramelized onions are my favorite part of the soup. I promise that this recipe is worth the extra effort and time. The good news it that it is easy to make a very large batch that will feed your entire family for days.
Traditionally, this soup is vegetarian. For a vegan option, use vegetable broth and omit the cheese. Or, if you want to add meat, Italian sausage would be a fitting addition.
Taco Soup
This recipe from my friend Jocelyn’s website can be made with ground beef, ground pork, or ground turkey. The other ingredients are taco classics like taco seasoning red onions, tomatoes, beans, and corn. The total preparation time is just 30 minutes. Taco soup would be a fun variation of taco Tuesday during the cold winter months.
Chicken Tortilla Soup
The coldest winter days call for a spicy soup to warm you up fast. After 12 years together and hundreds of recipes taste-tested, my husband thinks that this one of my best soup recipes. This is one of the winter soup recipes that I make at least once a year. To save time, this recipe can be made with rotisserie chicken or leftover cooked chicken. This recipe is easy to customize. I add my vegetables like black beans, bell peppers, and tomatoes. Recently, I have been added in extra tomatoes. I like to serve this soup with crumbed tortilla chips, a dollop of sour cream, and cheddar cheese on top.
Chicken Sweet Potato Soup with Cornbread Croutons
This delicious soup is made wiht shredded chicken, sweet potatoes, and white beans. The croutons give this soup an irresistable sweet and crunchy element. If you want to make the soup creamy, serve with a dollop of sour cream.
Tomato Soup with Cheesy Toast
Why not serve Tomato Soup like it’s French Onion Soup? This easy dinner recipe can even be prepared with store-bought tomato soup.
Caramelized Onion and Kale Beef Stew
Caramelized onions give this stew a rich flavor. Even though I am not the biggest fan of kale, I love the crunch of fresh taste that they give this soup. This veggie-loaded soup also has mushrooms, carrot, celery, and tender potatoes, and of course, big pieces of beef stew meat. This is the type of meal that I crave on the coldest days of the year.
Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
I absolutely loved the soup that my next door neighbor brought to our soup swap last year so I had to find the recipe. This instant pot soup recipe is made with chicken, long-grain wild rice, onion, celery, and carrots that are seasoned with parsley, lemon, and red pepper flakes. The secret ingredient is a touch of cream cheese which makes the soup thick and creamy.
Roasted Poblano Corn Chowder
Roasted Poblano Corn Chowder is a creamy soup filled with smoky fire roasted poblano peppers, fresh corn, tender diced potatoes, and crisp bell pepper. This soup was inspired by my fan favorite poblano cream sauce. In my mind, this is definitely one of the best winter soup recipes.
Guinness Stew with Beef and Mushrooms
Sliced mushrooms sautéed in Guinness give this soup a flavor boost. The active preparation time for this recipe is only 30 minutes, and it tastes even better the next day, so make a big batch! This is a fun recipe to serve for St. Patrick’s Day since Irish beer is a key ingredient.
Spicy White Chicken Chili
Slightly spicy but creamy chicken soups are one of my go-to comfort foods. This chicken and white bean soup gets its spice from roasted poblano peppers and chili powder. Cream cheese balances out the heat and makes this chili super creamy. I use great northern beans in this recipe, but you can use your favorite white beans. Navy beans or cannellini beans would both work well.
Ham and Pea Soup
My Dad’s recipe for ham and pea soup is the perfect thing to make with a leftover ham bone. It’s a nice recipe to make with leftovers if you serve ham over the holidays.
Zuppa Toscana
This is a copycat recipe of Olive Garden’s insanely popular Zuppa Toscana made with Italian sausage, potatoes, kale, garlic, onion, heavy cream, and parmesan cheese. This is a gluten free soup recipe with a total preparation time of 40 minutes.
Lobster Corn Chowder
Move over clam chowder, my Mom’s award-winning Lobster Corn Chowder is our go-to recipe when we want a seafood chowder. This recipe is filled with corn, potatoes, and big chunks of fresh Maine lobster. And yes, my mother won a cooking contest with this recipe!
Best Healthy Winter Soup Recipes:
Easy Healthy Creamy Chicken Soup
The secret to this creamy soup isn’t heavy cream. It’s pureed butternut squash! This healthy soup is loaded with fresh vegetables like bell pepper, corn, and poblano pepper. The slight spiciness of the poblano pepper balances out the sweetness from the butternut squash. I made this soup for a friend who was going through a hard time and she told me that eating this soup felt like like a big hug. I make this soup if someone in my family is starting to feel a bit under the weather, I think that it helps them to feel better. This recipe does take a bit more time because you have to roast the squash, but you can chop the veggies and get everything ready while the squash is cooking.
Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup
My friend Jocelyn’s easy recipe for classic chicken noodle soup recipe comes together in the slow cooker. The active preparation time is just 15 minutes! Just combine the ingredients in the slow cooker and let it cook for 3-4 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low. This is the ultimate comforting soup for a cold day or a day when you aren’t feeling 100%. My tip for saving and storing noodle soups for later is to cook the noodles on the side and to add them to the soup just prior to serving. This prevents the noodles from getting soggy and it also prevents the noodles from soaking up too much of the broth.
Thai Curry Noodle Soup
A creamy, spicy, citrusy soup made with long thin rice noodles and chunks of chicken seasoned with fresh ginger, red curry paste, and garlic. With a total preparation time of 30 minutes, this is a great weeknight meal. A can of coconut milk gives this soup a creamy consistency with a taste much lighter than cream. If you feel like adding some extra veggies, add some chopped bok choy and serve topped topped with some green onions.
Lentil Soup
Lauren’s detox lentil soup is made with sweet potatoes, kale, garlic, turmeric, and carrots. If you want, you can even add in ingredients like wild rice, spinach, or basil. You can prepare this soup on the stove top or in an instant pot or pressure cooker. It’s a vegetarian meal that is loaded with good-for-you ingredients.
Classic Minestrone Soup
Inspired by Olive Garden, Monique’s Minestrone Soup can be vegetarian or prepared with beef or turkey. Kidney beans give the soup an extra boost of fiber and protein fire roasted crushed tomatoes give the broth a rich taste. Serve topped with a sprinkle of grated parmesan and garlic bread on the side.
Chicken Soup with Butternut Squash, Barley, and Kale
This is a healthy chicken soup recipe that is loaded with vegetables including mushrooms, butternut squash, and kale. Barley adds a heartiness and slightly nutty flavor, I love it, but you could opt to add rice or pasta instead.
I hope that a steaming bowl of soup helps to make this time of year more bearable.
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