There are so many reasons to love soup. It is quick and easy to make, it warms you up and it is a healthy and nourishing meal, ideal for lunch or dinner. Just think of all the vegetables and other tasty, wholesome ingredients you can serve up in a single bowl or plate.
And once you have plenty of healthy soup ideas up your sleeve, you are set. So no more excuses when it comes to making a nourishing meal. These simple recipes, filled to the brim with tasty ingredients, will help you eat a more varied diet with more vegetables.
The short answer. You can make a simple, healthy soup from one main vegetable or pulse, an onion, water or stock and spices, and most of the recipes below are ready in about half an hour. In autumn, pumpkin, mushrooms, sauerkraut and root vegetables are the obvious choices, and this article offers nine recipes, from a hearty broth to an oat soup. A soup will be healthier if you thicken it with blended vegetables, potato or oats instead of a roux, and if you go easy on the salt.
Table of contents
Healthy soups belong in every diet
Looking for healthy soup recipes to add to your regular diet? Soups are among the easiest healthy dishes to make, and most of them are packed with vegetables and other nutritious ingredients. They work well as a main course or as a side to your meal.
Healthy soups can be a complete meal on their own, or you can pair them with simple sides (complex carbohydrates, protein and fats). So, are you ready to cook yourself a tasty bowl or plate of love?
Why soup fits into a healthy diet
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that everyone over the age of ten eats at least 400 grams of fruit and vegetables a day. A plate of vegetable soup contributes carrots, onions, celery or pumpkin to this. According to the WHO, potatoes and other starchy tubers do not count towards these 400 grams. You will find more tips in the article why and how to eat more vegetables.
Soup before a main meal can also help you eat less. In 2007, Julie Flood and Barbara Rolls of Pennsylvania State University described an experiment in the journal Appetite in which 60 normal-weight adults ate vegetable soup before lunch. Their total energy intake from the soup and lunch combined fell by 20%, or about 134 kcal, and it made no difference whether the soup was blended or contained chunks of vegetables. For a second course, one of our light lunches works well.
The authors concluded that a low-energy-density soup before a meal is one way adults can moderate their energy intake. It is not a miracle weight-loss aid, but a simple habit that fits well with a calorie deficit.
Autumn soups with seasonal vegetables
Autumn brings the widest choice of pumpkins, root vegetables, cabbage and mushrooms. You do not need to peel a Hokkaido pumpkin, as the skin cooks until soft and you will not notice it in a creamy soup. Carrots, parsley root and celeriac are the basis of both broth and cream soups, and they keep well in a cool pantry or cellar.
Sauerkraut gives sauerkraut soup a pleasant tang, and you can make mushroom soup from oyster mushrooms without going foraging. You will find recipes for pumpkin soup and sauerkraut soup just below, and oyster mushroom soup and carrot soup with ginger in the second half of the article. For more ideas on cooking with pumpkin, see the article healthy autumn pumpkin recipes, and you can put together a whole autumn menu with our tips for healthy autumn recipes.
1. Broth
Chicken or beef broth is one of the classic healthy soups. Almost everyone remembers it as an “elixir of health or recovery” that our mothers and grandmothers loved to make, especially when someone was ill. But you can make it at any time of year, because it warms you up, provides fluids and protein from the meat, and tastes wonderful too.
The reputation of broth as a home remedy was studied by Barbara and Stephen Rennard of the University of Nebraska Medical Center (Chest, 2000). They found that chicken soup in a test tube reduced the migration of neutrophils, white blood cells involved in inflammation. The authors interpreted this as a possible mild anti-inflammatory effect. However, the experiment took place in a test tube, so it does not prove that broth cures a cold.
You will need
- chicken, beef or other meat or bones,
- 2 carrots,
- parsley root,
- celeriac,
- an onion,
- garlic,
- 2 bay leaves,
- 3 allspice berries,
- 5 peppercorns,
- salt to taste,
- about 3 l of water.
If you are using meat, do not rinse it. Put it straight into the pot along with the cleaned vegetables and the peeled onion and garlic. Cover with water and bring to the boil. Do not chop the vegetables, so that they do not overcook and are easy to handle. Put all the spices into a spice strainer and add it to the meat and vegetables. Let the broth simmer gently over a low heat for about 3 hours. After handling raw meat, wash your hands and the chopping board. The UK Food Standards Agency advises against washing raw meat and poultry, as the water would splash bacteria around the kitchen.
During this time, skim off the foam so the broth stays clear. After 3 hours, remove the vegetables, spices and meat or bones. Chop some of the vegetables and return them to the broth. Separate the meat from the bones and any very fatty parts. Then chop it and add it back to the soup. Finally, season the broth with salt to taste and sprinkle with parsley if you like.
Serve the hearty broth with noodles cooked separately, or make it even better with liver dumplings.
Tip: If you have too much broth or do not finish it all, strain it and freeze it for later. Not only can you enjoy it whenever you like, but it also makes a good base for various other dishes.
2. Pumpkin soup
This is one of the healthy soups ideal for autumn days, as its flavour and ingredients suit the season perfectly. The combination of pumpkin, other vegetables, cream or coconut milk and spices creates a delicious cream soup that will win you over with its colour, aroma and taste.
You will need
- 500 g Hokkaido pumpkin (about ½ a medium pumpkin),
- 100 g potatoes,
- 150 g carrots (or other root vegetables, to taste),
- 1 onion,
- curry powder,
- turmeric,
- salt and pepper to taste,
- soured cream or a tin of coconut milk,
- 1 tsp virgin oil,
- fresh parsley,
- pumpkin seeds.
First, fry the chopped onion in a little oil in a pot. Then add the chopped pumpkin with the seeds removed (you do not need to peel Hokkaido), together with the peeled and chopped potatoes. As the carrot is the hardest of these vegetables, cut it into very thin rounds or slices so that it cooks until soft at the same time as the potatoes and pumpkin, and add it to the pot with the pumpkin and potatoes.
Cover the vegetables with water and add all the spices. Season with salt and cook into a thick soup until the vegetables are soft. Then take the soup off the hob and let it cool slightly for a while. Only then stir in the soured cream, so that it does not curdle, or the coconut milk, and blend the soup into a smooth cream.
Serve, drizzled with a teaspoon of good-quality oil if you like, and garnish with chopped parsley and pumpkin seeds.
3. Sauerkraut soup
Do you love sauerkraut soup but always make it with sausages, which do not exactly fit a healthy lifestyle? Do not worry, you can make it without them and make it a little “healthier”. Besides the obvious ingredient (sauerkraut), this soup contains other hearty ingredients that bring out its overall flavour. It is a tasty dish on its own, but with a few extra ingredients you can conjure up something delicious. If you like to experiment and want to try something new, go ahead and give the following recipe a go.
You will need
- 500 g raw peeled potatoes,
- 500 g sauerkraut,
- stock or water,
- dried or fresh mushrooms,
- 1 onion,
- 2 cloves of garlic,
- 7 allspice berries,
- ½ tsp ground caraway,
- a bay leaf,
- a little soured cream,
- 1 tbsp olive oil,
- parsley,
- 1 tbsp potato starch (Solamyl) + water,
- 2 tbsp sauerkraut brine.
If you are using dried mushrooms, soak them in water beforehand so they swell.
Fry the chopped onion in a little oil in a pot and add the scraped potatoes cut into pieces. Drain the sauerkraut in a colander, but do not pour away the brine, as you will use it to season the soup at the end. Add the sauerkraut and the soaked or fresh chopped mushrooms to the potatoes and cover everything with stock or water. Finally, add all the spices, season with salt and cook for about 30 minutes.
After this time, make a slurry from the potato starch and cold water. Before thickening the soup, remove the bay leaves and allspice. Pour the cream into the hot soup and only then thicken it with the slurry. Simmer for about 2 minutes. Finally, drizzle with a tablespoon of tasty olive oil.
To bring out the flavour, add about two tablespoons of sauerkraut brine. This gives the soup a pleasant tang. Finally, add just the crushed garlic and chopped parsley to the finished soup.
4. Garlic soup
Garlic gives soup a distinctive flavour and aroma, so do not be afraid to use it in soup too. Garlic soup is one of those easy, healthy soups that you can make very quickly and simply. It is popular on hikes, but it also tastes great in the comfort of your own home.
You will need
- 500 g potatoes,
- 1.2 l water or stock,
- ground caraway,
- eggs,
- 3 cloves of garlic,
- 1 tbsp good-quality oil,
- salt and pepper to taste,
- fresh parsley,
- or a piece of Olomouc cheese (tvarůžek).
Scrape the potatoes and cut them into smaller pieces. Cover them with water or stock, salt lightly, sprinkle with ground caraway and add a tied bunch of parsley, which gives the soup a lovely aroma. Keep a little fresh parsley aside for the finished soup. Simmer for about 10 minutes.
Then remove the parsley and stir an egg into the soup to thicken it, letting it cook for at least two minutes. Add crushed garlic and one tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil to the finished soup.
Serve with parsley and, if you like, add 1 piece of Olomouc cheese (tvarůžek). If you prefer an even heartier soup, add toasted or lightly fried bread cubes.
5. Red lentil soup
This soup suits any season of the year. In summer you will appreciate its lightness, while in winter it warms you up nicely. You can also season it with curry or chilli spices, which give it a bolder flavour and a pleasant warmth. It is also very simple and quick to make.
You will need
- 250 g red lentils,
- 1 l stock,
- tomato purée,
- an onion,
- a carrot,
- 2 garlic cloves,
- salt and pepper to taste.
Rinse the lentils, put them in a pan, cover with water and bring to the boil. Cook until soft, about 15 minutes.
In another pan, fry the peeled and finely chopped onion together with the chopped carrot. Then pour in the stock and add the crushed garlic, tomato purée and cooked lentils. Stir and season with salt and pepper to taste. After roughly 20 more minutes of cooking, it is ready.
Tip: Have you heard of red lentils? Read these four healthy recipes using them.
6. Spinach soup
You can make spinach soup from fresh or frozen spinach. It is a simple cream soup that is ready in about 20 minutes. Combined with milk or cream and cheese, the soup gets an irresistible flavour, and with toasted croutons and an egg it will have you at the table in no time. Even people who are not too fond of spinach may enjoy it.
You will need
- 500 g fresh spinach,
- 500 ml stock,
- an onion,
- 3 tablespoons butter,
- 250 ml milk or cream,
- nutmeg,
- salt and pepper to taste,
- grated cheese,
- toasted bread cubes,
- a fried egg.
Rinse the fresh spinach thoroughly, then put it in a pan, add a little water, salt lightly and cook over a medium heat until soft, about 5 minutes. If you are using frozen spinach, thaw it in the microwave or in a little water in a pan and salt it. Once it has cooled, squeeze out the liquid.
Melt the butter in a pan and fry the peeled and finely chopped onion in it. Add the spinach and stir. Pour in the stock and the milk or cream and season with nutmeg. Bring to the boil and let it simmer over a low heat for about 10 minutes.
Blend the soup with a hand blender until smooth. Just before the end, add the grated cheese and season with salt and pepper as needed. Serve with the fried bread cubes and a fried egg.
7. Oyster mushroom soup
Mushroom soup belongs to autumn, and with oyster mushrooms you can make it at any time, because they are grown and sold all year round. Oyster mushrooms cook quickly, keep a firm texture and give the soup a strong mushroom flavour even without dried mushrooms.
If you use wild mushrooms instead of oyster mushrooms, only add those you can identify with certainty. You will find more ideas for cooking with oyster mushrooms in the article oyster mushroom recipes.
You will need
- 300 g oyster mushrooms,
- 2 medium potatoes,
- 1 carrot,
- 1 onion,
- 2 garlic cloves,
- 1 l vegetable stock or water,
- 1 tablespoon oil,
- ½ teaspoon ground caraway,
- dried marjoram,
- salt and pepper to taste,
- parsley.
Fry the finely chopped onion in the oil. Add the oyster mushrooms torn into strips and fry them for a few minutes until they release their water and turn lightly golden.
Add the diced potatoes and carrot and the caraway, pour in the stock or water and cook for roughly 20 minutes, until the potatoes are soft. Finally add the crushed garlic and marjoram, season with salt and pepper and serve with chopped parsley. If you want a thicker soup, mash some of the potatoes directly in the pan.
8. Carrot and ginger soup
Creamy carrot soup is cheap and quick, and you can make it from root vegetables all through autumn and winter. Ginger gives it a fresh heat and coconut milk adds the smoothness that cream would otherwise provide.
It gets its thickness from the blended vegetables alone, so it needs no flour or roux. The article ginger and recipe tips describes what else you can make with ginger.
You will need
- 500 g carrots,
- 1 parsley root or a piece of celeriac,
- 1 onion,
- a piece of fresh ginger about 2 cm long,
- 800 ml vegetable stock or water,
- 100 ml coconut milk or cream,
- 1 tablespoon oil,
- salt and pepper to taste,
- pumpkin or sunflower seeds.
In a pan, gently fry the chopped onion and grated ginger in the oil until soft. Add the peeled carrots and parsley root cut into rounds, pour in the stock and cook until tender, usually 20 minutes.
Stir in the coconut milk, blend the soup until smooth and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with dry-toasted seeds when serving.
9. Oat soup
Oat soup is an old Czech classic made from just a few ingredients. The oats thicken it on their own, so it needs no roux, and it is ready in a quarter of an hour.
The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health states that the main soluble fibre in oats is beta-glucan, which research suggests may slow digestion and increase the feeling of fullness. According to a meta-analysis cited by the school, 3 grams of beta-glucan a day from whole oats slightly lowered cholesterol levels. One serving of soup will not provide that much, but with porridge in the morning or other oat recipes you will get closer to it.
You will need
- 4 tablespoons rolled oats,
- 1 onion,
- 1 carrot,
- a piece of celeriac,
- 1 l stock or water,
- 1 tablespoon oil or butter,
- 1 egg (optional),
- dried marjoram,
- salt and pepper to taste,
- parsley.
Fry the chopped onion in the oil or butter, add the oats and toast them briefly, stirring constantly, until fragrant. Add the coarsely grated carrot and celeriac and pour in the stock or water.
Cook for roughly 10 minutes, until the oats soften and the soup thickens. If you like, pour in a beaten egg while stirring constantly and let it cook for a minute. Season with marjoram, salt and pepper and serve with parsley.
You can never have too many ideas for healthy soups. Besides the recipes above, you can make them from all kinds of vegetables (for example cauliflower, broccoli, tomato or beetroot) and also from pulses (bean, pea or chickpea). Onion soup or a soup with meat also tastes great.
Enjoy a comforting meal with fewer calories by cooking a healthy soup full of nutritious ingredients. It makes an ideal light lunch or dinner on its own, or simply part of a multi-course menu.
How to thicken and salt soup more healthily
The lightest soups in this article are clear broth without noodles or other additions, oyster mushroom soup, and carrot and pumpkin soup without cream or coconut milk. They are based mainly on vegetables and water or stock and contain little fat. More filling are spinach soup with butter, cream and cheese, sauerkraut soup with cream, and garlic soup with egg and croutons.
A roux made from flour and butter adds extra fat and calories to soup. You can achieve the same thickness by blending some of the cooked vegetables or potatoes and returning them to the pan, adding a handful of red lentils that break down as they cook, or a spoonful of rolled oats. Cream soups made from pumpkin, carrot or cauliflower do not need thickening at all.
The WHO recommends that adults eat less than 5 grams of salt a day. Stock cubes and instant packet soups tend to be salty, and you will find the salt content in the nutrition table on the packaging. So make your soup with homemade stock, add salt only at the end and round off the flavour with herbs, garlic, lemon juice or sauerkraut juice.
People with high blood pressure in particular need to watch their salt intake. The article how to lower blood pressure sums up foods and recipes that suit them.
How long soup keeps in the fridge and how to freeze it
The UK Food Standards Agency advises covering leftovers and putting them in the fridge or freezer within two hours at the latest. Leftovers from the fridge should then be eaten within 48 hours. A large pot cools slowly, so divide the soup into smaller containers, where it will cool faster.
When reheating, the soup should be steaming hot all the way through, not just lukewarm, and it should only be reheated once. So only take from the fridge the portion you are going to eat.
Both stock and cream soups can be frozen in portions, as we advise for stock above. Soups with cream or pieces of potato may change texture after thawing, so it is better to add the cream only once the soup has been reheated.
