Who doesn’t love soup? Filling and nutritious, soup makes a great comforting meal on a cold day. If you are looking for some simple and fuss free soup recipes to add to your meal planner then I’ve got you covered. This is a collection of my favourite easy soup recipes.
What to Serve with Soup
I love to serve something to dip with soup. The obvious choice is sliced bread or a warm roll, but a tasty savoury scone is a real treat with soup. Try my Sundried Tomato and Cheese Scones or Cheese and Chive Scones warmed with butter for dipping.
If you want something a bit more substantial, try a grilled cheese toastie or a sandwich with your soup. This is a great option for a quick dinner. Try one of my easy sandwich fillings on toasted sourdough with your soup – Egg Mayonnaise, Chicken Mayo, Tuna Crunch.
If you want a lighter bite on the side, try a salad. My Easy Green Salad goes with everything, including soup. Or try some crackers – I love buttered oatcakes, especially with Scotch Broth.
Soup for the Whole Family
Soup is such a kid friendly meal, (and a great way to get sneak in some extra vegetables). And it is an excellent option for busy families since it is so easy to prepare ahead.
All of my soup recipes are suitable for the whole family. Some of the recipes, like Sweet Potato and Chilli Soup, do have a hint of spice but it is very subtle. You can easily tone it down if you prefer, or omit the chilli entirely based on your family’s needs.
Soup is great for babies too. Either blend soup for spoon feeding or offer chunky soups for baby led weaning. I like to mix brothy soups like Three Bean Soup with mashed root vegetable (potato, swede or sweet potato) for easy hand scooping. If making soup for baby, use a low salt stock (I love Kallo) and do not add any additional salt while cooking. You can remove baby’s portion before seasoning, or simply let everyone season their own portion to taste at the table.
Tips For Storing Soup
Most soup recipes will keep well covered in the fridge for up to three days, and can be frozen for three months. Make sure to cool it down before placing in the fridge or freezer.
I prefer to freeze soup in individual portions for convenient meals. I like to save large yoghurt tubs with lids to use for single portions of soup. They stack well and can be reused multiple times. Or reusable freezer bags are a great option if you have limited freezer space.
There are a few soup ingredients which are not recommended for freezing:
- Leafy greens – like kale, cabbage, spinach. These can become mushy and bitter if soaked for too long. If you are using them in a broth I would suggest leaving these out if you are planning to store soup for later, and add to serve when reheating.
- Dairy cream or milk – heavy or double cream in particular can separate and become gritty after being frozen and reheated. You can add a little more cream, heat gently and stir well to prevent this though I have had very mixed results. For best results I recommend to leave out any cream if you intend to store the soup for later and add when reheating to serve.
- Pasta – if you add pasta shapes to soup (like in Chicken Minestrone for example) they soak up a lot of the broth and become bloated and mushy. I highly recommend cooking pasta separately until al dente and adding to soup when reheating.
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