Welcome to soup season

December 4, 2025 by
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A polar vortex parked itself over the northern US and is stubbornly refusing to more. Those of us who live in northern states are now bracing for an entire month of subzero temperatures, snowstorms, and bone-chilling winds. Therefore, I hereby declare this to be soup season (with apologies to our Members in the Southern Hemisphere, where soup may be the last thing on their minds). What better way to stay warm than with a steaming bowl of deliciousness?

Pasta e fagioli from NYT Cooking by Martha Rose Shulman

I think there are two camps of soup makers: the first that follows a set recipe, whether from a cookbook or one that’s been handed down through family. The second group includes those who rummage through the refrigerator, throwing in vegetables, meats, beans, and greens with abandon and adding seasonings on a whim. I envy the second group because I struggle to create a coherent dish if I add spices as the spirit moves me. (The spirit never seems to know when to stop.)

That’s why I am glad to own soup cookbooks such as The Soup and Bread Cookbook by Beatrice Ojakangas and The Best Recipe: Soups & Stews from Cook’s Illustrated, in addition to having many cookbooks with fabulous soup sections. In addition to my cookbooks, I look to online recipes for inspiration because you never know what you might discover. Today I browsed through Food & Wine’s collection of 32 hearty soup recipes and was reminded of a favorite soup that had fallen out of the usual rotation (pasta e fagioli). With no end to the cold in sight, I will be bookmarking soup recipes left and right. What are your favorite warming soups?

Category: Antipasto

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17 Comments

  • averythingcooks  on  December 5, 2025

    We LOVE soup! My freezer currently houses single & double servings of 2 different roasted tomato, turkey, lentil, Thai curry chicken & rice, beef barley, sausage, beans & greens and roasted carrot & cauliflower. I make all different kinds BUT when I want to really spoil us,,,it’s cheddar, beer & ham for the indulgent win.

    I make a pretty good run through the soup section of every cookbook on my shelves but my dedicated soup books are The Soup Sisters, For The Love of Soup, Sunday Soups and The Complete book of Soups & Stews. And yes…it’s winter! It was -27 C last night here in central Ontario.

    • Darcie  on  December 6, 2025

      Do you serve the cheddar, beer and ham soup with popcorn? It really seems to mesh with this flavor profile.

  • JimCampbell  on  December 5, 2025

    I am in the second camp. I may look at a recipe for inspiration, or for a basic combination of ingredients and herbs or spices, but in the end I “balance” the soup as I go. I cannot name a favorite type of soup.

    I cook soups based on certain categories that appeal to me that day and then build around them. Categories like big greens (Swiss chard, cabbage), beans, meats. I then look at what is on-hand, the refrigerator being one of the places I consider. The canned and dried pantry being the other. Then the soup building begins.

  • sanfrannative  on  December 5, 2025

    My spirit never knows when to stop either, so I pretty much stick to recipes! Lately I have been using Cream of Anything Soup from Margaret Li’s Perfectly Good Food. It turns random veggie scraps like collard stems and cabbage cores into a tasty creamy soup!

  • Fyretigger  on  December 5, 2025

    Very timely article — the turkey carcass from Thanksgiving (frozen in a Montana garage since the day) became stock yesterday and the pot of soup is on the stove now as a snowstorm looms.

    Averythingcooks, I want the Ham, Cheddar, Beer Soup recipe, LOL.

  • Zephyrness  on  December 5, 2025

    Darcie, I suggest the Dairy Hollow House:Soup and Bread, by Crescent Dragonwagon. Specifically, learn to make “The Soup”. It is intended to be a soup that changes every day, based on what protein and carb you add to your bowl, or how you choose to jiggle your spices. She provides a basic outline, multiple variations based on regional seasonings and a hand to hold as you start experimenting. If you want to get comfortable with the “what’s in the fridge”, this is a great way to do it.

    • Darcie  on  December 6, 2025

      Thank you for the suggestion, I see it has been seconded so I will find a copy!

  • demomcook  on  December 5, 2025

    Another vote for the soup book by Crescent Dragonwagon, and a suggestion: Soup Makes the Meal by Ken Haedrich.

    • Darcie  on  December 6, 2025

      Thanks for the suggestions!

  • KatieK1  on  December 5, 2025

    I like to make egg lemon soup using Claudia Roden’s recipe as a foundation. i almost always add sautéed mushrooms to it.

    To enrich my soups, after I deglaze a roast chicken with white wine, and use that pan sauce to pour over the chicken and vegs, I freeze the remainder in an ice cube tray and add a cube to whichever soup I am making. The leftover sauce from Patricia Wells’s chicken fra diavolo works well, too.

  • KarenGlad  on  December 6, 2025

    I don’t consider myself a soup person but the standards (usually a variation depending on what needs to be used up) are on regular rotation….supposed to be in the minus 20’s here in NW Ontario this weekend. Pasta e fagioli, roasted tomato, creamy wild rice, borscht, cream of leftover veg, those Olive Garden copycat recipes… and a happy accident clean out the fridge resulting in Italian sausage and black beans in a creamy sweet potato/squash base…. So good I wrote it down lol.

  • dbuhler  on  December 6, 2025

    Oh my goodness, I LIVE for the slightest hint of cooler weather because then I can justify to my family that it’s “soup season”! We love a good broccoli cheese (Jen Segal’s recipe) and I add shredded chicken and extra broccoli for a full meal, ATK’s creamy tomato, ATK’s pasta e fagioli, the Vermont Cheddar soup fromy Vermont Table, and a new family favorite, Ina’s sausage and lentil. I have quite a few single subject cookbooks, but I just realized that I don’t have any dedicated soup books. I must fix this right away…thanks for all the great suggestions! I am also someone who does better with a recipe. I love the idea of being able to just wing it with my cooking, but in reality I just don’t have understanding of what works, if that makes sense.

    • Darcie  on  December 6, 2025

      I understand that completely. Usually I am convinced it will work, then am disappointed when it’s ‘meh’.

  • GenieB  on  December 6, 2025

    I am a recipe user, but I have favorite recipes from years ago. My favorite pea soup is from Sunset Magazine’s International Vegetarian Cookbook from 1983. Milk Street’s Cook What You Have has a great recipe for Umbrian Lentil Soup.And the corn chowder from the website aplantifulpath.com is terrific.

  • averythingcooks  on  December 7, 2025

    I forgot another huge house favourite…any kind of corn chowder.

    AND I just ordered a copy of the Dairy Hollow House: Soup & Bread book (I ordered the original but there is also a 30th anniversary edition available). So many soups to make, so much winter left 🙂

  • LeilaD  on  December 11, 2025

    French Onion, chicken curry, skink, chicken and bean… I seem to have a lot of favorite chicken soups. Chili, can’t forget a good chili… Hot and sour, Italian wedding, Long, Pork and cabbage, pork and leek, sausage and vegetable…

  • goodfruit  on  December 12, 2025

    I second Kenneth Hagen’s Soup Makes the Meal 🙂
    If I’m going to make Beer Cheese Soup, then it’s got to be Otto’s Beer Cheese Soup with polish sausage. I use Emmentaler cheese, not processed swiss, that is a change from the original recipe.
    https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ottos-beer-cheese-soup-recipe-1947900

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