8 Awesome Recipes to Celebrate Soup Season

Is it just us, or is everyone talking soup right now? Well, we’re here for this trend, and our soup archives are hot, simmering and ready for your consumption. Since we’re in the thick of soup season and looking ahead, spoon poised, to spring, we wanted to round up a few of our vegetarian, vegan, and carnivore-friendly favorites. There’s miso-cod soup for Japanese cuisine aficionados, an onion soup decked out in bacon and Gruyère for those who believe “sweater weather” is a right and a lifestyle, and a sprightly carrot-ginger number. In short, there’s a soup for you. Read on, and get hungry.

1. Carrot-Ginger Soup

Liquid sunshine in soup form, this baby tastes like it cooked for five hours. Nope, just 40 minutes. The key to its sultry, savory flavor is that the carrots caramelize alongside onions, garlic and ginger before you add broth and swirl everything together. Topped with a flurry of toasted almonds and a dollop of dreamy crème fraîche, it’s just the thing to conjure a springy mindset.

2. Instant Pot Chicken Posole

Cooks who love their electric pressure cookers know one of their many strong suits are soups done fast. Like, really fast: think one hour, soup to nuts (see what we did there?) using dried beans. They’re incredible. This posole, a Mexican classic involving hominy, is a snap to make and features chicken, avocado, tomatillos and lime.

3. Onion Soup With Bacon, Winter Herbs and Gruyère

The base of this soup is onion sautéed in bacon fat. Need a minute to collect yourself? Yeah, it’s as good as it sounds. Plenty of fresh herbs top this riff on a French onion soup, as does a slab of Gruyère-and-bacon-topped bread. Phew.

4. Miso Soup with Black Cod and Green Onions

The best fish recipes are often the simplest. To wit, this elegant black cod and miso creation. Kombu, bonito flakes and delicate white miso mingle together. Fat, flaky seared black cod fillets float in the sea of broth. It’s divine.

5. Yellow Tomato Gazpacho

Talk about a sunny greeting. Yellow heirloom tomatoes, in season, make for an unbeatable presentation in this unique gazpacho. It’s a cold soup, ideal for the dog days of summer, and tweaks tradition thanks to a sprinkle of parsley.

6. Pumpkin Soup with Pumpkin Seeds

If you’re going to make pumpkin soup, do yourself a favor and make this one. It stands apart from the pack thanks to a garnish of toasted pepitas, or pumpkin seeds, spiked with cayenne, cumin and cinnamon. (Got extra seeds? No problem: Welcome to your new favorite snack.)

7. Spring Potato and Leek Soup

If spring had a vision board, it would be this soup. This potato and leek number nestles together thin-skinned Yukon Golds, leeks and celery root in its base. But the real secret is in the don’t-skip-them garnishes: fresh peas, chives, toasted pine nuts and silky crème fraîche.

8. Cauliflower-Kale Soup with Crispy Kale Topping

Though we’re particularly fond of this verdant beauty after we’ve behaved not in our best interest (ahem, New Year’s Eve), it’s just as tasty when you’ve been virtuous. Roasted cauliflower, one of the best foods there is, joins roasted kale in the blender for an umami boom of a base. Crisp petals of kale and pine nuts adorn the top of the bowl. It’s the sort of soup to build a whole dinner party around.