Soups

Hearty tomato and green chili soup delivers mild heat, silky potatoes, and sweet ripe tomatoes in under an hour. Cumin and a scatter of fresh cilantro push it firmly toward the Southwest. It's cozy without being heavy, which makes it a year-round regular at my...

Provençal vegetable soup, soupe au pistou, is summer in the south of France in a pot: potatoes, carrots, leeks, zucchini, green beans, and kidney beans in a light saffron broth, finished with that famous pistou. Every family guards its own proportions, and this one...

Hearty vegetarian sauerkraut soup is central European comfort at full volume: tangy kraut simmered with paprika, tomatoes, carrots, and celery until the whole pot hums. Made with butter it's round and rich, and with vegan butter it's exactly as good. This is...

Creamy beer and onion soup is French onion soup's rowdier cousin: eight to ten onions caramelized slowly, splashed with dark beer, and finished with cream. A pinch of sugar and a dash of cider vinegar keep the stout's bitterness honest. It's a weekend...

Creamy Gouda and potato soup with dill seed is Dutch comfort in a bowl: russets simmered with onions and bay until they fall apart, then enriched with milk and a serious amount of Gouda. The crushed dill seed is the quiet twist that makes it unforgettable. Seventy...

Sopa de Ajo, Spanish garlic soup, turns a head of sliced garlic, smoked paprika, stale bread, and one egg into the most satisfying single-serving dinner I know. It cooks in twenty minutes flat. And since it's written per person, multiplying it for a crowd is...

Rich and velvety vegetarian cheese soup is exactly what the title promises: a butter, flour, and milk base loaded with aged Gouda and smoked Edam until the spoon stands at attention. A dash of vegetarian Worcestershire and paprika keep it grown-up. Thirty-five minutes...

Creamy sweet potato soup is the orange velvet of the soup world: sweet potatoes and carrots simmered soft, blended silky, and finished with cream and a bright squeeze of lemon. It reheats like a dream, which makes it Sunday-make, Tuesday-eat cooking. Eighty-five...

Creamy garlic tortilla soup comes together in half an hour but eats like a long-simmered meal: crisp tortilla strips, melting cheese, and a tomato-garlic broth finished with cream. It's the soup I make when someone at the table needs rescuing from a bad day. A...

Mushroom and beet borscht here is the clear, crystal-honest kind: a strained vegetable broth tinted ruby by beets and deepened by dried wild mushrooms. It's a slow Sunday project, five hours from first chop to ladle, and every minute shows. Serve it piping hot in...

Spanish-inspired garlic and tomato soup is what happens when you have good olive oil, a head of garlic, sweet paprika, and day-old bread all pointing at dinner. The soup itself is silky and rust-red; the buttered toast floating on top is non-negotiable. Thirty-five...