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Soups are one of the best ways to eat healthy and delicious! Here are our best easy soup recipes that the whole family will love.
When people ask Alex and me where to start for eating healthy, we typically reply, “soup recipes!” Why? There are multiple benefits to cooking up a big pot of soup. Here’s a collection of our best easy and healthy soup recipes. But first: what’s so great about soups?
Why soup recipes are the perfect healthy meal
- Soups make it easy to eat lots of vegetables at once. You can eat a vegetarian meal without eating any real nutritious vegetables. (Grilled cheese! Mac and cheese!) Sometimes looking at a refrigerator of raw veggies, we feel uninspired, too. Soups make eating lots of vegetables easy, healthy and delicious.
- Soup recipes make meal planning a breeze. In the winter, our meal plans start to look like this: Soup and bread. Soup and salad. Soup and cornbread. They work for a weeknight, a dinner party for entertaining, or made ahead for lunches.
- Soups are cozy and comforting. There’s nothing more hygge (read: extremely cozy) than a steaming bowl of soup. Just add a fuzzy blanket and a candle.
Over the years we’ve made hundreds of healthy soup recipes. Here’s a collection of few of the best soup recipes that stand out here on A Couple Cooks. And, they’re healthy and easy soup recipes too! And perfect with a side of Best Homemade Cornbread or our Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits.
And now…our best easy & healthy soup recipes!
Here's a delightful bright red soup recipe that tastes like pizza! The puree of tomatoes and tangy artichokes is based on a soup from one of our favorite local restaurants, and it's become a reader favorite! Garnish with homemade croutons and Parmesan cheese.
Another classic tomato soup? Tomato Basil Soup
This healthy soup recipe is a popular one from our cookbook, Pretty Simple Cooking! You’ll be amazed by how much flavor is achieved in just over 30 minutes. The secret is adobo sauce from a can of chipotle chilis, which brings in a smoky flavor without adding too much heat! Topped with homemade crunchy tortilla strips, you won’t be able to stop eating it.
This Moroccan-spiced cauliflower soup recipe is vibrant and full of delicious vegetables and cozy spices! Cumin, coriander, ginger, turmeric and cinnamon make a big bowl that is positively restorative! The cauliflower is roasted until lightly charred, then pureed with the spices into a silky puree. Top with roasted cauliflower, green onion and a drizzle of olive oil. It's pretty simple to put together, full of nutrients, and gluten-free.
Yes, we’re pulling out the expletives because this lentil soup recipe is so delicious, you won’t even remember that you’re doing your body and the planet good. You’ll just feel like you’re wrapped in a cozy hug. Featuring fire-roasted tomatoes, savory fennel, and garlic, this vegan lentil soup is ready to amaze you.
Got an Instant Pot? Try Instant Pot Lentil Soup
Chili is an age old soup recipe that’s super (soup-er?) satisfying. This classic vegetarian chili recipe is one of our fan favorites. Think you can’t eat chili without meat? This chili recipe will convince you otherwise. Bulgur wheat mimics the texture of meat, and green chilis and hefty dose of chili powder add big flavor. This one is over the top delicious and a total crowd pleaser.
Another chili? Try our Ultimate Vegan Chili, Best Ever Instant Pot Vegetarian Chili or 3-Bean Healthy Chili
This dreamy, creamy red lentil soup is an easy vegetarian dinner recipe that's packed with plant based protein. Red lentils are full of nutrients and can cure any case of the fall or winter blues! Simmering the lentils with spices results in a complex and delicious flavor. What really amps it up is the garnish: crunchy toasted almonds, fresh cilantro, and a squeeze of tangy lemon makes this soup next level.
Another lentil soup? Butternut Squash Lentil Soup
This tortellini soup recipe is savory and hearty, with a lightly sweet depth that makes you want the bowl to be never-ending. The trick? Tomato paste and paprika give just the right complexity to the broth. Whole basil leaves are added right after the tortellini cooks, which meld into the beautiful velvety broth. Add a bit of Parmesan cheese and it’s a little bit of heaven.
This sweet potato soup recipe is full of unexpected flavor! The magic ingredient is peanut butter, which makes a rich creamy base with spices like cumin and turmeric. Spinach brings in a nutritional punch, and it’s garnished with harissa: a North African chili paste! You can find mild harissa in most grocery stores: it adds a lot of flavor without any heat. Add a handful of crunchy peanuts for a garnish.
Another sweet potato soup? Hearty Sweet Potato & Kale Soup
This colorful Italian soup recipe is bursting with flavor and nutrients, and takes about 30 minutes to make! Garlic, tomatoes, green beans, chickpeas, and spinach swim in a super flavorful broth surrounded by pillows of doughy gnocchi! This soup is ultra flavorful without a long simmering time. And adding tender gnocchi into a soup recipe instead of noodles brings a unique flair.
Another great Italian soup? Tomato Basil Gnocchi Soup or Stracciatella Soup
Can you make room in your heart for another tomato soup recipe? This tangy, creamy vegan tomato soup that’s always a hit with whoever tries it! To put it over the top, make star toasts or croutons: or even grilled cheese croutons? This soup has the most comforting vibe: it’s made creamy with cashews instead of cream so it's totally plant based.
There’s nothing quite like the cozy factor that is split pea soup! This vegetarian version is one of our favorite healthy dinner recipes. Why? It’s not only hearty and delicious, but it’s also incredibly easy to make! You'll use a touch of liquid smoke to evoke the flavor of the traditional ham.
This tomato artichoke lentil stew recipe is one of our very favorites. It's tangy, delicious and hearty, filled with lentils, tomatoes, tangy artichokes, and kale. Top with Parmesan shavings and serve with crusty bread for a cozy, Italian style meal.
Other fan favorite Tuscan soups: Tuscan Soup with White Beans and Ribollita (Tuscan Vegetable Stew)
Brussels sprouts is soup? Yes, they're shredded and added to a soup recipe with lots of veggies and farro, a whole grain that’s a bit like barley but cooks faster. The soup is flavored with shallot, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and Worcestershire sauce, and a few handfuls of greens are thrown in at the end. Brussels sprouts soup is a unique way to boost immunity and get your cozy on.
This soup recipe uses sprouted lentils along with kale, tomato, onion and carrot to make an unexpectedly delicious, totally nutritious and super hearty stew. It’s lovely for dinner with crusty bread and leftovers are perfect for lunch. What are sprouted lentils? Sprouting this legume makes them easier for your body to digest the nutrients. They're sold dried in stores (we found ours for this one at Whole Foods), or you can also sprout lentils at home.
Another hearty stew: Moroccan Stew with Sweet Potatoes
And finally, the coziest soup of them all: this wild rice soup recipe! This soup is creamy and oh so comforting, featuring white beans, carrots, mushrooms and wild rice. It’s plant based and naturally creamy using cashews. It makes for a filling and satisfying wild rice soup that rounds out our list of soup recipes. (For a pressure cooker version, use Instant Pot Wild Rice Soup).
Another great creamy soup?Vegan Corn Chowder
Looking for more healthy soup recipes?
This website is full of easy and healthy soups; here are a few we’d recommend:
- Creamy Coconut Curry Soup
- Loaded Potato Soup or Instant Pot Potato Soup
- Creamy Corn Chowder
- Tomato Lime Indian Soup
- Vibrant Spring Soup
- Green Pea Soup with Chive Flowers
- Golden Vegetable Soup
- Watermelon Gazpacho
- Tomato Sage Chickpea Soup
- Curried Carrot Soup
- Black Bean & Roasted Tomatillo Soup
- Vegan Butternut Squash Soup
- “Green” Vegan Potato Soup
Love Italian food? Try these 8 Italian Soup Recipes.
Hello, Why don’t you list the sodium content? Soup that is high in sodium, should not be called healthy.
We know many people watch their sodium intake closely, so to be extra careful, we don’t include sodium in our recipe information. This is because ingredients like canned tomatoes and cheese can vary in their sodium content, and we wouldn’t want to give you inaccurate info!
If you want, you can still get an estimated sodium breakdown! Just pop the recipe into this handy website: https://whisk.com/recipe-nutrition-calculator/
This way you can check with your own ingredients. Thank you for reading!
Yummy! I’d like to make a couple of these for our annual Christmas party. Have you ever made any of these in a crock pot? Or kept one warm in a crock pot for a few hours? Or have an idea which ones would do well in that situation? Would love your opinion. Cheers!
That’s a great question! We have not made any in a crock pot, but all of them perfect for keeping warm in a crock pot for a few hours! Some of them I’d recommend for the occasion: Italian gnocchi soup, tomato artichoke lentil soup, vegetarian chili, and tortilla soup!