Our Best Christmas Soup Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What makes a bowl of soup more flavorful? ›

Perk up a Bland Soup With Simple Pantry Staples

Add a splash of vinegar (any kind!), or a squeeze of citrus. Chances are, you could use a little more salt. Go ahead—it's ok. Salt perks up flat flavors and helps balance out bitter-tasting ingredients.

British Christmas table favorites have quite a bit of overlap with American winter holidays, so the main characters in original Heinz Christmas dinner soup will be familiar: turkey, pigs in blankets, Brussels sprouts, stuffing balls, potatoes, parsnips, carrots, cranberry sauce and gravy.

Use cereal-sized bowls, and don't worry about the place settings looking lame. Put the bowls on a larger plate, with a big cloth napkin folded underneath it to cozy things up. Serve the soup from a pretty pot. Even if you don't own a soup tureen, maybe you have a pretty ceramic pot that will look nice on the table.

Add protein: Leftover chicken or steak, some cooked diced ham or bacon or sausage (just a little — that soup is already salty). If you don't want to add meat, think of what makes a bowl of ramen so yummy; a soft-cooked jammy egg could be just the thing.

A great option for this includes the use of aluminum foil and towels. Wrapping aluminum foil tightly over the top of the dish container will trap steam and moisture. Using a few towels to wrap the dish further will also trap in heat. Using both of these methods together will keep your dish warmer longer.

To rightly be considered as dinner, a soup must not only be filling, but must also be correct on the calorie chart. Hearty soups like Russian Borsch, Vietnamese pho, and Italian Minestrone are considered as main courses. They have an apt mix of vegetables, protein and carbohydrates in a single bowl.

Restaurants may use premade sauces and condiments, soup mixes and canned broths, and even pre-breaded or fried chicken/fish or pre-seasoned meats.

Besides adding vegetables to your soup, another option is to play around with stirring in herbs and spices. If you love food with some zing to it, drizzling in some hot sauce can be a great way to bring on the heat and give your soup an extra edge.

Foods that have a great deal of acidity, like lemon juice, vinegar, white wine, and tomato puree, can help liven up the flavor of bland-tasting bone and other broths. "The acidity of these ingredients works to complement and enhance the broth's flavors, not mask it.

What should be added to enrich the flavor of the soup? ›

Herbs and sources add flavor, aroma, and intensity to the soup broth. You can pick fresh or dried herbs like basil for tomato-based soups or fresh parsley for clear broths. You may also add more spices like turmeric, ground ginger, ground paprika, or nutmeg for a touch of spice and color to your soup broth.

Ingredients, taste and garnish should all be considered to make a soup appetizing. Ingredients should be freshly picked and handled properly as to ensure health benefits, taste should be considered for it to be palatable, and garnish add a visual feast for the senses so that it can be enjoyed by the consumers.

The Foundation: Broths and Stocks

The homemade soup recipes that are most memorable are ones that require a long simmer, with carefully browned bones, vegetables, and seasoning added in.