4 Flavorful & Nutritious Soup Recipes for Fall
As the weather chills, our food warms. It’s soup season!
Soups and stews warm the body and the spirit and offer easily digestible nutrition and hydration.
A client asked for my favorite soups to kick off the season, and I'm excited to share with all of you as well. Here’s a roundup of 4 flavor-packed soups to bring extra joy to chillier, darker days. All recipes make between 4-6 servings. I encourage you to double or triple the recipe and stock up on nourishing deliciousness for winter. Nothing reheats better than soup!
A Soup for Right Now | Tomato and Red Pepper Miso
This soup is made for the overlap of seasons, the intersection of soup season where you can still find fresh local tomatoes. The kick of ginger is extra warming and the addition of miso adds a dose of probiotics!
This recipe is the most complex of the 4, and worth the effort, but if you’re looking for a simpler recipe I’ve got ideas for you. Keep scrolling!
1 small head of garlic
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
16 ounces red bell peppers, destemmed and deseeded
1 tablespoon coconut oil or ghee
2 onions, chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1.5 tablespoons ginger, peeled and grated
¼ cup rice vinegar
32 ounces fresh tomatoes, chopped, or 1 (28-ounce) can whole tomatoes
7 cups bone broth or vegetable broth
⅔ cup miso paste
Sea salt
Freshly ground black peppercorn
3 stalks green onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup whole greek yogurt (optional)
Preheat oven to 375F
Slice off the stem end of the head of garlic to expose the cloves. Drizzle with olive oil and wrap the bulb in aluminum foil to fully enclose the bulb. Alternatively, I recommend wrapping the bulb in parchment paper first and then enclosing everything in foil. Roast for 1 hour.
Place peppers on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 15-20 minutes until the skins wrinkle and loosen. Transfer peppers to a bowl and cover with a lid to steam for another 10 minutes. Peel to remove the blistered skin.
Heat coconut oil or ghee in a large pot over medium heat. Add onions, carrots and celery. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cover with a lid to cook for 15 minutes.
Add the ginger, rice vinegar and stir to scrape anything stuck to the bottom of the pot. Continue cooking for 3 minutes.
Add the tomatoes and roasted red peppers. Cook covered for another 15 minutes.
Add the broth and simmer covered for 45 minutes. When the garlic has finished roasting, and it’s cool enough to handle, squeeze the garlic pulp from the clove’s husk and into the soup pot.
Either puree the soup with an immersion blender, or wait to cool before pureeing in a regular blender.
To incorporate the miso paste, first ladle some soup into a bowl, then whisk the miso paste into the bowl until it’s completely incorporated. Add this miso mixture back to the pot and salt to taste.
Return to heat if the soup has cooled and top with green onions and optional dollop of yogurt to serve!
Recipe adapted from the Bauman College Flavors of Health Cookbook. Photo from houseofyumm.com
A Chameleon Soup | Rosemary Carrot
Instead of carrots you could swap in any root vegetable or a winter squash. Instead of rosemary, thyme or sage would also be great for a flavor twist. This soup is lighter as a side dish, so for a full meal, I’d add white beans for extra fiber and a little protein.
2.5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or ghee
2 onions, sliced
12 large carrots, sliced
2 stalks celery, sliced
¼ cup fresh rosemary, minced, or 2 tablespoons dried
4 cups bone broth or vegetable broth
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons raw apple cider vinegar
Heat olive oil or ghee in a large pot over medium heat.
Add onion, carrot and celery and saute for 5 minutes.
Add rosemary and stir. Cook for another 3 minutes.
Add broth and salt, and cover with a lid. Simmer for 20 minutes. Check that carrots are completely soft.
Either puree with an immersion blender, or wait to cool before pureeing in a regular blender.
Return to heat if the soup has cooled and add apple cider vinegar. Add more sea salt, to taste, if you'd like.
A Stewy Soup | Chipotle Pinto Bean
Not your average chili! This stew-like soup is vegetarian, or add ground beef, ground turkey or chicken. You could make this with canned beans, but honestly cooking beans from dried is worth the wait here.
1 1/2 cup dried pinto beans
6 cups bone broth, vegetable broth or water
1 onion, chopped
4 carrots, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
4 cloves garlic
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon fresh oregano
2 chipotle peppers canned in adobo, chopped
1 can (14-ounce) canned tomatoes, drained
1 lime's juice
1 tablespoon ghee or olive oil
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 avocado
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds
Sea salt & freshly ground peppercorn
Soak dried beans in a large pot of water overnight or 12 hours.
Drain the water and then add bone broth, vegetable broth or water as well as onion, carrots, celery, garlic, bell pepper, bay leaves, oregano leaves and chipotle peppers.
Boil, lower the heat, cover and simmer until the beans are soft, at least 1 hour, adding more water if necessary.
Remove bay leaves.
Add lime juice, ghee or olive oil and season with sea salt and pepper.
Garnish with cilantro, pumpkin seeds, lime juice, and slices of avocado.
Recipe adapted from The Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special cookbook. Photo from veggiesociety.com
A Quick Fix Soup | Red Lentil Coconut
Thai red curry paste from the store gives you a leg up on dinner without skimping on good ingredients. Thai Kitchen is good, or look for any Thai red curry paste without the added water, oil or preservatives listed in the ingredients. You’ll add coconut milk, veggies (or substitute in frozen veggies at the end), quick-cooking red lentils and this soup comes together in under 30 minutes. I love the extra kick of ginger and garlic but if you’re going for quick, leave these out and make the red curry paste heaping tablespoons.
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, grated
1.5 tablespoons ginger root, peeled and grated
4 carrots, chopped
2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste
4 cups bone broth, vegetable broth or water
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup red lentils
1 can coconut milk (not low fat)
2 yellow squash or zucchini, chopped
1 cup frozen kale or spinach
Juice of ½ lemon or lime
¼ cup cilantro, chopped (optional)
Heat the coconut oil in a large pot over medium heat.
Add the onion, garlic, ginger, carrots and Thai red curry paste. Stir for 5 minutes as the flavors develop.
Add the broth or water, salt, lentils, squash, coconut milk. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook, covered until the lentils have completely softened, about 15 minutes.
Add the greens and allow to thaw in the soup, about 3-5 minutes.
Remove from the heat and top with fresh lemon or lime juice and fresh cilantro.
Photo from simple-veganista.com
