Twelve Super Soups!
Satisfying and economical, these hearty soups will keep you nourished and happy all year round.
We love a good soup. They are such a resourceful, economical meal and a great way to get the most out of your ingredients. There’s a popular myth that soups are not satisfying enough to consider as a proper meal, which we hope to debunk for you all!
If ever we feel a bit run down or start to feel a tickle in our throats — we reach for the soup pot. Nourishing, immunity-boosting, comforting, soup has got it all. Soups also freeze well, and are lovely to gift for those in need of some TLC — be it a new parent, sick friend, or caring neighbour.
Like a good hearty salad, the trick to a satisfying soup is to load it up with lots of robust vegetables, and cook everything out properly to maximise your depth of flavour.
Soups are such an easy way to get more vegetables into your diet, and a perfect opportunity to maximise on frozen, dried, and canned vegetables (which are often more affordable than fresh produce).
Buying produce when it is at its peak and preserving or freezing it for a later date is a tried-and-true method of reducing food costs.
As soon are we are feeling run down, we make this nourishing Green Goodness Soup. You can easily make this vegan by using olive oil in place of butter and vegetable stock in place of chicken stock. You can also use frozen spinach in place of the silverbeet and kale if you prefer.
Here we’ve topped it with garlicky breadcrumbs, a little herb oil, and chive flowers to make it even more beautiful, but you can serve it as-is. For extra immune-boosting goodness, load up on the greens. Bonus points if you can use silverbeet, kale and spinach.
Our Turkish Bride Soup is another family favourite — typically eaten by a bride on the night before a wedding to sustain her for the day ahead, this hearty soup delivers a deeply satisfying flavour, but is quick and easy to make. Don’t skip the lemon and mint — they bring the dish to life.
Another beloved recipe is this Pea & Ham Soup. We love the miraculous simplicity of this soup, which uses only two main ingredients and is packed with fibre and protein. The peas break down in the last stage of cooking — suddenly the soup goes thick as they collapse and release all their starch. Make a double batch and freeze some.
A hearty minestrone is such a delicious dish all year round, and so fabulously good for you thanks to beans and greens. This Cabbage & Sausage Minestrone is a great starting point — add in as many green vegetables as you please (kale, cavolo nero, silverbeet, and spinach are all excellent). You can mix up the beans too — kidney beans and chickpeas are always welcome, and lentils would work too.
This Lamb & Barley Soup wants for nothing. Annabel's mother, Anne, used to make huge pots of this hearty soup and have it in the fridge for any moment the kids might be hungry – like after school on a cold day! We called it Hunt Soup. It’s great as a weekend lunch or dinner when you come home tired and late. We will often make a double batch as it freezes well. Use lentils to make this gluten-free.
Another winner is this Moroccan Lentil Soup — there's something about the combination of spices and textures that makes this heart-warming soup deeply comforting. And it has 16 plants!
This Thai-inspired Pumpkin Soup is full of flavour thanks to those lovely aromatics, and not too rich. You can make it with or without the coconut sambal on top.
It’s hard to go wrong with Chicken Noodle Soup. Whenever we have roast chicken, we keep the frame to make stock (you can also freeze the bones to make it another day). You can give it an Asian twist by adding ginger, spring onions, and a couple of star anise and use it as a base for aromatic Phở. Or, use a couple of bay leaves, onion, black peppercorns, and a strip of lemon rind, for a more neutral flavour profile.
Of course, you can’t beat a classic. Annabel’s French Onion Soup is old-school chic, and a great one to whip out for a dinner party when you want to make something timeless that everyone will love. Don’t skip the cheesy croutons! They are the best bit.
For our paid subscribers, you might like to revisit our fragrant Lemon & Lentil Soup. Zingy, herbaceous, and perfect for a seasonal pick-me-up. Plus, the vitamin C in the lemons and greens helps your body absorb the iron from the lentils. Nutritional magic!
We also love this warming Miso, Ginger & Carrot Soup — wonderfully comforting and aromatic, it’s another great immunity-boosting soup that we love served with some toasted bread and butter. It is also delicious with pumpkin or kūmara.
As we look forward to spring in the southern hemisphere, now is the time to make this herbaceous Persian Noodle Soup. Inspired by ash reshteh, this fragrant and satisfying soup is often served at Nowruz (Persian New Year) celebrations in the springtime. Rose made it for her girlfriend this week and was reminded of how tasty it is. We strongly suggest you make it as soon as you can.
Ok, that’s all from us for now! We hope we have given you lots of delicious inspiration.
Do let us know how you get on with these yummy soups — you can comment below, or find us at hello@langbein.com
With love,
Annabel & Rose xx
This is quite a bounty, I'm looking forward to trying them this winter. The hard part will be deciding which to try first! Thank you ;-)
Thank you so much for sharing these generous soup recipes! They'll be a wonderful boost for the autumn months arriving now in our corner of the world.