When the weather begins to change and a crisp chill is in the air, soup sounds amazing to me almost every night of the week. I love the myriad combinations of flavors, spices and seasonal ingredients, the warm-your-belly goodness in each bowl and the way soup often lends itself to prepping ahead, making large batches and easier weeknight meals when you only want to worry about a one-pot recipe.
Best Fall Soup Recipes
When it comes to the soup recipes we love most in our house, I find myself gravitating toward recipes made with good-for-you seasonal ingredients, a decent number of vegetables, filling soups that will leave me feeling satisfied for longer 2.5 seconds and easy recipes. I don’t want to spend hours peering over the stovetop when I’m making a fall soup recipe for our family but I do want something flavorful, filling and wonderfully fragrant that will make our whole house smell amazing!
Which Fall Ingredients to Use in Soups
When it comes to seasonal ingredients to use in fall soups, here are a few in-season produce options you may want to consider adding to your next soup recipe, as they’re in peak season!
Butternut Squash
Butternut squash is a favorite of mine due to its naturally sweet, nutty flavor. Once the squash is cooked, it becomes tender and can add thick, velvety texture to soup recipes. It’s nutrient-dense and delicious and makes a fantastic smooth, pureed butternut squash soup base. Butternut squash pairs particularly well with warm spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger.
I highly, highly recommend using frozen butternut squash in soup recipes to make your life easier but if you’d like to prep the squash on your own, there are a number of ways to prepare butternut squash. Perhaps the easiest way is to use a very sharp knife to slice the squash in half lengthwise before removing the seeds and stringy membranes with a spoon and roasting the squash in the oven at 400 degrees until tender. I also like to peel the squash and chop it into chunks before roasting for a deeper flavor!
Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potatoes bring a natural sweetness and hearty texture to fall soups, creating a rich and satisfying meal. They add thickness and a vibrant orange color, and their flavor pairs well with spices like cumin, ginger, and paprika.
To prepare sweet potatoes, simply peel and chop the sweet potatoes into bite-sized cubes. (Sometimes I’ll even skip the peeling step as I don’t mind sweet potato skins at all.) The sweet potato cubes can then be boiled directly in your soup or broth until soft or you may roast them before pureeing to give them a more caramelized depth of flavor in your soup.
Kale
Kale is a hearty, leafy green that can add a huge boost of nutrients, color, and a slightly bitter, peppery flavor to soup that can be a nice contrast to some of the sweeter fall root vegetables. The sturdy leaves of kale hold texture in a way other greens like spinach do not and do not get as soggy as more delicate greens, making it a great vegetable to use in soups you know you may enjoy as leftovers.
When preparing kale, strip the kale leaves from their tough stems. Roughly chop the leaves and then when your soup is nearly done, you’ll want to stir them into the broth, giving them only 5-10 minutes of cooking time to soften slightly without becoming to soft.
Carrots
The number of carrots we go through in our house is borderline ridiculous but every single member of our family loves vibrant veggie! Carrots are a classic aromatic base for soups, giving fall soup recipes a natural sweetness and earthy flavor. They are also quite firm which allow the vegetable to hold up well during extended soup simmering, though they may also become soft enough to be pureed if you prefer a smoother consistency.
To prepare carrots for a fall soup, simply wash, peel (if you want — I often skip peeling) and chop the carrots. I then love sautéing them with onions and celery (this makes your whole house smell amazing). This combination serves as the perfect launching pad for so many different fall soup recipes!
Soup Recipes For Fall
If you’re looking for some comforting, warm-your-belly fall soup recipes to make this fall, here are a few favorites:
High Protein Broccoli Cheddar Soup
For those who love broccoli cheddar soup, this recipe for high protein broccoli cheddar soup boasts 25 grams of protein per bowl and still manages to have the rich, creamy, deliciously cheesy flavor you’d expect from a more indulgent version of this savory soup. Make sure to serve this one with some crusty bread for dipping!
Corned Beef and Cabbage Potato Leek Soup
This corned beef soup recipe is easy to make, as it relies on a doctored-up boxed soup as its base. If you’re the type of home chef who gravitates toward semi-homemade meals and shortcuts that make life a little easier, this soup recipe may be right up your alley!
Butternut Squash and White Bean Soup
Made with sweet roasted butternut squash, warm curry spices and bright marinated Brussels sprouts, this hearty, vegetable-packed soup is a perfect dinner for a chilly autumn evening.
Cozy Autumn Wild Rice Soup
This seasonal soup is a true autumn delight! It’s made with fresh, seasonal vegetables and greens, wild rice that gives the soup a delightfully chewy texture and a creamy broth that will have you licking your bowl clean!
Sausage Kale and White Bean Soup
This white bean soup recipe is on our weeknight meal plan this week so I had to highlight it here! It’s flavor-packed (I love sausage in soup) and creamy but the creaminess comes from the beans, not cream which I love for added protein and fiber.
Kale Lentil Soup
My love for lentils was recently unlocked as they’re so incredibly helpful if you’re looking to increase the amount of fiber (and protein!) in your diet. Lentils have a way of leaving me satisfied and incorporating them into soup recipes this fall is something I’m hoping to do a lot more of in the coming months!
Instant Pot Butternut Squash Beef Stew
Okay, okay technically this is a stew recipe, but my gosh is it GOOD. It’s easily one of my favorites and a recipe I make countless times all fall and winter long. The butternut squash in this Instant Pot butternut squash beef stew recipe makes the broth thick and velvety and it’s always a big-time crowd pleaser, making this a great recipe to have on hand whenever you’re hosting friends and family.
Zuppa Toscana
Oh so creamy and very satisfying, this recipe for zuppa Toscana is made with Italian sausage, bacon, potatoes, garlic and kale. It also tastes fantastic as leftovers so make a BIG batch of this one to reheat through the week!
Vegetable Soup
Because sometimes a classic vegetable soup is exactly what you want! Lexi’s recipes are always a hit in our house and this one is made with loads of vegetables, beans and warm spices. It’s also wonderful paired with a buttery grilled cheese sandwich.
Lemon Rosemary Chicken Soup
If there’s a food blogger out there whose recipes I trust above all, it would be Pinch of Yum. They knock the ball out of the park every time! If you love a traditional chicken noodle soup but want to change things up a bit, keep this lemon rosemary chicken soup on your radar this fall. It’s packed with vegetables — kale! carrots! — as well as beans and chicken (protein!) — and the lemon rosemary broth is bright and absolutely mouth-watering.
QUESTION OF THE DAY
Share your favorite fall soup recipe below!!! I would love to give some of your fall favorites a try this autumn!
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A soup I can whip up in no time is called Tuscan Chickpea soup. You saute 2 cups chopped onion and 8 cloves of minced garlic in some olive oil for about 10 minutes. Add 4 C water, some rosemary, and some salt and pepper. Then drain and rinse 3 cans of chickpeas. Add chickpeas and 1 can of diced tomatoes (undrained) to the pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Puree soup in a blender 1 cup at a time, or use your immersion blender and blend it right in the pot. You can puree all of it, or leave some not pureed for texture. Ladle into bowls and drizzle a little balsamic vinegar on top or parmesan cheese if you like. Enjoy! It’s kind of a jazzed up tomato soup that is warm and filling.
Thank you so much for sharing this, Beth! It sounds right up my alley and so easy which is all the better!