Tips to Make This Soup Season Your Best One Yet
Does anyone else feel like soup is a food group?
Once the weather starts to get cooler, there is nothing else I like better than to curl up with a warm and comforting bowl of soup. It just feels like the best kind of hug.
I love soup for many reasons, but specifically because you can take it anywhere when it comes to creating or tweaking a recipe. It is a great way to build food & kitchen confidence because it’s simple to make and creates a few meals for the fridge or freezer. It’s an excellent item for prepping because it’s so easy to reheat when life gets busy. And making a delicious and nourishing bowl of soup can be so so satisfying. It’s easy to prioritize your health when a heart healthy bowl of soup is within reach.
So how can you make this soup season your best ever of all time? See below for my list of top ways you can improve your soup game.
Use homemade bone broth – using homemade, slow-simmered bone broth versus stock will not only help vastly improve the flavour of your soups but will also up the nutrient-density with protein, collagen, electrolytes and healthy fat. Bone broth fights inflammation, improves mental health, helps to heal your gut and will increase the satiety of your soup. It’s also great for your immune system, which is something we should all be supporting right now.
Add fresh herbs – fresh herbs versus dried ones can seriously elevate your flavour game in soup. The key to most fresh herbs is to add at the end. To avoid creating bitterness, but heartier herbs like thyme. And rosemary will withstand some slow-cooked heat.
Drizzle with olive oil – drizzling your soup with olive oil will help add some very healthy fat, won’t risk overheating the olive oil by using. From the beginning (I like lard, avocado oil or butter for this), and will make your soup more satisfying now – meaning it will make you full.
Add some extra protein – many of us, and to not e the majority of women, do not get enough protein. Soup is a great way to stuff some extra grams in there. Drop an egg in, and some ground or shredded meat, blend in some organic silken tofu, top with cheese – all great ways to increase those protein grams – you want to aim for at least 30g every time you eat.
Double the recipe and store/freeze in individual portions – I’ll say it over and over again until I die, having easy/quick to make food on hand for lunches and dinners will be a GAME CHANGER for your health. Freezing soup in single-serve portions is one of the absolute best ways to food prep. Simply defrost overnight (or don’t lol), reheat. And serve. Use this technique to keep you out of that fast food drive-thru.
Keep cooked and cooled resistant starch on hand – meals with starches raise your blood sugar more than those without. The good news is that when you cook and cool those starches, they become resistant aka your body doesn’t. absorb the sugars aka they won’t raise your blood sugar as much. I like to keep cooked and cooled brown rice in the fridge to add to soup when I eat it, but it also works with potatoes, quinoa, pasta – anything starchy.
Switch up the flavor profile – when you have your base, like broth and meat, you can change up the ingredients very easily based on well-known flavour profiles that go well together. It might be easiest to start with chicken and broth and think in terms of various ethnicities of food. For example, to this base you could add in chopped tomato, black beans, sliced green pepper, chili flakes and cilantro – a Mexican flavour profile. Or you could go Italian and add tomato paste, spinach, lemon juice and fresh basil. What about some Asian flavours like bok choy, seaweed, tamari, and toasted sesame oil. You can easily take the basic flavours of your favourite foods and make them into a tasty soup you’ll love.
Soup is a great way to stay warm, stay healthy, and if you’re like me, stay happy during the winter months, aka cold and flu season. By using these tips, you can take your soups to the next level, preventing food boredom and ensuring you always have something delicious around to nourish your soul.