7 warming soups for winter you’ll love: recipes ideas to try at home!

7 recipes for warming soups for winter that area easy to make and are perfect to keep you cozy and well fed this in the cold season.

In the last few days Ireland is going through an exceptionally cold spell (it’s January), a weather event that is making us all long for cozy days in front of the fire, warming bowl of soup, earthy casseroles and copious amounts of tea!

In our house, we are reacting to it with soups of all types.

They are easy to make, satisfying, they are excellent to use up ingredients you already have and they are truly wonderful to come home to. When you need to defrost from the long walk from school, there’s nothing quite like a warming bowl of homemade soup!

Below are seven easy and satisfying soup recipes that feature staples like potatoes, leeks, pumpkin, and lentils.

I do not use cream. If want to make these vegan friendly, you can use olive oil instead of butter.

I use an immersion blender for most of them and use my Duct Oven for all of my cooking.

The photos of the soups are are stock as, as you can see easily see from the first two of them, taken in my kitchen as I cooked, the lighting in my kitchen and my food photography skills do not do these recipes justice! But the recipes for these soups for winters are those we use at home and they are nice!

Leek and Potato Soup

An Irish classic, this soup is so thick and smooth, it bring immediate comfort.

Ingredients:

• 3 large potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1 leeks
• 2 mugs of vegetable stock
• A dollop of butter (traditional) or a dash olive oil (I am Italian, so I often prefer it) to sautee your leaks
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Grated nutmeg (optional)

Instructions:

1. Heat the butter or olive oil in a pot. Sauté the leeks then add the potatoes and cook until the potatoes are fully cooked
2. Blend the soup until smooth, then add as much stock as you need to make the soup your preferred consistency. Then add a little more, to allow some evaporation
3. Reduce heat and simmer so the flavors blend in together fully.
4. Season with salt and pepper. Serve warm.

Optional add on: a topping of crispy bacon works amazing to add an extra kick of saltiness and crunch.

Find my step by step recipes and process photos here

Pumpkin and Chestnut Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 small pumpkin (or squash), peeled and cubed
• A handful of roasted chestnuts (I buy them raw and roast them at low heat in the oven)
• 1 onion, chopped
• Vegetable stock, as much as you need for your consistency of choice
• A dash of ground nutmeg
• A dash of olive oil to sautee your onion
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Sauté the onion until translucent
2. Add the pumpkin cubes and coat well
3. Pour in the stock, add the chestnuts, and simmer until the pumpkin is soft.
4. Blend the soup until creamy. Stir in nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Serve hot.

Optional topping: pumpkin seeks or a crumbled roasted chestnut are a lovely topping

Top Tip! Pumpkins and squash are very hard to peel raw. To make the job easier, I like to roast them first, skin on: this way, you can remove the skin very easily and they also acquire a delicious, nutty flavor that adds to the overall result!

Hearty Lentil Soup

A classic Italian winter soup I learned back home!

Ingredients:

• 250 gr (a little over a cup) green lentils, rinsed
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 carrots, diced
• Half a celery stalk, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled
• Olive oil to sautee the vegetables
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Heat olive oil in a pot and sauté onion, garlic, carrots, and celery.
2. Add the lentils and stir to coat.
3. Pour in cold and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until the lentils are soft.
4. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with crusty bread

Pasta and Fagioli (Pasta and Bean Soup)

Another one from my Italian tradition!

Ingredients:

• 80 gr pasta small pasta (e.g., ditalini)
• 1 can Italian beans (cooked, canned ones work great) – I like to mix cannellini and borlotti
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 carrot, sliced
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• Vegetable stock, as much as needed for your consistency of choice
• 1 rosemary stalk
• Olive oil to sautee the vegetables
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Sauté onion and garlic in olive oil until the onions are translucent. Add the carrots, chopped tomatoes and cook until the carrot is soft.
2. Add the stock, beans, and herbs. Simmer for about ten minutes so the beans acquire flavor.
3. Remove half the beans and set aside. Use a blender to blend half the mixture and turn it into a smooth soup. Then add back in the bins you had removed so you have a lumpy soup.
4. Bring to the boil, add pasta and cook until al dente.
5. Season with salt and pepper. Serve hot, drizzled with olive oil and grilled bread

Creamy Carrot and Ginger Soup

I love fresh ginger for winter: as well as being tasty and satisfying, it is also great to warm you up, so when it comes to soups for winter, it’s a great ingredient to have around the house.

Ingredients:

• 5 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1-inch piece of ginger, grated
• Vegetable stock as needed
• Olive oil to sautee your onion and ginger
• Salt to taste

Instructions:

1. Sauté onion and ginger in olive oil the onion becomes translucent.
2. Add the carrots, cook until they start softening, then grate your fresh ginger on top and mix well
3. Pour in part os the the stock and simmer until the carrots are soft. It will take a while so give yourself a good bit of time! Keep adding stock as needed for them to cook but stay conservative: the soup will get more liquid when you blend it so if you add too much, you’ll have too thin a texture
4. Use a handheld blender (immersion blender) to blend the soup until smooth, add stock if needed to adjust consistency (or let evaporate if too liquid) and season with salt to taste.

Optional topping: roasted pinenuts work great to add a little bit of crunch

Rustic Vegetable Soup

This is the soup my mother in law makes most often: she uses the vegetables from her garden and no matter what she used, it’s always lovely! So even if you don’t have all the exact ingredients, there is a good chance the garden vegetables you have will work well too!

Ingredients:

• 2 potatoes, diced
• 2 carrots, diced
• A handful Zucchini / parsnip / leeks / or other vegetable or root vegetable you have handy
• 1 onion, chopped
• Vegetable stock
• Butter to sautee the vegetables
• Salt, pepper, thyme and fresh parsley for garnish. Optional: a dash of nutmeg for extra depth of flavor

Instructions:

1. Sauté onion in butter until soft.
2. Add the potatoes, carrots, and green beans. Stir and cook for 5 minutes.
3. Pour in the stock and simmer until all vegetables are tender.
4. Season with salt and pepper and thyme. Garnish with parsley and serve warm.

Sweet Potato Soup

Similat to the garrot and ginger soup, with the extra sweetness and smoothness of the sweet potato

Ingredients:

• 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 clove of garlic
• Half an inch of fresh ginger, grated
• Vegetable stock, as needed to adjust texture
• Olive oil to sautee the vegetables
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Sauté the garlic and onion in olive oil until the onion is soft. Add sweet potatoes and stir to coat.
2. Grate your fresh ginger on top and mix well
3. Pour in the stock and simmer until the sweet potatoes are tender.
4. Blend the soup until creamy, and season with salt and pepper.

I hope you enjoed these ideas of warming soups for winter and they’ll make your days cozier!

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