When the weather gets chilly there is nothing like a nice soup to warm you up! I compiled a list of the best soup recipes for you to make this winter. All of these easy soup recipes are being added to the rotation of soups that I make for my family.
I love soups! Wintertime in my house means lots of soups for lunch and supper. Here are some of the best and easy soup recipes that I have found.
Soups freeze really well so anytime I come across a easy soup recipe that we love I make double and freeze it.
The less ingredients a recipe has the cheaper it usually ends up being- unless the one ingredient it pretty expensive.
Whether you are looking for recipes with few ingredients, cheap soup recipes, healthy soup recipes, or the best soup recipes for dinner you can find it in this list!
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1. Cream of Zucchini Soup
This soup has only 5 ingredients! It’s that easy and cheap to make! I leave out the parmesan cheese because I find it unnecessary but I love the creaminess and lightness of this soup even without the cheese. Zucchinis are pretty cheap when they are in season so it would be easy to make a very large pot and then freeze some for a quick lunch or dinner.
Get the Cream of Zucchini Soup recipe here!
Pro Tip: If you have very little freezer space then freeze soup in a plastic bag, lying down. Then you can stack bags and get more space then if you would use a container.
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2. Red Lentil Soup
I love hearty soups that can take the place of a full meal and this red lentil soup hits the spot. Unlike other bean-type soups it actually cooks really quickly so you don’t need to be too prepared. Red lentils (like most lentils) are very cheap and have a long shelf life so you can always grab a package to keep in your house for a time when you need soup but don’t want to go out (rainstorm or snowstorm!). Of course, the very few ingredients in this soup (most of them household staples) make this a winner.
Get the Red Lentil Soup recipe here!
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3. Easy Onion Soup
Nothing has less ingredients than a regular onion soup! You can add cheese on the top but I just prefer to sprinkle some on top save some money (I know I am hopelessly frugal!). French onion soup is the ultimate comfort food and its’ very easy to make.
Get the Easy Onion Soup recipe here!
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4. Potato Soup
OK. I lied. While the easy onion soup has very few ingredients this potato soup recipe has even fewer. Its probably an even draw about which one is cheaper because potatoes and onions are both so cheap. If you are really struggling with a super tight budget these are such great, easy and CHEAP recipes to make for a meal! It is filling, hearty and healthy.
Get the Potato Soup recipe here!
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5. Spicy tomato soup
Super easy. Super quick. Super few ingredients. It does call for fresh tomatoes so it’s really only a frugal soup when tomatoes are in season or on sale. This spicy soup is perfect when you are under the weather and need a good pick-me-up!
Get the Spicy Tomato Soup recipe here!
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6. Cream of Lima Bean Soup
Any soup that has beans in it is probably going to be both frugal and hearty. I like this soup because its creamy but also has the beans for some texture (it has an extra step because you have to take the beans out to blend but it’s worth it if you have the time). Unfortunately, like many bean soups it doesn’t freeze so well but if you do freeze it make sure to add a lot of water or stock when you heat it back up
Get the Cream of Lima Bean Soup recipe here!
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7. White Bean and Barley Soup with Tomatoes and Greens
This is a great soup that relies on only plant-based ingredients so its super budget-friendly and filling! Leave out the parmesan for additional savings. I also substituted Swiss chard for the kale or you can use celery leaves, depending on what is on sale or available in your area.
Get the White Bean and Barley Soup recipe here!
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8. Vegetable Barley Soup
This soup is super simple, super basic and super delicious. As written in the original recipe, it is so easy to swap out the ingredients for whatever works for you at the time. So whatever isn’t on sale can be swapped for something that is and whatever you don’t have in the house just leave out! I actually love all of BudgetBytes’s recipes and use her site often to find great and budget-friendly recipes!
Get the Vegetable Barley Soup recipe here!
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9. Parker’s Split Pea Soup Recipe
I like this recipe because unlike so many other split pea soup recipes it doesn’t call for ham (not kosher) or another meat (more expensive). Split peas are usually dirt cheap and the rest of the ingredients don’t really cost that much either so it’s the definition of a frugal soup recipe. A major plus is that is also really hearty! I love taking some pitas and making homemade pita chips to go with this.
Get the Split Pea Soup Soup recipe here!
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10. Cabbage Soup
Cabbage is a very underrated vegetable. It’s cheap, easy to work with and really good. This recipe calls for a lot of spices but not a lot of other ingredients so it’s really easy and cheap to make. Cabbage is a very filling and healthy vegetable so this is a perfect hearty soup for a cold winter day.
Get the Cabbage Soup recipe here!
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11. Meaty Tomato Soup
I am of the opinion that you can serve a soup anytime, anywhere. Yes, that includes summertime. There are people who do disagree with me. Unless there is another protein added to the soup (or stew) then they don’t consider it a full meal. If you are one of those people then I have not forgotten you! While the following soups may not be as cheap or frugal as the previous easy soup recipes they still are cheaper than making a chicken or meat dinner.
Anytime you add meat to soup you are automatically going to go up in price per serving but… this is still pretty cheap assuming you are not on a super tight budget. It’s a great tomato soup because it’s not too sweet and full of sugar like so many recipes. While a plain tomato soup may not go over so well as a full dinner this soup can be a full meal easily!
Get the Meaty Tomato Soup recipe here!
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12. Vegetarian Black-Bean Chili
This is my go-to lunch! It is DELICOUS! It also happens to be very easy to make and vegetarian which usually means super cheap. I try to use dried black beans instead of canned (soaked and boiled) to save even more. This also freezes very well. You can serve with toppings (sour cream is really, really good) or just serve it plain. I know its not technically a soup but you make it like a soup so I included it. My blog, my rules.
Get the Vegetarian Black-Bean Chili recipe here!
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13. Asian Chicken Noodle Soup
I wasn’t sure if I should include this because it does have ingredients that are not usually found in most people’s homes which means spending money on ingredients. It also calls for chicken which is not as cheap as beans. But it is cheaper than red meat! However, like I said before, it’s cheaper than making a chicken and side dish to serve for a supper.
THIS IS SO GOOD! If you are sick, YOU MUST MAKE AND EAT THIS. I know I sound a bit dramatic but this soup was literally so healing to eat. You know the drama over Bubby’s chicken soup and how it makes you feel instantly better? Well, this is even better than that. It really is that good.
Get the Asian Chicken Noodle Soup recipe here!
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14. Easy One-Pot Chicken Noodle Soup
The Asian Chicken Noodle Soup is perfection but if you want something a little more traditional this soup is for you. Chicken noodle soup is a classic that needs to be enjoyed again and again. There are so many variations on this soup but here is an an easy, one-pot recipe for anyone who wants a specific recipe to follow instead of winging it.
Get the Chicken Noodle Soup recipe here!
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15. Awesome Mexican Veggie Soup
This soup is a bit more complex and has a bunch of ingredients but it is so good! It is also vegetarian and hearty so it’s a perfect soup for anyone who is vegetarian or doesn’t want to eat meat during the day. It’s also super healthy and pretty cheap for a meal because it has black beans instead of meat or chicken. A huge plus to this soup is that it takes only 30 minutes to make!
Get the Mexican Veggie Soup recipe here!
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16. Vegan Carrot Soup
Carrots are usually cheap all year round and this recipe doesn’t call for any fancy add-ins. Carrots, potatoes, onions and celery come together to make a delicious and and healthy soup recipe.
Get the Vegan Carrot Soup recipe here!
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17. Flu-Fighter Garlic Soup Recipe
It was in the middle of a long winter and we were all under the weather. We didn’t have the flu but we were all under the weather with coughs we couldn’t shake and colds that just were not going away. The mother in me had to make a soup to make it all better and I came across this. It worked! Our coughs and colds didn’t magically go away but we all felt better and more invigorated after eating this. Of course, homemade soup does that no matter what the ingredients but this one really helped.
Get the Flu-Fighter Garlic Soup recipe here!
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18. Classic Minestrone Soup
I remember my mother making this all the time as a kid and it is a family-favorite! This is not the same recipe (sorry!) from my childhood but its close enough. Packed with beans and veggies its a really healthy food that your kids will love (Use a fun-shaped pasta to make this extra kid-friendly). If you are in a rush then use canned and frozen veggies to throw up this soup quickly.
Get the Classic Minestrone Soup recipe here!
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19. Chicken Detox Soup
I don’t do detoxes or cleanses or even diets but there is no reason why I can’t enjoy the health benefits and yumminess of this detox soup. Its packed with good things and doesn’t have anything bad in it. I don’t think this one is good for kids but mothers can have their own food too! Make a pot and store in individual size servings for you (or another adult) to enjoy on your own.
Get the Chicken Detox Soup recipe here!
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20. Easy Lentil Soup Recipe
I know there are a lot of lentil soup recipe variations in this post but there is a good reason for that! Lentils are very healthy and very, very cheap. One of the best ways to get a nutritious and filling meal on a very tight budget is to use lentils. This recipe is cheap, easy, healthy and easily adaptable.
Get the Easy Lentil Soup recipe here!
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21. – 25. Soups so easy you don’t need a recipe
I am not a food blogger so these easy soup recipes don’t have exact recipes or instructions. While I love fun recipes and I love cookbooks and food blogs I also improvise a lot in the kitchen. Here are some of the easy soup recipes that I make in my own home. These are more instructions than actual recipes so I apologize in advance!
21. Cream of Cheap Vegetable Soup
This soup is one of the best and easiest soup recipes.
Take onions and sweat them. Take an in-season vegetable. Zucchini, sweet potato, carrot, potato, parsnip, mushroom, and butternut squash all work really well. Whatever is in-season at the time! Chop and add to pot. Cover with water. Cook. Blend with an immersion blender. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Adding a soup, especially an easy and cheap one, is really the easiest way to stretch a meal. Serving it as a first automatically turns your meal into a 2-course affair and stomachs will be filled with the soup (cheap and healthy!) before serving the pricier main course. Since an in-season vegetable is cheaper than most (all?) chicken, fish or meat dishes you can stretch the main course further because you can serve less. An added bonus is that a vegetable soup is really healthy!
22. Cream of Roasted Vegetable Soup
This is another great one but it takes a bit longer because there is one extra step. The best part of this soup is that just like the cream of vegetable soup you can use whatever is cheap or whatever you already have in your house.
Take any vegetable and cut in big chunks and spread on a baking tray with some oil and salt. Bake on 350 until they are soft and slightly roasted. Then take the vegetables and sweat them with onions. Add water, salt and pepper to taste and cook. Blend. The extra step of roasting the vegetables gives an extra depth of flavor that makes this a really delicious soup. I have done this with potato for a roasted potato soup, garlic to make a roasted garlic soup, roasted butternut squash soup and zucchini to make a roasted zucchini soup. Some other ideas include a roasted pepper soup (people really like roasted red pepper soup), roasted sweet potato soup and roasted mushroom soup.
23. Traditional Chicken Soup
What can be the better than a classic chicken soup? As a typical Jewish mother I serve chicken soup every Friday night. What I like to do is make a huge pot of really concentrated chicken soup and then add water every Friday afternoon when I heat it up. Everyone has their secret ideas of what makes chicken soup great but I love the versatility to add whatever works for me at the time. I always put in chicken and carrots and then either potato, onions, celery, turnip, parsnip, or sweet potato depending on what is on sale or readily available.
Tip: Carrots add a richness of flavor and give chicken soup that gorgeous golden color. Don’t skimp on the carrots when making chicken soup.
Pro tip: If you have a butcher or chicken counter at your grocery ask them for chicken (or turkey- tastes delicious) bones and scraps- necks, legs etc. to put in your soup.
This is usually significantly cheaper than whole pieces of chicken and still tastes delicious. I like to make the chicken soup with cheap chicken scraps or vegetables that are nearing the end of their life and then straining it and freezing it. I take out the broth and add fresh vegetables when I serve it. This is one of the best soup recipes you can make!
If you don’t like actually eating the chicken part of the chicken soup then you can use the chicken in so many different dishes. Here are 10 Easy Leftover Chicken Recipes you can try!
24. Broth with Dumplings
Once you have a nice chicken or meat stock in your freezer you can make an awesome soup with just broth and some add-ins. Take your concentrated broth and add some water. I like to add dumplings (such and easy and cheap food! and of course, delicious) or noodles. You can then add some fresh herbs for a bit of color. This is great if you are feeling under the weather or need something to warm you up in the cold winter. If you work from home, this can be a great snack during the work day. You can even heat it up in a mug and sip it while you are working.
25. Random Vegetable Soup
Soup is the best and easiest dish to make because it’s just SO EASY! You really can take any combination of vegetables and throw it together for an easy soup recipe. Take any combination of root vegetables and dice them. Add water and cook. What can be easier or better?
Some ideas of vegetables to put in include: onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, sweet potato, butternut squash, zucchini, yellow squash, parsnip, turnip, celery, garlic or mushroom. I have an aunt who like to put tomatoes in as well but I, personally, am not a fan. You can also group colors together to make a colorful soup. If you put sweet potato, butternut squash and carrots you can have a delicious orange soup which is sweet and yummy.
Final Thoughts
Don’t forget to let me know on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram which soups you made and which you enjoyed the most!
I love cooking and I am always frugal but if you aren’t then why don’t you check out Dinnerly? Dinnerly was created for people who like homemade cooking , but don’t like overpaying for the good things in life.
This article originally appeared on ADimeSaved.com and was syndicated by MediaFeed.org.
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