Skip to main contentSkip to navigationSkip to navigation
Comforting ... vegetable soup.
Comforting ... vegetable soup. Photograph: Ildi.Food/Alamy
Comforting ... vegetable soup. Photograph: Ildi.Food/Alamy

‘It’s absolutely delicious!’ Guardian readers' favourite soups

From caramelised fennel and onion to Norwegian cheese, these easy-to-follow recipes will warm the chilliest winter

Pear and parsnip soup

My favourite warming soup is pear and parsnip – it sounds a bizarre combination, but it’s sweet, comforting and perfect for using up squidgey pears or bendy parsnips. Saute a leek and some garlic, add two diced parsnips, a diced potato and a diced pear, along with a bay leaf, thyme, vegetable stock and a teaspoon of Marmite. Once softened, remove the bay leaf and blend the soup, topping with plenty of black pepper. Best served piping hot after a blustery walk. Angharad Mountford, PhD student, Croydon

Radish leaf soup

When on an economy drive I make a brisk but tasty soup with radish leaves – very few people ever correctly guess the ingredients. Use fresh bunches of radishes, trim the leaves and rinse well. Serve the radishes separately either with salt and butter, as in France, or sliced in a salad. Melt butter and oil in a deep pot and brown a diced onion and two or three peeled and diced potatoes. Add the radish leaves and chicken or vegetarian stock. Simmer for 20 minutes – or less if using a pressure cooker. Purée the result using a stick blender to produce a pale green potage. Add salt and pepper to taste. Wendy Mountford, IT worker, New York

Meg’s avgolemono soup.

Greek avgolemono soup

This is my current obsession. It’s a very basic combination of chicken or turkey stock, orzo or rice, shredded chicken or turkey, lemon juice and egg – and it’s very comforting. You can make it from boiling a whole bird, but I make it easier by freezing the stock and shredded meat when I’m already roasting a bird. Then, when you’re ready for soup, simply defrost the stock, add half a cup of orzo for every two servings and, when that’s cooked, add the shredded meat. Then beat together an egg and the juice of a lemon and add a few ladles of hot soup to the mixture. Turn down the heat on the soup to just simmering before adding the egg and lemon mixture to the pot. Let it simmer for a couple of minutes until the soup thickens. It’s absolutely delicious. You could add parsley as well, but it’s not really necessary. Meg, Sussex

Caramelised fennel and onion soup

Now I’m back at home with my family doing online university, I love making big batches of soup to keep us all warm and cheer us up through a (very) dark and cold lockdown. This is a more interesting take on french onion soup. I got the idea of using cider from Felicity Cloake’s perfect onion soup – I think it is nicer than wine. Melt 1 tbsp each of butter and oil, and gently fry two fennel bulbs and two large while onions (both thinly sliced) for 60-75 minutes until very soft, sweet and sticky. Season with salt and pepper and add 1 tsp of dried thyme and 1 heaped tbsp of flour, then fry for a minute or so. Deglaze the pan with a splash of cider or wine, then add a litre of chicken or vegetable stock and simmer for 15 minutes. Adjust the seasoning and serve. Erin Beach, student, Loch Ness

South-east Asian fusion soup

Peel and chop an onion, three cloves of garlic, a ginger root, one or two chillies and stalk of lemongrass. Sauté with oil at the bottom of a large soup kettle. Add 200-400g of cubed chicken and once almost cooked, add 100ml each of chicken stock and thick tomato juice. You can also add lemon or lime juice for a bit of zest. Add sliced potato, aubergine (thai varieties are best), beans, bell peppers, carrot or others, depending on what vegetables you enjoy in a soup. Some lime leaves can also be added. Simmer until the veggies are done (about 10 minutes), then drizzle in a couple of whisked eggs. Add 500ml of coconut cream and top with finely chopped fresh coriander. Makes a very hearty soup. Otto Mäkelä, IT systems specialist, Helsinki

Cullen skink. Photograph: Peter Burnett/Getty Images

Cullen skink

This is a “one of everything” soup: you need one large onion (chopped), 1kg potatoes (diced), 1kg undyed smoked haddock (chopped into bite-size pieces), one litre of Guernsey breakfast milk and one large knob of butter. Melt the butter in a large pot and soften the onions, but don’t burn them. Add the potatoes and milk and bring to the boil, stirring continuously. Simmer for 20 minutes or until the potatoes begin to soften, then add the haddock. If the soup is for immediate consumption, keep the heat on for 15 minutes then serve. If the soup is being made in advance, turn the heat off – the fish will continue to cook and heating before serving will finish the job. Alan Cunningham, retired engineer, Falkirk

Green soup

This is a variation of a soup we had on holiday in France some years ago. It involves two leeks, a head of broccoli, two packs of watercress, chicken or vegetable stock and the rind off a piece of parmesan cheese. Cook the sliced leeks in butter for five minutes, add the stock and parmesan and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the chopped broccoli, then season with salt and pepper and a good pinch of cayenne pepper. Simmer for another 10 minutes, then add the watercress. Simmer for three minutes, then whiz it up in a food processor. In France they served a small piece of cooked salmon placed in a bowl with the hot soup ladled on top. Make sure to add a dollop of cream or yoghurt and stir before serving. Vanessa, student, Dundee

Norwegian cheese soup

This is my mother’s recipe, which she was taught at an evening cookery class in the 70s. My mother was not a good cook and so just rotated all the recipes she learned for the next 40 years. Norwegian cheese soup is dead simple: finely slice a couple of leeks and grate a couple of carrots. Cook gently in a lump of butter for a few minutes, then add half a litre of water or chicken stock. Put the lid on and cook for a further 20 minutes. Meanwhile, make a standard roux with 30g each of butter and flour and add just enough milk to make a very thick sauce. Combine this sauce with the leek and carrots and then season with salt and pepper and a generous amount of grated nutmeg. Serve with grated cheese on the side for people to add as they like. Hilary Strong, theatre director, Bath

Raj’s mushroom soup with toasted seaweed and miso. Photograph: Raj Bahra

Mushroom soup with toasted seaweed and miso

Fry 300g of mushrooms in 1 tbsp of rapeseed oil until all the water content has boiled off, then tip into a saucepan. Clean out the frying pan using water then add this to the saucepan and top up with more water (one litre in total). Add a drained 200g can (or frozen equivalent) of sweetcorn and 1 tbsp of dark miso, and boil for five minutes. Meanwhile, toast two sheets of nori seaweed under the grill, then blend everything with a stick blender along with 1 heaped tbsp of full-fat cream cheese. Bring back to the boil, season to taste with light soy sauce and serve hot. The basic joy of this soup is in the layering of umami flavours: mushroom, miso, nori, soy. Chuck in some noodles to make it a standalone meal. Raj Bahra, accountant, Berkshire

Chestnut soup

The recipe for this luxurious soup was given to me by the awesome Barra restaurant in Berlin and is so delicious that our family now has it every year for Christmas. Sweat a few handfuls of shallots in butter and thyme until soft. Throw in a couple of vacuum-packed bags of chestnuts, a litre or so of good brown stock (we use turkey), a healthy glug of medium-dry sherry and a cup or two of whey if you have it (it adds a pleasing sourness but the soup is delicious without it). Simmer for 15-20 minutes then whiz it up in the blender until silky. Season, then whisk in a little cold butter and cream to finish. Murray, drinks developer, Copenhagen

Chestnut soup. Photograph: victoriya89/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Fridge soup

My favourite soup is “fridge soup”, which uses up anything leftover in the fridge. Every time I make it, my boyfriend says: “This is the best soup you’ve made yet!” I start by dicing an onion and grating lots of garlic, then frying them over low heat in a saucepan. Then I add whatever it is I want to get rid of: carrots, the end of a bag of frozen peas, last week’s risotto etc. Add enough water to cover it an inch over, plus a stock cube and 1 tbsp of bouillon or miso paste. Boil, then blend. Sometimes, it’s nice to add a sprig of sage – take it out before blending. A blob of creme fraiche, a drizzle of chiu chow chilli oil and a handful of seeds can also be added before serving. Georgia, writer, London

Comments (…)

Sign in or create your Guardian account to join the discussion

Most viewed

Most viewed