Some evenings call for soup and nothing else. Dark by five, cold hands, no appetite for anything that requires standing over a hob turning things. A pot that mostly looks after itself is the correct answer.
This is 30 soups from our archive, chosen to cover the full range rather than thirty variations on chicken noodle. The collection includes creamy chicken soups, hearty chilis, thick chowders, a handful of slow cooker recipes you can set and forget, and several genuinely good meat-free bowls built on lentils, chickpeas, and beans.
Most are ready inside an hour, nearly all of them freeze well, and every one links through to the full recipe.
Our Top Picks at a Glance
- Best overall: Creamy Marry Me Chicken Soup Recipe – sun-dried tomatoes and cream, ready in 30 minutes.
- Fastest: Mexican Street Corn White Chicken Chili Recipe – 25 minutes for something that tastes like it simmered all day.
- Best set-and-forget: Easy Crockpot Chili Recipe – twelve ingredients into the slow cooker and walk away.
What Makes a Good Pot of Soup
- Build a base first. Onion, carrot and celery softened in butter or oil before anything else goes in is the difference between flat soup and soup with depth.
- Use decent stock. It is most of the liquid, so it is most of the flavour. Bone broth or a good quality stock genuinely shows.
- Add dairy at the end, off the heat. Cream and cheese split if you boil them. Stir them through once the pot has stopped bubbling.
- Season at the finish, not just the start. Soup reduces as it cooks, so taste and adjust salt and acid right before serving.
- Most of these freeze well. The exceptions are anything heavy on cream, milk or potato, which can go grainy – freeze those before the dairy goes in.
30 Cozy Soup Recipes
1. Creamy Marry Me Chicken Soup Recipe
The soup version of a dish that went viral for good reason. Sun-dried tomatoes packed in olive oil bring concentrated sweetness, tomato paste deepens the base, and cream pulls it together. Thirty minutes, serves six, and it is the one on this list most likely to become a regular.
Key ingredients: yellow onion, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil, tomato paste, chicken broth, salt more to taste
💡 Cook’s tip: Baby spinach – fresh spinach keeps the soup bright; avoid frozen.
Total time: 30 min | Serves: 6 | Ingredients: 16
2. Best Chicken Stew Recipe
Chicken thighs rather than breast, which is why this stays tender through nearly an hour of cooking. Flour thickens it into something you eat with a spoon and bread rather than a bowl of broth. Seventeen ingredients, serves six, and it is proper cold-weather food.
Key ingredients: chicken thighs, carrots, onion, ribs celery, all-purpose flour, rosemary
Total time: 55 min | Serves: 6 | Ingredients: 17
3. Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe
Poblano peppers and corn tortillas fried in the pot give this a smoky depth that a spice packet cannot replicate. Sixteen ingredients, ready in 35 minutes, serves six. Load it with avocado, lime and crushed tortilla chips at the table.
Key ingredients: neutral oil, inch corn tortillas, yellow or white onion, poblano peppers, garlic, coarsely chopped fresh cilantro stems
Total time: 35 min | Serves: 6 | Ingredients: 16
4. Best Lasagna Soup Recipe
All the flavour of lasagna with none of the layering, and it serves eight. Ground beef, Italian seasoning and a hit of red pepper flakes, finished with ricotta on top. Forty minutes, and children tend to eat it without complaint.
Key ingredients: ground beef, onion, garlic, Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, crushed tomatoes
💡 Cook’s tip: Lasagna noodles — i prefer using traditional noodles over instant to avoid mushiness.
Total time: 40 min | Serves: 8 | Ingredients: 14
5. Creamy White Chicken Chili Recipe
White beans and cumin instead of tomatoes and kidney beans, which makes for a mellower, creamier chili. Fifteen ingredients, 45 minutes, serves five. Good with tortilla chips crushed over the top and plenty of lime.
Key ingredients: yellow onion, garlic, chicken broth, cans, cumin, smoked paprika
Total time: 45 min | Serves: 5 | Ingredients: 15
6. Mexican Street Corn White Chicken Chili Recipe
Twenty-five minutes for a chili with this much going on is genuinely impressive. Jalapeno, bone broth and sour cream, with the sweetness of corn cutting the heat. Seventeen ingredients and it serves six.
Key ingredients: chicken breasts, yellow onion, jalapeño, chicken bone broth, sour cream, Monterey Jack cheese
💡 Cook’s tip: This slurry will help thicken the chili so you get that hearty, comforting texture rather than something overly watery.
Total time: 25 min | Serves: 6 | Ingredients: 17
7. Easy Crockpot Chili Recipe
Twelve ingredients into the slow cooker in the morning and dinner is done. Ground beef or turkey with kidney and black beans. It runs eight hours unattended, which makes it the obvious choice for a day you will not be home.
Key ingredients: ground beef or turkey, onion, garlic, kidney beans, black beans, tomatoes
Total time: 490 min | Serves: 6 | Ingredients: 12 | Calories: 310 kcal
8. Best Taco Soup Recipe
Taco night in a bowl – ground beef, taco seasoning, black beans and tomatoes. Fourteen ingredients, 40 minutes, serves six. Set out cheese, sour cream and tortilla chips and let people build their own.
Key ingredients: ground beef, onion, garlic, taco seasoning, black beans, pinto beans
💡 Cook’s tip: Make sure it coats the meat well—that’s where all the taco flavor comes from!
Total time: 40 min | Serves: 6 | Ingredients: 14 | Calories: 350 kcal
9. Creamy Broccoli Cheese Soup Recipe
A proper roux base rather than a shortcut, which is why this comes out velvety instead of grainy. Twelve ingredients, 40 minutes, serves six. Grate the cheese yourself and stir it in off the heat for the smoothest result.
Key ingredients: butter, onion, carrots, garlic, all-purpose flour, vegetable broth
💡 Cook’s tip: Slowly pour in the vegetable broth while stirring to avoid lumps.
Total time: 40 min | Serves: 6 | Ingredients: 12
10. Easy Baked Potato Soup Recipe
Everything you put on a loaded baked potato, in soup form. Russet potatoes, bacon, butter and garlic, ready in 40 minutes. Twelve ingredients, serves four, and it is thick enough to stand a spoon in.
Key ingredients: russet potatoes, bacon, onion, garlic, butter, all-purpose flour
💡 Cook’s tip: Russet potatoes — baked and scooped works best for flavor but you can also peel and dice them before boiling.
Total time: 40 min | Serves: 4 | Ingredients: 12 | Calories: 450 kcal
11. Chicken Corn Chowder Recipe
Chowder needs sweetness against the cream, and corn provides it. A classic butter, onion, carrot and celery base, thickened properly. Serves eight from fourteen ingredients, which makes it excellent value for a full pot.
Key ingredients: butter, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, all-purpose flour
💡 Cook’s tip: Russet potatoes — russet works nicely because they break down a little and give body to the chowder; peel if you prefer.
Total time: 60 min | Serves: 8 | Ingredients: 14
12. Creamy Gnocchi Soup with Rosemary Bacon
Gnocchi in soup is an underrated move – they turn soft and pillowy and thicken the broth as they cook. Thick-cut bacon and rosemary do the heavy lifting on flavour. Nineteen ingredients, 40 minutes, serves four.
Key ingredients: thick-cut bacon, rosemary, yellow onion, carrots, celery stalks, garlic
💡 Cook’s tip: Slowly pour in the vegetable broth, stirring well to avoid lumps.
Total time: 40 min | Serves: 4 | Ingredients: 19 | Calories: 450 kcal
13. Creamy Italian Sausage Soup Recipe
Italian sausage brings its own seasoning, so the ingredient list works harder than it looks. Butter, onion, celery and garlic underneath, cream through at the end. Eighteen ingredients, 55 minutes, serves four.
Key ingredients: Italian sausage, butter, onion, celery, garlic, flour
Total time: 55 min | Serves: 4 | Ingredients: 18 | Calories: 475 kcal
14. Creamy Parmesan Italian Sausage Soup Recipe
A sharper, more savoury take on sausage soup, with Parmesan stirred through to add salt and body. Thirteen ingredients, 40 minutes, serves six. Keep the rind and drop it in while it simmers if you have one.
Key ingredients: Italian sausage, onion, garlic, carrots, celery stalks, thyme
💡 Cook’s tip: Chicken broth — homemade or low-sodium store-bought works best for control over salt.
Total time: 40 min | Serves: 6 | Ingredients: 13
15. Italian Meatball Soup Recipe
Small meatballs made from scratch, simmered in broth with Italian seasoning and parsley. Twenty-one ingredients makes it one of the bigger jobs here, but it serves six and feels like a proper Sunday cook.
Key ingredients: ground beef, garlic, Italian seasoning, parsley, egg, Parmesan cheese
Total time: 55 min | Serves: 6 | Ingredients: 21
16. Creamy Ravioli Soup Recipe
Shop-bought ravioli turns a simple sausage and tomato broth into a full dinner with no extra effort. Twelve ingredients, 35 minutes, serves six. One of the highest reward-to-effort ratios on this list.
Key ingredients: butter, onion, ground Italian sausage, crushed tomatoes, chicken broth, four-cheese ravioli
💡 Cook’s tip: Four-cheese ravioli — the key ingredient that adds creamy cheesy bites.
Total time: 35 min | Serves: 6 | Ingredients: 12
17. Best Chicken Pot Pie Soup Recipe
Pot pie filling, loosened into soup and served with egg noodles instead of pastry. Eleven ingredients, 35 minutes, serves four. Comfort food that comes together on a weeknight without any rolling or blind baking.
Key ingredients: chicken, peas, dry egg noodles, carrot, celery stalk, onion
💡 Cook’s tip: Dry egg noodles — wide egg noodles hold up best in creamy soups—avoid overcooking to keep them firm.
Total time: 35 min | Serves: 4 | Ingredients: 11 | Calories: 370 kcal
18. Chicken And Wild Rice Soup Recipe
Wild rice holds its bite far better than white rice, which stops the soup turning to porridge on day two. A classic butter and mirepoix base, fourteen ingredients, an hour on the hob.
Key ingredients: wild rice blend, yellow onion, carrots, celery, butter, garlic clove
💡 Cook’s tip: Salt and ground black pepper — essential for seasoning and highlighting flavors.
Total time: 60 min | Ingredients: 14
19. Anti Inflammatory Turmeric Chicken Soup Recipe
Turmeric, leek, celery and carrot in a long, gentle simmer. Sixteen ingredients, an hour, serves six. This is the one to make when someone in the house is under the weather and nobody wants anything heavy.
Key ingredients: onion, leek, carrots, celery stalks, garlic, turmeric powder
💡 Cook’s tip: Turmeric powder — the key anti-inflammatory spice that gives warmth and golden color.
Total time: 60 min | Serves: 6 | Ingredients: 16
20. Creamy French Onion and Mushroom Soup Recipe
French onion with mushrooms added, deglazed with dry white wine. Fifteen ingredients and a full hour, most of it spent letting the onions caramelise properly – which is the step you must not rush. Serves six.
Key ingredients: butter, yellow onions, dry white wine, garlic, cremini or wild mushrooms, thyme leaves
💡 Cook’s tip: Yellow onions — choose firm onions for the best flavor and texture.
Total time: 60 min | Serves: 6 | Ingredients: 15 | Calories: 630 kcal
21. Crockpot French Onion Soup Recipe
The slow cooker version, which solves the main problem with French onion soup: the onions need hours and you do not want to stand there stirring. Ten ingredients, serves eight, and it largely does itself.
Key ingredients: white onions, butter, beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, dry sherry
💡 Cook’s tip: I like to toast the bread lightly before topping it with cheese—this prevents it from becoming too soggy when broiled.
Total time: 380 min | Serves: 8 | Ingredients: 10
22. Crockpot Potato Soup Recipe
Potatoes, cream and sour cream, left to their own devices for five hours. Twelve ingredients, serves six. Thick, rich, and about as low-effort as a full pot of soup gets.
Key ingredients: chicken broth, potatoes, heavy cream, sour cream, thyme, yellow onion
💡 Cook’s tip: Potatoes — russet potatoes work best as they’re starchy and help thicken the soup. Avoid waxy potatoes.
Total time: 315 min | Serves: 6 | Ingredients: 12 | Calories: 320 kcal
23. Easy Stuffed Pepper Soup Recipe
Everything inside a stuffed pepper – beef, rice, peppers, tomato – without the stuffing. Thirteen ingredients, 45 minutes. The rice cooks in the broth and thickens it, so it eats more like a stew.
Key ingredients: white rice, onion, lean ground beef, garlic, red bell pepper, green bell pepper
💡 Cook’s tip: Onion — the onion brings sweetness and depth; I prefer a mild variety for balance.
Total time: 45 min | Ingredients: 13
24. Easy Tomato Soup With Grilled Cheese Recipe
Real tomatoes roasted with balsamic and red onion rather than a tin, which is what gives this its depth. Sixteen ingredients and 80 minutes, and the grilled cheese is treated as part of the recipe rather than an afterthought.
Key ingredients: Tomatoes, Balsamic vinegar, Sugar, Red onions, Garlic, basil leaves
Total time: 80 min | Ingredients: 16
25. Minestrone Soup Recipe
A proper minestrone with fennel in the base alongside the usual carrot, onion and celery. Fifteen ingredients, 55 minutes, serves six. Endlessly adaptable to whatever vegetables need using up.
Key ingredients: carrots, onion, garlic cloves, celery stalks, fennel bulb, tomato paste
💡 Cook’s tip: Carrots — fresh carrots add natural sweetness and texture—avoid frozen as they turn mushy.
Total time: 55 min | Serves: 6 | Ingredients: 15 | Calories: 320 kcal
26. Lentil Soup with Spinach and Tomatoes Recipe
Green lentils hold their shape rather than collapsing, so this stays a soup rather than turning to puree. Sixteen ingredients, 50 minutes, and it is cheap, filling and improves overnight.
Key ingredients: green lentils, garlic cloves, onion, carrots, celery stalks, avocado oil
Total time: 50 min | Ingredients: 16 | Calories: 800 kcal
27. Moroccan Chickpea Soup Recipe
Warm spice against sweet carrot and tomato paste, thickened by the chickpeas themselves. Sixteen ingredients, 35 minutes, serves six. Genuinely one of the best-value recipes in this collection.
Key ingredients: onion, carrots, celery sticks, garlic cloves, tomato paste, ground cumin
Total time: 35 min | Serves: 6 | Ingredients: 16
28. Chickpea, Spinach & Herb Stew Recipe
Eleven ingredients and 35 minutes for a stew that eats like it took far longer. Cumin and paprika do the work, spinach goes in at the end so it keeps its colour. Serves four and costs very little.
Key ingredients: chickpeas, onion, garlic, ground cumin, paprika, spinach
💡 Cook’s tip: Garlic — fresh garlic enhances depth; avoid pre-minced for best taste.
Total time: 35 min | Serves: 4 | Ingredients: 11
29. Coconut Fish Stew With Ginger & Greens Recipe
White fish poached gently in coconut milk with ginger and garlic. Eleven ingredients, 40 minutes, serves four. Lighter than everything else here but still deeply warming, and it comes together quickly.
Key ingredients: white fish fillets, coconut milk, ginger, garlic, onion, leafy greens
💡 Cook’s tip: Let them cook gently without stirring too much to avoid breaking them.
Total time: 40 min | Serves: 4 | Ingredients: 11
30. Ham and Bean Soup Recipe
The classic way to use up a ham bone, and worth buying one for. Three and a half hours mostly unattended, thirteen ingredients, and the beans thicken the broth as they break down. Deeply savoury and very cheap.
Key ingredients: leftover ham, ham bone, Great Northern or Navy beans, celery, carrots, onion
💡 Cook’s tip: Ham bone — essential for deep savory broth; don’t skip it if possible.
Total time: 210 min | Ingredients: 13
Most of these soups improve after a night in the fridge, as the starches settle and the seasoning evens out. If you are making one ahead, hold back a little stock to loosen it when you reheat, since almost all of them thicken as they sit.
For freezing: broth-based soups, chilis, lentil and bean soups all freeze for up to three months without any issue. Anything built on cream, milk or a lot of potato can turn grainy, so freeze those before the dairy goes in and stir it through after reheating.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I freeze these soups?
Most of them, yes, for up to three months. Broth-based soups, chilis, and anything built on beans or lentils freeze particularly well and often taste better for it.
Soups heavy on cream, milk or potato can separate or turn grainy when thawed – the fix is to make the soup up to the point where dairy goes in, freeze it there, and stir the cream through after reheating.
How do I stop cream from splitting in soup?
Add it at the very end, off the heat, and never let the pot come back to a boil afterwards. It also helps to temper it first: stir a ladle of the hot soup into the cream in a separate bowl, then pour that mixture back into the pot. Full-fat cream is far more stable than milk or single cream.
How can I make a thin soup thicker?
Several options depending on the soup. Blend a cup or two of it and stir it back in – this works especially well for bean, lentil, and vegetable soups.
Otherwise mash some of the potato or beans against the side of the pot, or stir in a slurry of a tablespoon of cornstarch mixed with cold water and simmer for a couple of minutes.
Which of these can I make in a slow cooker?
Several are written for one – the crockpot chili, French onion, potato soup and Italian chicken soup. Beyond those, most broth-based soups here adapt well: brown any meat first, then add everything except cream, pasta or delicate greens and cook on low for six to eight hours. Add dairy and quick-cooking ingredients in the last twenty minutes.
How long does homemade soup keep in the fridge?
Three to four days in an airtight container for most of these. Soups with seafood are best eaten within two days. Cool the soup down reasonably quickly before refrigerating rather than putting a hot pot straight in, and reheat until it is properly steaming through.