Soups Step by Step

Soups are a great way to pack in vegetables and nutrients.  Use whatever vegetables you have in the fridge, cook them in stock and bulk it out with ingredients such as lentils, beans, noodles, rice and quinoa which you can either add cooked at the end or put in with the vegetables and cook as part of the soup.  You don’t need a recipe – just follow this step by step guide

Servings

6

Ready In:

45min

Lever:

Beginner

Skills covered

Knife skills, Seasoning, Simmering, Reducing, Cooking a Meal

Soups

By: Chloe Coker

Soups are quick, cheap and simple to make. They are all made in in the same way so we have put together an easy step by step guide for you so to follow so that you can open your fridge / pantry and use whatever you find inside, rather than follow a recipe.

Instructions

 

 

STEP 1

START WITH OIL / BUTTER

 

Choose from: Butter, olive oil, coconut oil

 

Add 2 tbsp. to a heavy based pan

STEP 2

ADD SOME

AROMATICS

 

Choose a couple of: Onion, garlic, ginger, chilli, celery, carrots, leeks

 

Saute them for 5 minutes over a low heat in a little butter or oil

SAUTE FOR 5 MINUTES ON A LOW HEAT

STEP 3

ADD SOME  HERBS AND SPICES

 

Curry powder, cumin, coriander, turmeric, thai curry paste, harissa, smoked paprika, thyme, rosemary, dried herbs

 Cook for 1 minute

STEP 4

ADD SOME VEGETABLES AND PROTEIN (ABOUT 400-500g)

Any vegetables you like but think about cooking times – for example potatoes take a lot longer to cook than broccoli.  Chop vegetables to a similar size so they take a similar amount of time to cook and, if you are planning to leave your soup chunky, make sure they are bite size and not too big. Fry your vegetables for a couple of minutes over a medium heat

STEP 5

CHECK YOUR SEASONING

 

Season well with salt and pepper.  You might want to add a tsp sugar or maple syrup if using tomatoes or a lot of spice  

STEP 6

ADD SOME LIQUID AND MAYBE SOME BULKING INGREDIENTS.  YOU NEED ABOUT 700-900ml LIQUID PER 400g VEGETABLES

Good quality stock is usually best.  You might also want to add milk or coconut milk for a creamy soup or tinned tomatoes for a tomato soup.

You might also want to add lentils, beans, chickpeas, rice, quinoa or pasta at this stage so that they cook in the stock. Alternatively you can stir pre-cooked rice or pasta through at the end.

 

Stir until everything is incorporated, then simmer for 20-30 minutes until all of the ingredients are cooked

SIMMER FOR 20 – 30 MINS

STEP 7

QUICK COOK ADDITIONS AT THE END?

 

If you like you can add chopped frozen spinach, sweetcorn, rice or noodles if you would like to Add for the last 5 – 10 minutes of cooking

STEP 8

SMOOTH OR CHUNKY?

Blitz your soup now if you would like it smooth. You may need to add more water if the soup is a bit thick.  For a really smooth soup sieve after blending

STEP 9

WOULD YOU LIKE YOUR SOUP CREAMY?

You can add 2 tbsp cream, cream cheese or sour cream.  Adding a tin of butterbeans and then blitzing the soup is a great way to make a vegan / diary free soup creamy Stir through at the end and do not boil once added – just simmer gently to warm through

STEP 10

FINISHING AND SEASONING

Squeeze of lemon/lime, add fresh herbs, toasted seeds, swirl of pesto / sourcream Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper

 

 

 

Tips, Tricks and Teaching Info

Seasoning

Seasoning as all about balancing salt, sweet and acid flavours.  If you are making a tomato soup, tomatoes are acidic so adding a small amount of sugar or maple syrup helps to balance the acidity.  If you are doing something sweet like carrot and squash / sweet potato, a squeeze of lime helps to add freshness and cuts through the sweetness.  Salt brings out the flavour.

Nutrients and Bulking

Soup is a great way to pack in lots of vegetables and to get hidden veg into kids.  Make it go further by adding beans, lentils, rice, quinoa and noodles. 

Use this guide to make a soup from what you have in the fridge / pantry

or have a look at at our 5 simple soups post which all follow the steps above