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
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STEP 1 START WITH OIL / BUTTER |
Choose from: Butter, olive oil, coconut oil |
Add 2 tbsp. to a heavy based pan |
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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 |
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SAUTE FOR 5 MINUTES ON A LOW HEAT
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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 |
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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 |
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STEP 5 CHECK YOUR SEASONING
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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 | |
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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.
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Stir until everything is incorporated, then simmer for 20-30 minutes until all of the ingredients are cooked |
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SIMMER FOR 20 – 30 MINS
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STEP 7 QUICK COOK ADDITIONS AT THE END?
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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 |
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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 | |
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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 |
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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