With cooler weather and an abundant harvest, the season for soup has arrived. Soup is an excellent meal for weight loss, weight maintenance, nutrition, and convenience. It’s the original one-pot meal. It’s endlessly customizable, in terms of ingredients, flavor profiles, and add-ins. 

Here’s a breakdown of how to make fantastic soup in a variety of ways. 

 Broth

Broth is the base of a soup. It can add richness and depth of flavor, and can also be an excellent source of vitamins, minerals, and collagen, depending on what is used. The simplest broth is just water added to the rest of the soup as a liquid. As the soup cooks, the ingredients will impart flavor to the water, but it won’t be as rich as using a stock. Stock can be made ahead of time and frozen. It can be vegetable stock, or bone broth. Throwing some veggies, and soup bones if desired, in a large pot of water with salt and a little apple cider vinegar (a tablespoon) and letting it simmer for several hours before straining it will yield a flavorful base for the soup. Be sure to spoon away any froth that accumulates on top of the pot while simmering. When choosing a bullion powder or prepared stock from the store, pay attention to the labels. Look for a stock with lower sodium and few preservatives or artificial flavorings or enhancers. 

Sautéed onions

Almost every good soup starts with onions sautéed in a good fat. Avocado, ghee, and coconut oil are all options to use. Choose a mix of alliums: there are red, yellow, and white onions, shallots, leeks, and garlic. Onions and leeks need longer cooking times, so brown them first and add the garlic at the very end so it doesn’t burn. Taking the time to brown the alliums adds sweetness and flavor to the soup. It also softens the onions so that they almost disappear into the broth. Some people like to soften the celery, peppers, and carrots by cooking them with the onions; some prefer to add those vegetables later so that they retain more of their texture in the soup. Mushrooms can also be sautéed with the onions. 

Spices

Once the onions are browned, if ground spices are being added to the soup it can be helpful to add them to the hot oil as well. This process is called “blooming” and it brings out the flavors of chili powder, cumin, coriander, paprika, turmeric, and other dried and ground spices. Generally speaking, spices made with bark or seeds are bloomed; herbs, either dried or fresh, are added a bit later in the cooking process. It only takes a few seconds of stirring in the hot oil to bloom the spices; it helps to have the broth ready to pour in right away so that they don’t burn. When the broth is added, stir and scrape all the browned bits from the bottom of the pan into the stock. They add immeasurable flavor. 

Vegetables

Once the alliums and spices are sautéed and the broth has been added, it’s time to add vegetables. Carrots, celery, potatoes, cubed squash, sweet potatoes, shredded kale or chard, turnips, rutabagas, parsnips, and beets (be prepared for beets to share their color with the whole pot) are all excellent additions to a soup. Vegetables provide flavor, color, texture, fiber, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and complex carbohydrates. 

Grains and legumes

Grains and legumes can add protein, texture, fiber, and flavor to a soup. It is helpful to pre-cook grains and beans so that they don’t absorb all of the broth as they cook. For extra-flavorful grains and beans, cook them in stock as well and then add them to the pot when they are almost done. Wild rice, brown rice, barley, quinoa, and beans of all sorts make excellent additions to soups. If noodles are preferred, they can also be cooked separately and added just before eating so that they don’t soak up too much liquid. 

Protein

If using raw meat such as chicken, ground meats, pork, or beef, brown the meat in the oil at the end of cooking the onions. Choose lean meats or skim most of the fat after cooking. Leaving a bit of fat improves flavor and helps the body digest and process fat-soluble vitamins. Fish or shrimp need a shorter cooking time. It is also simple to add leftover chopped meat, such as turkey, pot roast, or roasted chicken to a soup. For vegetarian soups, combining a grain with a legume provides a complete protein.

Salt

Making soup at home means that the cook is in control of the salt content. Add salt to taste. More may be needed in soups that contain potatoes or beans. 

Herbs and Lemon

Fresh or dried herbs should be added after the soup has simmered and is nearly done. Fresh herbs will retain their flavor and color if just stirred in at the very end. A squeeze of lemon juice can brighten flavors and add a bit of interest, as can a swirl of good quality extra virgin olive oil at the very end. 

Toppings and add-ins

Fresh herbs, grated cheese in small amounts, feta, toasted nuts, whole grain croutons, nut crackers can be served with soup to add a little crunch and extra flavor. Sometimes serving soup as a “dipping sauce” can make it more appealing for children as well. 

The general order is this: sauté alliums, brown meat, bloom spices, add veggies, broth, cooked meats, and precooked grains and/or legumes, simmer until cooked through, taste for salt, add herbs and lemon, and serve with a few extras for dipping. For a chili-like stew, choose tomatoes for the veggies, cumin, chili powder, and oregano for the spices, and rice and beans, or ground meat for a protein. For a curry-like stew, choose spices such as cumin, coriander, turmeric, ground ginger or grated fresh ginger, and a variety of vegetables, with rice and lentils or peas for protein. For more of a minestrone, choose carrots, celery, and tomatoes for vegetables and add salt and pepper, fresh basil or flat-leaf parsley, and a pinch of oregano. There is a lot of room to experiment. 

If the do-it-yourself style isn’t appealing, Dr. Traci Kiernan’s e-cookbook, Eating on Purpose, contains an entire chapter of soups and stews that satisfy the body’s need for flavor AND nutrition.