When the weather gets chilly, there is nothing like a nice soup to warm you up! I compiled a list of the best soup recipes for you to make this winter. These easy soup recipes are added to the rotation of soups I make for my family.
I love soups! Wintertime in my house means lots of soups for lunch and supper. Here are some of the best and easy soup recipes that I have found.
Soups freeze really well, so anytime I come across an easy soup recipe that we love, I make double and freeze it.
5 Easy Soup Recipes With Few Ingredients AKA Cheap Soup Recipes
I love making these easy soup recipes because they have such few ingredients!
The fewer ingredients a recipe has, the cheaper it usually is- unless the one ingredient is pretty expensive. These are easy soup recipes with few ingredients, making it easier and cheaper to buy the ingredients, prep the ingredients, and make it! If you don’t have extra time or money, then check out these cheap soup recipes.
Cream of Zucchini Soup
This soup has only five ingredients! It’s that easy and cheap to make! I leave out the parmesan cheese because I find it unnecessary, but I love the creaminess and lightness of this soup, even without the cheese. Zucchinis are pretty cheap when they are in season, so it would be easy to make a huge pot and then freeze some for a quick lunch or dinner.
Get the Cream of Zucchini Soup recipe here!
Red Lentil Soup
I love hearty soups that can take the place of a full meal, and this red lentil soup hits the spot. Unlike other bean-type soups, it actually cooks really quickly, so you don’t need to be too prepared. Red lentils (like most lentils) are very cheap and have a long shelf life, so you can always grab a package to keep in your house for a time when you need soup but don’t want to go out (rainstorm or snowstorm!). Of course, the very few ingredients in this soup (most household staples) make this a winner.
Get the Red Lentil Soup recipe here!
Easy Onion Soup
Nothing has fewer ingredients than a regular onion soup! You can add cheese on the top, but I prefer to sprinkle some on top to save some money (I know I am hopelessly frugal!). French onion soup is the ultimate comfort food and is very easy to make.
Get the Easy Onion Soup recipe here!
Potato Soup
Ok. I lied. While the easy onion soup has very few ingredients, this potato soup recipe has even less! It’s probably an even draw about which one is cheaper because potatoes and onions are both so cheap. If you are struggling with a super tight budget, these are great, easy, and CHEAP recipes to make for a meal! It is filling, hearty, and healthy.
Get the Potato Soup recipe here!
Spicy Tomato Soup
Super easy. Super quick. Super few ingredients. It calls for fresh tomatoes, so it’s only a frugal soup when tomatoes are in season or on sale. This spicy soup is perfect when you are under the weather and need a good pick-me-up!
Get the Spicy Tomato Soup recipe here!
5 Hearty Soup Recipes
Cream of Lima Bean Soup
Any soup that has beans in it is probably going to be both frugal and hearty. I like this soup because it’s creamy and has the beans for some texture (it has an extra step because you have to take the beans out to blend, but it’s worth it if you have the time). Unfortunately, like many bean soups, it doesn’t freeze so well, but if you do freeze it, make sure to add a lot of water or stock when you heat it back up.
Get the Cream of Lima Bean Soup recipe here!
White Bean and Barley Soup With Tomatoes and Greens
This is a great soup that relies on only plant-based ingredients, so it’s super budget-friendly and filling! Leave out the parmesan for additional savings. I also substituted Swiss chard for the kale, or you can use celery leaves, depending on what is on sale or available in your area.
Get the White Bean and Barley Soup recipe here!
Vegetable Barley Soup
This soup is super simple, super basic, and super delicious. As written in the original recipe, it is easy to swap out the ingredients for whatever works for you. So whatever isn’t on sale can be swapped for something that is, and whatever you don’t have in the house, just leave it out! I love all of BudgetBytes’s recipes and often use her site to find great, budget-friendly recipes!
Get the Vegetable Barley Soup recipe here!
Parker’s Split Pea Soup Recipe
Like so many other split pea soup recipes, I like this recipe because it doesn’t call for ham (not kosher) or another meat (more expensive). Split peas are usually dirt cheap, and the rest of the ingredients don’t really cost that much either, so it’s the definition of a frugal soup recipe. A major plus is that it is also really hearty! I love taking some pitas and making homemade pita chips to go with this.
Get the Split Pea Soup Soup recipe here!
Cabbage Soup
Cabbage is a very underrated vegetable. It’s cheap, easy to work with, and really good. This recipe calls for many spices but not a lot of other ingredients, so it’s really easy and cheap to make. Cabbage is a very filling and healthy vegetable, so this is a perfect hearty soup for a cold winter day.
Get the Cabbage Soup recipe here!
5 Best Soup Recipes for Dinner
I am of the opinion that you can serve soup anytime, anywhere. Yes- that includes summertime. Some people do disagree with me. Unless there is another protein added to the soup (or stew), they don’t consider it a full meal. If you are one of those people, then I have not forgotten you! While these soups may not be as cheap or frugal as the other easy soup recipes, they still are cheaper than making a chicken or meat dinner.
Meaty Tomato Soup
Anytime you add meat to a soup, you will automatically go up in price per serving, but this is still pretty cheap, assuming you are not on a super tight budget. It’s a great tomato soup because it’s not too sweet and full of sugar, like so many recipes. While a plain tomato soup may not go over so well as a full dinner, this soup can be a full meal easily!
Get the Meaty Tomato Soup recipe here!
Vegetarian Black-bean Chili
This is my go-to lunch! It is DELICIOUS! It also happens to be very easy to make and vegetarian, which usually means super cheap. I try to use dried black beans instead of canned (soaked and boiled) to save even more. This also freezes very well. You can serve it with toppings (sour cream is really, really good) or just serve it plain. I know it’s not technically a soup, but you make it like a soup, so I included it: my blog, and my rules.
Get the Vegetarian Black-Bean Chili recipe here!
Asian Chicken Noodle Soup
I wasn’t sure if I should include this because it has ingredients not usually found in most people’s homes, which means spending money on ingredients. It also calls for chicken, which is not as cheap as beans. But it is cheaper than meat! However, as I said before, it’s cheaper than making a chicken and a side dish to serve for supper.
THIS IS SO GOOD! If you are sick, YOU MUST MAKE AND EAT THIS. I sound a bit dramatic, but this soup was so healing to eat. Do you know the drama over Bubby’s chicken soup and how it instantly makes you feel better? Well, this is even better than that. It really is that good.
Get the Asian Chicken Noodle Soup recipe here!
Easy One-Pot Chicken Noodle Soup
The Asian Chicken Noodle Soup is perfect, but this soup is for you if you want something a little more traditional. Chicken noodle soup is a classic that must be enjoyed repeatedly. There are so many variations on this soup, but here is an easy, one-pot recipe for anyone who wants a specific recipe to follow instead of winging it.
Get the Chicken Noodle Soup recipe here!
Awesome Mexican Veggie Soup
This soup is a bit more complex and has a bunch of ingredients, but it is so good! It is also vegetarian and hearty, so it’s a perfect soup for a vegetarian who doesn’t want to eat meat during the day. It’s also super healthy and pretty cheap for a meal because it has black beans instead of meat or chicken. A huge plus to this soup is that it takes only 30 minutes to make!
Get the Mexican Veggie Soup recipe here!
5 Homemade Soup Recipes
A Dime Saved Cookbook
I am not a food blogger, so these easy soup recipes don’t have exact recipes or instructions. While I love fun recipes and love cookbooks, and food blogs, I also improvise a lot in the kitchen. Here are some easy soup recipes I make in my own home. These are more instructions than actual recipes, so I apologize in advance!
Cream of Cheap Vegetable Soup
This soup is one of the best and easy soup recipes.
Take onions and sweat them. Take an in-season vegetable. Zucchini, sweet potato, carrot, potato, parsnip, mushroom, and butternut squash all work really well. Whatever is in season at the time! Chop and add to the pot. Cover with water. Cook. Blend with an immersion blender. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Adding a soup to the menu, especially an easy and cheap one, is really the easiest way to stretch a meal. Serving it as a first-course automatically turns your meal into a 2-course affair, and stomachs will be filled with the soup (cheap and healthy!) before serving the pricier main course. Since an in-season vegetable is cheaper than most (all?) chicken, fish, or meat dishes, you can further stretch the main course because you can serve less. A bonus is that vegetable soup is really healthy!
Cream of Roasted Vegetable Soup
This is another great one, but it takes a bit longer because there is one extra step. The best part of this soup is that you can use whatever is cheap or whatever you already have in your house, just like the cream of vegetable soup.
Cut any vegetable into big chunks, and spread it on a baking tray with oil and salt. Bake at 350 until they are soft and slightly roasted. Then take the vegetables and sweat them with onions. Add water, salt, and pepper to taste and cook. Blend.
The extra step of roasting the vegetables gives an extra depth of flavor, making this a really delicious soup. I have done this with potato for a roasted potato soup, garlic to make a roasted garlic soup, roasted butternut squash soup, and zucchini to make a roasted zucchini soup. Some other ideas include roasted pepper soup (people really like roasted red pepper soup), roasted sweet potato soup, and roasted mushroom soup.
Traditional Chicken Soup
What can be better than a classic chicken soup? As a typical Jewish mother, I serve chicken soup every Friday night. I like to make a huge pot of really concentrated chicken soup and then add water every Friday afternoon when I heat it.
Everyone has their secret ideas of what makes chicken soup great, but I love the versatility to add whatever works for me at the time. I always put in chicken and carrots and then either potato, onions, celery, turnip, parsnip, or sweet potato, depending on what is on sale or readily available.
Tip: Carrots add a richness of flavor and give the chicken soup that gorgeous golden color. Don’t skimp on the carrots when making chicken soup.
This is usually significantly cheaper than whole pieces of chicken and still tastes delicious. I like to make chicken soup with cheap chicken scraps or vegetables that are nearing the end of their life and then strain it and freeze it. I take out the broth and add fresh vegetables when I serve it. This is one of the best soup recipes you can make!
If you don’t like eating the chicken part of the chicken soup, you can use the chicken in so many different dishes. Here are 10 Easy Leftover Chicken Recipes you can try!
Broth With Dumplings
Once you have a nice chicken or meat stock in your freezer, you can make an awesome soup with just broth and some add-ins. Take your concentrated broth and add some water. I like to add dumplings (such an easy and cheap food! and Of course, delicious) or noodles.
You can then add some fresh herbs for a bit of color. This is great if you feel under the weather or need something to warm you up in the cold winter. If you work from home, this can be a great snack during the workday. You can even heat it in a mug and sip it while you are working.
Random Vegetable Soup
Soup is the best and easiest dish to make because it’s just SO EASY! You really can take any combination of vegetables and throw it together for an easy soup recipe. Take any combination of root vegetables and dice them. Add water and cook. What can be easier or better?
Some ideas of vegetables to put in include onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, sweet potato, butternut squash, zucchini, yellow squash, parsnip, turnip, celery, garlic, or mushroom. I have an aunt who likes to put tomatoes in as well, but I, personally, am not a fan. You can also group colors to make a colorful soup. If you put sweet potato, butternut squash, and carrots, you can have a delicious orange soup that is sweet and yummy.
5 Healthy Soup Recipes
Vegan Carrot Soup
Carrots are usually cheap all year round, and this recipe doesn’t call for any fancy add-ins. Carrots, potatoes, onions, and celery come together to make a delicious and healthy soup recipe.
Get the Vegan Carrot Soup recipe here!
Flu-Fighter Garlic Soup Recipe
It was in the middle of a long winter, and we were all under the weather. We didn’t have the flu, but we were all under the weather with coughs we couldn’t shake and colds that just were not going away. The mother in me had to make soup to make it all better, and I came across this. It worked! Our coughs and colds didn’t magically go away, but we all felt better and more invigorated after eating this. Of course, homemade soup does that, no matter what the ingredients, but this one really helped.
Get the Flu-Fighter Garlic Soup recipe here!
Classic Minestrone Soup
I remember my mother making this all the time as a kid, and it is a family favorite! This is not the same recipe (sorry!) from my childhood, but it’s close enough. Packed with beans and veggies, it’s a really healthy food that your kids will love (Use a fun-shaped pasta to make this extra kid-friendly). If you are in a rush, use canned and frozen veggies to throw up this soup quickly.
Get the Classic Minestrone Soup recipe here!
Chicken Detox Soup
I don’t do detoxes or cleanses or even diets, but there is no reason why I can’t enjoy the health benefits and yumminess of this detox soup. It’s packed with good things and doesn’t have anything bad in it. I don’t think this one is good for kids, but mothers can have their own food too! Make a pot and store it in individual-size servings for you (or another adult) to enjoy on your own.
Get the Chicken Detox Soup recipe here!
Easy Lentil Soup Recipe
Final Thoughts
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A Dime Saved
Hi! I am a millennial mom with a passion for personal finance. I have always been “into” personal finance but got inspired to start my blog after a period of extended unemployment. That experience really changed the way I viewed my relationship with money and the importance of accessible personal finance education.
I need to try so many of these soups. We eat a ton of soup during the winter and admittedly it’s really only two kinds because I make huge pots of them and then can them. But it would be nice to have more variety, especially when we eat them for 6 months. Can’t wait to give them a try.
If you like chicken soup an amazing variant I tried recently is ginger chicken soup. Adding the ginger really adds a depth to the soup that is hard to describe.
Yum!
I will have to try it
This post is right on time. For the past week, I have been craving soups. Specifically Chickfila’s Chicken Tortilla soup. I really would love to attempt to make some homemade soup for the family and me. It would be perfect for a chilly cold day like today.
My second favorite soup is broccoli cheddar.
xo Erica
Thank you for sharing fantastic soup recipes. It is an interesting and learning blog, I find the actual process the making soup. Again thank you