Whatever You Want Soup Recipe (2024)

My aunt made it every Sunday night.
She called it Weekly Review

Have you been looking into my kitchen? Every so often I do Step One and then go mining in my refrigerator and freezer for whatever I've been pushing out of my way day after day. All goes into the pot with that stray parsnip, wilting escarole, errant frozen slice of meatloaf, whatever. Add some miniature pastas if on hand. So long as the broth is well seasoned and the bread is first rate, contentment reigns at the dinner table.

I have a friend, much cannier than I, who saves (freezes) all her vegetable-cooking water, all her vegetable trimmings, and any such left-overs, and turns them magically into soups.

Too funny....we used to call this garbage soup (admittedly not a great name), I do the same thing as your friend, but I also use some saved starchy water from pasta or boiled potatos. It makes an awesome base for soup. Add some frozen spinach or shredded arugula, and a few tablespoons of good jarred tomatoe sauce and winter soup is done.

Fifty years ago when we were young and poor, we had refrigerator soup every Saturday night. He still thinks I am a great cook.

Emptied the fridge --- wilted chard, tired celery and carrots--- and the pantry --- old sweet potato, a handful of red lentils--- with onion and garlic and chicken stock and a dash of Frank's hot sauce---
A half hour or so? And everyday magic, it was soup! Delicious, easy, and could go in dozens of directions.
I generally need hand holding and specific directions but this emboldened even me, can't wait to try out variations on a reliable basic theme.

A squeeze of lemon or lime takes this to another dimension! I cook a few cups of rice at a time and then freeze small portions for an always-on-hand gluten free starch.

A friend christened this technique "deja stew" when she was growing up.

For an extra delicious broth, rehydrate some dried porcini mushrooms while you're chopping the rest of the veggies, and add the soaking liquid to the stock. Chop and add the mushrooms with the rest of the veggies. Delicious!

My granny taught me to make this, she called it "Stone Soup", the story was that you can make soup out of a stone, just put the stone in a pot, then poke around in the cupboard/fridge, add some onion, and some garlic if you have it, fry it up til it smells good, add some celery and/or carrot... a potato if you have it... top it up with water or stock, add in some greens... some pasta if you like... any leftover meat from a roast.. server with bread and lots of salty butter et voila stone soup

I am well known for "refrigerator soup" If it's veg/meat/leftovers in the fridge and turning south it goes in. My favorite leftovers, enchiladas, spaghetti, lasagna, beef stew are prime candidates. Never drain the cans of beans (that's broth!) and never throw out the ketchup/salsa bottle without rinsing it out for soup. Peels from veggies go in a milk cartons in the freezer to use for stock. My favorite stock is the juice left over from peeling tomatoes for canning.

My husband has been making versions of this soup, as well as a pasta sauce, for years. We call it "fridge soup" or "fridge pasta." Never use water, only stock and/or wine.

My version of this has herbs de Provence for flavor and fresh parsley sprinkled on top when served. Another option I use is fresh sweet Italian chicken sausage dropped in as mini meatballs (use a melon baller). Finally, I like whole wheat orzo as a starch in this soup.

Nothing says meditation for me more than mise en place. Prepping, then adding each bowl of organic vegetables to the pot is a joy and the result is healthy and deeply satisfying.Today’s combination came out perfect! Onions, garlic, celery, carrots, fresh tomatoes, tomato paste, cumin, chipotle powder, oregano, kosher salt and fresh ground pepper, black beans, vegetable stock and a bundle of cilantro stems (to be removed). I topped each bowl with a dollop of Greek yogurt and cilantro leaves.

My mother used to make this, in the 50s and 60s in England. We called it "Mummy Mixture". Different every time!

First, understand that I’m a total novice but have taken over the cooking for myself and my very diabetic wife. (This app has been a godsend!) I decided to go all-in vegetarian, so ingredients were chopped carrots, turnip, golden beets, petite red potatoes, celery, onion, a leek, fresh chard and kale, can of diced tomatoes and can of cannelini beans, both undrained. Used 3 cups of vegetable stock (one carton) and about 3 cups of water. A keeper, if I say it myself!

With a lot of farmer’s market fresh veggies on hand and some beef, we really wanted to make this soup, but it looked a little light on seasonings. So in went 3 teaspoons of a new blend we hadn’t tried before, Reem’s Khalta Hara from Burlap and Barrel (silk chili, wild mountain cumin, black lime, coriander, cardamom, royal cinnamon, salt) and 3 teaspoons, cured sumac, and wow, our new favorite soup! Flavors deepened and melded the second day.

Big fan of the comments on various ways to do this!It’s the perfect soup recipe. I went with winter squash, yams, carrots, fresh tomatoes and chicken. Added cumin, dry thyme, lots of salt, cayenne pepper, 2 bay leaves, and 2 dried red chili peppers some oil. Let that gather some flavor before adding all the veggies, chicken broth and whole chicken breast. Brought to boil and then cooked on low for about an hour maybe more until chicken was easily shredded/root veggies cooked through.

Great way to use up what's in the fridge!

Add tomato paste, a dollop of worcestshire, another of soy, vinegar or lemon. and Srirachi along with cornstarch or arrowroot and some cayenne, just a bit, not for heat but to punch up flavor.

Try roasting garlic.

Our family called it “depression” (scraping together whatever we had). : )My local grocery store carries “chili hot beans” in the canned beans section. They are similar to pork and beans in that you use the liquid, but it’s not sweet, more tomato-y, and a hint of heat. I keep them around to add flavor, body and protein when I’m riffing on soup recipes like this.

I added a teaspoon of turmeric and 1.5 teaspoons of paprika to add a little flavor. Delicious!

The secret is cooking the onions so that they have flavor. I pre-soaked some yellow lentils and used homemade chicken stock and lots of vegetables and serve this over rice. It was delicious.

A great trick I learned here…when your parm is finished save all rinds and put in the freezer…then use in soups. Adds a lot.

I riffed on this recipe. I started with 2 Tbls butter and 2 of olive oil. added 1 diced onion and cooked for about 10 minutes; added 3 garlic cloves sliced. Then added 6 cups of chicken broth, one potato, 4 cups of lacinato kale, 15 oz can of diced tomatoes, 15 oz can of black beans & a small green pepper. Finished it off with a dry packet of Ranch style salad dressing and one bay leaf. Let all of that cook in a slow cooker for 4 hours. Delicious!

Great dish.Used:- 1 thing of Kale- 3 Carrots- 1 Butternut Squash, 1/2” diced- 1 thing of radishes, quartered- Added lots of black pepperNext time use:- Rutabaga- More carrots- Green Beans- squeeze of lemon- sun dried tomatoes???

I love a soup like this. The last few times I have made bean soups, I ended up with Bean Goo. There seems to be a fine line between Bean Soup and Bean Goo. Can anyone offer any advice?

My “go to” soup recipe. Endlessly variable and always delicious. I always use chicken stock; only the onions and garlic are the same each time.

So good on a January Sunday night. I used carrots, celery, potatoes, kale and mayocoba beans as add-ins. The chicken shredded perfectly. Will definitely put it into my winter rotation. Satisfying!