Best Soups For A Chilly Evening

When there is a chill in the air and it gets dark earlier and earlier, curling up on the couch in sweatpants with a warm bowl of soup sounds pretty heavenly. Whether you’re enrolled in a culinary academy or you just love to cook, it’s always handy to have a go-to soup recipe. Whether you’re into savory cream soups or healthy vegetable soups, there are plenty of ways to warm up in the coming months.

Cream soups

• Quinoa cauliflower chowder: Nothing warms the soul like a bowl of chowder. If you’re tired of the classic clam chowder and are feeling a little daring, quinoa cauliflower chowder will do the trick. Rich and flavorful, this creamy chowder will stick to your bones.
• Beer and cheddar soup: If proper eating isn’t exactly your thing, a beer and cheddar soup will be. Made with your favorite beer, lots of cheese, bacon and plenty of flavor-enhancers like garlic, thyme and jalapeno, imagine blissfully drifting off to sleep after a big warm bowl of this soup.

Noodle soups

• Chicken noodle soup: You can’t go wrong with a classic recipe made with chicken, carrots, noodles and broth. Customize it with your favorite veggies or leave it as is. There is no better way to get over a cold.
• Tortellini soup: If you’re a fan of cheese, you could technically replace any noodles in any soup with tortellini. However, you can’t deny that a tomato-based soup works wonders with tortellini, especially paired with spinach, white beans and parmesan cheese.

Vegetable soups

• Butternut squash soup: A pureed butternut squash soup is as rich as a cream soup and as healthy as a vegetable soup. With only seven ingredients, it’s an easy dinner to make ahead of time and save for lunches throughout the week.
• Tomato soup: Don’t you dare open that canned soup. Try a chunky tomato soup full of onion, fennel, tomatoes and croutons. This decadent tomato soup would pair well with a gourmet grilled cheese sandwich for an adult take on a childhood classic meal.

Chilis

• Sweet potato black bean chili: You can replace ground beef with black beans in a burger, so why not in a chili? Sweet potatoes and black beans complement each other so well that you don’t even realize that this chili is missing meat! Throw your favorite Southwest-inspired ingredients on top.
• White bean pumpkin pork chili: Be sure to make this while pumpkin is still readily available. However, if you’d prefer squash, it’s an acceptable substitute. Pork gives this twist on white bean chicken chili a new flavor that still pairs well with white beans. This chili can even be prepared in a slow cooker so you don’t even have to deal with stirring it on the stovetop.