Best Winter Soup Recipes from Around the World | Easy & Healthy

Best Winter Soup Recipes from Around the World | Easy & Healthy — My Cozy-obsessed Guide#

So, um, winter soup is my entire personality right now. I mean I always loved soup, but ever since last year’s first frost I swear I’ve been living out of bowls. Like, borderline embarrassing. There’s this feeling when the pot goes on and the kitchen fogs up a bit and you do that lil taste-test dance with the spoon. It’s not just food. It’s a hug that keeps refilling itself, you know?¶

Soup season now feels different (2024-2025 kinda glow up)#

This winter’s been all about smarter, easier, planet-friendlier soups. I keep seeing folks making “brothy beans” that eat like a whole meal, and suddenly seaweeds and mushrooms are the cool kids because, hello, umami and low impact. Kelp is having A Moment as regenerative ocean farms grow, and chickpea miso is showing up in regular grocery stores now, not just fancy markets. Chili crisp isn’t going anywhere in 2025 either, it’s getting drizzled over everything soupy for crunch-heat. People are doing more induction cooking at home too, which brings pots to a boil crazy fast, and pressure cookers are back in rotation for weeknight pho and bean soups. I’m also seeing meal-planning apps spit out soup rotations that actually, like, make sense with what’s in your fridge. Bless.¶

A few bowls that made me fall for soup in the first place#

I remember slurping borscht at Veselka on a freezing New York night, and everything smelled like dill and steam and someone’s scarf. One time in Bangkok I had tom kha off a wobbly street cart and learned you can be full and still keep eating just because it’s so perfect. And on a rainy afternoon in Portland, I sat by the window with a giant bowl of brothy noodles at Ippudo and, idk, the whole day reset. Soup does that. Me and my friend went on a dumb soup crawl last winter and honestly it was the best date I’ve had with anyone ever. Don’t tell my partner. Just kidding. Kind of.¶

The pantry that makes easy, healthy soups actually… easy#

• Aromatics: onions, garlic, scallions, ginger, celery, carrots
• Broth boosters: kombu, dried shiitake, miso paste, tomato paste, anchovy paste or white miso for pescetarians
• Proteins: canned chickpeas and beans, rotisserie chicken, firm tofu, lentils
• Acid + heat: lemon, lime, rice vinegar, sherry vinegar, chili crisp, gochugaru
• Greens & herbs: kale, spinach, parsley, dill, cilantro
• Starches: potatoes, rice noodles, udon, stale bread for ribollita

Hot tip that’s not hot, literally—don’t boil miso. Stir it in at the end or it loses that soft, kind of buttery depth. Also, throw a piece of kombu in your bean pot. It helps the texture and some folks say it makes beans easier to digest. I can’t prove it, but my belly says thanks.¶

Around-the-world bowls you can actually cook on a Wednesday#

1) Moroccan-ish Harira (tomato, chickpeas, lentils, cinnamon) — protein-packed and cozy#

• Sweat a chopped onion, celery, and carrot in olive oil with garlic, turmeric, cumin, ginger, and a pinch of cinnamon.
• Add a spoon of tomato paste, then chickpeas, red lentils, and crushed tomatoes. Cover with water or veg stock.
• Simmer till lentils soften, finish with chopped cilantro, lemon juice, and a drizzle of good olive oil. Salt till it sings.

2) Kabocha Miso Soup (Japan) — sweet squash, savory broth, super chill#

• Make a quick dashi: simmer kombu and a couple dried shiitake, then remove kombu before it boils. Add thin kabocha slices.
• When squash is tender, kill the heat. Whisk in white or chickpea miso in a ladle of hot broth, then stir back in.
• Top with tofu cubes, scallions, and a few drops of sesame oil. Don’t boil after miso goes in, pretty please.

3) Vietnamese-Style Quick Pho Gà (weeknight version, don’t @ me)#

• Char half an onion and a knob of ginger right on the burner or in a dry pan till black spots. Drop into a pot with chicken stock.
• Add star anise, cinnamon, fish sauce. Simmer with shredded rotisserie chicken. Meanwhile soak rice noodles in hot water.
• Strain if you want, or don’t, then assemble with noodles, chicken, herbs, lime, and chiles. Sip. Exhale.

4) Turkish Mercimek Çorbası — red lentil, lemon, paprika, so simple#

• Cook onion and carrot in butter or olive oil with tomato paste and sweet paprika till glossy.
• Stir in red lentils and water or stock. Simmer 15–20 min. Blend half for creaminess if you feel like it.
• Finish with lemon, mint, and a chili butter drizzle if you’re feeling extra. It’s Tuesday, be extra.

5) Mexican Pozole Verde (lighter, bright, still cozy)#

• Blend tomatillos, jalapeño, cilantro, and pumpkin seeds with garlic and onion into a green sauce.
• Sauté the sauce till it deepens, then add shredded chicken or beans and rinsed hominy. Pour in stock.
• Simmer, then top with radish, cabbage, avocado, and lots of lime. Crunch city.

6) Portuguese Caldo Verde — potatoes, kale, and smoky vibes#

• Cook sliced onion and garlic in olive oil. Add potatoes and water or stock, simmer till potatoes are soft.
• Mash some potatoes in the pot for body. Stir in thinly sliced kale or collards. Add a few slices of chouriço if you eat meat or smoked paprika if you don’t.
• Finish with more olive oil and black pepper. Deeply sippable.

7) Ukrainian-Style Beet Borscht — vivid, tangy, sweet-savory#

• Sauté onion, carrot, celery. Add grated beets and cabbage with a spoon of tomato paste.
• Pour in stock or water. Simmer till beets are tender. A splash of vinegar or lemon at the end makes everything pop.
• Serve with dill and a dollop of yogurt or sour cream. Eat with bread, always.

8) West African Groundnut Soup — peanut, tomato, ginger, bliss#

• Bloom garlic, ginger, chili, and onion in oil. Stir in tomato paste and a generous scoop of natural peanut butter.
• Whisk with stock till smooth. Add sweet potato cubes and simmer till soft.
• Finish with greens and lime. Crushed peanuts on top if you got ’em.

9) Italian Ribollita — Tuscan bread soup that doesn’t skimp#

• Cook onion, carrot, celery with thyme. Add white beans, chopped tomatoes, and lots of cavolo nero or kale.
• Push in torn stale bread and enough stock to get it brothy-thick. Let it sit off heat 10 min.
• Olive oil, more than you think. Then more. Pepper, chili flakes, parm rinds if you saved any.

10) Korean-ish Kimchi Jjigae — spicy, funky, clears the sinuses#

• Sauté kimchi with gochujang and a bit of pork or mushrooms. Add anchovy-kelp stock or water plus a splash of soy.
• Simmer with tofu and scallions. Serve with rice because that’s the move.

Not gonna lie, I contradict myself and say soups are “easy” then start rattling off steps, but once you cook 2–3 of these you’re kind of unstoppable. The whole trick is layering heat, salt, and acid till the steam hits your face and you go yeah that’s the stuff.¶

Healthy without the sad salad energy#

• Salt sooner than later. Salting beans and lentils early actually helps even cooking. Old myth busted in most test kitchens.
• Roast veg first for weeknight “slow” flavor. Sheet pan carrots, onions, tomatoes. Dump into the pot. Depth with no babysitting.
• Lean on legumes and greens. Fiber + protein + warmth = you’re full, not sleepy. Win.
• Use umami boosters that aren’t heavy. Miso, dried mushrooms, nutritional yeast, a touch of fish sauce.
• Finish with acid, always. Lemon, lime, vinegar. Broth wakes up, your palate does a little happy clap.

Also seeing more low-waste kitchen moves this winter. People saving parm rinds and scallion butts in a freezer bag for broths. Upcycled broth concentrates are popping up too, which is neat for tiny kitchens. I keep a bag of mushroom stems like a little goblin and honestly it’s worth it.¶

Where I slurp when I’m not cooking (aka my lazy list)#

When I’m out, I still daydream about the dill-forward borscht at Veselka in NYC, the restorative bowls of pho in Little Saigon spots around Garden Grove, and that garlicky, potato-rich caldo vibe at a small Portuguese cafe I stumbled into in Fall River. Xi’an Famous Foods does a mean, spicy beef soup that stings in a good way. And ramen shops like Ippudo nail that broth-you-think-about-later feeling. Restaurants keep dropping winter soup specials because people want steam and spice, not just salads, and I’m here for it.¶

Soup prep that doesn’t steal your weekend#

Sundays I make one big pot and two mix-and-match boosters. Like: a quart of brothy beans with rosemary, a jar of green sauce for pozole or tortilla soup, and roasted carrots. Then all week I go freestyle. Beans + miso broth + greens. Or roasted carrots into harira with a squeeze of lemon. Pressure cooker gets me “long simmer” textures in like 30 mins tops. Induction cooktop boils water fast enough that I blink and it’s soup o’clock. And if I’m having a day, I microwave broth, drop in spinach, crack an egg, and call it “spa ramen.” No one can judge me, it’s my house.¶

Copy“If the soup tastes flat, it’s almost never about adding more stuff. It’s salt and acid. That’s it.” — me, to myself, out loud over a pot, like a weirdo

Little mistakes that made me better at soup#

• I used to boil miso and wondered why it tasted sad. Don’t. Off heat, whisk, done.
• I added all the greens at once and got swampy mush. Stagger them. Tender stuff last minute.
• I skipped charring aromatics for pho. The smoke matters. Even a toaster oven broil does it.
• I was scared of fish sauce. Now I add a splash to tomato soups too. It’s magic, not fishy.

Final slurps#

Winter soups are like little passports. Honest, cheap-ish, and easy to share. The best part is how 2025 cooking is smarter — induction heat, pressure-pots doing the time warp, apps that hand you grocery lists, and pantry upgrades like chickpea miso and regenerative kelp making bowls taste big without being heavy. Try one new bowl this week, even if it’s just mercimek with lemon. Then another next week. Before you know it, your cold-weather self has a whole soup rotation and suddenly December feels… manageable? Anyway, if you’re poking around for more cozy food rabbit holes, AllBlogs.in has a bunch of fun reads that I keep bookmarking. Happy slurping, friends.¶