Herbs and spices infuse these nourishing winter warmers and refreshing cold soups with fantastic flavor.
This recipe for Sopa Azteca Tortilla Soup With Pasilla Chile comes from Rick Bayless' Topolobampo Restaurant in Chicago. Both the restaurant and this pasilla chile-accented tortilla soup are favorites of the Obamas. Enjoy it as-is, or serve it as they do at Topolobampo, by adding some roasted chicken and garnishing it with Mexican crema (you could also use creme fraiche or sour cream).
This easy Spicy Carrot Soup gets its beautiful reddish-orange hue from the addition of a red bell pepper. Made from pantry and refrigerator staples, this simple carrot soup is a great choice when you don't have much in the kitchen, but want to eat something homemade.
This refreshing watermelon gazpacho recipe combines sweet melon, vegetables, and savory seasonings. Like its tomato counterpart, this gazpacho gets a flavor boost from fresh garlic.
This simple garlic soup is soothing and mild. Enjoy it regularly to support healthy immune function, or try it at the first signs of illness, to harness garlic's antiviral and antimicrobial properties.
Beluga lentils are tiny black variety, named after the caviar they resemble. Their beautiful color and earthy flavor make them worth seeking out in specialty food stores, but if you can't find them, red lentils work well in this garam masala-enhanced soup.
This fantastically refreshing cold soup is a wonderful way to use succulent summer tomatoes.
Though French Onion Soup is traditionally made with beef stock, the vegetable stock in this recipe really lets the flavor of thyme shine through.
Need stock for a recipe but have none on hand? Try this quick vegetable version, made with a short list of fridge and pantry staples. This recipe yields about 4 cups of stock, so it's a great choice if you don't want to deal with leftovers. It's also easily doubled if you need more.
Roasted corn and butternut squash add textural interest to this velvety, garam masala-scented soup. Easy and relatively quick to prepare, this filling chowder would be perfect with crusty bread and salad on a cold winter night.
Even though it's not stock-based, this warming vegetable soup has plenty of flavor thanks to the liberal use of herbs and spices. Plus, because success doesn't rely on exact measurements, this recipe is a great candidate for experimentation -- try adding beans or changing the vegetables to suit your taste.
