Four Healthy Fall Soups We Love to Make Every Season
Crisp, cool mornings. The change of falling leaves. Light sweaters and booties. Okay, so it’s too hot for any of this to have happened yet, but us girls can wish, right? We love fall weather and all the activities that come with the season. We also love comfort food. The fall season is a time for nesting. When all you want is something warm in a bowl, your favorite fur throw and a good movie, we have some great soup ideas. Whether you need something new to take to “Friendsgiving," or want to make a big batch to always have something healthy and hearty on deck, we think you will enjoy any one of the four recipes we have posted below. Give it try and let us know what you think!!
Kale, White Bean, and Chicken Sausage Soup
This is one of our favorite soups. It’s fast, filling, and has just enough spice to warm your insides on a cold day. To finesse this soup and make it quicker, we recommend purchasing your vegetables pre-chopped. In fact, Trader Joe’s have a mirepoix that already has your carrots, onions, and celery chopped up ready for you saute. Also if you want to make this soup vegan, ditch the sausage and add vegetable broth and red pepper flakes, so you still get a kick.
Make this soup vegetarian by switching out the chicken broth for vegetable broth and swap out your favorite protein or leave the meat out out all together!
Ingredients
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 cup diced onion
1 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced carrot
1 cup diced red bell pepper
1 zucchini, chopped
8 to 12 ounces chicken sausage, diced or thinly sliced, My favorite brand is Trader Joes
2 cloves garlic (minced)
1 bag Tuscan kale, chopped (about 8 to 10 cups)
4 cups chicken broth
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes (undrained)
1 (15 oz) can beans (e.g., great northern or navy beans, drained and rinsed)
Salt and Pepper to taste
Cooking Instructions
In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium heat
Saute onions, celery, and carrots, stirring until onions are translucent
Add bell pepper, zucchini and sausage
Reduce heat to medium-low. Add kale and garlic; cover and continue cooking for 2 minutes.
Add remaining ingredients; cover and cook for 20 to 25 minutes
Taste and adjust salt, as needed.
Fennel Soup with spinach and spicy sausage
Recipe Inspired by whole 30 Fast & Easy Cookbook
This soup is delicious. Period. The cauliflower adds an extra level of creaminess that melts in your mouth. To make it even heartier, add a few small yellow potatoes. They’re easy to peel and cook quickly.
1 pound of spicy ground pork sausage
4 cups of cauliflower florets
1 cup of onion, diced
1/2 cup of celery, chopped
1 fennel bulb, trimmed, cored, and chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
5 cups of chicken broth
5 oz fresh baby spinach leaves
Italian Seasoning (fennel seeds, garlic powder, dried oregano, paprika, salt, pepper)
Cooking instructions
In a large heavy pot, brown the sausage over medium heat, and place on paper towels to drain
Heat the olive oil, and add cauliflower, onion, celery, fennel, and garlic for 5 to 6 minutes
Add broth and bring to a boil
Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes
Transfer the soup to a blender or use an immersion blender to blend the soup in the pot
Just before serving, stir the spinach and sausage into the soup.
Creamy Autumn squash soup
When Panera Bread bough the Autumn Squash soup back to stores this season, we may have literally ordered it four times in one week. After looking up the nutrition facts, we realized it is pretty heavy laden with sugar. We set out to create a version a bit more nutritious, but still very yummy!
INGREDIENTS:
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 small yellow onion, diced (about 3/4 cup)
2 pounds chopped butternut squash (about 6 heaping cups)
3 small carrots, chopped (about 1 cup)
3-4 cups vegetable broth
2 cups apple cider or apple juice (do NOT use apple cider vinegar)
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
dash of nutmeg
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
2 tablespoons butter
2 ounces low-fat (neufchatel) cream cheese
1 tablespoon brown sugar, more to taste
salt to taste
heavy cream, optional
Cooking Instructions
In a large pot, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onions and saute until translucent, stirring frequently.
Add squash, carrots, vegetable broth, apple cider and spices.
Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until squash and carrots are soft. Remove from heat and add pumpkin puree, butter, cream cheese and brown sugar. Puree with a hand (stick) blender or in batches in a normal blender. Blend until very smooth.
Taste soup and add salt as desired. You may also add extra brown sugar or honey to achieve a taste closer that of Panera’s. You can also add a little heavy cream if you want a more decadent soup. If desired, add more vegetable broth to thin soup.
Return to burner over medium-low heat if needed to heat the soup back up and then serve immediately.
Okra & Tomato Soup
This one is super simple! And, you really can’t get any more southern than this. It’s also very easy to make your own. Add rice, quinoa, lentils, sweet potatoes - whatever your heart desires.
Ingredients
½ medium onion, minced
½ medium green pepper, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups vegetable broth (or water with 2 veggie bouillon cubes)
1 bag frozen sliced okra (or equivalent weight of fresh okra)
1 can crushed tomatoes (fire-roasted or plain)
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon oregano
¼ to ½ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper, to taste
Salt and pepper, to taste
Cooking Instructions
Bring 3 cups of vegetable broth to boil.
Add all ingredients to the pot, minus the salt and pepper. Simmer for 20 to 30 minutes over medium heat until the okra is tender. Before serving, add salt and pepper to taste.
This blog post is an updated version of our 2018 Chef Curry with the Pot article