I am a reasonable cook, not terrible by any means but I make mostly simple things. I am not good at making soup. So what is the key to a good pot of soup?
I put a pot of beef barley in my crock pot today. It’s been so cold out, soup sounds like just the thing.
Recipes welcomed 
1)Don’t use the vegetables you used in making the broth in the actual soup, use fresh ones and cook them in the broth until they are tender.
2)Carrots in almost any kind of broth making IMO make it taste better. Parsnips are also great in a soup base, they help draw out the flavor, too.
3)If making chicken soup, get a fowl (old hen), they make the best broth. Don’t be afraid to use the gizzards and such in the broth, they make the flavor that much better.
4)When using meat bones, if not already cooked roast them first, it makes for much better broth then cooking raw bones in the soup.
5)I have found it is better to use a low simmer and cooking longer then using a rolling boil when making stock.
6)Get a good quality stock pot, the heavy enameled ones retain heat and to me they do a much better job.
7)With spices and herbs like bay leaf and the like, put them in at the end of the stock making process, don’t dump them in in the beginning; even better, use them in the finished soup, not the stock.
8)A couple of tablespoons of brandy or bourbon added to the stock towards the end of its cooking cycle adds to the heartiness and flavor (and the alcohol will burn off, not to mention 2 tablespoons in 4 or 5 quarts of water is not exactly going to have a lot of alcohol to start with).
9)If you make a big batch of soup stock at any point, freeze the extra in ice cube trays, it is really handy down the road if you need broth for something or making soup, you can even make a small batch of soup really quickly and easily.
My culinary graduate child also says one is not supposed to boil the chicken for stock, rather simmer
For me the key to great soup is the browning process. Then I freshen it at the end with veggies and herbs and fragrant oils just before serving.
For Asian-style soups, for freshening at the end, add chopped green onions, fresh ginger, toasted Asian sesame oil as it’s so fragrant. For the last-minute add-in green veggie, snow peas or asparagus or beans.
@deb922 do you season your soup at all? I think many people forget (though we are healthwise told not to over salt) to salt/pepper/season. If I’m doing a noodle soup I prefer to add the noodles at the very end - and sometimes even cook them separately and then plop them in the broth - I hate when noodles absorb the broth and become mushy.
This crockpot recipe is a winner - dump and cook. I am required to bring this to every work winter potluck and everyone I work with has this now on their regular rotation at home and if they are going to a potluck!
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/89539/slow-cooker-chicken-tortilla-soup/
Chicken Noodle Soup:
Buy 2 roasted chickens from Sam’s or Costco.
Remove the bigger chunks of meat, and refrigerate/set aside.
Put the carcasses in a large pot and cover with water. Add chicken-flavored Better Than Bouillon soup base.
Cook for hours and hours until all meat/skin have fallen off the bones.
Strain broth and refrigerate (or in freezing cold climates, put it in your garage), also save the strained meat, skin, bones.
The next day skim the fat off the broth and discard the fat. Pick out more meat from the strained mess until you are tired of it. Chop up the reserved big chunks of meat.
In blender batches, combine some broth, crushed garlic, chunks of 2 white onions, an entire bunch of washed celery (including leaves) and puree. Add to large pot of broth on stove.
Add a bag of frozen sweet corn, dice and add a bag of baby carrots, dice and add a red pepper.
Cook until veggies are tender, add chicken, add a large handful or two of fine egg noodles. All while bubbling.
Simmer for a while.
Enjoy!
I must find a clever way to pass these tips on to my wife … her soups, while generally good, are always a bit watery and often the oils separate from the broth leaving a strange coagulated mix. Granted, we both work all day and she is trying to make quality soups in less than 15 minutes after we get home…
Any tips for making more homogeneous/less coagulated soup? She is also diabetic so no flour/thickening ingredients.
This is an easy and tasty black bean soup recipe. It is even a hit with the devout meat and potatoes folks in my family.
recent recipe in our household we’ve made several times (found for my vegetarian daughter) but adding a bit of sausage too, maybe sprinkle a bit of romano cheese on top and YUM!
http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipe/quinoa-and-spinach-soup
I’m also pretty good at most Italian soups which I “wing”
When I make vegetable or cabbage soup, I put at least a pound of flanken or beef short ribs in first. Actually, I brown them first. Vegetables, besides onions, carrots, and celery, I put in last. I add a little hot sauce to the vegetable soup. The cabbage soup is sweet and sour.
@fractalmastr:
Trying to make soup quickly is difficult for anyone, it is a time consuming process. The key is the stock, and a homogenized, robust soup comes out of simmering it a long time and letting it condense. If she is making a quick soup, I would recommend fortifying it with a commercial stock, either vegetable or chicken or beef (try and find one that is organic, the commercial ones usually have a ton of salt in them).
What I would suggest to her is making a big batch of stock on the weekend and freezing it (ice cube trays are great, as I mentioned above), then when she wants to make soup she can use the frozen broth, bring it to a simmer, add vegetables and spices, let it cook until the vegetables are soft and voila, quick soup.
I appreciate the advice, music. And great idea on freezing/reheating during the work week!
@fractalmstr I agree with @musicprnt
Great soups take a long time to simmer (a short time to prepare to simmer). Also, I don’t like crockpots for the job because they retain water. We use a cast iron Dutch Oven over a very low flame. If you can get a heat disburser (a thing that goes under the pot and disburses the flame) then do so. It keeps you from worrying about it burning.
So make soup over a weekend! Prep the soup. Let it sit on low heat. Refrigerate it. It should last well refrigerated about 5 days. You can reheat during the week.
There’s no need to use any flours to thicken soups. Here are other methods if you like thick instead of brothy soups–
For great chicken stock I love my Instantpot pressure cooker. I use the carcass of a Costco rotisserie chicken along with carrots, celery and parsnip. I have also made a great broth using a big pack of chicken backs. I strain and refrigerate the broth overnight to settle the fat on top. Prior to the pressure cooker I would make the chicken soup on the stovetop. I always refrigerate for a few days to have the fat solidify. I also toss the chicken and vegetables and add fresh vegetables when reheating. I don’t put chicken back in as my H doesn’t like pieces of chicken in his soup. The dog is happy to eat the soup carrots and pieces of chicken meat. I make sure he doesn’t get any bones.
In addition to all the great advice above, if I’m using dry herbs, I put them in while browning the onions, carrots, and celery because the oil and low heat help bring out the flavor. I find I can’t taste them if put in later with the broth.
very simple recipe - we call it chicken soup - but it is really veggie soup in chicken broth
cut celery, carrots, onions
brown with a little oil in pan
add cans of swanson chicken broth
add cans of water to match (2 broth to 1 water)
season to taste (salt, pepper, parsley (fresh if you have))
cover pot and bring to boil
uncover and let boil for several minutes
add egg bow tie pasta - boil for the time on box (6 minutes)
serve with grated cheese on top
Thanks everyone, great tips. And recipes I want to try. Awesome
Does anyone have a recommendation for how to keep noodles or orzo that one adds to soups from becoming engorged and mushy?
I also use the roasted chickens by removing large chunks of meat for a meal that day/night. Over the course of two or three weeks I have a container that I add any leftover veggies and freeze. I simply let the leftover veggies cool down, open up the freezer container and add them 
Once that container is full, I buy the chicken. Simmer the carcass together with celery leaves, bay leaves, onions and whatever spices you like in your broth, until the chicken falls off the bone, usually about an hour. If I don’t have carrots in my freezer container, I add them to that broth until they are soft. Strain the broth, saving the carrots as well, add the freezer veggies (thawed) and a half box of Rice a Roni chicken rice with 1/2 of the seasoning included. Yum, chicken vegetable rice soup. Takes less than 2 hours start to finish and the quality always depends on the veggies…I love when I have parsnips and turnips saved up
Here’s a favorite soup in my house, affectionately called “Hobo Soup”. I was tossing in a cube of chicken bullion when a visiting guest said, “You know that’s what hobos use for making soup.” And thus the soup was named.
Now you can very easily just toss everything into the pot at once and it’ll turn out delicious and save you some time and effort and you’ll be eating in an hour. Or do the optional steps to make it just a little bit better.
Use dark meat chicken - I use 4-6 legs and thighs, skinned
Use a little beef of any kind - I like to use a short rib or two with the bone (optional)
Brown the chicken/beef with garlic and onion powders, and salt in a large pot (optional)
Toss in mirepoix (chopped garlic, onion, celery, carrots) and cook until the onions are translucent (optional)
Fill pot 2/3rds of the way with water, add some form of bullion (chicken or beef) or use chicken broth instead of water
High simmer / low boil for 30 minutes
Add roughly chopped carrots and sweet potatoes (I use the white yams, they’re sweeter and firmer)
Add fresh thyme, dried works too
Add your favorite pepper - I use a de-seeded habanero, jalapeno or chili works too
Add additional fresh garlic at this stage if you love garlic
Add additional onion now too if you’re into that
Continue cooking another 30-45 mins
Pull the meat off the chicken and discard the bones
Evaluate the consistency of the carrots and yams to see if they’re ready, and give the broth a taste test and adjust seasoning
Enjoy!
We like to drop a soft-boiled egg in each bowl when serving (ramen-style, if you’ve experienced that and like it)