50+ Healthy Soup Recipes

By Polly Conner

Last Saturday around lunch time, my family was driving home from a birthday party. When I mentioned I wasn’t sure what we had at home to eat, my husband quickly suggested we swing by a fast food restaurant to grab something. I almost complied but then remembered that we had some of his favorite Mexican Soup in the freezer. When I told him that, he immediately dropped the fast food idea and began plotting about what toppings he was going to add to his soup.

Moral of the story: having a stash of healthy soups in the freezer can help you and your family eat healthier. In addition to curbing the craving for eating out, a great soup can make a healthy family-friendly dinner OR serve as a quick on-the-go lunch. I will say this, once you find a healthy recipe that your family loves, STOCK UP!

Freezing Soup

freezer Wait, what’s that you say? You haven’t ever ventured into the world of freezing soups? Do not fret, my friends. That’s OK. Take my hand and let me guide you. You’ll never go back to throwing away leftovers or letting them go bad in the fridge again.
Before you get cooking and stocking up on soups and freezer meals, I’d recommend investing in a quality deep freezer. Both Rachel and I use a Frigidaire Gallery® 2-in-1 Freezer/Refrigerator to allow space for stocking up on soups and other freezer meals. I can’t believe it took me so long to get a stand-alone freezer, but I will never go back to trying to cramming my freezer goods into the tiny compartment of a normal fridge/freezer combination. I love my freezer for a lot of reasons:

- I love that the 2-in-1 freezer offers customizable ways to organize my shelving and door bins.

- I love that it is kind to my electric bill by being ENERGY STAR® Qualified.

- I also love knowing that there is an alarm that goes off if the temperature gets too low. I’ve heard horror stories from freezer cooking friends of the freezer accidentally getting unplugged and losing EVERYTHING.

Lastly, this freezer has the flexibility to change into a refrigerator. I mean, wow.

There are a lot more perks and assets this freezer has to offer. Learn more about the Frigidaire Gallery® 2-in-1 Freezer/Refrigerator here.

Now, on to stocking up on healthy soups so you can start the New Year right!

Here are a few tips on freezing soups:

Assemble the recipe and freeze it before cooking. Oftentimes when making a soup recipe, I will simply double the batch. I will cook one for our meal and then freeze the other batch. I find it easiest to use a plastic freezer bag for this method.

Cook the soup recipe as normal but freeze leftovers into serving size portions. This is my personal favorite method of stocking up on soup. Since I like to have soup for lunch, this method allows me to just warm up one or two portions in the microwave or on the stove without wasting the rest of the batch.

Let the soup cool completely before putting them in containers. By letting the soup cool, you’ll avoid the freezer meal’s worst enemy: freezer burn. It’s also important not to put hot soup into a plastic freezer bag or container, as the heat can leach chemicals from the plastic into your food. Let it cool on the counter no more than two hours and then place in the refrigerator after that, if needed.

Ready to eat? Here are a few different methods on warming up your soup:

Use a crock pot. I like this approach because it can be done way ahead of time. Add a cup of liquid to the soup (water or stock) and set your crock pot on warm or low and let the soup warm up for a few hours. You’ll get the added benefit of a house that smells like you’ve been cooking food all day.

Use a pot on the stove. Empty frozen contents into a pot, add a cup of liquid (water or stock) and cover. Cook on low and stir occasionally until contents are warmed up and ready to serve!

Microwave your soup. I use a mixed method of first defrosting the soup until it can be chopped apart and then microwaving it on high for 30-60 second increments until the contents are hot. It’s worth mentioning that this method can get messy. I often have problems with the soup getting too hot around the edges and making a mess on the walls of my microwave.

In light of my recent soup obsession, I have done some recipe hunting, partnered with other great bloggers, and generated a fabulous list of healthy soups. I have no doubt that you will be able to find some on this list that will become a regular recipe in your home. Happy Browsing!