Soup Recipes: Easy Soups and Stews for Any Night

How we cook soups & stews on a weeknight

The secret to soup that tastes slow-cooked is building flavor at the start: soften the onions properly, brown the meat or tomato paste until it darkens, and toast the spices in the fat for a minute before any liquid goes in. Those few minutes do more than an extra hour of simmering.

Store-bought broth is fine; just taste at the end. Soup almost always needs a little more salt than you expect, and a squeeze of lemon or lime brightens a pot that tastes flat.

If you plan on leftovers, cook pasta and noodles separately, since they keep soaking up broth in the fridge. Most of these soups freeze well for up to three months.

Short on time? Taco Soup with Ground Beef is the quickest here at 35 min, with 10 min of hands-on work.