Recipes

Even though this lentil soup is made with just a handful of ingredients, it’s incredibly flavorful. If you have a special bottle of olive oil, drizzle some on top of each bowl before serving. If you can’t find or don’t like chard, kale or collards would be equally delicious. Excerpted with permission from Lebanese Cuisine by Madelain Farah and Leila Habib-Kirske, published by Hatherleigh Press.

This easy soup recipe cooks up quickly thanks to the use of an electric pressure cooker or multicooker, like the Instant Pot. It packs in tons of filling veggies without packing on the calories. Plus, it happens to be entirely plant-based. If you aren't eating vegan, top it with a little Parmesan cheese or pesto to add even more flavor.

Make this grab-and-go Tex-Mex–inspired soup when you have leftover chicken, or use rotisserie chicken for this easy meal-prep soup. The frozen pepper-onion mix adds flavor and saves time in the kitchen, while the black beans add fiber and protein. Combine everything but the broth ahead of time, then add it and heat it in the microwave when you’re ready to eat. If you don’t wish to travel with liquid broth or don’t have access to a microwave, you can use reduced-sodium bouillon instead and just add hot water.

This warming vegetable barley soup uses easy-to-find produce and frozen veggies, making prep simple and easy. It makes plenty to feed a hungry family, plus it freezes beautifully so leftovers can be enjoyed again and again.

This one-pot chicken and cabbage soup is topped with flavor-boosting store-bought pesto. Big, fiber-rich butter beans add a creamy bite, but you can easily swap them out for cannellini beans or navy beans if you prefer. This soup works well with leftover chicken—simply shred or chop cooked chicken and add it to the soup to reheat once the cabbage is tender.

This chicken and rice soup is a bit time-intensive, but the flavor is worth the effort. Turning some of the cooked rice into a paste is a genius trick that gives the soup a creamy congee-like texture. If you have leftover lemongrass and makrut lime leaves, consider packaging them up in sealable containers along with ginger, and you’ll have pre-portioned aromatics for the stock at your fingertips. (Freeze them for up to 1 year.) If there’s any leftover garlic oil, refrigerate it for up to 1 week and use it to make salad dressing or drizzle over a grain bowl.