You know that we love a good shortcut. Keyword “good”—we love food, and so recipe shortcuts are fine as long as the resulting meal is still delectable. We’d never sacrifice tasty food in favor of speed. But when you can have both a yummy meal AND extra down time thanks to a speedy, simple recipe? Well, who’d say no to that? These five soup recipes are absolute weeknight superstars! They’re not just faster than even the fastest takeout you can think of, but these soup recipes are also much more delicious! They’ll fill your kitchen with cozy smells, and taking the ten or twenty minutes that it takes to cook them will do your mind some good. Grab some good bread, your favorite ladle and soup bowl, and let’s get simmering!
5-Ingredient Chicken Tortilla Soup
This streamlined, Five-Ingredient Tortilla Soup is built mostly from pantry ingredients and is ultra quick, easy and satisfying. If you can get your hands on a rotisserie chicken, this soup will be incredibly fast. However, you can also use any cooked chicken that’s available—you could even just use some poached chicken breasts. The key to making this simple, fast soup recipe really sing? Garnishes! Think a spritz of lime juice, a sprinkling of cheddar cheese, or even a dollop of sour cream. Make this fast soup recipe your own!
White Bean Soup with Bacon
For this beautifully simple, brothy White Bean Soup, we lean on some favorite flavors—bacon, garlic, Parmesan—and let a little simmer do the rest. A bowl of bean soup doesn’t sound like the most exciting thing ever, until you have one placed in front of you. That super-savory, rich, almost smoky scent wafts up at you, and suddenly that cream-colored bowl of tender white beans in a delicate, garlicky Parmesan rind broth is really speaking to you.
5 Ingredient Potato and Corn Chowder
Five ingredients and three simple steps, this ultra easy Potato and Corn Chowder recipe relies shamelessly on canned creamed corn and good old starchy potatoes for its rich creaminess. It’ll be ready in no time and it requires absolutely no special skills. Fry some bacon, open some cans. Boil some potatoes. A quick purée and ta da! Creamy, rich potato and corn chowder ready to fill some hungry tummies.
5-Ingredient Chicken Meatball Soup With Kale and Parmesan
This simple, healthy 5-Ingredient Chicken Meatball Soup With Kale and Parmesan recipe has a bit of an Italian wedding soup vibe, with a little pesto stirred in for a powerful bunch of herby, savory richness. With so few ingredients, you might be worried that this soup will be boring. But rather, its simplicity is soothing, and provides a healthy, warming palette for garnishes of your choice. It’s a great one for families with little kids, too—tiny kids might prefer it as-is, while mom and dad can add a generous handful of chili flakes. Parmesan is wonderful on this soup, too. Dress it up at will!
Cauliflower Gnocchi Zuppa Toscana
Everything in this Cauliflower Gnocchi Zuppa Toscana soup can be found at Trader Joe’s. Trader Joe's cauliflower gnocchi stands in for the usual potato gnocchi—this lower-carb soup recipe has all of the cozyness and heft that you crave, minus the post-meal carb crash. In other words (dare we say?) it’s even better than the zuppa Toscana you’re used to.
5 Easy Evenings. What Could Be Better?
If you try any of these soups, we’d love to hear about it! Share a photo and tag us on Instagram using @themodernproper and #themodernproper so that we can see your stuff! Happy eating!