Soup is a fantastic option for meal prepping, offering a convenient, nutritious, and comforting meal that can be enjoyed throughout the week. It's an excellent way to incorporate plenty of vegetables, protein, and healthy fats into your diet, making it a great choice for those looking to maintain a balanced and healthy lifestyle. This article explores a variety of healthy soup recipes that are perfect for meal prepping, with options for omnivores, vegetarians, and vegans alike.
Benefits of Soup for Meal Prep
- Nutrient-Dense: Soups can be packed with protein, fiber, healthy fats, veggies, and micronutrients.
- Hydrating: As a liquid-based meal, soup is hydrating and filling.
- Customizable: Soups are incredibly versatile, allowing you to adjust ingredients based on your preferences and dietary needs. Feel free to add or subtract proteins, or change the type that’s in them. Recipes can be just a jumping-off point.
- Freezer-Friendly: Most soups freeze well, making them ideal for long-term meal prep.
- Flavor Enhancement Over Time: Soup, especially chili, often tastes better after a couple of days as the flavors meld together.
General Tips for Making Healthy Soups
- Load Up on Veggies: Vegetable soups are perfect for weight loss and a great way to pack extra veggies into a daily meal. Don't hesitate to add more vegetables to your soups. Always include celery, onions, and carrots - these are the base of all great soup!
- Choose Lean Proteins: Opt for lean meats, poultry, beans, or legumes to boost the protein content of your soup.
- Control Sodium: Be mindful of the sodium content, especially when using canned ingredients. Making your own soup allows you to control the amount of salt added.
- Add Flavor Boosters: Enhance the flavor of your soup with fresh herbs, spices, and a parmesan cheese rind.
- Thicken Naturally: Thicken soups without dairy or flour by using blended vegetables or pureed beans.
Storing and Reheating Soup
- Refrigerating: Most soups will last about 4 days in the refrigerator.
- Freezing: Freeze soup in a large container or individual servings for up to 3 months. Ensure you leave enough room at the top, as liquid expands when frozen. Souper Cubes are great for portioning out soups. Regular airtight meal prep containers work great, too.
- Reheating: Reheat soup gently on the stove over medium-low heat or use the defrost setting on your microwave. For easier handling, transfer frozen soup to the fridge 24 hours before you plan to eat it.
Soup Recipes
High Protein Taco Soup
This high-protein taco soup is perfect for meal prep and easy to make in bulk with minimal time and effort. Like any dump soup, you can add just about anything you want with minimal impact on flavor.
Ingredients:
- 96% lean ground beef (or ground turkey or chicken)
- Canned pinto beans (undrained)
- Canned black beans (undrained)
- Canned whole kernel corn (undrained)
- Canned stewed tomatoes (undrained)
- RO-TEL or diced tomatoes with green chiles (undrained)
- Taco seasoning
- Ranch dip mix or seasoning
- Optional vegetables: onions, peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, frozen chopped spinach
- Fat-free cream cheese (or reduced fat)
- Fat-free Greek yogurt (or reduced fat sour cream or blended low-fat cottage cheese)
- Optional toppings: cilantro, diced onion and jalapeño, shredded cheese, queso fresco, tortilla chips
Instructions:
- Heat a large pot over medium-high heat. Brown the ground beef before breaking apart and fully cooking. Pat the ground meat dry with a paper towel before going in the pot. Moisture prevents browning. Gently press the meat down to create surface area then leave it untouched for at least 3-4 minutes. Don’t crowd the pot or pan. You can brown in batches if you’re having trouble getting adequate browning.
- Once the meat is fully cooked, add all the canned ingredients and seasoning packets. Stir to fully combine and bring to a boil.
- Add the frozen vegetables and reduce to a simmer. Cook until the vegetables are tender, about 6-8 minutes. (The soup will be thick but the vegetables will release water as they cook.)
- Reduce the heat to low or turn off the heat if you're planning to serve immediately. Add the cream cheese and Greek yogurt and stir until evenly incorporated.
- Serve with cilantro, diced onion and jalapeño, shredded cheese or queso fresco, and tortilla chips, if desired.
Creamy Buffalo Chicken Soup
This creamy buffalo chicken soup is hearty and comforting, full of protein, and thickened without any dairy or flour. Made in one pot on the stove and ready in 45 minutes.
Easy Chicken Fajita Soup
This soup takes all your favorite ingredients for chicken fajitas and packs them into a delicious and healthy soup. Made in one pot and loaded with chicken, beans, rice, bell peppers, onions, and taco seasoning, and then topped with your favorite toppings.
Green Chili Chicken Butternut Squash Soup
Packed with protein, veggies, and wonderful flavors, this cozy, fall-inspired green chile chicken soup comes together in one pot and is perfect for a cold night.
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Chicken Tortilla Soup
This is the perfect easy weeknight dinner, full of shredded chicken, corn, beans, and homemade tortilla chips, making it a meal in itself. You can make it in your crockpot, instant pot or on the stove!
Healthy Italian Wedding Soup
Made with tender chicken meatballs, quinoa, kale, and cannellini beans. The Best Italian Wedding Soup Recipe! This recipe is easy to make and loaded with flavor.
Vegetarian and Vegan Soup Recipes
15 Bean Soup
This vegetarian bean soup is vegan, high in protein, tasty, and easily made in the slow cooker, instant pot, or on the stove.
The Best Vegetarian Chili Recipe
You won’t believe there isn’t any meat in this delicious, easy vegetarian chili made with two kinds of beans, veggies, tender sweet potato, and sweet corn.
Coconut Curry Lentil Soup
This soup has veggies, lentils, coconut milk, and curry spices for a flavor-packed vegan lentil soup recipe. It comes together in one pan in 35 minutes to make a healthy well-balanced meal.
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Spicy Black Bean Soup
This easy recipe is made with canned beans. Thanks to some basic aromatics and Cuban spices, it’s incredibly flavorful and delicious. This soup is naturally vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free.
Vegan Broccoli Cheese Soup
Made with broccoli, onion, coconut milk, cashews, nutritional yeast, and vegetable broth for a comforting and healthy dairy-free soup.
One-Pot Vegan Tortilla Soup
Made with red lentils, black beans, fire-roasted tomatoes, corn, and lots of fresh spices!
Creamy Vegetable Soup
This recipe is SO easy to make!
Tuscan White Bean Soup
This hearty soup is loaded with veggies and made in under an hour.
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Homemade Vegetable Soup
This soup is delicious, easy to make, vegan & vegetarian!
Creamy Cauliflower Soup
This soup is easy to make in your crockpot, instant pot, or on the stove!
Vegan Pasta Fagioli
This soup is cozy and delicious. It’s the perfect nutritious, veggie packed, vegetarian dinner.
Other Soup Recipes
Chicken Tomato Soup
This soup tastes like childhood but in a grown-up way. Homemade creamy tomato soup is loaded with shredded chicken, veggies, and an optional addition of pasta to make it a complete meal.
Creamy Chicken Mushroom Soup
This is an easy and healthy soup recipe.
Bison Chili
This chili is hearty and comforting and made with ground buffalo or ground beef, butternut squash, veggies, and warming spices making an easy and delicious healthy chili recipe that’s ready in 45 minutes. Make it for meal prep or an easy weeknight dinner.
Hearty Hamburger Soup
This soup is easy, healthy, and ready in just 30 minutes!
Stuffed Pepper Soup
This is a hearty meal loaded with ground beef, onions, rice, and bell peppers in a tomato-based broth. Stuffed Pepper Soup is all the flavors of stuffed peppers in a soup! Loaded with veggies and can easily be made in the crockpot, instant pot, or on the stove!
Leftover Turkey Soup
This is a great way to use up cooked turkey or chicken. Packed with veggies and butternut squash for a comforting and healthy turkey soup recipe ready in 45 minutes.
Instant Pot Turkey Chili
This is a quick, hearty meal that’s so easy to make.
Turkey Taco Soup
This soup is packed with lean protein, fresh veggies, and plenty of flavorful spices. Taco Soup has all the delicious flavors of tacos in a soup! Make it in the crock pot, instant pot or on the stove.
Turkey Noodle Soup
This soup is simple but delicious and perfect year-round.
Mediterranean Shrimp Soup
This soup has vegetables, aromatics, and fresh herbs, including parsley and dill!
Shrimp Corn Chowder
This chowder with bacon makes a creamy, one-pot meal that’s quick and easy to make!
Caldo de Camaron
This Mexican shrimp soup is filled with layers of flavor made from a homemade shrimp broth, toasted chile sauce, juicy fresh shrimp, and vegetables like carrots and potatoes.
Salmon Chowder
This chowder is made with fresh salmon, salty bacon, and hearty potatoes with a creamy broth.
Healthy Broccoli Soup
This is a delicious, cozy meal. Easy to make in the instant pot, crockpot, or on the stove - this broccoli cheddar soup is a must-make!
One Pot Vegetarian Lasagna Soup
This soup has sautéed veggies, white beans, and herbed ricotta. Easy Lasagna Soup Recipe! This lasagna soup is cheesy, delicious and done in under an hour.
Easy Sweet Potato Soup
This soup can be made in your instant pot, crock pot or on the stove.
Healthy Potato Soup
This soup is total comfort food! Crockpot Potato Soup is the best cozy dinner! This easy soup is hearty, healthy, and delicious! Instant Pot Potato Soup Recipe that is full of loaded baked potato flavor! Easy to make in the pressure cooker in under 30 minutes.
Easy Minestrone Soup
This is the perfect cozy, healthy dinner! Vegetarian, gluten free, and vegan - it’s delicious and done in under 30 minutes!
Tomato Basil Soup
This soup is SO creamy and simple to make in the instant pot, crockpot or on the stove top.
Best French Onion Soup Recipe!
This easy soup is hearty and so delicious!
Creamy Carrot Ginger Soup
This soup is so easy to make in your instant pot, crockpot or on the stove.
Dairy Free Cream of Mushroom Soup
This soup is made with lots of mushrooms and veggies plus a sneaky creamy ingredient, this delicious, velvety soup is perfect for a light dinner, lunch or as a starter dish.
Creamy Pumpkin Soup Recipe
This soup is so easy to make in your instant pot, slow cooker or on the stove!
Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
This soup is easy to make and so delicious! Healthy Butternut Squash Soup is paleo, Whole30, vegan, and naturally gluten/dairy free. Easily made in your crockpot, instant pot or on the stove!
Bean Soup
This is a vegetarian bean soup recipe everyone will love! Vegan, high protein, tasty & easily made in the slow cooker, instant pot or on the stove. Bean Soup is a vegetarian bean soup recipe everyone will love! Vegan, high protein, tasty & easily made in the slow cooker, instant pot or on the stove.
Easy Lentil Soup
This soup can be made on the stove, in the slow cooker or in the instant pot!
White Bean Soup
This is both a hearty and healthy vegan soup. Flavorful and packed with kale, white beans, carrots, tomatoes and warm spices your family will be asking for seconds. If you aren’t vegetarian, try this similar Ham Bean Soup.
Additional Tips
- Add pasta, zoodles, and greens at the end: I rarely cook pasta/zoodles in soup.
- Use a parmesan cheese rind: This is such a simple thing you can do to amplify the flavor of your soup. I grab them at the grocery store.