Comfort in a Bowl: Our Best Soup and Stew Recipes for the Cold Months
These soul-satisfying dishes are just the food you need for chilly nights.
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Some say casseroles are the ultimate comfort food, but we don't agree. If you ask us, there's nothing more comforting than digging into a bowl of soup or a plate of stew. The soups, stews, curries, and chilis in this collection are a mix of old classics and brand-new recipes, and they're all the types of dishes that you'll want to make on repeat when the weather turns cool. Before you start cooking, be sure to pull out your colorful enameled cast iron Dutch oven or a hand-me-down cowboy kettle—you'll need a generously sized pot to make warm memories and delicious meals like these soups and stews.
Ranging from vibrant and vegan to rich and meaty, these dishes will ward off the chill of autumn and warm you up on even the most freezing days of winter; and no matter the weather, you'll find that they always satisfy the soul. What's more, many are economical, too, relying on more affordable cuts of meat that benefit from cooking low and slow and budget-friendly pulses and vegetables. The Kitchen Sink Chicken Stew that you see right here is adaptable, which means you can use up pretty much whatever produce you find in your crisper drawer or root cellar while you make it.
Beef stew is a stick-to-your-ribs favorite, and you'll find our test kitchen's ultimate version in this collection. There's also a delicious beefy soup with pumpkin and shiitake mushrooms that's less expected but perhaps even more craveable. Fish stews and soups take less time to cook than their meaty counterparts, but are equally tasty and comforting, as our White-Fish Stew with Dumplings and a velvety take on avgolemono, the egg-lemon-rice soup, that's made with cod fillets, prove. Vegetarians and vegans are not forgotten here, either: Look out for Lentil Stew that's creamy but dairy free. The secret ingredient is coconut milk and it makes an irresistible broth.
Next time you think that winter is too long, just consider it provides you more opportunity to enjoy these favorite stews and soups.
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Normandy-Style Pork Stew
Apples and pork are a classic pairing and a favorite combination in the French region of Normandy that's the inspiration for this richly flavored one-pot meal. We use inexpensive pork shoulder and dry-style cider, which is popular in the region, rather than the fruit for this slow-cooked stew.
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Creamy Lentil Stew
Colorful, comforting, and vegan, this lentil stew relies on coconut milk as the base of the delicious broth.
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Red Chicken Pozole
Hominy provides a satisfying chew in this chile-spiked chicken stew. Fiery anchos and guajillos flavor the liquid in which chicken legs cook. Keep the drumsticks intact but shred the thigh meat to stir into the pozole for serving. We love it with tostadas, shredded cabbage, cilantro, and limes.
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Beef, Pumpkin, and Shiitake Soup
Use beef chuck, neck bones, or oxtail to make this soup—any of these thrifty beef cuts will work. The rest of the soup is loaded with pumpkin, shiitakes, and savoy cabbage. A splash of fish sauce finishes this meal in a bowl.
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Fish-Soup Avgolemono
If you're familiar with avgolemono, you'll know versions of this egg-lemon-rice soup are found all the way from the Sephardic diaspora through Greece, Arabia, Italy, Turkey, and the Balkans. The classic fish versions of the soup use a whole fish and debone it after steaming, but we went the easy route here by using cod or halibut fillets.
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Corn, Watercress, and Potato Soup
And the prize for the brightest bowl goes to this gorgeous green elixir. It's an upgrade on the traditional potato and watercress combo which often has dairy. This vegan take gets umami from miso and brights from a dash of apple cider vinegar.
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Classic Beef Stew
It's a classic for good reason! Cubes of beef chuck are simmered until fall-apart-tender in broth flavored with punchy aromatics like tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, red wine, and fire-roasted tomatoes for a subtle smokiness that's oh so spoonable.
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Slow-Cooker Ribollita
Ribollita is a hearty vegetarian soup that's packed with kale, zucchini, and cranberry beans, then thickened with crusty bread. This is a fabulous set it and forget it recipe: Once the slow cooker has done its work, top with grated cheese for serving. Despite its name which means "reboiled," it's just as delicious on the day it's made as it is reheated.
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Test Kitchen's Favorite Chicken Soup
There's a lot we love about this chicken soup recipe: It simmers on the stovetop for a few hours, but that time is completely hands-off; a whole chicken imparts tons of flavor; and the final dish is so soothing that it will surely cure what ails you.
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Easy Chile Verde
We love chile verde for how it transforms pork shoulder with the piquant spice of green chiles. In fact, we love it so much that we created a pressure cooker-version and a stovetop version so there's no reason not to make this hearty pork stew.
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Split-Pea Soup with Spinach and Barley
Looking for a filling, healthy soup for a cold night? This recipe is for you. Baby spinach makes this wholesome split-pea purée extra verdant. A swirl of plain yogurt to serve brings brightness and a sprinkle of barley gives the make-ahead soup another healthy boost—it contains the soluble fiber beta-glucan, which has been found to do wonders to lower bad cholesterol.
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White-Fish Stew with Dumplings
An easy one-pot dinner, this fish stew is made cod or halibut, but it's the dumplings, made with biscuit dough, that take it over the top.
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Beef Chili
Roasted dried chiles, red kidney beans, and cubed sirloin anchor this warming chili that makes a fabulous meal topped with grated cheese, sliced jalapeños, and plenty of sour cream.