3 Healthy Winter Soup Recipes
At this time of year, there’s nothing better to keep the chill out than a super comforting bowl of soup. Winter soups have me hankering for brisk blue sky days walking the dogs around the Surrey Hills through piles of freshly fallen leaves, or chilly nights watching fireworks warming soup in hand. Having said that I’m not brilliant at making them… for that read can’t be bothered. That is until my buddy Colette persuaded me that they are super easy and all you really have to do is chop. This nugget of inspo coupled with my new found keenness to get slightly fit and eat healthier got me researching 3 healthy winter soup recipes this week.
First up I hit up good old Jamie Oliver to see which soup recipes he had lurking in his archives…, and you know what, I was pleasantly surprised. In the past, I’ve stuck to tried and tested recipes from his books but am loving his app which allows you to search through a gazillion and one past recipes without having to hoick out and dust down all those old recipe books. His recipes are also easy to follow and generally don’t take half a day to prep. So for the first of my healthy winter soup recipes, I tried his Pumpkin and Ginger soup… because if that doesn’t scream winter warmer, I don’t know what does.
Pumpkin & Giner Soup
You will need…
- 1 kg pumpkin
- 2 shallots
- 75 g ginger
- a few sprigs of fresh herbs, such as chives, mint
- extra virgin olive oil
- 1-litre organic vegetable stock
- 125 ml coconut milk, plus extra to serve
- ½ tablespoon chilli powder
- 1 lime
Here’s what to do…
- Deseed and roughly chop the pumpkin, peel and chop the shallots, then peel and finely grate the ginger. Pick and finely chop the herbs.
- Place the pumpkin, shallots, ginger and some oil in a large saucepan and sauté until soft.
- Add the stock, coconut milk and chilli powder. Season, then bring to the boil and simmer for 40 minutes.
- Blitz in a food processor then serve with the fresh herbs, lime juice and a splash of coconut milk.
Parsnip, sage and white bean soup.
Next up I tried this parsnip, sage and white bean soup… but not being a fan of cannellini beans I switched them out for broad beans = equally yum! His recipe also calls for making your own crispy parsnips to decorate the soup which frankly I don’t have the patience for. So I reached for a good old bag of veg crisps from my local Farm Shop and saved myself some time.
You will need…
- SOUP
- 1 onion
- 2 large parsnips
- 1 x 420 g tin of cannellini beans
- 1 sprig of fresh sage
- olive oil
- 1 fresh bay leaf
- 1 organic litre chicken stock
- CRISPY PARSNIPS
- 1 parsnip
- 2 sprigs of fresh sage
Here’s what to do…
- For the soup, peel and roughly chop the onion and parsnips. Drain and rinse the cannellini beans, then pick and roughly chop the sage.
- Heat 50ml of oil in a pan over a medium heat, then cook the onion and parsnips for 10 minutes, or until softened but not coloured.
- Add the bay leaf, beans, sage and stock, season and simmer for 15 minutes.
- For the crispy parsnips, preheat the oven to 200ºC/gas 6.
- Peel and very thinly slice the parsnip, and pick the sage leaves.
- Brush the parsnip slices and sage leaves with oil, and bake for 5 to 10 minutes, checking often, or until crispy.
- Remove and discard the bay leaf from the soup, then blitz it with a stick blender until smooth, adding extra stock or water if it’s too thick.
- Adjust the seasoning to taste, then serve piping hot with a drizzle of olive oil and the parsnip crisps on top.
Carrot and Ginger Soup
My final healthy winter soup recipe is one from our archives which we shot a few years back for our Foodie section, but it’s still a winner in my book.
You will need…
1 kg carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
1-litre vegetable stock
1 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 cm fresh ginger grated
2 tsp ground cumin
400ml reduced fat coconut milk
Salt and pepper
Handful vegetable crisps
Toasted sourdough
Here’s what to do…
- Place the carrots and vegetable stock in a saucepan and heat for about 20 minutes until carrots are tender.
- Meanwhile, heat the oil and gently cook the chopped onion, garlic and ginger until soft. Stir in the cumin, season and add to the carrots that are cooking.
- When cooked, stir in the coconut milk.
- Liquidise the mixture until blended, but still leaving a texture and season.
- Serve in bowls/mugs, topped with vegetable crisp, and toasted sourdough.
For more Jamie Oliver healthy winter soup recipes head here.