Soup Season: Ranking My Favourite Soups

It’s officially soup season!

One of the best things about autumn and winter has to be the return of soup season.

There’s something about the colder evenings, darker days and miserable weather outside that suddenly makes a bowl of soup feel like exactly what you need. It’s warm, comforting, simple and has that humble feel-better-in-my-tummy quality that only proper comfort food seems to have.

Soup probably isn't the most exciting food in the world. You're hardly going to hear someone announce that they're going out for a bowl of soup on a Friday night. But when autumn arrives? Suddenly, it makes perfect sense.

Whether it's accompanied by bread, a cheese toasties or one of my slightly more questionable combinations these are the soups that earn their place in my autumn and winter rotation.

My Top Soup Season Soups

1. Tomato; The Classic

You really can't go wrong with tomato soup. It's simple, comforting and probably the first thing that comes to mind when someone says soup. But I think that's exactly why it deserves the number-one spot. A bowl of hot tomato soup on a cold day just works. Add some crusty bread, even better, a cheese toasties for dipping, or add mash for a thicker more filling dish and then you've got one of the best simple comfort meals around. Soup season rating: 10/10. No notes.

2. Lentil; The Comfort One

Lentil soup feels like the soup equivalent of putting on your favourite jumper. It's thicker, heartier and much more filling than your standard bowl of soup. This is the one I want when it's proper cold outside and I want something that feels like an actual meal rather than just a warm starter. It's not particularly glamorous, but the taste is the appeal.

3. Vegetable; The Reliable One

Vegetable soup is one of those soups that doesn't get enough credit. It's dependable, warming and you can make it slightly different every time depending on what's in it. Carrots, potatoes, peas, onions, leeks, you can basically throw half the vegetable drawer into a pot and somehow end up with something comforting. And yes, this is another soup that benefits massively from the addition of a cheese toastie.

4. Minestrone; Something With a Little Extra

Sometimes plain soup isn't enough. That's where minestrone comes in. You've got vegetables, tomato, beans and pasta all packed into the same bowl, so there's actually something to get your teeth into. It still gives you that cosy soup feeling, but feels much closer to a proper meal. It's essentially soup that's decided to put a bit more effort in.

5. Leek & Mushroom; Subtle and Creamy

Leek and mushroom takes the final spot. It's creamy, earthy and a little different from the tomato and vegetable-heavy soups I normally gravitate towards. There's something about mushrooms and leeks together that works particularly well during autumn too. This is definitely one for those darker evenings when you want something warm, creamy and comforting.

Now we need to talk about my questionable soup combinations that just make sense… This is probably the point where I'm going to lose some people. I don't always eat soup in the conventional soup + bread = lunch way.

First up: cheese toasties dipped into tomato soup.

I'm not accepting criticism for this one because it's elite. Crispy buttery bread, melted cheese and hot tomato soup belong together. I'd happily do the same with vegetable soup too. But then we arrive at the combination that's going to require a little more explanation… Tomato soup and mashed potato. Hear me out.

A pile of creamy mashed potato with tomato soup poured around it or over it is ridiculously comforting. The mash soaks up the tomato soup, it becomes this warm, creamy, tomatoey combination, and on a cold evening it absolutely hits. Does it look particularly sophisticated? No. Would I serve it at a dinner party? Probably not. Will I continue eating it? Absolutely. Sometimes the questionable food combinations are the best ones.

My Next Soup Mission: Homemade Despite my love for soup, there's one thing I really want to do more of: make it properly from scratch.

There's something particularly autumnal about throwing a load of vegetables into a pot, letting everything simmer away and eventually turning it into a homemade soup. I'd love to experiment with homemade tomato soup first, but I also want to try vegetable, roasted butternut squash, leek and potato, and maybe even have a go at making my own lentil soup. And homemade soup comes with another major advantage: making an enormous batch and having enough left over for lunch the next day. Bonus points if there's fresh bread involved.

Long live soup season soup isn't fancy. It isn't particularly exciting to look at. It probably isn't going viral on Instagram anytime soon. But that's exactly why I love it. It's warm, inexpensive, comforting and endlessly adaptable and when the weather outside is grey, cold and miserable, sometimes a bowl of something hot is exactly what you need. So bring on the tomato soup. Bring on the lentil. Bring on the cheese toasties. And yes, bring on the mashed potato too. Soup season has officially begun.