Mistakes Everyone Makes When Cooking Soup

Cooking soup may seem like an easy task that gets a healthy meal on the table, but making a really good soup is harder than it looks. There are a few common pitfalls that home cooks fall into when making soup, so we asked some experts about the most common mishaps, and how to avoid or remedy them.

Sylvia Fountaine is a chef and food blogger at Feasting at Home; Scott Groth is the creator of I'd Rather Be A Chef; Steven Chiappetti is the executive chef at State and Lake Chicago Tavern; Maggie Turansky is the founder and head recipe developer at No Frills Kitchen; and Albert Nguyen is a faculty member at the Institute of Culinary Education. Between all of them, they have vast experience in the kitchen, and know more than a few tricks to help make your soup the best it can be. So grab your ladle, and let's examine the mistakes everyone makes when cooking soup. 

When hurrying to make a pot of soup, you may think that lightly browning the onions and other aromatics (also called "sweating" them) is a step you can skip. However, this results in a soup that lacks depth of flavor. Sylvia Fountaine explains that it's vital to take a few minutes at the beginning to concentrate on adding flavor. "Start by sautéing aromatics like onions, shallots, or garlic until they're golden and caramelized," she suggests. "You can also layer in spices at this stage to let their flavors bloom before adding liquid."

There's a big difference in flavor between raw onions and browned onions, and it's important to consider which taste you want to infuse into your soup. Scott Groth agrees that focusing on sautéing the veggies early on is crucial, as it concentrates the flavor. Cooking the base properly means letting them brown for more than just a few seconds. 

Maggie Turansky recommends cooking the aromatics for at least 10 minutes before adding liquids. "You want to get to the stage where everything is beginning to brown, things are getting caramelized, and fond (sticky browned bits) is beginning to collect on the bottom of the pan," she explains. If you are used to simply frying the onions for a minute or two, extend the cooking time for your next batch of soup, and see the difference it can make. "Taking the extra time to cook the mirepoix properly can make a good soup an excellent soup," confirms Turansky. 

As well as understanding how important it is to cook the aromatics properly, it's crucial to think about what type of fat to cook them with. In this era of low-fat everything, many home cooks are missing out on depth of flavor in their soups by not adding enough fat. "Using a fat to sweat these ingredients will give the soup a deeper layer of flavor," explains Albert Nguyen. "When sweating ingredients like garlic, onion, ginger, and spices, the chosen fat acts as a carrier for those flavors."

Skimping on fat at the start of cooking will affect the taste of the final soup, as there won't be enough flavor to permeate as it cooks. "Many of the flavor compounds infuse into the fat, creating a flavoring that blends into your soup, either through emulsion or by allowing a small amount to enter each spoonful of soup," explains Nguyen. "To remedy this, use enough fat to create a small, thin layer at the bottom of the pot." Butter or olive oil are the usual options, though an alternative such as coconut oil may work too, especially if the soup contains plenty of root vegetables. 

While you may think that stock is simply the liquid that bulks out your soup, it's a crucial component that deserves your time and attention. Sylvia Fountaine describes it as the "backbone" of the soup, and recommends making your own if possible. She suggests collecting scraps of food — veggies, bones, or leftover pieces of meat — in a container in the freezer until you need to make a broth. "When you've gathered enough, just toss everything into a pot with water, herbs, and spices, and you've got a homemade stock that adds so much more flavor than anything from the store," she advises. 

Scott Groth believes that one of the biggest mistakes home cooks make with soup is using water as the liquid base, instead of taking this opportunity to use stock or broth. "When using a homemade or even store-bought stock or broth, it's adding depth, richness, and complexity to the soup," he explains. Whenever you add water to any dish, you will dilute the flavors, and this applies to soup, too. Invest in some high-quality stock from your butcher or the grocery store, or make it on your own — we can offer a helpful tip for the liquid-to-meat ratio that yields perfect chicken stock. 

Once you've set your soup up for success with well-sautéed aromatics and a deep, flavorful broth, it's important to continue layering flavors as you prepare the rest of the soup. Albert Nguyen comments that while the first stage begins with the browning of the mirepoix, the quest for flavor doesn't stop there. "People often forget to season ingredients as they add them to the soup, and instead season only at the end. The result of this mistake is a soup where the broth might taste seasoned or salty, since the salt was added at the last minute," he explains. Whenever you add an ingredient to your pot, add the appropriate enhancement, whether that is salt, pepper, or herbs. 

Scott Groth agrees, and encourages seasoning the ingredients at every stage, rather than just at the end. "If salt isn't added at different stages — such as when sautéing aromatics, adding bulk ingredients that absorb salt (like cauliflower, potatoes, broccoli, etc.), and then adjusting just before serving — the soup may taste flat or bland," he says. The key to a perfectly seasoned soup is less about how much salt you add, and more about the timing of adding your seasonings. 

The point of making a pot of soup is to have a dish that's straightforward to make, but allows you to enjoy a wide range of flavors and health benefits at the same time. However, it can be easy to get carried away with trying to make the soup fancy, "Soups are simple, so don't overthink what ingredients to use," advises Steven Chiappetti. "Go to the market and pick your favorite seasonal ingredients to get started." Onions or leeks usually make the best aromatic base, as long as they are cooked well. You can then focus your attention on the main ingredient, and enhance its flavor.

"Minestrone soup is a perfect example of an overdone dish by most home cooks," adds Chiappetti. With a rich, hearty soup like this one, many amateur chefs assume that the more ingredients they throw into the pot, the better the outcome will be — but this is not the case. "Stay focused on the main ingredient," assures Chiappetti. "Everything added should be a complement." A great example is carrot soup, one of Chiappetti's favorites. Let the carrots take center stage, then guide the sweetness along with a touch of cumin or curry. 

One of the critical points in the soup-making process is when you stand over the pot, stock in hand, wondering whether to add more liquid. We often end up adding more, which can result in a watery and bland soup by the time it's ready. "People often pour in too much water or stock, resulting in a ratio of liquid to solids that is too high," confirms Albert Nguyen. "It's easier to start with less liquid and develop an extremely flavorful soup, which you can stretch out with a bit more liquid and extra seasoning." Adding less stock initially gives you the flexibility to add more whenever you need it.

Another factor many home cooks don't consider is the liquid contained within the vegetables. "Many ingredients are high in water content, such as butternut squash and zucchini, and need very little liquid, stock, or broth to be added," explains Nguyen. If in doubt, add less liquid than you think you need, and adjust later, to make sure you prepare that butternut squash soup recipe perfectly.

It may seem that cooking something like a tomato and herb vegetable soup requires little thought, and all the vegetables can just be thrown in the pot and left to simmer. However, to get the best flavor out of them, you want them to be perfectly cooked, which requires a little forethought during preparation. "It's all about timing and consistency," says Sylvia Fountaine. "Make sure to cut your veggies so they're similar in size, which helps them cook evenly." Root vegetables, such as carrots or potatoes, take much longer to cook than tender veggies such as peas, so add them first to give them plenty of time to cook.

If you're looking to pack even more depth of flavor into your soup, you could cook some of the veggies in advance. "Roasting veggies like carrots, tomatoes, or even bell peppers before blending them into a soup can bring out a deep, caramelized flavor," explains Fountaine. But if you really are pressed for time, she acknowledges that you can take a shortcut and still have a tasty dish at the end. "You can absolutely toss raw veggies straight into the pot for a quicker, fuss-free option that still tastes delicious," she says. Adding raw vegetables to your soup means dinner will be on the table in a flash, as long as you take the time to cut them up evenly in advance. 

To the home cook, there may not seem to be much difference between boiling soup and simmering it, but this can make or break a pot of soup. Scott Groth explains that while the assumption may be that soup needs to be boiled to cook the ingredients, in most cases, a simmer is all that is required. "Boiling a soup will make delicate ingredients like vegetables mushy, or it will make diced chicken breasts tough," he explains. To avoid ruining the star ingredients in your soup, bring the liquid to a boil initially, and then turn the heat down to a lower setting.

Overcooking the ingredients isn't the only issue with a vigorous boil, as the aesthetics of your soup can also be affected. Keeping the broth of your soup perfectly clear can be a challenge, and aggressive boiling can cause it to turn cloudy. "Typically, unless making a cream-based soup like a chowder or bisque where boiling will help to thicken the soup, just keeping the soup at a simmer is the best technique," suggests Groth. Simmering will allow the flavors in the soup to develop without jeopardizing the texture of your ingredients, and ensure that your finished soup looks fabulous. 

If your reason for making soup is to save time, then simply throwing all ingredients into the pot and turning up the heat is very tempting. However, if you want your vegetables to be cooked well and the final dish to be full of flavor, it pays to consider which ingredients will take longer to cook than others. "Spinach will cook within minutes, while collard greens take up to an hour just to soften," Scott Groth points out. To get the cooking of your ingredients just right, consider how long each would take to cook if they weren't in a soup, and make sure that you don't add ingredients with wildly different cooking times in the pot together at once. 

Instead, prepare your ingredients in order of how long they take to cook, adding the root veggies at the beginning and preparing the tender vegetables while they simmer. Fresh herbs will lose flavor as they cook, so they should always be added at the end to retain their aromatic qualities. 

We can often be tempted by the prospect of a creamy soup, thinking that the soup's decadence will sway the dish toward being a luxurious light meal rather than a simple soup. But adding too much cream can spell disaster for your meal, and you need to think carefully about what stage to add dairy products, too. "I personally lean toward dairy-free soups, but when I do use dairy — like in a classic tomato soup — a splash of heavy cream added at the very end can make the texture luxurious and smooth," explains Sylvia Fountaine. Cream is known for curdling when it is exposed to heat, so the later you can add it, the less chance there is that it will separate. 

Steven Chiappetti agrees that restraint should be used when adding dairy, as a little goes a long way. He suggests that a creamy tomato soup should consist of a tomato-rich base, with just a little cream added in. "This is done to balance the acidity that can come from the intense tomato base," he explains. In many cases, you can even make a creamy soup without adding dairy at all, by using a thickening ingredient like potatoes to provide a rich, satisfying texture. 

Acidity is something that home cooks struggle to get right. Though you may automatically think that acidity is a bad thing in cooking, not enough acidity can lead to imbalance within a dish — particularly one with earthy and heavy flavors, which is a characteristic of many soups. "Soups that feel heavy, one-dimensional, flat, or just somehow 'off' are typically missing enough acid to cut through the richness or fat of the soup," explains Scott Groth.

As your soup simmers away, taste it continually to see how the acidity changes as the ingredients begin to cook. If you feel that it's lacking something, but you're not sure what, it probably needs a splash of acid to brighten the flavor. "A squeeze of fresh lemon or lime juice, a few drops of balsamic vinegar, a touch of wine, or even fermented ingredients like sauerkraut juice or kimchi can help bring all the delicious flavors together for a fresh, vibrant finish," suggests Groth. The trick to balancing your soup is to add a little acid at a time, and keep tasting as you go, until you feel the level is just right. Like everything else in cooking, you can always add more, but you can't take flavoring away if you add too much. 

When you think of making a homemade soup, you'll probably envision yourself standing over a big pot, stirring it as the soup bubbles away, and sipping it every so often to taste. However, as reliable as this old-school method is, there are numerous appliances that can make the process of preparing soup more hands-off, and give you the chance to get on with something else while your soup cooks.

"There are lots of ways to make a great soup," says Sylvia Fountaine. "For bean soups, especially when using dried beans, I love using the Instant Pot. It's a time-saver and makes the beans perfectly tender." If you already have an Instant Pot, you can put it to good use the next time you're making soup, as the pressure provided by the appliance will cook vegetables in a fraction of the time that it would take on the stove. If you're not in a hurry, a crockpot can be a great option too. Using a slow cooker — or the slow-cook function of the Instant Pot — allows the flavors to develop gradually without the ingredients overcooking. With this strategy, you can put the soup on before you leave in the morning, and come home to a wonderfully cooked pot of steaming goodness. 

You've almost finished the masterpiece that is your pot of soup, you take a tentative sip, and ... disaster. It's too salty. Over-seasoning can happen for several reasons, including using salty ingredients and not compensating for that when adding salt. Once you've discovered the mistake, you need a quick fix to restore it to its former glory.

"You can always add more liquid to dilute the saltiness," suggests Sylvia Fountaine. "For brothy soups, tossing in an ingredient like pasta, rice, or another grain can help absorb some of the excess salt and balance things out." The same also applies to herbs and spices. You may think that you can never have too much of that delicious aromatic flavor, but there comes a point where the seasonings start to overpower the dish. Particularly with dried herbs and spices, a little goes a long way. 

Unless you're intentionally making a thin, broth-type soup, chances are that you want the end result to be creamy and satisfying. However, this can be hard to achieve, and as we've learned, adding lots of cream isn't the solution. Sylvia Fountaine suggests a method of thickening the soup using only the ingredients you already have. "Pureeing a portion of the cooked veggies and returning it to the pot thickens the soup naturally, and adds a creamy texture without any additional ingredients," she says.

Another method of thickening is to add ingredients into the soup that will alter its texture. "Potatoes or rice added are the most common," explains Steven Chiappetti. "Potato leaves a more distinct flavor, where rice is cleaner." If you don't have any of these ingredients handy, the final option is to reach for a traditional thickener to do the job. Arrowroot and cornstarch are two popular options, but Chiappetti warns that they need to be used with restraint, as they can have a big effect on both the taste and texture of the dish.