This is every soup and chowder recipe on the site, in one place. Nine of them so far, all free, all written out properly.
Here's the thing about soup, and it's the reason most homemade soup is disappointing. Soup is stock with things in it. That's the whole architecture. If the stock is thin and salty, the soup will be thin and salty, and there is nothing you can add at the end that fixes it. Not cream, not herbs, not another hour on the stove. Every one of these recipes will tell you the same thing in its own way, because it's the one lever that matters more than all the others put together.
The second thing worth knowing before you start: most of these are cheap. Onions, stock, a few vegetables, and time. The chowders and bisques cost more because shellfish costs more, but even those are a fraction of what the same bowl costs sitting down. Soup is where a home kitchen genuinely beats a restaurant on value, and it is not close.
Start anywhere. If you're new to this, chicken vegetable and corn chowder are the two I'd begin with, because neither one punishes you for a small mistake.
Chowders and Bisques
Thick, rich, and built on dairy or shellfish stock rather than a clear broth. These are the ones where technique matters most, because cream splits, shellfish overcooks in seconds, and a bisque lives or dies on whether you actually used the shells.
Broth and Vegetable Soups
Clear-bodied soups where there's nowhere to hide. No cream to smooth over a weak stock and no thickener to give it false body. These are the ones that teach you what good stock actually does.
The Part Nobody Tells You About Storage
This applies to every soup on this page, so it lives here rather than being buried nine times over.
Do not leave the pot on the stove to cool. A big pot of soup holds heat in the middle for hours, sitting in the 40F to 140F range where bacteria multiply fastest. Improper cooling of cooked food is one of the most common causes of foodborne illness, and a stockpot is close to the worst offender there is because of its depth.
Divide it into shallow containers, no more than a couple of inches deep, and refrigerate within two hours. That's the whole rule. It takes two minutes and it's the difference between leftovers and a bad week.
Reheat to 165F throughout, not just until it's warm at the edges.
Freezing depends on dairy. The broth-based soups freeze well for three months. Anything with cream in it will separate on thawing and won't come back, so freeze the base before the dairy goes in if you're planning ahead.
Where the Stock Comes From
Since stock decides every soup on this page, it's worth knowing how to make it properly, and that starts with bones.
- The Five Mother Sauces, which covers stock, roux and mirepoix, the three things every soup here leans on
- How to Butcher a Cow, for the bones that make a beef stock worth building on
- How to Butcher a Chicken, and the carcass most people bin
- How to Butcher Lobster, because the shells are the bisque
- The Butchery Guides, all thirty six of them
More Recipe Guides
This is one of six recipe categories on the site. The full recipe index lists all fifty-one recipes in one place.
Who Is Writing This
I'm Chef Alan. I have spent 35 years in professional kitchens, I have formal culinary education in New Hampshire, and I have been honored as a 6-Time 4-Diamond Chef. More about me here.
If a recipe is missing something you needed, or a step didn't make sense, tell me. Get in touch and I'll fix it.
Cook Bolder, Serve Wiser, Eat Better.
Tools for the Job
Soup asks less of your equipment than almost anything else, but the pot matters. A thin base scorches onions and catches dairy, and both are unrecoverable.