The holidays are over and many of us are likely stuffed with the most delicious and decadent dishes. And more or less feeling it. But instead of going straight on a diet, why not eat something healthy like soup? Soup is a great choice for detox because it’s light, but still filling and, most important, nourishing. There are so many different types of soup to choose from that it’s virtually impossible to not find at least a few recipes you like that are also simple and easy to make.
What are the benefits of eating soup?
- Soup is mostly water which makes it extremely hydrating.
- Water soluble B vitamins and minerals leech into the soup and give it tonic properties.
- Soup is light and won’t make you feel heavy after eating.
- Soup is filling, but easily digestible.
- It’s extremely nourishing – soup can contain all essential vitamins and dietary minerals, antioxidants, anti-inflammatory and anticancer components.
- Soup is one of the most customizable dishes – you can change up any recipe any way you want.
Traditional chicken soup
Chicken soup is tasty and known for its anti-inflammatory benefits which makes it a top-ranking dish, worth trying if you’re looking to eat healthier. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a large pot, chop and fry half an onion over medium-low heat until golden, then add 1 medium grated carrot and continue cooking for 5 more minutes while stirring continuously. Fill the pot with 2 liters of water, add 2 chicken necks, 2 backs and 2 wings (with skin) and boil on low heat for 1.5 hours. If the liquid goes down too much, refill and continue cooking.
Once the broth is finished cooking, fill with water up to 1.5 liters. Add 2 medium peeled and chopped tomatoes, bring to a boil and cook for 10-15 minutes. In the meantime, season with salt and ground pepper. Add 40 g of very thin spaghetti used for soups (e.g. barbine spaghetti or capelli d’angelo which are very thin strands of spaghetti, usually in a nest-like shape, or even taglierini which are smaller tagliatelle, or vermicelli). Beat 2 whole eggs and whisk them in, then remove from the stove. Top with fresh parsley.
Simple fresh tomato soup
Chop half a red onion and fry in 2 tablespoons of olive oil over low heat until golden. Remove the pot from the stove. Chop 8 medium tomatoes or 24 cherry tomatoes and add to the pot. Cover with water (about 1.5 liters) and bring to a boil. Boil for 30-40 minutes over medium-low heat, or until the tomatoes are cooked and retain just a little ‘fresh’ flavor (boiling time will depend on the amount of soup you make). Add half a cup or about 40 g of risoni pasta (orzo) towards the end of the cooking time.
Once the soup is cooked, season with salt, pepper and add a drizzle of fresh extravirgin olive oil at the end. The best thing about this simple tomato soup is that it’s easy to make, healthy, with few ingredients, and light. Even if you omit the onion, it’ll still taste wonderful.
Vegetarian potato soup
There are few soups that are both satiating and light and potato soup is one of them. You need half an onion, 2-3 medium tomatoes, 3 medium carrots, and 1 to 1.5 kg of potatoes.
Fry the onions in 1-2 tablespoons of oil until golden, add the tomatoes, peeled and chopped, and continue cooking for 10 minutes. Add the chopped carrots and potatoes, cover with water and boil until cooked. Season to your liking (salt, pepper, other spices).
This soup is perfectly light and simple, but bring important benefits for health, especially for cardiovascular health because of the potatoes rich in potassium with blood pressure-lowering properties. Carrots are a source of anticancer compounds and compounds with benefits for eye health (e.g. beta-carotene in orange carrots, lycopene in yellow carrots), blood pressure (e.g. lycopene in red carrots) and more.
Cabbage and carrot soup
Start with one medium onion, chopped, and fry until golden in about 2 tablespoons of oil. Add half a medium cabbage, chopped, 2-4 bay leaves, and 3 medium chopped carrots and fill the pot with boiling water. Cook for 30-45 minutes once the water starts boiling. Season with salt and pepper and enjoy. Cabbage and carrot soup is light, very low-calorie, but hydrating and healthy.
Carrots contain falcarinol, farcalindiol, methyl-falcarindiol and panaxydiol with scientifically proven anticancer properties. Cabbage contains organic sulfur compounds and anthocyanin antioxidants, also with scientifically proven anticancer properties. And you can color coordinate your soup by using red onion, red carrot and red cabbage, or white onion, white cabbage and white carrot, or red onion, purple cabbage and purple carrot. Each carrot color is a source of different health-promoting compounds.
Carrot, zucchini and potato cream soup
In a large pot, add 8 medium carrots, 1 medium zucchini and 1 large potato, all chopped, and 1 whole onion. Cover with water and cook until soft. Do not add too much water in the beginning, just enough to cover the vegetables and cook them. If needed, complete with small amounts of water as needed. Try to simmer down the soup to about 1 cup. Once the vegetables are cooked, remove the onion and season with salt, pepper and dried oregano or thyme. Using an immersion blender, puree the vegetables well. Add 4 spoonfuls of sour cream and puree until well incorporated. Fix seasoning if needed and enjoy warm or cold from the fridge.
