The Worst Things to Put in Your Soup (2024)

By Sara Butler

If there’s one good thing about fall and winter, it’s soup. It tastes good, it’s warming, and it’s soothing -- what’s not to love? Well, it turns out there are several things in soup not to love. Many soups can be full of saturated fat, sodium, and MSG. Yes, some soups can be soothing but not great for your overall health and wellness. Here are some of the worst soup ingredients that you should avoid.

Heavy Cream

Heavy cream creates an inviting texture for soups but that’s where its positive contributions end. Soups that are cream based are often full of fat and calories. It’s best to choose soups and recipes for soups you make at home that have broth as a base. Just make sure to keep an eye on the sodium!

Juice

You may not think of juice as an ingredient for soup, but there are plenty of soups that use fruit juices to raise their flavor profiles. Fruit juice is often full of sugar and calories, so it’s not a great addition to the soup.

Turkey Bacon

Bacon makes a soup taste good -- there’s really no denying it. But if you think you’re helping to make a soup healthier by using turkey bacon instead of regular bacon, then you might want to rethink it. Turkey bacon, while lower in saturated fat and calories, has a lot more sodium. If you have high blood pressure, then that’s a no-no. You’re actually better off with regular bacon in this case because it has monounsaturated fats as well as more protein than turkey bacon. Just be careful how much you add -- you don’t want to pig out.

Cheese

Most soups already tip the scales when it comes to fat and salt but adding cheese will only make that worse. Cheese-based soups are definitely not good for your health since a small bowl can have more than its fair share of fat and calories.

Croutons

Sometimes it’s nice to add a little crunch to your soup in the form of croutons, but it’s probably not a good idea. Croutons usually lack any fiber or whole grains and only add calories to your soup. Plus, they’re high in sodium. So, skip the crouton and have a slice of homemade whole grain bread with your soup instead.

Soup can be a healthy and satisfying meal as long as you steer clear of the pitfalls!

To learn more about your health, wellness, and fitness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic in Memphis, Tenn.

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The Worst Things to Put in Your Soup (2024)

FAQs

The Worst Things to Put in Your Soup? ›

Avoid bitter greens and members of the brassica family (kale, cabbage, Bok Choy). Other greens can be used in small quantities. Good in small quantities (no more than 1/5 of the stock ingredients). Foods in the Brassica family, such as kohlrabi, are too strong for stock/broth and can impart a bitter taste.

What are the common problem of the soup? ›

The 7 Biggest Mistakes You Make Cooking Soup
  • Boiling instead of simmering. You want a small bubble or two to rise to the surface of the liquid every few seconds. ...
  • Not using enough salt. ...
  • Ignoring water. ...
  • Overcooking the vegetables. ...
  • Adding tomatoes at the beginning. ...
  • Neglecting to garnish. ...
  • Not trying a pressure cooker.
Nov 19, 2014

What vegetables can you not put in soup? ›

Avoid bitter greens and members of the brassica family (kale, cabbage, Bok Choy). Other greens can be used in small quantities. Good in small quantities (no more than 1/5 of the stock ingredients). Foods in the Brassica family, such as kohlrabi, are too strong for stock/broth and can impart a bitter taste.

How to know if soup is bad? ›

Check the smell: If the soup smells sour or has an off-putting odor, it's a sign that bacteria has started to grow and it's no longer safe to eat. Look for mold: If you see any mold growing on the surface of the soup, it's definitely time to throw it out.

Is 5 day old soup ok to eat? ›

Most soups can only last in a refrigerator for 3 to 4 days until they risk going bad, so make sure you place your cooled vegetable soup promptly in the freezer before this point. Make sure your soup lasts well by placing it in an airtight freezer-safe container.

What not to put in soup? ›

The Worst Things to Put in Your Soup
  1. By Sara Butler. If there's one good thing about fall and winter, it's soup. ...
  2. Heavy Cream. Heavy cream creates an inviting texture for soups but that's where its positive contributions end. ...
  3. Juice. ...
  4. Turkey Bacon. ...
  5. Cheese. ...
  6. Croutons.

What makes soup unhealthy? ›

Along with a high saturated fat content, soup can come with an overload of sodium, as well. The American Heart Association recommends the average person consume no more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day, but an ordinary can of Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup already has 890 milligrams of sodium per serving.

Can you put anything in soup? ›

You can use just about anything. The nice thing about soup, aside from the fact that it's warm and cozy and just about all I want to eat during the winter, is that you can make the dish with pretty much anything.

What vegetables are not good for broth? ›

What Not to Use for Making Vegetable Stock
  • Moldy or rotten vegetables. ...
  • Anything with a very strong, specific flavor (or color)—Cabbage, broccoli, artichokes, and beets are a few examples.
Oct 5, 2021

What is the most important ingredient in soup? ›

For clear, brothy soups, stock is your most important ingredient. If you want to make a good soup, you need to use an excellently flavored stock — otherwise, the entire pot could be tasteless.

Why put a stone in soup? ›

Stone boiling is an ancient cooking technique to heat food with directly exposing it to flame, reducing the likelihood of burning, and allowing the construction of stews and soups.

What to do after eating spoiled soup? ›

Stay hydrated

Liquid intake is crucial for helping your body fight off food poisoning effects. Vomiting and diarrhea can cause dehydration, so sucking on ice chips or taking small sips of water is a good starting point. Sports drinks that contain electrolytes are the best way to prevent dehydration during this time.

What makes soup spoil? ›

If the soup was left on the counter for more than 4 hours or was not refrigerated below 40 degrees, then bacteria exponentially increase. The poisons that bacteria leave behind cannot be cooked out of food. They just make you sick. Additionally, if the soup was made from fish, it will go bad more quickly.

Can I boil soup left out overnight? ›

To be completely safe, you'll have to boil the soup vigorously for 10 minutes. Doing this will not only kill off any active bacteria, it will also inactivate -- but not destroy -- botulinum spores.

Can I freeze soup? ›

Turn your big batch of soup into convenient grab-and-go meals by freezing it in individual servings. Quart-size freezer bags (or 4-cup freezer-safe plastic or glass containers) will accommodate a single serving while giving the soup room to expand as it freezes, plus when frozen flat, they stack easily.

How long to boil leftover soup? ›

You can then reheat it in a saucepan on the stove, or in a bowl in the microwave. Soup should not be reheated more than once, so only heat up as much soup as you will eat each time. When reheating broths or clear soups, bring them to the boil for three minutes.

What is a common mistake that cooks make when preparing soup? ›

Forgetting to add an acidic component

Failing to add an acidic component is perhaps the most common mistake everyone makes with homemade soup. To balance flavor and mouthfeel, each dish you create should have elements of fat, acid, sweetness, and salt. Often the fat comes from butter, oil, meat, or dairy.

What do all soups have in common? ›

The most common ingredient in soup dishes is onion. Garlic, chicken broth, carrots, olive oil, tomatoes and celery are also common ingredients in soup recipes. For herbs and spices, cayenne pepper is popular.

What is the soup challenge? ›

Eating better, one pot of homemade soup per week at a time. Welcome to year 3 of the Soup Sunday Challenge! I invite you to cook one pot of soup every week for 4 weeks. I will provide you with lots of inspiration for delicious, healthy soups.

What are the effects of soup? ›

Research results also show that people who eat soup every day have lower body weight and waist circumference than others. In addition, soup also brings better quality to your diet by reducing the amount of fat and increasing the amount of protein and fiber.

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