Ten iconic soups from around the world

By Leslie Brenner

The calendar and the thermometer may disagree about whether it’s soup season yet, but many of us could probably benefit from some comfort in a pot. Here are 10 iconic soups (none of them cold!) from around the world.

Ashkenazi Chicken Soup (a.k.a. Jewish Penicillin)

Because I grew up with it, I’m leading off with Ashkenazi Chicken Soup, also known as “Jewish Penicillin.” My mom’s recipe is traditional, passed down through grandmas and aunts. It always tastes like love and hits the spot.

Miso Soup

Japan’s most world-famous soup is easier to conjure than you might think. Once you prepare dashi (which comes together in about 15 minutes), you just stir in miso and add tofu and garnishes. Keep the dashi on hand for more rounds of super-quick miso soup.

RECIPE: Miso Soup

Ash-e-Reshteh ~ Persian New Year’s Bean Soup

Traditionally served for Norooz, Persian New Year, ash-e-reshte is also terrific whenever it’s chilly out and you want a lift. It calls for mixed dried beans, so it’s perfect for using up bean odds and ends. It’s also packed with parsley, spinach and scallions, making it highly restorative. Our version is adapted from Naomi Duguid’s gorgeous book, Taste of Persia.

Ye Ocholoni Ina Doro Shorba ~ Ethiopian Peanut-Chicken Soup

Peanut soups are popular throughout East and West Africa, as Jenn Louis explained in her wonderful 2020 book The Chicken Soup Manifesto. This one — from Ethiopia — is rich, soothing and warmly spiced.

Tom Kha Kai

Thailand’s tangy coconut-galangal chicken soup is not only one of the world’s greatest soups; it’s also one of the world’s greatest dishes. You may be surprised that this make-at-home version — from Leela Punyaratabandhu’s Simple Thai Food — can be easily as good as what you get at your favorite Thai restaurant. Maybe even better!

RECIPE: Tom Kha Kai

Minestrone

There are plenty of mediocre minstrones sloshing around American soup pots, but a minestrone can be so good it can make you cry. Ours, made with turnips and Tuscan kale, may require a handkerchief.

Classic Split Pea Soup

Ridiculously easy to make (time does all the work), classic split pea soup is one of those formulas that needs no embellishment. It’s simple and perfect.

Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup

Frankie Gaw, the talented blogger behind Little Fat Boy, describes Beef Noodle Soup as “the national dish of Taiwan” — can’t get more iconic than that! His Uncle Jerry’s recipe comes by way of Gaw’s delightful cookbook, First Generation.

Canja de Galinha ~ Brazilian Chicken and Rice Soup

“For us, it’s our chicken noodle soup.” That’s how Brazilian-born Junior Borges describes canja de galinha. We were thrilled when the James Beard Award-nominated chef shared his updated version of his grandmother’s recipe with us.

Pozole Rojo

We have two recipes for Mexico’s iconic hominy soup: one relatively easy and good, the other elaborate and worth the extra effort if you’re ambitious.

The ambitious one begins with dried corn kernels — our recipe shows you how to nixtamalize them. (Nixtamalization is the same process used to make dried corn suitable for grinding into masa for tortillas.) It’s a big production, for sure, but well worth doing at least once if you love Mexican cooking. If you’re going to go to all this trouble, you’ll want to use heirloom corn.

The easier one — from Mely Martínez’s The Mexican Home Kitchen — uses hominy from a can.

Want a free or paid subscription to Cooks Without Borders’ Webby Award-winning newsletter, with recipes delivered to your inbox? Sign up below!