What Ingredients Can I Use to Make a Quick Soup?

Recently I shared a story about the soup making competition between my mom and me. Although the story is funny, my passion for making great soup is indeed genuine. I try to keep my pantry stocked with a good variety of soup making ingredients. The ingredients for preparing fast soup are nothing fancy, though. Check out some of the food items I keep on hand for creating a quick, but nourishing pot of soup.

Round Up Soup Starters

If you really like soup, but do not have any stock in the freezer, nor the time to make stock -- reach for bouillon or liquid broth concentrate. Watch out for bouillon packed with high amounts of sodium, though. Make bouillon according to the package directions. Toss in some chopped celery, onion, and carrots if you have some. Simmer until veggies are soft.

The basic beef, chicken or vegetable bouillon comes in dried cubes, packets or a thick base you use by the teaspoonful, and refrigerate after opening. You can purchase these varieties in reduced, low and no sodium, or gluten-free formulas. In addition, you can get these without MSG added.

One of my local grocery store favorite finds is a vegetable liquid broth concentrate in packet form. I especially like the vegetable flavored packet. Made with vegetable extracts of tomato, mushrooms, carrots, onions and celery, it makes a wonderful base for soup and marinades. You can use it in stir-fry as well.

Beans - Black, Kidney, Lima, Garbanzo

When it comes to whipping up quick soup, beans are extremely versatile. In the pantry, beans are my go-to ingredient. In addition to being good filler in soup, beans are a super source of fiber. Almost any beans will work in soup. I love using dried beans, but I like the ease of canned beans for soup in a hurry.

For use in scores of recipes, but especially in my soup, black beans are a must-have food item. I also keep a few cans of light and dark red kidney beans to add to the mix. Other great beans to stock up on include; lima beans, garbanzo beans (chickpeas or ceci), and white beans, which are also known as cannellini beans.

Canned Chili in a Soup Pinch

Yes -- it is true. In a scary moment of, I need to make soup desperation one winter's day -- I made a bountiful pot of soup using a can of vegetarian chili (with beans) as the base. I added a 15-ounce can each of tomato puree and diced tomatoes, two cups of beef bouillon broth, some frozen diced carrots and a teaspoon of dry, spicy chili mix. It hit the spot and was actually quite good. I have experimented further since then, and actually find canned chili an economical soup starter.

Rice is Nice

Every pantry should have a box of rice on its shelf. White rice makes a good, and filing addition to soup. I prefer using brown rice, though. The health benefits of brown rice are a nice bonus.

Frozen Veggies

If you have frozen veggies on hand, you can make soup. I have used almost every frozen vegetable imaginable in soup. When frozen vegetables are on sale, I grab extra packages. Use your imagination. Give frozen veggies a try. I am not fond of using canned vegetables in soup, but if there is nothing else, canned is OK.

Pasta Additions for Soup

In the soup making process, I have utilized nearly every kind of pasta in existence. I love using "fine" egg noodles and spinach rotini. While small wheat elbow macaroni is a staple for soup, my favorite pasta is ditalini macaroni. It is small and works perfectly in any type of soup I make. Here is a tip: Because ditalini macaroni is so small, it completely mushes to nothing if cooked in the soup.

To remedy this problem -- I learned that cooking the ditalini separately works better. Be sure to cook it "al dente." About eight minutes is ideal. I then add the amount of cold pasta I want, directly to a hot bowl of soup. Its small size allows it to heat up in the soup in a jiff. Have fun coming up with your own soup creations.

What are some of the odd ingredients you have utilized to conjure up a pot of soup?