18 Make-Ahead Soup Recipes To Fill Your Freezer

When summer comes to an end and the air starts to cool off, you can tell that soup season is on the horizon. While we love the smell of a fresh pot of soup simmering away on the stove all day, sometimes a pre-made soup that you can grab from the freezer is even better. A quick solution for busy winter weeknights, a frozen batch of soup makes an easy and hearty dinner in a hurry.

When making a big batch of soup to freeze, be mindful of the ingredients. Bean soups, puréed soups and chili freeze particularly well. However, recipes that are packed with dairy or noodles, don’t. Noodles tend to get mushy in the freezing process and dairy can separate, ruining the smooth texture.

Another pro tip? You’ll want to pick a freezer-safe vessel with just a bit more space than you actually need for the soup. Leaving some space before putting the lid on ensures that, as the liquid expands in the freezer, the lid to your container will stay put and sealed tight.

One of our favorites for making ahead? Minestrone. This healthy soup is packed with hearty vegetables to make it extra filling. Dried herbs like oregano and basil add deep, rustic flavor, while fresh basil adds brightness. It’s easy to freeze in containers or bags and heats up beautifully on a cold, dreary day.

Brown lentils are the star of this dish. To boost flavor, we used a classic mirepoix — onion, celery and carrot — as well as thyme, bay and oregano for an herby finish. If you’re making this dish to freeze be sure to reserve the toppings and add them just before serving.

Chili is a great freezer meal because it’s easy to prepare, can be made in large batches, and reheats easily. This bold recipe takes deep flavor from cocoa powder, allspice, cloves and cayenne pepper. It makes a great topping for noodles, rice or roasted potatoes.

Why choose between mushroom barley and beef barley soup, when you can have both all rolled into one recipe? Adding a bunch of other vegetables — like carrots, celery, tomatoes, and chard or spinach — just adds more color, texture and nutrition to the mix. It’s a complete meal in a bowl and will leave you feeling full and satiated.

Mini meatballs swim in savory broth in this delicious soup recipe. Garlic, parsley and parmesan cheese add deep, savory flavor and just a hint of creamy zest. For best results keep the pasta out and add it in just before you’re ready to serve

Twenty minutes is all it takes to prepare this hearty soup. Made with white meat turkey and white beans, this fun spin on traditional chili is a little lighter with just as much flavor. Poblano peppers add heat and beautiful green color, while coriander and cumin add deep, earthy flavor.

Carrot soup is one of those recipes that's equal parts light and satisfying. The carrots give an earthy, sweet flavor, while the adobo sauce adds deep heat. While it's super smooth and creamy, this recipe actually doesn't contain any dairy so it freezes easily without messing with the texture.

This simple chili recipe deserves a permanent spot in your freezer. Packed with two types of beans and ground beef, it’s hearty enough to fill you up with just one bowl. You can adjust the chili spice per your preference: add more to make it extra spicy or go easy to cool down the heat.

Warm curry and bright orange juice make this velvety carrot soup pop. It’s creamy without using dairy, making it a nourishing appetizer or even a light meal. Better yet, it freezes easily and maintains the smooth texture without separating.

Deeply flavored with ginger and serrano chiles, this isn’t your average lentil soup. The bold flavors will warm you up from the inside out, so it’s the perfect dish to heat up on a cold winter night. Paprika, cumin, turmeric and garlic infuse each and every lentil with a complex and robust flavor.

This hearty vegetable soup is creamy and smooth, yet it doesn’t include any milk or cream. Ginger, allspice and coriander make it flavorful and bold, while garlic and thyme make it rustic and earthy. It takes less than an hour to come together and yields up to 10 servings.

This super-rich soup is perfect for a cozy dinner. While it's special enough for a Sunday dinner, it's easy enough to enjoy on a busy weeknight — especially if you freeze the extras. Serve with a big hunk of crusty bread.

This might be the ultimate vegetable soup; thick and comforting with vibrant flavor and color. Better yet, it only requires six ingredients to make from start to finish. It thaws easily and can be served alongside a light salad or a big hunk of crusty bread.

We love this black bean soup because you can make it as smooth or as chunky as you’d like. Jalapeños and chili powder add heat, while cumin and garlic add earthy complexity. Adjust the pepper per your spice level and be sure to reserve the toppings for right before you plan to serve it.

Bone broth is a fantastic soup to keep in your freezer. Not only is it a great base for a wide variety of recipes, it's also the perfect thing to sip when you're feeling under the weather. We're using beef bones in this recipe, but chicken bone broth is just as satisfying.

Less than 10 ingredients are all you need to make this hearty winter soup, and many of them can be found in your pantry or freezer. Frozen lima beans, a can of diced tomatoes, two cans of chicken broth and finely chopped onion come together easily to yield the chunky and filling soup. Instead of creamed corn opt for regular canned corn to make sure the texture stays consistent during the freezing process.

If you have lots of vegetables around and looking for a way to use them up, this roasted vegetable soup is smooth and creamy. We’re using bell peppers, onions, squash and zucchini, but you could absolutely add in other vegetables like carrots and potatoes too. While this recipe calls for a bit of heavy cream, it’s not enough that would make the soup separate during the freezing process.