Healthy Soup Recipes for Special Diets

We use mirepoix—a combination of onion, celery and carrots—to flavor this soup. Keep a store-bought bag of the mixture in your freezer to ensure you always have some on hand without worrying about it going bad.

Layering apple slices into grilled cheese sandwiches adds a little crunch to a favorite soup dipper. And creamy butternut squash soup with ginger, cumin and turmeric is a nice change of pace from grilled cheese's usual tomato soup partner. Serve the duo for a comforting and easy weeknight dinner for the family. The soup keeps well in the fridge, so save leftovers for lunch or dinner later in the week.

Cabbage turns tender and flavorful in this comforting soup. The aromatic broth is full of spices, including ginger and turmeric, making it perfect for enjoying on a cold day or keeping you hydrated if you're sick.

A winter classic, this crock pot version of minestrone is heavy on the vegetables and light on the pasta, keeping carbs in check while providing plenty of flavor.

This comforting, low-carb chicken soup is packed with veggies. Chicken thighs add rich flavor and remain tender after simmering in the soup. The lemon juice added at the end brings a lovely hint of brightness.

This Eastern European soup (called kapusniak in Polish) is traditionally made with sauerkraut. To keep the sodium in check in this healthy recipe, we use fresh cabbage and save the sauerkraut for a deliciously salty-sour garnish.

This fragrant, Italian-flavored soup takes advantage of quick-cooking ingredients--boneless, skinless chicken breast, bagged baby spinach and canned beans. It features a simple homemade basil pesto swirled in at the end to add a fresh herb flavor. If you are very pressed for time, you can substitute 3 to 4 tablespoons of a store-bought basil pesto. Recipe by Nancy Baggett for EatingWell.

This easy chicken and kale soup will keep you warm on a cold and rainy day or any day that calls for a simple, hearty soup. For convenience, you can make this soup with frozen kale without the need to thaw it beforehand.

Mushrooms add earthiness and umami flavor in this creamy, one-pot soup recipe. This vegetarian soup will thicken as it sits, so be mindful that the consistency may change when you're done cooking.

Your favorite restaurant soup just got easier and healthier with this freezer-to-crock-pot recipe. If you keep a special bottle of olive oil on hand for stand-out dishes, this is the recipe to pull it out for. The headiness of the fruity olive oil truly elevates the flavors in this Italian meal-prep slow-cooker soup.

Once again, rotisserie chickens can really relieve the dinner-rush pressure-especially in this Italian-inspired soup that cries out for a piece of crusty bread and a glass of red wine.

Bake up some Manchego cheese toasts and uncork a bottle of Ribera del Duero to enjoy alongside this healthy pot of soup. Both sweet and hot Italian sausage work well.

In this easy broccoli soup recipe, broccoli cooks together with onions, celery, garlic and fresh herbs and is puréed into a delicious creamy soup. Try this healthy broccoli soup alongside grilled cheese sandwiches or as a starter for a simple dinner.

Skip the frying pan and make a full meal out of store-bought dumplings with this quick and easy 30-minute soup. Shao Hsing (or Shaoxing) is a seasoned rice wine used in Chinese cooking. Look for it in Asian specialty markets or with other Asian ingredients in large supermarkets.

This recipe is purposefully flexible so you can incorporate just about any veggie into it. Top with a dollop of pesto and/or a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.

A simple pea soup makes an elegant start to a spring meal. It's also a great way to use frozen vegetables when the produce section is looking bleak.

Like most soups, this Moroccan lentil soup recipe gets better with time as the complex seasonings have time to develop. Make it a day ahead if you can--this easy slow cooker/crock pot recipe variation makes it a cinch to get the soup cooking while you do other things.

This hearty bean and barley soup tastes like it has simmered for hours, but actually it's quite quick to throw together. Plus this recipe for healthy bean and barley soup freezes beautifully. If you have cooked barley on hand, omit the quick-cooking barley and stir in 1 1/2 cups cooked barley along with the broth in Step 2.

Squash, kale and bell peppers add color and nutrients to this vibrant, veggie-packed take on classic minestrone. Serve with grated Parmesan or a dollop of pesto for even more flavor.

A healthy take on a loaded baked potato, this creamy cauliflower soup recipe has all the fixings of a loaded potato (bacon included) but for way fewer calories and carbs. Ready in a quick 20 minutes, this easy soup is great for busy weeknights or can be meal prepped ahead of time to take for lunch or frozen for a ready-made meal down the road. This recipe was originally made for one serving but can be easily adapted to serve more.

French green lentils and black lentils hold up well to long, slow cooking without becoming mushy. Save the rinds from used-up blocks of Parmesan in a resealable plastic bag or tightly sealed container in the refrigerator. They give soup broths a rich, savory flavor.

This quick and easy vegan pumpkin black bean soup is filled with veggies. Convenient canned pumpkin, beans and coconut milk flavored with curry make it a hearty fall meal.

In this flavorful soup recipe, sweet potatoes simmer in a quick coconut curry, resulting in a creamy, thick broth punctuated by notes of garlic and ginger. We love peanuts for their inexpensive price and versatile flavor. They're also a great source of protein--1 ounce has 7 grams.

An abundance of vegetables, beans and pasta makes this soup so hearty you'll hardly notice the lack of meat. The drizzle of olive oil and sprinkle of Parmesan at the end adds a special touch to this slow-cooker minestrone.