5 Thanksgiving Soup Recipes, from Smooth Squash to French Onion

A warm soup can open Thanksgiving dinner, but the bowl you choose changes the plan. Smooth squash, pale potato-leek, wild rice with beans, blended mushrooms, and onion broth under cheese-topped bread each ask for different ingredients and preparation.

Look at the meal that follows as well as the soup itself. A hearty rice-and-bean bowl needs a different serving decision from a smooth puree. The five choices below explain those differences and lead to each credited maker’s complete recipe, with its own preparation and yield guidance.

Jennifer Segal’s soup pairs fresh butternut squash with red bell pepper, onion, and garlic. Choose it for a smooth squash first course with heavy cream and thyme. The potato-leek soup below offers a different vegetable base with the same smooth serving style.

Fresh pre-cut squash and water are the starting ingredients, and Jennifer’s method calls for no roasting or separate vegetable sauté. That matters when you are comparing the kitchen work. Read her complete blending and finishing directions when fitting this soup into your Thanksgiving plan.

Jennifer Segal’s potato-leek soup uses Yukon Gold potatoes, the white and light-green parts of leeks, butter, and cream. Vegetable broth is the selected liquid here. Choose it when you want a warm, smooth potato soup instead of the golden-orange squash option above.

Give leek cleaning a place in your preparation plan; Jennifer explains it in the full recipe. The soup also needs blending to reach the selected smooth finish. Check that work and the cream on the shopping list before deciding which vegetable soup fits dinner.

Jeanine Donofrio and Phoebe Moore’s soup has an unsweetened almond-milk, raw-cashew, white-bean, white-miso, and Dijon base. Choose it when you want rice, beans, and autumn vegetables with visible pieces in the bowl. Its hearty character matters when planning the meal that follows.

The ingredient list starts with cooked wild rice and cooked cannellini beans, so include their preparation before scheduling the soup. The makers’ complete rice and bean pages are named in the practical notes below. Their main soup recipe covers the creamy base and the vegetables.

Holly Erickson and Natalie Mortimer’s mushroom soup includes butter, dry white wine, heavy cream, thyme, nutmeg, and Dijon. Vegetable stock is the selected stock here. Choose it when those mushroom-and-dairy ingredients belong in your Thanksgiving first course, rather than squash or potatoes.

The complete recipe blends the soup smooth and includes cornstarch for thickening. Plan the blender as well as the soup pot, and use the makers’ instructions for that work. This selected finish keeps the bowl smooth, while the wild-rice choice above leaves ingredients visible.

John Kanell’s French onion soup combines deeply caramelized yellow onions with beef stock, dry white wine, brandy, thyme, and bay leaf. Choose it when you want onion broth beneath baguette and Gruyere. The bread-and-cheese finish is part of the complete recipe you are choosing.

Reserve patient stovetop time for the onions and broiler space for the finish. John’s selected method uses broiler-proof serving bowls, so check those before adding the soup to dinner. His complete recipe covers the broth and the cheese-topped bread together.