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Apart from a good hug, a warm bowl of soup is just about the most comforting thing there is on a chilly day. But making a good broth or bisque takes tools and serving it with style requires beautiful bowls and spoons. We’ve gathered up a list of some of our favourite soup gear to help you prepare for your kitchen for the fall, including an amazingly smart stock pot, a powerful immersion blender, a clever soft-edged ladle, and a few serving products that will help you present it with some panache.
Best budget stock pot
There are some great $300 cauldrons out there, but trust us and try this attractively low-priced (and surprisingly handsome) 5L pot. Its non-stick enamel-coated steel inside helps keep your dumplings, meats, and veggies from burning on the bottom during long simmers. And if you happen to be cooking something other than soup? Flip the locks on the handles to hold the lid in place and pour out water using the built-in strainer. Genius.
Best slow cooker
Slow cookers can be a busy meal maker’s best friend, especially if you like your soups a bit on the stew-y side. There are loads of models out there, but we like this 5.5L KitchenAid. Its thick, dishwasher-safe ceramic basin keeps a nice steady temperature throughout the cook, and the metal exterior stays relatively cool. Plus, it’s dead simple to use. Just pick one of four temperatures, set the timer, and you’re done. It’ll make you want to chow down on chowders almost every night.
Best ladle
Using a metal or hard plastic ladle to try to get the final tasty tidbits from the bottom of the pot is an exercise in frustration. This soft–edged ladle makes it a whole lot easier, bending to conform with the shape of your vessel’s interior crease, easily scooping up every last teaspoon of your mouthwatering minestrone. Available in three multicolour designs.
Best pressure cooker
Making the most of a pressure cooker for soup requires a bit of practice (you’ll need to learn tricks like adding thicker ingredients after the cook), but it can really bring out flavours in bone broths and vegetable stocks. The Dream Cooker is our favourite, thanks to its easy-to-clean nonstick pot, hands-free steam release, great versatility—it doubles as a crock pot—and super simple operation. Plus, it’s pretty as a peach.
Best all-purpose soup bowls
High quality ceramic enameled soup bowls FTW. They’re gorgeous, last forever (if you take care of them), and can transition straight from the oven to the table, ensuring your soup is always the right temperature. These French-styled Staub bowls receive top marks for looks, durability, and versatility. Use them for ramen, stews, and broths as well as porridges and cereals. They’re a tad spendy, but you may never need to buy soup bowls again.
Best immersion blender
Any aspiring home potager needs an immersion blender. It lets you blend tomatoes, butternut squash, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, and more right in the pot, resulting in the smoothest, creamiest soups you can imagine. Vitamix makes an amazing immersion blender that has a powerful motor capable of emulsifying the firmest veggies in minutes, plus a scratch guard that keeps the blade from touching pot surfaces. Soup lovers will use it all winter long.
Best soup plates
Nothing ups your soup serving game faster than a wide-rimmed porcelain bowl. These things can make a can of Campbell’s Tomato Soup look like haute cuisine. You can go for pricier brands if you like, but few eaters will know the difference. Plus, porcelain is fragile. That’s why we recommend this more affordable set of four. They’re wonderfully elegant looking, but you won’t cry if you accidentally crack one on your marble countertop.
Best bouillon soup spoons
The tablespoons in your drawer are fine for day-to-day soup shoveling, but a perfectly round, contoured bouillon spoon will make you feel like you’re dining at The Bear (and they’re a perfect match for those soup plates we recommended above). No need to break the bank on pricier brands. This set of 12 stainless steel spoons will do the trick, leaving you plenty of money left over for quality soup ingredients.
Best all-in-one soup maker
Sure, you could chop, process, and blend ingredients using various tools and machines, then transfer them all to a pot on the stove. Or you could just throw everything into the Ninja Foodi Cold & Hot Blender, press a couple of buttons, and be eating soup in minutes, with just one dishwasher-safe glass pitcher to clean. And when you’re not using it for soup you can make sauces, smoothies, cocktails, fondues, or ice cream. Pretty handy, this 1,400-watt beast.
Best napkins
Soup is messy. That’s just the nature of the meal. And paper on the lips? For some folks, that’s a recipe for heebie-jeebies. So get a pack of these linen serviettes to put a touch of sophistication on your soup repast. The linen is luxurious on the skin, and you can reuse them for years (with a little help from your friend Clorox). You and your guests’ faces and clothing will thank you for it.
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