The best soup recipes of 2025 are in! We combed through reader favorites to highlight our most beloved soups, from creamy classics to cozy, veggie-packed bowls.
The Best Soup Recipes of 2025
Month: December 2025
Baked Spaghetti with Cream of Mushroom Soup
It took me until adulthood to finally discover the joy of mushrooms. This baked spaghetti with cream of mushroom soup transforms a typical pasta dinner thanks to that earthy, umami flavor—and lots of cheese. While the dish does require a bit of prep (mostly in creating the different layers), the yield is plentiful so you’ll be ready to go for a dinner party or for weeknight leftovers.
Serve it alongside some baked Parmesan broccoli or a simple chopped salad.
Baked Spaghetti with Cream of Mushroom Soup Ingredients
- Onion: Use a yellow or sweet onion here. It’ll add sweetness and savoriness and cook well.
- Green pepper: Green pepper, a little bitter and a little crunchy, adds a pop of color and a bit of balance.
- Diced tomatoes: The tomatoes cook down and provide moisture and acidity, harmonizing well with the other ingredients.
- Mushroom stems and pieces: These will be canned; if you’re using fresh, look for creminis, buttons or shiitakes. (If you use shiitakes, don’t include their stems because they can be woody.)
- Ripe olives: The briny olives cut through some of the creaminess and add an additional umami element.
- Dried oregano: Oregano, a staple in many pasta sauces, is aromatic and herbal to provide depth to the dish.
- Ground beef: While this is optional, beef adds a savory heartiness and extra protein.
- Spaghetti: You’ll want to cook your spaghetti before starting this recipe.
- Cheddar cheese: This melts for delightfully cheesy bites.
- Condensed cream of mushroom soup: You can use your preferred can. It will add instant creaminess with minimal effort.
- Parmesan cheese: This will be sprinkled on top before baking for a salty topping.
Taste of Home
86 Make-Ahead Potluck Recipes
Be ready for a last-minute party by keeping our make-ahead potluck recipes on hand. Each app, side, main and dessert feeds 12 or more so there will be plenty to go around.
Taste of Home
26 Skinny Dump-and-Go Recipes
Cooking doesn’t get any easier than dump and go! Just pour in the ingredients and let your slow cooker do the rest. And the best part? Each recipe has a healthy twist.
Taste of Home
Chicken and Rice Casserole
I don’t know about you, but I love a classic dump-and-bake casserole. Besides being ultra comforting, all-in-one casserole recipes are ideal for busy weeknights when you need to get dinner on the table quickly. Plus, mixing all the ingredients directly in the casserole dish means fewer dirty dishes to wash. Win, win!
This cheesy chicken and rice casserole is precisely one of those recipes. It’s made with just seven ingredients, including condensed cream soup, instant rice and precooked chicken, so it’s a cinch to throw together and takes less than 30 minutes to bake to bubbly perfection. Each bite is full of tender white meat chicken and rice smothered in a creamy sauce. Top it all with melty cheddar cheese for a hearty, family-favorite dinner.
Chicken and Rice Casserole Ingredients
- Canned soup: Condensed canned soup is the secret to making rich, creamy casseroles. We use cream of chicken and mushroom soups in this casserole to create a flavorful sauce that binds everything together.
- Chicken broth: Chicken broth adds extra moisture that the rice absorbs while cooking. This recipe calls for reduced-sodium broth since the canned soups and onion soup mix contain sodium. You could also use an equal amount of vegetable broth or water.
- Rice: This recipe uses instant white rice because it cooks fast and keeps the total baking time under 30 minutes.
- Cooked chicken breast: Using precooked chicken is a timesaving hack. Shredded rotisserie chicken is one of our favorite easy-dinner shortcuts and will add a unique roasted chicken flavor to the dish. You can also use pieces of leftover chicken, like baked or grilled breasts, if they’re mildly seasoned.
- Onion soup mix: A packet of onion soup mix is a no-fuss trick for seasoning casseroles, soups, slow-cooker recipes and more. The soup mix contains a blend of dried spices that adds savory flavor without a single measuring spoon.
- Cheddar cheese: A layer of shredded cheddar covers the top of the casserole for cheesy flavor and an irresistible melty topping. Pre-shredded cheese is convenient, but it contains ingredients to prevent clumping that can interfere with how well the cheese melts. Grab a block of cheddar and grate your own cheese for extra-smooth melting.
Taste of Home
52 New Year’s Brunch Recipes
Cheers to fresh starts and second helpings! Whether you’re rolling out of bed or rolling out the welcome mat for guests, these easy New Year’s brunch ideas bring the fun without the fuss.
This may be a surprising opinion, but I think New Year’s Day brunch almost always outshines New Year’s Eve. Between loading up on the best cheap champagne and curating a list of quick New Year’s Eve food ideas, there’s too much going on for anyone to properly focus on eating. New Year’s Day morning is a different, calmer story. These New Year’s Day recipes are the perfect way to start the year. Plus, they’re easy enough to make even if you’re a little (or a lot) hungover.
This collection is packed with sweet and savory brunch dishes, from fluffy waffle ideas and breakfast tacos to French toast recipes. We’ve also included plenty of make-ahead winners, like casseroles and quiche, so you can spend less time cooking and more time making memories. And don’t forget to include a few traditional New Year’s Day good-luck foods in your spread. Break out the extra champagne for mimosas and bellinis and dig in. Happy New Year!
Taste of Home
The Old-School Ground Beef Breakfast I Can’t Stop Making
There is basically no kind of breakfast that tops a diner breakfast in my book. I’m from the Northeast and diner culture is big up here. I love all kinds of diners — classics that have been around for decades serving up waffles and omelettes, Greek diners, roadside diners, and new-school diners with menus full of twists on traditional fare. I love it all. When I learned of a storied breakfast recipe that has been served up in San Francisco diners for countless years, I knew I had to try it. I’ve never been to a diner on the west coast, but if this is what they’re slinging, I’m going to need to make a trip. Joe’s Special Scramble is the diner brunch dish of my dreams.
Why Joe’s Special Scramble is So Great
If you’ve ever sat down for breakfast, looked at a menu and been unable to decide between breakfast and lunch, burger or omelette, this is the answer. Joe’s special scramble is a mix of scrambled eggs, seasoned ground beef, mushrooms, and spinach. It’s hearty and filling, but also indulgent. It scratches my itch for something kind of heavy to start my day (or midday, depending) with my want to also eat vegetables. Plop it next to some toast, hash browns, and a pot of strong coffee, and I am in heaven.
Tips for Making Joe’s Special Scramble
- You can make this just for one. If you’re making breakfast for less than four people, a ratio of 1 ounce of beef per large egg is just the right balance.
- Brown the mushrooms first. Mushrooms need room in the pan to brown properly. They just won’t get that same golden brown color and texture if you cook them at the same time as the beef. It’s worth it to cook them first and add them back in with the eggs.
- Μake it your way. Add Worcestershire or soy sauce to the beef. Skip the nutmeg. Add hot sauce to the eggs. Sprinkle the whole thing with cheddar cheese (my favorite move). The possibilities are endless.
The Kitchn
34 of Our Best Copycat Dessert Recipes
Surprise your family by making these copycat dessert recipes of sweets made famous by The Cheesecake Factory, Bakers Square and more.
Taste of Home
5-INGREDIENT CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS FOR TWO
A comfort-food meal for two is a rare treat. This recipe makes just enough chicken and dumplings for a cozy night in without too many leftovers in your fridge.
Pillsbury™ Grands!™ Buttermilk Biscuits and Progresso™ Reduced Sodium Chicken Broth make this recipe simple and oh-so-delicious. Classic chicken and dumplings are comforting for many people, and this recipe brings out the traditional flavors you know and love.
Whether you’re hosting a friend, have a 1-1 dinner with your kiddo, or are planning a date night with your sweetheart, this recipe is beloved by all.
RECIPE INGREDIENTS
Your dinner for two comes together with a few simple, easy-to-find ingredients. This is what you’ll need:
Pillsbury™ Grands!™ Buttermilk Biscuits: Not only are these biscuits flaky and full of flavor, they’re easy to work with, too. They make a great base for your dumplings.
Progresso™ Reduced Sodium Chicken Broth: This pre-made broth is a simple choice for your dish. The reduced sodium version makes it easy to customize the saltiness to your taste.
Ranch Salad Dressing & Seasoning Mix: Ranch seasoning works perfectly in this dish. With garlic, onion, dill, parsley, and chives, ranch seasoning helps you to flavor your dish without requiring too many individual spices in your cupboard.
Other Ingredients You’ll Need: Shredded cheddar cheese makes this dish ultra-creamy. The shredded cooked chicken adds hearty flavor and protein to the recipe. Simple black pepper brings mild heat and flavor to round out your dinner.
Pillsbury
Cowboy Spaghetti
In the 1960s and ’70s, Italian film directors began making low-budget Western movies that were dubbed “spaghetti Westerns.” Cowboy spaghetti is the culinary equivalent: a mashup of cozy Italian staple foods with flavors from the American Southwest. This ground beef pasta recipe makes a fantastic centerpiece to any family meal, served alongside a big green salad, vegetable sides and garlic bread.
Our recipe for cowboy spaghetti combines pasta and tomato sauce with bacon, ground beef, beans, chili-spiced tomatoes, cumin and pepper jack cheese. The result is a bold one-pot meal that’s hearty enough to satisfy the hungriest members of your crew. It makes a great work-night dinner, pairs perfectly with a ball game and is a happy surprise at a potluck.
Ingredients for Cowboy Spaghetti
- Spaghetti: Spaghetti is in the name, but this meal would be just as fantastic if made with linguine or fettuccine. A short, chunky pasta shape such as penne would also work perfectly.
- Bacon: Rendering the fat from smoky bacon and using that fat to cook the other ingredients is a wonderful way to pack flavor into a dish. Thick-cut is the best bacon to use for our cowboy spaghetti recipe so you get good chunks throughout the pasta.
- Lean ground beef: Because you’ll be cooking the beef in bacon fat, you can get away with using a nice lean grind.
- Onion: Yellow or white onions are the best types of onions for casseroles like this, but red onion works in a pinch.
- Kidney beans: Home-cooked or canned kidney beans work equally well in a recipe for cowboy spaghetti. You could also use pinto beans or Instant Pot black beans.
- Tomato sauce: Use the best jarred pasta sauce to make an amazingly flavorful base for your cowboy spaghetti.
- Diced tomatoes and green chiles: Look for chili-seasoned tomatoes and green chiles. Or, simply combine a can of regular diced tomatoes, a can of mild green chiles and a couple extra dashes of chili powder.
- Chili powder: Every brand is different, but chili powder usually includes paprika, oregano, garlic and onion powders, and cumin. It gives a smoky, rich and earthy flavor to food.
- Worcestershire sauce: A surprise ingredient that is neither Italian nor American, Worcestershire sauce has a savory, tangy flavor that enhances whatever it touches.
- Spices: Although all three are ingredients in chili powder, extra cumin, dried oregano and garlic powder are called for in this recipe for cowboy spaghetti. These flavors are emphasized in the sauce.
- Pepper jack cheese: Perfectly melty and mild but with a kick, pepper jack is a fantastic topping for a casserole. Buy a block and shred it yourself, as pre-shredded cheese often has additives that prevent it from melting well.
- Green onions: Just before serving, sprinkle green onions or scallions on the finished cowboy spaghetti recipe for an extra bit of flavor.
Good Food, Good Meat, Good God, Let's Eat! 