Soup on a low carb diet is a great way to get a variety of nutrients. You can follow a recipe or create your own with just a few ingredients. Include meat and vegetables to make it a filling meal. Soup is also a great way to use up leftovers that you have in your fridge. You can meal prep soup easily by making a large batch at the beginning of the week and portioning some out for each day of the week. Soup can be enjoyed for lunch or dinner; as an appetizer or an entree.
Let’s dive into the history of soup, how to incorporate soup into a low carb diet, which ingredients to use and finally some delicious recipes to try!
A History of Soup
The concept of soup has been around since ancient times. Wonton soup dates back to 7th century China. In medieval Europe soup was made with a variety of meats and vegetables, and poured over toasted bread. The English word ‘soup’ comes from the Latin word, ‘suppa,’ which means bread soaked in broth.
Soup is a sustainable meal that can be as basic as water with vegetables and seasonings simmered together, which is why it has stood the test of time. There are a variety of names for soup, including gazpacho (cold soup), stew, chili, chowder and bisque. Soup can contain a variety of vegetables, meat, seafood, cheese, cream, herbs and spices. It’s a wonderfully versatile meal that can be enjoyed any time of year. Many people like to make and eat soup when the weather turns cooler, like the fall or winter. But soup is a versatile meal that can be eaten in the warmer months of spring or summer. Just use whatever produce is in season for a nutritious and delicious meal.
How to Eat Soup
If you’re following a low carb or keto diet, you won’t be serving soup alongside traditional bread. However, LC Foods offers a variety of low carb bread options that pair perfectly with soup! Try Low Carb Angel Rolls, Low Carb Garlic Breadsticks, Low Carb Dinner Rolls or Low Carb Country Biscuits. Some people like to add crackers to their soup, like oyster crackers on seafood chowder. You can break up our Low Carb Bagel Chips as a replacement for crackers. You can also enjoy soup with a side salad for a complete meal.
Many soup recipes can be easily adapted to fit a low carb or ketogenic lifestyle. Swap out any high carb vegetables, like potatoes, with turnip or celery root. Omit any pasta, or replace it with Low Carb Pasta.
Low Carb Soup Ingredients
First, choose your soup base. This can be a cream base or a broth base. If you’re going with broth base, you can choose from beef broth, chicken broth, vegetable broth, seafood broth or bone broth. If you’d like to go with a cream base, check the label to know the carbs per serving. You can also add a small amount of heavy cream to your broth based soup at the end to thicken the it without adding too many carbs. Coconut Cream is also a great low carb option to use as an alternative to dairy cream.
Second, choose your protein. You can choose from a variety of protein sources including seafood, beef, chicken or even soy beans, which are low carb and great for chili!
Next, choose your vegetables. It’s important to be familiar with the carb counts in vegetables. Check out this list to decide which vegetables you’d like to include in your soup recipe, based on your personal daily carb intake. Using a variety of vegetables helps you limit the total carbs by using a small amount of each vegetable. For example, carrots contain 7g of carbs per 3.5 oz, but you can use a small amount mixed with other vegetables to get the same flavor. Just steer clear of potatoes, which are a common soup ingredient with a high carb count.
Oftentimes, soup contains pasta or a higher carb item like beans. You can simply omit the pasta in a recipe to make it lower in carbs. You can also try Low Carb Pasta from LC Foods. Soy beans are a good replacement for beans, with only 5g net carbs per half cup serving.
Don’t forget to season your soup! Try a variety of fresh or dried herbs and spices to add flavor. You can even add a squeeze of lemon or lime to give it a zing.
Toppings are always a great addition to a bowl of soup. Try LC Foods’ Low Carb Seasoned Croutons for a traditional topping. You can also top your soup with a sprinkle of your favorite cheese, nuts or seeds, fresh chopped herbs, edible flowers, a scoop of sour cream, bacon bits, avocado, etc. The possibilities are endless!
So, get creative in the kitchen and develop your own soup recipe using ingredients that you love! Or try some of these traditional, and not so traditional, soup recipes first to get your creative juices flowing.
Soup Recipes to Try!
Sources: Campbell’s Soup UK
LC Foods: Your One-Stop Shop for All Things Keto and Low Carb
LC Foods is your one-stop shop for all things low carb, keto, paleo, and diabetic-friendly. Whether you’re looking for low carb snacks, breads, desserts, or even low carb pasta like Keto noodles and low carb noodles, we have it all. With a wide variety of products and recipes, you can easily find something that fits your dietary needs.