Your Favorite Soup Garnish

[Athenagdlyt]

Soups are hearty starters for meals. Garnishes add a little excitement to an otherwise plain looking soup. I often see parsley sprigs, sour cream drizzles, or grated Parmesan cheese. I sometimes get tired of these common garnishes. What other interesting soup garnishes do you use?

 

[MoniqueS]

I like to add hot sauce or cayenne pepper to my individual portion. Nobody else in my family likes spicy food. Since french onion soup is my favorite, I love trying it with different cheese garnishes: swiss, provolone, asiago, mozzarella, etc. I even sometimes add kelp granules, but that is more for health benefits and not for decorative or taste purposes.

 

[OhioTom76]

Some of my favorites include:

- Green onions, I usually have more than enough in my fridge so I am always trying to use them up before they go bad.

- Parsley or Cilantro, classic

- Olive oil drizzle, especially a garlic infused olive oil or an extra virgin olive oil

- Smoked Paprika, adds a nice smokey finishing aroma

- Crisped & crumbled Bacon, or Ham, or Salami, or Pancetta, etc...

- Parmesan crisps, bake some small mounds of cheese in the oven until they melt down into a wafer then let them cool and crackle them over the soup

- Watercress, though I don't often have this on hand

 

[dandeliion]

Chopped green onions or sour cream! And cheese is good on just about anything

 

[Ellyn]

I go more for flavor and heartiness than design, so when it comes to sour cream that usually pairs very well with any creamy soup...why fix what's not broken? I like dried Italian oregano, although it's not exactly pretty, it's very fragrant and can be quite flavorful.

That said, for brothy soups, some recipes of which call for bread as a soup thickener with cheese melted into the soup, I've seen that same broth topped with a slab of bread with grilled cheese that makes it far neater and still gets the ingredients in.

 

[Food4thought]

I like to chop some fresh chives and scatter them onto a bowl of soup. Chives go well with both tomato based soups, creamy soups and French onion soups.

Adding crunchy croutons is also a great way to garnish a soup. They are simple to make your own by cutting up lightly toasting bread or frying cubes of bread. These are even better when garlic butter is spread on the toasted bread or adding garlic to the bread before frying.

 

[Sweetkymom]

Cheese and onions are plentiful in my house so most of the time they are secretly incorporated into various meals. You can't go wrong adding a little bit of calcium everywhere!

 

[lizzief79]

I can't stand parsley. It is one of the few things I refuse to eat. I hate it if I order soup while I am out if it is on there. At home, sometimes I will add croutons to a chunkier soup. If it is a smooth soup, then I add a swirl of cream or a dollop (very technical term) of creme fraiche or soured cream. On pea and ham soup I chuck a bit of everything at it- crispy bacon, cream and croutons.

 

[Jade]

I like to use green onion as long as it is suitable for the dish. I really like this flavor a lot and I think it goes especially well for Asian style soups and dishes. My favorite dish to top it on is Chinese style porridge.

 

[Foodie14]

Most of the soups I make are lentil based with spices - a bit like a pureed lentil dahl that's spicy and warming. I find that a dollop of yogurt goes really well with these types of soups, with a pinch of toasted cumin seeds for some extra spiciness, and a bit of crunch.

 

[LuckyGirl08]

The only thing that I garnish some of my soups with is shredded cheese. I do not like a lot of herbs so I basically do not use them. My husband garnishes his soup with hot sauce and parsley sometimes.