Different cultures boast sometimes wildly different cuisines, with staple ingredients that vary from region to region. But like sandwiches and dumplings, soup is universal. It seems like most of the world’s cultures have come up with ways to combine flavorful ingredients in broths, making for filling main courses and slurpable side dishes. And although all soups have their merits, some soups rise above the rest. This list is far from comprehensive, but these are just a few of the world’s greatest soups.
1. Sancocho
Sancocho doesn’t belong to just one country—it’s eaten widely across the Caribbean and Latin America, and it’s prepared differently depending on who you ask. Most versions, though, contain some sort of meat; root vegetables like yucca, potato or plantains; corn and other vegetables, all served in a savory yellow broth. It’s warm and satisfying, whether you’re eating it on a cold, rainy evening or a blistering hot tropical afternoon.
2. Bún Bò Huế
When it comes to Vietnamese soups in the United States, phở usually gets all the love. But it’s another soup, bún bò huế, which hails from central Vietnam, that finds itself on this list of the world’s best soups. It’s often served with sliced beef or pork knuckles, and the broth gets much of its flavor from chili and lemongrass, giving it spicy and fragrant flavors that lend the chewy rice noodles in the dish a kick.
3. Chicken and Dumplings
Chicken and dumplings is a dish from the American South that, depending on the consistency, could be considered a stew. But with the broth thinned out, chicken and dumplings takes on a soupy consistency that qualifies it for this list. This thrifty dish made with simple ingredients like chicken, chopped carrots or celery and homemade wheat dumplings has kept many families fed during tough economic times.
4. Kelle Paça Çorbası
Kelle paça çorbası calls Turkey home, although several other countries in the region have similar dishes. This soup is made from the head of a sheep, which is cooked down for hours until the meat is soft and tender and the broth takes on an almost velvety consistency. Lemon juice keeps the otherwise heavy dish tasting bright, and garlic and onion lend the soup a punchy intensity.
5. Menudo
Menudo is another dish that transforms offal into a delicacy. This Mexican soup utilizes cow stomach, or tripe, which is cooked in a spicy chili broth that lends the meat both flavor and a soft, approachable texture. Lime, cilantro, onions and other bright ingredients you might associate with Mexican cuisine give this soup a liveliness and verve you’ll never find in a bowl of chicken noodle.
6. Egusi Soup
For seafood lovers, it might just not get better than egusi soup, a soup of West African origin. Although it can be prepared in myriad ways, it usually contains melon seeds, crayfish, peppers, spinach and some sort of meat. All of those ingredients come together to make a bold, thick soup that always makes for a delicious meal. It’s often consumed alongside pounded yam.
7. Borscht
Borscht, which comes from Ukraine and other parts of Eastern Europe, gets its bright pink color from beets, which join other veggies, like potato, carrots and celery to produce a savory soup that’s often enjoyed with yogurt or sour cream and dill. Although it’s most known in the U.S. as a cold dish, it can also be enjoyed hot.
8. Sundubu Jjigae
Korean sundubu jjigae is perhaps the best way to eat silken tofu, boiled in a spicy broth made from gochujang and gochugaru and served with a variety of meats, veggies, dumplings and other ingredients. It’s generally served in a clay pot so it can continue to bubble as the eater starts to dig in. It’s soft and comforting while still packing enough heat to keep things interesting.
9. Soto Betawi
Soto betawi, a beef soup from Jakarta, Indonesia, is a far cry from that can of Campbell’s you have sitting in your pantry. This meat-heavy beef soup is served with ingredients like lemongrass, fresh lime, fried shallots and green onions, which are all at home in the complicated spice mixture of the broth. It’s bold and complex while still retaining a beautiful freshness.
10. Tacacá
Go to northern Brazil, and you have to try tacacá, a soup made from shrimp and tucupi, or cooked tapioca starch, and hot yellow peppers that give the dish its signature heat. It’s sour and spicy at once, with a flavor profile that seems more at home in a salad than a brothy dish.
Samantha Maxwell is a food writer and editor based in Boston. Follow her on Twitter at @samseating.
