What’s better on a winter evening than some cozy comfort food in the form of a crock of creamy soup? 

As an aside, it was only this week that I could finally use the word “winter” to describe the season we’re in here in East Texas. Most of December we had amazingly nice, warm weather. 

Now that the cold has set in, it’s time for a post about some tasty soup recipes! All five of the recipes I’m going to share are creamy soups. Three are soups I make often and love! The other two are new additions that I also highly recommend for the dinner table.

I will start with my all-time favorite soup: broccoli cheddar! I’ve made this recipe over and over. I always double it, and instead of chopping the carrots into rounds, I put them through my food processor to shred them. 

My next favorite is creamy chicken gnocchi. I first discovered this at a friend’s house. Since then, it’s a regular at my house. I do use two cans of chicken broth (an option on the recipe). Also, even though using rotisserie chicken is suggested, I don’t usually have that lying around the house, so I just finely chop up some chicken breast and cook it for the soup.

Both the above recipes say they are “copycat” recipes from well-known, chain restaurants. But, I like the recipes despite that; ha, ha.

No collection of creamy soups is complete without a potato soup! I like this version. This is some hearty, delicious soup that makes you feel warm all over. I use turkey bacon instead of pork. I’m sure you could leave the bacon out, but why would you do that to yourself?

I’ve only made this taco soup twice but loved it both times. Plus, I like that it’s easy! The recipe is for a slow-cooker. However, I’ve done it in a pot on the stove, too. You just cook everything at once instead of letting it sit in the cooker for hours. I did not use Neufchatel cheese. I used shredded cheddar on top of the soup once it was cooked. But, hey, to each his own.

This last recommended recipe must come with a warning: Only make this soup if you are a BIG peanut butter fan. My two youngsters and I really liked it! However, my husband did NOT. (He doesn’t like peanut butter.) I was looking for a fun, new soup recipe to try and ran across this one. It’s for an African Peanut Soup. I had tried a version of this years ago at another friend’s home. I decided to try it for myself. I followed the recipe except that I switched out the kale for spinach. I think it would have been just as good without either one, honestly. (I’m not anti-kale, but I didn’t have any on hand.) The peanut flavor is very strong, because it has peanut butter in the soup and peanuts on top. I told my kids they were eating “peanut butter soup.” That pleased them greatly, since both of them would live off of PB&J sandwiches if I let them.

If you have a favorite soup recipe, I’d love for you to share it! We are super soup fans, so-to-speak!