Winter Warmers: How To Cook Hearty, Comforting Winter Soups & Stews

We don’t need to tell you that the winter chill has hit us hard in the past few weeks. Whichever weather app you prefer, log in and you’re faced with the unrelenting prospect of dreary, frigid days with hardly a break from bone-chilling drizzle.

Rugged up mums and dads huddling together on the sidelines of their kids' soccer or footy games spend more time dreaming of getting home to some level of relief than watching the game.

Meanwhile, with the cost-of-living crisis going from bad to worse, gas and electricity bills continue to spiral, and many of us have to make agonising choices about when to use our heaters and where to set the thermostat.

However, there is one place in the house where you can wage battle against the brutal cold - your stovetop! Few things bring us more joy and relief from shivering through the Antarctic climate than a steaming hot, comforting bowl of hearty soup or stew. The rich aromas, tantalising flavours and delicate textures nourish our souls and warm us from the inside out.

Best of all, soups and stews are often the most affordable meals you can make: perfect for feeding a crowd on a budget. Additionally, the flavours in these winter warmers tend to meld and blend over time, so in most cases, you’ll find that the taste improves with age. This means delicious leftovers the next day, or, if you really want to think ahead, a quick and tasty meal sitting in your freezer waiting for that day when you’re run off your feet and short on time to cook.

With all that in mind, it’s the perfect time to peel off your jacket, throw aside the fuzzy blanket, gird your loins and march confidently into the kitchen. Once you’re there, get your trusty stock pot or slow cooker ready, because we’re about to reveal all the secrets to cooking the best winter soups and stews.

Soup & Stew Cooking Tips

One of the great attractions of hearty winter recipes is that the extended cooking time means that you can often get away with simply throwing your ingredients into the pot and letting them simmer away. That’s fine if you’re satisfied with passable fare. However, if you want to bring your A-game to the Battle of the Brisk, you can employ a few simple strategies to take your pot of goodness from good to great.

1. Start with Sauté

When boiled, aromatic ingredients such as onions and garlic lose much of their flavour. To ensure you capture the flavour of your aromatics, sauté them in vegetable or light olive oil before adding the remainder of your ingredients. The same principle applies equally to other aromatics. Bay leaves, pepper corns, lemongrass and even vegetables such as leeks, celery and carrots add an enhanced flavour burst when you saute before you simmer. The process caramelises the sugars contained in the foods and creates complex amino-acid bonds that add depth and complexity to the natural tastes.

2. Stock Up

Sure, you can make a serviceable casserole or soup with water, but stock is your secret WMD (Weapon of Mass Deliciousness). Once you’ve discovered the magic of stock, you’ll wonder why you didn’t try it sooner. Store-bought stocks are serviceable in a pinch, but they can be a bit pricy and will never deliver the same punch as the homemade variety.

If you think homemade stock is difficult and time-consuming, it’s time to reconsider your lifestyle choices. Making stock is simple and requires surprisingly little active preparation time. If that’s not enough to convince you, making your own stock is a brilliant way to up-cycle your scraps and off-cuts that you ordinarily throw away. This is perfect for eco-conscious cooks and also ensures that your new favourite flavour bomb costs next to nothing to make.

To make a spectacular all-purpose, scrappy veggie stock, you can use any combination of offcuts, including:

• Onion tops and skins
• Garlic scraps and skins
• Carrot tops and peels
• Leek tops
• Spring onion tops and roots
• Mushroom stems
• Corn Cobs
• Celery tops
• Herb stems
• Any other tops, roos or peels that take your fancy.

A note of warning: some cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower can lend a slight bitterness to your stock, so use them sparingly.

A simple hack is keeping a large ziplock or freezer bag filled with scraps in the freezer. Depending on the quantities you’re making, when you get to about 6-10 cups of scraps, grab your stock pot and make the magic happen. Here’s how to do it:

• Wash everything well
• Chop down any large pieces to create more surface area and maximise space in your pot.
• Add 2 cups of water for every cup of vegetables.
• Add a generous shake of salt, some whole peppercorns and a couple of bay leaves to taste.
• Bring to a boil, then walk away and let it simmer for 1~1.5 hours.
• Let the broth cool, then strain it through a mesh strainer.
• Store in an airtight container

Your stock will keep in the fridge for up to five days, or several months in the freezer. Making large or multiple batches and freezing is a genius way to ensure you always have a generous supply of incredibly flavourful base for your soups and stews available whenever the winter blues strike.

3. Low & Slow For the Win

Life is busy, and so many of us are time poor. However, this is never an excuse to rush your cooking. We get it, sometimes there’s simply no option and you have to get dinner on the table quick smart. However, cooking your soups and stews on low heat for more extended periods is the best way to bring out the best aromas and flavours. As we mentioned above, slower cooking at lower temperatures helps the proteins and sugars in food bond and blend, enhancing the natural flavours and creating new combinations.

If you need further motivation, the lower temperature helps preserve more of the nutrients in your food, some of which break down at higher heat.

If you’re really stretched for time, there are a couple of strategies you can employ to help you manage.

• Prep your ingredients the night before or early in the morning. This will save you precious minutes, enabling you more slow-simmer time.
• Get your slow cooker into the game. In most cases, all you need to do is throw your ingredients into the pot before you leave the house in the morning, set the thermostat to low, and then forget about it. You will return to a superbly cooked, comforting meal later that day. Bonus points if you can eke out a couple extra moments in the morning to sauté your aromatics before adding them to the crock pot. Trust us, it’s worth the few minutes of sacrificed sleep!

Seasonal Sensation

It’s no secret that food tastes better when it's in season. This is never truer than with winter comfort food. Seasonal produce such as root vegetables, squashes, cabbage and legumes are perfect additions to your bowl of goodness. Some lesser lights of the winter vegetable world, such as parsnip, swedes, celeriac and others, can enrich your culinary creations like never before.

Our Top Winter Soup & Stew Recipe Picks

The great thing about soups and stews is that they’re relatively forgiving. This gives you the license to get creative and experiment with different combinations of ingredients, flavours and textures. That said, everyone has their favourite go-to recipes that help them out of the dready doldrums in the middle of the year. At GreenPan Australia, we’re no exception, so here are some of our favourites to help get your juices flowing:

1. Spectacular, Spicy Korean Kimchi Jigae Stew

If you’ve spent time in our blog section, you’ll probably have noticed that we’re dedicated fans of Korea home cooking. This incredible, authentic dish is guaranteed to knock your socks off.

Kimchi Stew Ingredients:

• 1 onion, sliced
• 4 cloves of minced garlic
• 2 cups of your favourite Kimchi, including the juice (don’t skimp on the juice!)
• 1 tablespoon of toasted sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon of fish sauce
• 4 cups of scrappy vegetable stock (see above). You can substitute the store-bought stock of your choice, if desired.
• 1 tablespoon of gochujang (traditional Korean chilli paste - available at most Asian groceries, and many supermarket shelves)
• 1 teaspoon of gochugaru (Korean chilli powder). If you’re afraid of spice, you can leave this out, but this quintessential Korean ingredient imparts a truly authentic flavour.
• 500g firm tofu (you can use soft if you prefer, but treat it gently, otherwise it will break up during cooking)
• 200g of asian mushrooms, such as shiitake, enoki, and oyster mushrooms, thickly sliced. Fresh is best, but dried works great too and will pack an additional umami punch. If you can’t find Asian mushrooms, Swiss or button will suffice.
• 2-3 spring onions cut into 2-3cm slices
• 2 medium potatoes, cut into 2cm cubes

Kimchi Stew Directions (stovetop):

• Saute the onions and garlic in the sesame oil until they start to soften. Use a large, heavy-based saucepan or stock pot for best results.
• Add gochujang and gochugaru and continue sauteing for 2-3 minutes on medium heat until the gochugaru starts to froth slightly.
• Add mushrooms and continue sauteing, stirring continuously until the mushrooms are fully coated and start to brown.
• Add potatoes and continue stirring until they are all evenly coated and starting to soften.
• Add the stock, increase the heat to medium-high, and bring it to a boil.
• Reduce heat to low and simmer for 20-30 minutes until the potatoes are just soft.
• Add the tofu and spring onions and simmer for another 5-10 minutes
• Serve with freshly cooked rice. For a unique experience, add Udon noodles right at the end and cook them until al dente.

To Make in the Slow Cooker:

Follow the above directions up to point 4.

Transfer sautéed ingredients to your stock pot.

Add the stock and tofu and set the slow cooker to low for 6-8 hours, or high for 3-5 hours.

Add spring onions 5-10 minutes before serving.

2. Exotic Indian Red Lentil Daal Soup

Curry morphs into a rich, satisfying soup in this delightful take on an authentic Indian home-cooked recipe. Whether you’re a dedicated fan of Indian cuisine or curious to try, this soup will hit the spot in winter.

Red Lentil Daal Soup Ingredients:

• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 5 cloves of chopped garlic
• ½ an inch of finely chopped ginger
• ½ a teaspoon of chilli powder (you can reduce for the faint of heart)
• 1 teaspoon of garam masala
• 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder
• 4-5 whole cloves
• 1 teaspoon of vegetable or light olive oil
• 1 x 400g can of crushed or pureed tomatoes (whichever you prefer)
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• ½ teaspoon of black pepper
• 3 cups of scrappy vegetable stock (or your preferred option). You can use water if you don’t have stock, but you may want to increase the seasoning to taste.
• 2 cups of your favourite vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and sweet potato work great, but you do you and use whatever takes your fancy). If you’re short on time, frozen vegetables will work fine
• ¾ cup of red lentils, washed and drained

Red Lentil Daal Soup Directions (stovetop):

Heat the oil in a saucepan or stockpot over medium heat, then sauté the onion, garlic and ginger for 5 minutes

Add the garam masala, turmeric, chilli powder and cloves and continue cooking for 1-2 minutes until the mixture becomes aromatic.

Add the tomatoes and bring to a boil.

Add the vegetables and mix them in well until fully coated

Add the lentils, stock/water, salt and pepper and stir well

Cook for 20-30 minutes on low heat, stirring occasionally.

Taste the soup and adjust spices and seasoning as necessary.

Serve with a splash of lemon juice and some fresh coriander as a garnish.

To Make in the Slow Cooker:

Follow the above directions up to point 2.

Transfer sautéed ingredients to your stock pot.

Add the remaining ingredients and set the slow cooker to low for 6-8 hours, or high for 3-5 hours.

3. Easy Slow Cooker Beef Bourguignon (Beef Burgundy)

This quintessentially French dish can be intimidating to make, but we’ve broken it down to its essential parts so it’s quicker and easier, yet still packs a punch. Best of all, it’s all done in the slow cooker, so once you’re done prepping, you can set and forget. If you’re cooking for a crowd, GreenPan’s Elite 6L large volume slow cooker is the perfect option.

Easy Slow Cooker Beef Bourguignon Ingredients:

• 1.5kg of diced gravy beef
• 5 rashers of bacon, sliced into strips
• 2 cups of scrappy vegetable stock, or store-bought variety of your choice
• 1 cup of red wine - Pinot Noir is considered the best for this dish, but you can use any red wine available.
• ¼ cup of flour
• ½ cup of tomato puree
• ¼ cup of soy sauce
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 6-8 Dutch carrots (substitute medium-sized regular carrots if you prefer, but Dutch are yummiest!)
• ½ kg of Kipfler or fingerling potatoes. Substitute baby potatoes if required.
• 2 tablespoons fresh thyme
• 250g fresh mushrooms, cut into quarters
• 3 cups of scrappy vegetable stock (or your preferred option). You can use water if you don’t have stock, but you may want to increase the seasoning to taste.
• 2 cups of your favourite vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and sweet potato work great, but you do you and use whatever takes your fancy). If you’re short on time, frozen vegetables will work fine
• ¾ cup of red lentils, washed and drained

Easy Slow Cooker Beef Bourguignon Directions:

• Fry bacon strips in a large frypan on medium-high heat until they’re crisp, then transfer to the slow cooker.
• Using the same frypan, brown the beef pieces on each side for 2-3 minutes, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. When fully browned, transfer to the slow cooker.
• Deglaze the pan with the red wine, reducing the heat to low until it simmers. If you need to scrape the brown bits off the side of the pan, do so.
• When the wine has reduced somewhat, add the stock, tomato puree, and soy sauce and bring it back to a simmer.
• Slowly whisk in the flour until the sauce is smooth and lump-free.
• Add the sauce to the slow cooker.
• Add the remaining ingredients to the slow cooker, stir until everything is well combined.
• Cook on low for 8-10 hours, or high for 5-6 hours.

To Make in the Slow Cooker:

• Follow the above directions up to point 2.
• Transfer sautéed ingredients to your stock pot.
• Add the remaining ingredients and set the slow cooker to low for 6-8 hours, or medium for 3-5 hours.

The Most Delicious Way To Beat The Cold

Congratulations! You’re now armed with everything you need to stay warm and satisfied during the cold winter. Whether you’re following the recipes above or charting your own gastronomic course, we hope our tips will help you expand your repertoire of spectacularly delicious, comforting winter soups and stews. For more inspiration on recipes head over to the Recipes section.