We hosted a fall soup tasting party last weekend and it was so much fun!
The idea seemed perfect for the season when the air turns crisp and hot and hearty soups are so appealing.
I wanted to offer a variety of types of soup and some bread and salad for accompaniments - and of course, something for dessert!
Because I love to cook and host, AND am admittedly a bit of a control freak about what and how I serve, I made all the soups myself. But this party would also work as a potluck where everyone just brings a crockpot of their favorite soup. If you opt for potluck, make sure your electrical service and available outlets can handle this ahead of time!!
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The Menu
Our menu included these six soups (click on highlighted text for links to recipes). I wanted a wide variety of flavor profiles, types, and textures. Some were dairy free and some were gluten free and some were vegetarian in case guests had those dietary needs.
Baked Potato Soup - served with some crisped bacon bits and scallions on the side
Sweet Potato Chili - served with sour cream on the side…it’s a pretty spicy rendition and the sour cream helps neutralize the heat a smidge
Cream of Tomato Soup with Basil
Butternut Squash Soup - served with frizzled sage on the side for this I used a mashup off a couple of different recipes…mostly this quick one, except I roasted the squash and carrots to caramelize them, didn’t use the celery, and fried the sage for the frizzled sage topping in the butter before sautéing the onions.
To accompany the soups we offered a fall salad consisting of lettuce, cucumber slices, scallions, crumbled goat cheese, dried cranberries, fresh figs (quartered), and homemade croutons, with a dressing of our favorite basic vinaigrette with a healthy dollop of honey added.
I had guests with nut allergies so I didn’t add any to the salad, but something with crunch like toasted pecans or walnuts would be a nice addition too.
I planned specific breads that would be good accompaniments for the various soup flavors. I baked mine, but there are many options easily purchased if you have an excellent bakery nearby.
Cheese Twists - simply made with purchased puff pastry, cut into strips and coated with an egg wash and grated Parmesan and Romano then twisted and baked for 15 minutes @ 400’
Mini Corn Muffins - perfect with the chili
For Beverages we offered hot spiced cider accompanied with cinnamon sticks, and chilled hard cider, and ice water. I didn’t want to have to fuss with coffee and tea and all the attendant extras that entails for this party where the focus was the soup.
For Dessert we offered
Butterscotch Brownies with Pecans
Sea Salt Caramel Brownies (a fan favorite!)
S’Mores ingredients for the fire pit
Party Invites and Table Setup
I sent the invitations out via Evite about 3 weeks in advance. Evite keeps track of RSVP’s and sends a reminder a couple days before the party automatically, which is nice.
I host enough parties, that I opt for the subscription plan that allows me greater design flexibility and to upload my own designs, but you can absolutely use the free version with great results.
The idea was to taste as many of the soups as you like, so I purchased these 9 oz disposable soup cups so guests could sample to their hearts content. My son was suggesting various ‘soup flights’ LOL .
Alternatively, you could offer disposable 6 cup muffin tins to encourage everyone to create a full soup sampler. I opted for the former soup cups because any leftovers would be useful for packaging/serving a variety of other things in the future.
The table with all the non-soup accompaniments was anchored by my tried and true mercury glass pumpkins and faux vines arranged on a tray atop a table square in fall colors. These tablecloths are great and come in a variety of colors, patterns and sizes. And I purchased these adorable leaf napkins to round out the display.
Place card labels for the food were printed with a similar fall leaf graphic. The labels by the soup pots were displayed on these stands.
Wins, fails, and considerations
I made the soups all in the 3 days prior to the party and stored them in deli containers in the fridge. In hindsight, I could have made most, if not all of these further ahead and frozen them to make prep for the party less frenetic.
They took up so much space that I waited until the day of the party to buy the salad ingredients because they wouldn’t fit in the fridge ahead of time!
I made the corn muffins and brownies early in the week and froze them, I baked the twists and focaccia the day before the party, and the rustic bread loaves the day of.
I made the caramel apples the day before and while they were delicious, I never achieved the goldilocks consistency needed for the caramel and most of it slid off onto the parchment leaving the apples very lightly coated. My original intention was to make them gourmet with various toppings of dark and white chocolate drizzle or chopped nuts, but the caramel debacle left no time to mess with that. In the end, the plain apples sadly saw more action than the caramel ones.
I did a small charcuterie board for the coffee table so guests could nibble between trips to the soup bar. I almost always offer a charcuterie board of some sort at every party for that purpose.
I always intended to serve the soups out of the kitchen and the rest of the food in the adjacent dining room. I have a four burner induction stove and own one soup pot, and one dutch oven pot. I used my 3 quart saucepan for what I suspected would be the least popular soup - I could always refill it. And I borrowed the massive induction stock pot from church.
If you are keeping count, you will notice I have 4 burners and 6 soups…to accommodate the last two I used my instant pot, and a borrowed crock pot. This also effectively spread the soups out onto counters around the kitchen so there wasn’t as much of a bottleneck at the stove.
A last minute crisis occurred when the gas fire pit refused to light…the gas line is clogged somewhere so I couldn’t even light it by hand. I knew I had to have some way to toast marshmallows, so I rounded up all the emergency pillar candles in the house and set them on a tray on top of the fire table to provide a small fire for ambience and marshmallow roasting?! Flexible thinking and creative problem solving is a skill that is key to making so many things in life work!
Midway through the evening, it occurred to me I should post a rating chart to gather which soups were most popular. Not everyone participated, and some people just checked everything they tried - next time I might design a better thought out poll so I could declare a real winner!
All in all this was a fun party and an easy one if you do choose to invite soup contributions. I would highly recommend it as an excuse for a get together for any of the cold weather months!
Party On!
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Keys to Easy Elegant Entertaining
My Favorite Gingerbread with a twist
Best Kitchen Gadgets for the Lazy Gourmet