Essential Equipment for Soups

Make sure your Dutch oven has at least a 6-quart (and preferably, a 7-quart) capacity. The pot’s bottom should be thick so that it conducts heat evenly and prevents food from scorching, and the lid should fit tightly to prevent excessive moisture loss—especially important when we simmer soup or stew covered. Check out our favorite Dutch ovens here.

A cleaver comes in handy when chopping up bones for broth but it’s also useful for other difficult tasks, such as halving butternut squash. The best meat cleavers feature a razor-sharp blade and perfectly balanced design. A sharp chef’s knife with good heft can also complete many of the same tasks, although you can damage the blade if you use a chef’s knife to cut through bones. Check out our favorite meat cleavers here.

When making stock, no kitchen tool works like a fine-mesh strainer for separating solids from liquid. A diameter of at least 6 inches and a deep fine-mesh bowl are good qualities to look for in a strainer. Also, sturdy construction and a stable bowl rest allow you to really press down on the solids in the strainer to extract all the liquid. Check out our favorite fine-mesh strainers here.

Before homemade broth can be used, the fat must be removed. The fastest way to do this is by using a fat separator. We prefer models with a large capacity, integrated strainer, and wide mouth that makes for easy filling. Check out our favorite fat separators here.

A ladle can be used to skim fat off of stocks and is indispensable for serving soups. We prefer a ladle with a 9- to 10-inch long handle; one with a shorter handle will tend to slide into the pot, and a longer handle makes the utensil cumbersome. The handle should also be slightly offset—this allows for clean pouring into a bowl. Check out our favorite ladles here.

When we want smooth, velvety pureed soups, we use a blender. The blender is the best tool for this job because the blade pulls ingredients down from the top of the container and the tall jar forces food down into the vortex so that no stray bits go untouched by the blade. Check out our favorite blenders here.

A hand-held immersion blender is appealing because it can be brought directly to the pot, eliminating the need to ladle hot ingredients from one vessel to another. However, we’ve found that this kind of blender also leaves unblended bits of food behind. If you don’t mind a few lumps, an immersion blender purees soup just fine. Check out our favorite immersion blenders here.

When we’re reheating leftover soup, we reach for a large (4-quart) saucepan. Make sure it has a tight-fitting lid, heavy bottom, and rounded corners that whisks and spoons can reach into easily. Check out our favorite large saucepans here.