6 Homemade Soup Mixes in a Jar
featured review
"I made a couple of these recipes for Christmas gifts, and they were a hit!"
- ELIZABETH -
I think these dry soup mixes are the perfect handmade gift for you to give to your loved ones-and the thousands of you who have made them over the years agree!
They are affordable to make (just a few bucks a pop), they are delicious, they are thoughtful, and my favorite part-they are consumable. You give the gift, the giftee uses it and appreciates it, and then it's gone-no tchotchke sitting around waiting to be donated to the thrift store in a few months.
Why You'll Love THESE RecipeS
Thoughtful, beautiful gifts for just a few bucks a pop? These soup mix jars are a gift-giving win!
Gifts in jars are kinda my thing (I mean, I did write the book on it), and these soup recipes are maybe my most favorite gift in a jar of all. Tasty, thoughtful, and so pretty-these are the perfect handmade gift for anyone on your list.
Here's why you'll love these recipes:
- Quick and easy to make. It'll take you less than five minutes to make each jar. You'll have your whole list done in no time! And so easy kids can do it.
- So affordable. We're talking just a couple bucks per jar. Even less if you have the jars already!
- Tags included. We saved you the step of making your own tags. Each soup comes with free tags to download and print.
- Delicious results. Don't worry, I personally kitchen-tested each recipe made exactly as listed in the directions on the tag-each soup is super tasty!
SOUP MIX JAR FLAVORS
Italian Barley Soup Mix
This barley soup is tomato-based (you add a can of diced tomatoes when cooking), vegetarian, and packed full of garlic and Italian herbs. To make Italian Barley Soup Mix in a Jar, layer these ingredients in the order listed in a wide-mouth pint canning jar:
Instructions for cooking the Italian Barley Soup from mix: Remove wrapper from bouillon cube and add it, plus all remaining ingredients, plus four cups of water and one 14-ounce can of diced tomatoes to a saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to low, and simmer until the barley is tender, about 20 minutes. Serve topped with grated Parmesan. Season to taste.
Split Pea Soup Mix
This beautiful green soup mix is so festive and green! I like to stir in a cup of chopped ham when it's finished cooking to make it really hearty. To make Split Pea Soup Mix in a Jar, layer these ingredients in the order listed in a wide-mouth pint canning jar:
Instructions for cooking the Split Pea Soup from mix: Remove wrapper from bouillon cube and add it, plus all remaining ingredients, plus four cups of water to a saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to low, and simmer until the peas are tender, about 30 minutes. Remove and discard the bay leaf. Stir in one cup of chopped ham before serving. Season to taste.
Coconut Curry Soup Mix
This lentil soup is bright orange, packed full of robust flavor, and super delicious served with a stack of warm naan bread! To make Coconut Curry Soup Mix in a Jar, layer these ingredients in the order listed in a wide-mouth pint canning jar:
Instructions for cooking the Coconut Curry Soup from mix: Remove wrapper from bouillon cubes and add them, plus all remaining ingredients, plus four cups of water and one 14-ounce can of full fat coconut milk to a saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to low, and simmer until the lentils are tender, about 20 minutes. Remove and discard the chile pepper before serving. Season to taste.
Five Bean Soup Mix
It doesn't get much more beautiful than this layered bean soup mix. This baby is vegetarian, but is still packed with flavor. To make Five Bean Soup Mix in a Jar, layer these ingredients in the order listed in a wide-mouth pint canning jar:
Instructions for cooking the Five Bean Soup from mix: Remove wrapper from bouillon cube and add it, plus all remaining ingredients, plus five cups of water and one 14 ounce can of diced tomatoes to a saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to low, and simmer until the beans are tender and the soup is thick, about 90 minutes, adding more water as necessary to soften the beans. Remove and discard chile pepper and bay leaf before serving. Season to taste.
Chicken Noodle Soup Mix
This soup makes a great holiday gift, and it's great to keep on hand to give when someone you love comes down with a cold. To make Chicken Noodle Soup Mix in a Jar, layer these ingredients in the order listed in a wide-mouth pint canning jar:
Instructions for cooking the Chicken Noodle Soup from mix: Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Sauté one diced carrot and one diced stalk of celery until just tender, about 5 minutes. Unwrap the bouillon cube from the soup mix, and then add it, plus all remaining ingredients to the saucepan. Add in 3 cups of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until the noodles are cooked through, about 10 minutes. Stir in 2 cups chopped cooked chicken before serving. Season to taste.
Spicy Black Bean Soup
This is such an awesome, hearty soup that's packed with Southwestern flavors. I love it topped with sour cream and avocado. To make Spicy Black Bean Soup Mix in a Jar, layer these ingredients in the order listed in a wide-mouth pint canning jar:
Instructions for cooking the Spicy Black Bean Soup from mix: Remove wrapper from bouillon cube, add it, plus all remaining ingredients, plus six cups of water into a saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to low, and simmer until the beans are tender and the soup is thick, about 90 minutes, adding more water as necessary to soften the beans Remove and discard the chile pepper and bay leaves before serving. Season to taste.
SOUP MIXES protips
featured review
"I made these as gifts last year without even trying them for flavor. But when I was over at the house of one of the gift recipients, I found one last soup mix in their pantry. We made it and it was delicious! I am sitting down now to make more as gifts for this Christmas."
- CHRISTINE -
WATCH Me MAKE All these SOUP MIXes IN A JAR
📥 Download the Free Labels
I've made you some free labels for all the soup mix jars that you can print off at home. Just fill out the form below to get them delivered right to your inbox.
📖 Recipe
Homemade Soup Mixes in a Jar
Ingredients
For Italian Barley Soup Mix
- 1 cup pearled barley
- ½ cup sundried tomatoes dehydrated, not packed in oil
- 1 tablespoon dried chopped onions
- 1 tablespoon dried minced garlic
- 2 tablespoons dried basil
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
- 1 veggie bouillon cube
For Split Pea Soup Mix
- 2 cups split green peas
- ½ teaspoon celery seed
- 1 tablespoons dried chopped onions
- 1 tablespoon dried minced garlic
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 chicken bouillon cube
For Coconut Curry Soup Mix
- ⅔ cup orange lentils
- ⅔ cup green lentils
- 1 tablespoon curry powder
- 1 tablespoons dried chopped onions
- 1 tablespoon dried minced garlic
- 2 veggie bouillon cubes
- 1 small dried chile pepper
For Five Bean Soup Mix
- ⅓ cup pinto Beans
- ⅓ cup green peas
- ⅓ cup black beans
- ⅓ cup great northern beans
- ⅓ cup kidney beans
- 1 teaspoon dry mustard
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 tablespoons dried chopped onions
- 1 tablespoon dried garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon oregano
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 small dried chile pepper optional
- 1 teaspoon rosemary
- 1 veggie bouillon cubes
For Chicken Noodle Soup Mix
- 1 tablespoons dried chopped onions
- 1 tablespoon dried minced garlic
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
- ½ teaspoon dried sage
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon celery seed
- 1 chicken bouillon cube
- 2 cups wide egg noodles
For Spicy Black Bean Soup Mix
- 1 ½ cup black beans
- 1 tablespoon dried chopped onions
- 1 tablespoon dried garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons cumin
- 1 teaspoon celery seed
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 veggie bouillon cube
- 1 small dried chile pepper
Instructions
To make all jars:
- Layer all ingredients in a clean glass jar (pint size) in the order listed. Close lid, add tag, and gift.
To make soup (general instructions, see flavor-specific instructions in notes section below):
- Remove wrapper from bouillon cube, add it, plus all remaining ingredients, plus water into a saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to low, and simmer until the soup is cooked. Remove and discard the chile pepper and bay leaves, if used, before serving. Season to taste.
Video
Notes
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- Make sure to download all the tags for easy gifting.
- To Make Italian Barley Soup: Remove wrapper from bouillon cube and add it, plus all remaining ingredients, plus four cups of water and one 14-ounce can of diced tomatoes to a saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to low, and simmer until the barley is tender, about 20 minutes. Serve topped with grated Parmesan. Season to taste.
- To Make Split Pea Soup: Remove wrapper from bouillon cube and add it, plus all remaining ingredients, plus four cups of water to a saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to low, and simmer until the peas are tender, about 30 minutes. Remove and discard the bay leaf. Stir in one cup of chopped ham before serving. Season to taste.
- To Make Coconut Curry Soup: Remove wrapper from bouillon cubes and add them, plus all remaining ingredients, plus four cups of water and one 14-ounce can of full fat coconut milk to a saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to low, and simmer until the lentils are tender, about 20 minutes. Remove and discard the chile pepper before serving. Season to taste.
- To Make Five Bean Soup: Remove wrapper from bouillon cube and add it, plus all remaining ingredients, plus five cups of water and one 14 ounce can of diced tomatoes to a saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to low, and simmer until the beans are tender and the soup is thick, about 90 minutes, adding more water as necessary to soften the beans. Remove and discard chile pepper and bay leaf before serving. Season to taste.
- To Make Chicken Noodle Soup: Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Sauté one diced carrot and one diced stalk of celery until just tender, about 5 minutes. Unwrap the bouillon cube from the soup mix, and then add it, plus all remaining ingredients to the saucepan. Add in 3 cups of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until the noodles are cooked through, about 10 minutes. Stir in 2 cups chopped cooked chicken before serving. Season to taste.
- To Make Spicy Black Bean Soup: Remove wrapper from bouillon cube, add it, plus all remaining ingredients, plus six cups of water into a saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to low, and simmer until the beans are tender and the soup is thick, about 90 minutes, adding more water as necessary to soften the beans Remove and discard the chile pepper and bay leaves before serving. Season to taste.
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Frequently Asked Questions about SOUP MIXES
Want to save this recipe?
I'll email this recipe to you, so you can come back to it later!
I'm having a hard time printing the tags. Several attempts just gave me blank pages. I've tried two printers, but nothing's working. Any suggestions? My friends and I are making the soups tomorrow...
The tags should be there, but they can a moment to pop up once you click on the link. If you are still having trouble, please email me at hello@wholefully.com, and I'll email you the tags you need!
What size mason jar do you recommend for these soups?
Wide mouth pint jars are great!
I can't find the soup mix recipes or gift tags. The link just brings me to comments. Where can I find the recipes?
Oh, that "jump to recipe" link was broken—thanks for the heads up! It should be fixed now!
Can you please fix the info on the tag for the Five Bean Soup and take out the reference to chili, since there is none? Thanks!! Betty Olson-Jones (I wrote a few days ago but got no answer and we’re getting ready to make the soups...)
Hi Betty, sorry for the delayed response—we were correcting the recipe. There actually is an optional chili pepper in the recipe, so the tags were right but the recipe was wrong. It should be fixed now! (And if you didn't buy chili pepper, the soup is still great without it!!)
Hi Cassie! I'm excited to make these as gifts for my children's teachers. Do you think I could use garlic powder instead of dried garlic? I don't remember ever seeing dried garlic in my local grocery store. Thanks!
Yup! It's meant to be the same thing, we just forgot to put the word "powder" at the end! We'll fix it now. 🙂
Should all of the recipes be garlic flakes or garlic powder? One tablespoon of the garlic flakes normally does not convert to one tablespoon of garlic powder. 1 TBLSP of garlic flakes = 3/4 tsp of garlic powder. I want to be sure I do not have too much garlic if I am using garlic powder. Please confirm if the recipes should be 1 TBLSP garlic flakes or garlic powder.
The minced garlic is more like a flake than a powder!
Hi! I'm making these up for the first time and really should be testing the recipes myself before I give them out.... A full tablespoon of dried minced garlic seems like a LOT of garlic! Reading above makes me nervous now... garlic powder and minced dried garlic are not the same thing. Has anyone who has made the soups attest to the amount and difference between these forms?
Hi, Jane! You're right—the minced garlic and dried garlic powder would give you very different amounts of garlic flavor if used interchangeably!
If the recipes you're making list dried minced garlic and all you have is garlic powder, then you're going to use less powder. One tablespoon of dried minced garlic is equivalent to about two large fresh cloves of garlic. To get that same amount of garlic flavor using dried powder you'll want to use one teaspoon of garlic powder.
The bean recipes specifically call for one tablespoon of garlic powder because those are more heavily spiced! If you feel like it might be too much, please feel free to lower the amount of garlic and tell your gift recipients to add more garlic to taste when cooking! I hope this helps!
Excited about making these soup mixes next week with friends! One question: the Five Bean Soup Mix tag still says to discard the chili, which isn't called for in the recipe. I can't change it as it's a PDF, so could you make the change? Thanks!
We've updated it—the tag actually wasn't the issue, the recipe was!
In the general instructions it says to add 6 cups of water, but in each individual instruction the water varies between 3-6 cups of water. Which is correct?
Also, each recipe says once bouillon cube (coconut curry- two cubes). If I'm using knorr bouillon cubes does this mean double the amount of bouillon?
Thanks for your help. These look wonderful!
The amount of water required varies per flavor, so I recommend following the flavor-specific instructions in the Note portion of the recipe. And, if your boullion cubes are smaller than the normal 1/2" size, then yes, I'd add more. 1 standard boullion cube is equal to 1 teaspoon of boullion powder, so you can use that as a rule-of-thumb when comparing your size of boullion cubes.
I am looking for the soup in a jar recipes and can't find them. Could you email them to me?
Thanks.
Hi Judy, We recently combined them all into one recipe card towards the bottom of the post. Can you see them there? If not, let me know and we will look into it/I'll email them to you in the meantime!
I don't see the post either. I'd really be interested in getting the recipes.
Hi Nancy, We recently combined them all into one recipe card towards the bottom of the post. Can you see them there? If not, let me know and we will look into it/I'll email them to you in the meantime!
I thought I would make these for my mother but the recipes appear to have vanished 🙁 are they coming back??
They should still be there! They have all been combined into a single recipe card towards the end of the post.
I can't see them either. I have seen them earlier and wanted to make them, but they seem to have dissapeared. Can you send me the recipes?
Hi Geneviève, We recently combined them all into one recipe card towards the bottom of the post. Can you see them there? If not, let me know and we will look into it/I'll email them to you in the meantime!
Good morning. On the bean soup recipe, how many servings does it have? Thank you. I'm definitely making this soup for Christmas presents. Thank you.
Each soup recipe will make about 4 lunch-size servings.
Bravo Cassie! These soup in a jar recipes are the perfect gift for working parents! This will be year two that I give them for holiday gifts. My family and friends love the ease and flexibility of preparation. The best gifts are those year-round treasures that keep daily routines simple and good. Thanks much!
What happened to the post? I was in the middle of making these for Christmas and they are gone!!
It should still be there - try refreshing your browser, maybe?
I have tried for a few days and I is always a blank post. I was doing the Curry Coconut One. Maybe I need to try a different computer?
No, they're gone. I just came back to make them after saving them onto my Christmas Board a couple of weeks ago, and I can't find them either!
It should be fixed now, but let me know if not, and I will email the recipes to you while we troubleshoot.
Hmmm nothing is working. 🙁
It should be fixed now, but if not, I emailed you the recipe as well!
Are you buying dried black beans? Or taking from a can and rinsing and drying? thank you!
Buying dried beans!
In an magazine article there was an article about wholefully.com and some of the great soup mixes in jars for gifts. It said the recipes tags could be downloaded, but I am having a hard time finding them. Can you help?
Under the photo and description of each soup type, you will see download buttons for the tags. Hope this helps! Enjoy!
Hi, The only directions/tag I am able to view is for the Spicy Black Bean Soup. Where can I find the directions for the other Soups? Help Please, Brenda
Hi Brenda, you should be able to download the tags under the description of each individual flavor. So the tags for the Five Bean Soup are under the picture/description/cooking instructions for the Five Bean Soup, the Coconut Curry is under the picture/description/cooking instructions for the Coconut Curry, etc. Let me know if you are still having troubles!
Hi there! These look great! I want to make several of the coconut curry, but where’s the coconut in this recipe? Do you add a can of coconut milk at the end?
Thanks!
Yep! "To Make Coconut Curry Soup: Remove wrapper from bouillon cubes and add them, plus all remaining ingredients, plus four cups of water and one 14-ounce can of full fat coconut milk to a saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to low, and simmer until the lentils are tender, about 20 minutes. Remove and discard the chile pepper before serving. Season to taste." -- hope that helps!
Can these be made in a crockpot?
Yes, with the exception of the FIve Bean Soup, which will need to be boiled rapidly for at least 10 minutes to remove the Red Kidney Bean toxin that can cause intestinal issues for some people.
The beans- are they dry beans or canned?
Dry beans!
Great idea! Don't whole dried beans need to be soaked before cooking though? Such as the black beans?
They should cook through with such a long simmer time. Older beans might need more time or more water to soften up.
Making coconut curry soup... I presume you add coconut milk once the lentils are cooked but no mention anywhere how much to add
"To Make Coconut Curry Soup: Remove wrapper from bouillon cubes and add them, plus all remaining ingredients, plus four cups of water and one 14-ounce can of full fat coconut milk to a saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to low, and simmer until the lentils are tender, about 20 minutes. Remove and discard the chile pepper before serving. Season to taste." Hope this helps!