As the weather cools down, we’re looking for ways to warm up. What has the power to warm your innards like a big bowl of hearty, delicious soup? There is one thing, actually: throwing some bourbon into that soup! Cooking with bourbon has become a staple here at VinePair, especially during these cold winter months, because bourbon adds a textured, layered sweetness to whatever dish you’re preparing. Pro tip: Spend a few extra bucks on a decent bottle. That way, you can sip on something sweet while you slave away in the kitchen.
Here are 12 recipes that are so much better for the bourbon:
Bourbon Sweet Potato Bisque with Brown Butter Cinnamon Sugar Croutons
Is sweet potatoes with marshmallows your favorite Thanksgiving Day side dish? Ours, too. The sweetness of the bourbon addition to this soup is extremely reminiscent of the marshmallowy goodness we gorge ourselves on during Turkey Day dinner. And we’re totally sold on the brown butter-cinnamon-sugar croutons, too.
Bourbon Beef Noodle Soup
Think of this one as take-out with a boozy twist — in soup form. Hello, new favorite weeknight dinner!
French Onion and Mushroom Soup With Bourbon and Swiss Cheese
Onions, mushrooms, and bourbon, oh my! These three go together so well, we almost don’t need the melty Swiss cheese on top, though why would we NOT add some gooey goodness?
Bourbon Pumpkin Soup
Because anything with pumpkin is, like, literally so good that you can’t even, right? Adding bourbon to this recipe makes this soup just a little less basic.
Butternut Squash Soup with Maker’s Mark Creme Fraiche
Like sweet potatoes, butternut squash is a savory sweet staple during all of our fall and winter months. The vanilla spice notes in bourbon bring out all of our favorite flavors in squash.
Blue Crab Bisque
This is a soup so good we’d even consider eating it on a hot summer day, regardless of whether it’s “soup weather” or not. Bookmark this one for your next lunch day at the beach.
Bourbon Tomato Soup Shooters with Grilled Cheese Rims
Tomato soup, grilled cheese, and bourbon. Have you ever met a better trio? Choosing a high rye bourbon for this recipe will really bring out the robust, savory flavors of the tomato soup. Yum.
Bourbon Apple Butternut Squash Soup with Roasted Kale
Similar to the Butternut Squash Bisque above, though with a couple pops of green in between. The apple addition will really bump up the sweetness in this recipe, while also giving it a thicker yet less creamy texture. It almost makes eating kale bearable.
Maple and Bourbon Ham and Baked Bean Soup
Doesn’t get more savory sweet than this! The sugary maple syrup is heavenly with the flavors of bourbon, while the baked beans add a chunky, delicious texture to this soup recipe.
Collard Bourbon Soup
This bourbon soup recipe is the epitome of Southern comfort in a bowl; sweet bourbon, savory collard greens, and tender black eyed peas? We. Want. All of it.
Corn Chowder with Bourbon Flambe
All bourbons are required to have a minimum of 50 percent corn in their mash bill, so it’s obvious that this whiskey and soup go hand in hand. What grows together goes together, right?
Chocolate Bourbon Soup
O.K. So it’s a little more like fondue, but chocolate and bourbon? How could we say no?
