9 Surprising Soup Toppers

Updated: Mar. 31, 2023

Ready to bring your bowl to the next level? Forget the oyster crackers! Top your soup with something unexpected.

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Soft Beer Pretzel Nuggets Recipe photo by Taste of Home

Pretzel Bites

Adding pretzel bites to your broccoli cheese soup = pure perfection. The warm and creamy soup with the doughy pretzels for dipping will leave you wanting this for dinner every day!

(Here’s our recipe for yummy soft pretzel bites.)

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Taste of Home

Mini-Grilled Cheese

A fresh twist on a beloved classic! Create mini-grilled cheese sandwiches to include on top of your tomato soup. (Kids will especially love this option.) The combo can even be made into a small appetizer using a tomato soup “shooter.”

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Bowl of fresh homemade sweet potato and apple soup with thyme
Shutterstock / Ildi Papp

Apples

This one feels like fall, but it’s a savory year-round option. Your smooth and sweet butternut squash soup paired with crunchy and tart apples make quite the pair. Dice or slice apples paper-thin and add a squeeze of lemon juice for extra tartness.

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Crisp crunchy organic vegetable chips with fried or oven-baked potato and beetroot chips served as a finger food snack on a wooden chopping board with sea salt and copyspace
stockcreations/Shutterstock

Baked Kale, Beet or Parsnip Chips

So easy and perfect! This bright carrot soup paired with baked vegetable chips is unique and unexpected. The soup and chips can even be prepared ahead for a quick weeknight dinner.

(Here’s how to make perfectly seasoned vegetable chips.)

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Taste of Home

Candied Bacon

Beer cheese soup is quite the ultimate indulgence, but when you add candied bacon to the top, you take your taste buds to a whole new level. Candied bacon is easy to make and its sweetness perfectly pairs with the savory beer cheese soup.

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Beautiful juicy ripe natural organic raspberries blackberries blueberries and mint blue tablecloth dots white dish heart shape
Shutterstock / indira's work

Fresh Berries & Mint

Cold soup? Yes, please!

Top this soup with fresh berries and mint to finish it off and create a unique texture. The aroma of the mint with the fruit–well, it’s basically summer in a bowl.

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TMB Studio

Biscuits

Chicken pot pie soup is a feel-good soup that’s a necessity when you’re looking for a true comfort food. Add a warm, flaky, buttery biscuit on top and you’ve just made this soup a complete meal! Here’s a hearty recipe to get you started.

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Homemade Baked Parmesan Cheese Crisp against a background
Shutterstock / Brent Hofacker

Baked Parmesan Cheese Crisps

This is a super-easy way to add a bit of crunch on top of your soup. The salty crunchiness of baked Parmesan cheese crisps in any bowl–especially chili–is a true treat for your taste buds.

Try one of our best chili recipes topped with these Parmesan cheese crisps.

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Shutterstock / AS Food studio

Tortilla Strips & Avocado

Topping soup with avocado? Absolutely! Tortilla strips and avocado are the ideal toppers for chicken tortilla soup. The various ingredients in the soup, crunchy tortilla strips and smooth avocado create an explosion of taste and texture.