Law #9: MASTER THE SOUP-CENTERED DINNER PARTY
For this home issue, we’re bringing you something new! Today, we’re introducing our first-ever dinner party guide. If you’re like us, you love hosting or being a part of a dinner party. To help enhance your dinner party hostess game, we’ve compiled this easy guide for throwing an awesome all-soup dinner party. Be on the lookout for these—we’ll push one out about once a month. If you’d love to see even more content like this, click reply and let us know so that we can tell our team of writers what gets you going!
If you’ve never attended an “all-soup” dinner party, you’re in for as much of a treat as your guests. This menu brings a simple setup—appetizers, one or two main courses, and an easy dessert—to life with lots of yummy accompaniments and a fun way to serve. Even better, our featured menu is so easy on the kitchen, which we think is essential. You can prep every course in advance, right down to the sides, allowing you to spend more time connecting with your guests!
Starters
Kickstart your guests’ festivities with this fantastic trio of soup samplers. Go full force with all three, or tone it down to just one or two, depending on your preferences. Since we’re serving our starters in shot glasses, spoons are optional, so choose your soups wisely if you don’t want to offer shot glass spoons like this. Get creative with your soup presentation. Serve starters in gorgeous shot glasses like this or this or a display like this. Here’s a hint—prepare the smallest batch possible since you’re serving one or two shots per person, but if you end up with leftovers, soups are often so much yummier the next day anyway, so who’s complaining? Here are your soup options.
Butternut Squash Soup - This cream soup offers so much flavor with a stunning color that we adore. Don’t forget your fresh parsley to add a pop of green to the display.
Classic Tomato Soup - Tomato soup is always a winner for comforting soup nights. Serve this easy-to-make option as your appetizer and save your energy on your more elevated main courses. Remember, display and garnish are everything when setting up your shot glass display, so get creative!
We’re throwing a beautiful green soup meant to be served cold into this mix, either this Cold Cucumber Soup or this Chilled Avocado Soup. Both are super easy, and neither requires you to turn on the oven!
A well-intentioned but straightforward cheese board would be an excellent addition to your soup shots.
Main Course
Next, we head into your main course. We recommend serving one or two soups, depending on how filling they are. But first, here’s how we recommend presenting them! Put it in a bread bowl if you’re doing just one soup! If you’re serving two soups, start with a cup for the lesser attraction and serve the primary option in a bread bowl.
If you’re feeling funky enough to try baking bread bowls, this, this, or this recipe may suit your fancy, but you can also buy pre-made bread bowls from a local shop or a place like this.
Here are great options for your first soup if you’re serving two:
A Classic Minestrone Soup is a great tip of your hat to the Italians and is a true crowd-pleaser.
This Brunswick Stew is great for a decidedly Southern option.
Or this Corn Chowder is always fun with heaping piles of thick-cut bacon and yummy sweet corn.
Here are some great options for your primary soup, the one you want to serve in a yummy bread bowl:
If you didn’t serve Corn Chowder above, this Shrimp Corn Chowder is an excellent option for a bread bowl main course, given the extra protein you’ll bring with yummy shrimp added.
Or try this Beef Stroganoff recipe to serve in a bread bowl or, more traditionally, on a plate with some side dishes.
Sides
Here are some great sides to go with your soups.
This hearty Pan Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon recipe is an excellent vegetable option with soup.
Tasty salads are great with soups, and you can’t go wrong with these options:
Try this Corn Spoon Bread to add a depth of flavor and a bit of spice to your night.
Or these Mini Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, especially if you decide against bread bowls.
Dessert
Let’s take it back to where we started—our shot glass concept. Keep it creative and serve your dessert soups in different kinds of festive shot glasses than those you used earlier. These glasses or these with a mini straw are super cute if you serve something easy to slurp with a straw. Pick one or provide a variety for your guests, and don’t forget to chill when the recipes call for it.
Serve ware. How you serve something is almost as important as what you serve. The more beautiful your serve ware, the better things look, and visual appeal is essential to the overall taste and food experience. Take the time to get the serve ware right. Here are our tips to help you nail it for this experience.
Shot glasses. Create a fantastic display with shot glasses. They’re excellent for the starter and dessert soup options, and you’ll score immediate, easy points by using them. Get as creative and festive with your shot glasses as you wish, with beautiful options like those we listed above, or you can find ones with funky sayings to set your tone. If you want a gorgeous display and easy transport, get a few trays to hold several shot glasses. Get enough to serve and then double the trays, so you have an extra set for people to put their used shot glasses. This will make setup and cleanup a breeze and allow you to transition between courses quickly.
Plates. If you choose to serve soups in a bread bowl, you’ll need something to serve them on. Any gorgeous set of plates that fit your overall theme for the evening will work since the bowl is the main attraction.
Bowls. If you’re not into the bread bowl concept, you can keep it traditional and serve your soup in the most common dish there is for soup—a bowl. These are gorgeous and unique, and so are these, but you could also pull down anything you’ve got in your cabinet.
Silverware. The spoons you provide go a long way. You have an option with anything you serve in a shot glass—it may not need a spoon, and we’d recommend serving things in shot glasses that do not require utensils to keep things simple yet impressive. When it comes to soups served in a bread bowl or traditional bowl, give your guests a quality, heavy spoon that fits the occasion. Check this or this guide to help pick, or use what you have at home already.
Decor. A lot goes into decor and tablescapes for a dinner party. Indeed, you could spend all day just creating a gorgeous spread, not to mention the time it takes to prepare the food. Of course, we love pretty things, but we want you to enjoy the experience. If artistic table spreads cause blood to pump through your veins (my hand is raised!), then by all means, go for it. But if not, go for a simpler spread and let the food do the talking. Go only as far as inspiration, tastes, and budget allow. Remember, it only takes a couple of small details to elevate any tablescape, so whatever you do, just be intentional. We want to focus on two things for this event: your napkins and flowers. Add elements like these below to unique serve ware, and your table will be gorgeous, no matter what.
Napkins. Where there is soup, you’ll need lots of napkins. First, decide between cloth or disposable napkins. If you’re going for the cloth ones, nice quality ones like these are great, and we love the option to monogram them like this. We're not mad at you if you’re going for disposable napkins! We love these gorgeous spice napkins, which we think are perfect for this occasion. You can also get custom napkins of the disposable variety done like this or this as an extra wow factor you can use for several dinner parties.
Flowers. A gorgeous arrangement of flowers adds a beautiful pop to any table. We love this digest of 23 plants that do well in winter indoors other than poinsettias.
“My process is simple: decide on a main course that feels right for the gathering, and the rest of the menu will flow from there.”
- Camille Styles
“We’ve tried the cheap impressions of Martha Stewart excellence. Are we finally ready to relax?”
- Alicia Kennedy
"Definitely theme it. I’m anxious to make a Moroccan [dinner] and a really good Indian dinner with all the condiments and all the sauces … I want to do all kinds of curries."
- Martha Stewart
“What I’m always looking for is a remembered flavor.”
- Ina Garten
“Even if you don’t have the finest china, setting your table ahead of time will make the night feel special. The best part is, this is the time to get creative. You can go with a classic table setting or something more casual and modern. Some small, unscented tealight candles in the center of the table go a long way toward setting the mood. And if you can’t afford flowers, then look for different foliage around your neighborhood. A few trailing pieces of ivy along the table, an elegant branch, some smooth white stones — these natural elements can be worked into your table setting for free. Also look around your house, and see what you have to decorate with. Adding small knickknacks to your tablescape can be fun, and any fabric scraps you have from crafting could be used as a table runner or place mats.”
- sheknows.com
We polled Vanity HQ’s crew, and one thing was highly consistent—we all love a bowl of warm, creamy soup. None of us craves the cold soup variety, but we’re all down to try fresh new things with a twist, and the one of us throwing this dinner party is planning to serve a cold soup dish during the appetizer phase. Trying new things in 2023!
Don’t do what you don’t like when throwing a dinner party. If you don’t find joy in bringing soup to the table, adjust this plan to something that fits your desires. Maybe one of our soup recipes or sides can inspire some other dinner party for you.