Here's Exactly When You Hit Your Soup With Fresh Herbs For Maximum Flavor

A cozy homemade soup isn't quite right without fresh herbs adding nuance and oomph to your bowl. Every one of our favorite winter soup recipes is that much better with basil, thyme, or rosemary — but there's a right way to add fresh herbs to your soup for the biggest delivery on flavor. If you don't add them at the right time, all those bright, zesty, punchy notes just disappear into the rest of the soup. To learn how to sidestep that issue, we talked to Scott Thomas, owner of the grillmasters' blog The Grillin' Fools, for some expert insight on just when to add fresh herbs to the pot. He said you should add fresh herbs at the end of cooking, just before the soup is served.

"I like to put delicate herbs in just a few minutes before serving," Thomas said. "Allow them to fully integrate into the dish without losing the flavor that can happen if you put them in early and let the flavors leech away."

Add sturdier herbs like rosemary, thyme and oregano at the beginning of the process because their flavor will remain strong as the soup cooks. Fresh dill, basil, and other softer herbs go in last to keep their flavors strong and distinct. Thomas explained, "The flavor can be lost if you drop them in and three hours later, serve the dish. Basically their potency drops if left in the hot dish too long before eating."

Get the most out of fresh herbs by processing them at least little bit before they go into homemade soup. Whole leaves will deliver some flavor, but you'll maximize your soup garnish if you use one of a variety of methods to break the plants apart. Scott Thomas suggests chopping, muddling, crushing, smashing, or grinding herbs for the most effective seasoning. 

"A good chef's knife, and give it a rough or fine chop. But a quick blast in a food processor or herb grinder will work too," Thomas said. "Also, a mortar and pestle will work. This opens up those oils/flavors inside the herbs and aromatics, releasing them into your dish, making it more flavorful." Well-processed, fresh herbs deliver a powerful burst of flavor, even if they are woodier and don't release as much moisture as softer herbs. If you avoid the mistakes people make with fresh herbs as far as storage and flavor pairings, adding fresh herbs just before serving your soup is a pro move. Just don't forget to remove those rosemary stems before you dig in — you can use them as skewers to take kabobs to the next level!