13 Cheapest Soups You Can Make At Home In 2026

Most soups are generally seen as a budget-friendly meal. You can boil a bit of stock (whether you make it from scratch or use some bouillon is up to you), toss in whatever other ingredients you have (a little leftover meat, veggies, or pasta), and you're rewarded with a meal. No recipe is even necessary. However, if you're scratching your head, looking at your pantry and fridge, wondering how you can make your dollars stretch the furthest, you're in the right place.

We're looking at some of the cheapest soups you can make at home in 2026, with minimal ingredients. Each soup has been chosen based on the necessary ingredients and their availability at everyone's favorite budget chain: Walmart. We're also assuming that you have some basics on hand already, like a bouillon cube or two. So — ready to cook up a big batch of some of the most affordable meals out there? Here are our top picks.

Our magic carrot soup recipe is magic for your taste buds and your wallet. This soup promises fine dining results with little effort or expense required.

You could make this recipe stretch to feed two people, but why not just enjoy it all yourself? All you need is a single large carrot and approximately ¾ cup of whole milk. The remaining ingredients are sugar, salt, and olive oil, which you likely already have on hand. You can grab a 2-pound bag of carrots at Walmart for $2.26; assuming that gives you eight large carrots, that means your single carrot for this soup costs 28 cents. Then, for a pint of Garelick Farms whole milk, you'll pay $1.32. A pint is 2 cups, so ¾ cup costs about 50 cents. All told, this soup adds up to a mere 78 cents.

Yes, you can make an amazing tomato soup with just three ingredients. This recipe requires a 6-ounce can of tomato paste, water, and dried basil (along with any other spices or toppings your heart desires). That's literally it! All you have to do is thin the paste with the water, bring it to a simmer, add your dried basil and anything else you think might be tasty, and let it heat up. Voilà — you have tomato soup in a snap. You'll likely only need to buy the can of tomato paste, which is 92 cents from Great Value.

Of course, you can upgrade this soup in so many ways, and for not that much more money either. Add in fresh herbs instead of dried. Throw in some cheese. Use that loaf of bread that's about to go stale to make some homemade croutons. This is a great recipe for using up whatever you have lingering around in the pantry or fridge that needs to be eaten before it goes bad.

Marcella Hazan's five-ingredient bean soup is exceptionally easy, versatile, and cheap. This recipe simply requires some garlic, olive oil, canned beans, water or broth, and fresh parsley. (You'll probably want some salt and pepper in there as well, but we won't count it among your five ingredients.) The garlic and beans are simmered in the olive oil before being partially pureed and combined with the water or broth. Season however you like, sprinkle on that parsley, and you have dinner.

Let's assume you're making this soup for dinner for one, and you already have garlic, olive oil, and broth. The only things left to buy are a can of beans (cannellini are preferred here) and the parsley. A 15.5-ounce can of Great Value cannellini beans is 92 cents. Fresh parsley is $1.07 per bunch, but you won't use the entire bunch on your bowl of soup; we'll generously say that you'll use a fifth of the bunch, or 21 cents' worth. That puts this entire meal at $1.13.

Kabocha squash soup is a great budget pick because it requires minimal extra ingredients. If you already have a well-stocked kitchen, you're really only going to need to buy the squash. All the recipe calls for is half of that kabocha squash, plus water, bouillon powder, and butter. You can add on green onions and bok choy, but it's definitely not necessary.

That said, you're probably not going to be able to find kabocha squash at your rural Walmart. Try your local Asian market first. Otherwise, you can find it at Sprouts Farmers Market, where the squash runs for $2.79 each, making it about $1.40 for the soup recipe. Assuming you have the other basics you need and don't add anything extra, that makes for one budget-friendly soup indeed. The fact that the soup requires minimal time to cook and is kid-approved only adds to the appeal.

Lentils are an affordable source of fiber and, honestly, deserve more attention from the average American home cook. This simple recipe for lentil soup will show you just what you've been missing. You'll need a cup of lentils, plus three cloves of garlic and one onion. The rest of the ingredients should be in your pantry (and if you want to bulk up the soup, you can add carrots or potatoes, but it's totally optional).

You can purchase a pound of Great Value red lentils at Walmart for $2.18, and since we only need a cup, that puts our lentil cost at about 67 cents. The onion will be 71 cents at Walmart. A bulb of garlic is 68 cents, but we only need three cloves. Since you can generally expect a bulb of garlic to contain 10-ish cloves, that puts our garlic cost at 20 cents. It all adds up to $1.58 for this soup.

This falafel soup recipe was modified based on one originally published on the food blog She Likes Food and takes everything you like about falafel and puts it in soup form. The recipe calls for just onion, garlic, and chickpeas, along with a lot of various spices and broth. It's big on flavor, small on complexity.

So how much will it cost you? The two cans of Great Value chickpeas at Walmart will be $1.84. Half an onion works out to 36 cents. Since two cloves of garlic are very little, we'll guess you already have some on hand, alongside the staple spices and broth or bouillon cubes in your pantry. That means this soup should only cost about $2.20.

You could splurge a bit and buy extras for serving with the soup. Think pita bread, parsley, lemon, and hot sauce. However, if you're looking for an easy, quick soup and you love chickpeas, this is the soup for you — no additions necessary.

Black bean soup can be filling, fiber-rich, and just what you crave during a chilly fall or winter day. There's no need to let a bowl of dried beans soak overnight, though, and then stand over a soup pot all day, stirring your black bean soup to perfection. You can mimic those results by using this three-ingredient black bean soup recipe that simply combines two cans of black beans, one can of diced tomatoes, and a cup of chicken broth or stock.

Assuming that you already have chicken broth or stock (or bouillon) on hand, you only need to buy three canned items. The black beans at Walmart will be 92 cents per 15-ounce Great Value can, and the tomatoes will be 96 cents per 14.5-ounce Great Value can. That puts you at an initial cost of $2.80 for this recipe. Scope out your pantry and spice cabinet for other ingredients to take this soup to the next level, such as chili seasoning, paprika, cumin, jalapeños, and cheese.

Pumpkin and spice soup is the ultimate treat during those cozy, late-year months, and you only need to purchase a few ingredients to pull this soup off — and no, there's no need to butcher your own pumpkin. The canned variety will do just fine.

Our pumpkin and spice soup recipe feeds four people if it's served as an appetizer, or two if it stars as the main course. If you already have some spices, a single garlic clove, and broth on hand, you'll only need to buy a stick of butter, some half-and-half, an onion, and a can of pumpkin. 

A stick of Great Value salted butter at Walmart (from a pack of four) works out to 77 cents. There are 2 cups of half-and-half in a Great Value 16-ounce container, which means you'll pay 89 cents for the cup in this soup. The 15-ounce can of Great Value pumpkin is $1.96. Lastly, you'll need one medium onion for the cup that this recipe requires, which costs 71 cents in the Walmart produce section. The entire pot of soup adds up to $4.33.

Just because a soup contains minimal ingredients and is on the simpler side doesn't mean that it can't be full of flavor. Take, for example, this recipe for three-ingredient butternut squash soup. All you need is one butternut squash, an onion, and some stock. However, the secret is in the process. You'll roast your squash and onions together in the oven before blending them into the stock on the stovetop. The result is a highly delicious and impressive soup that requires minimal work and expense.

So how much can you expect to pay for this flavorful delight? You can snag a butternut squash in the Walmart produce section for $4.54, and the onion will be 71 cents. That puts your total cost for this soup at $5.25. Once you have the basic soup mastered, you could doctor things up by adding extra ingredients, such as milk for creaminess or even cheese, or spices that complement squash season, such as nutmeg. However, it's not required, and you'll find that the basic soup on its own is plenty enjoyable.

For this baked potato leek soup recipe (adapted from a Cook's Illustrated recipe), you'll need five cloves of garlic. At Walmart, a bulb of garlic is 68 cents, but we only need about half, so our cost for garlic is 34 cents. Then, you'll grab your leeks. If you use a third of a bunch, that works out to about $1.52. The five russet potatoes will add up to $3.40. Last, and most certainly not least, there's the sour cream. Great Value sour cream is $1.84 for a 16-ounce tub, and we need ⅓ cup, which works out to 32 cents.

We'll assume you already have some butter lying around, as well as some chicken broth, bay leaves, and salt and pepper. If you do, you'll be able to make this delicious, warming recipe for just $5.58. We're not including prices for garnishes, but feel free to get creative. After all, this is a baked potato-inspired soup. Bacon bits, cheese, chives — follow your stomach wherever it takes you.

It may sound fancy, but it's probably more affordable to make than you think — and it's a great pick if you want something suitable for the warmer months when you might not normally choose soup as your go-to meal. This Spanish summer gazpacho recipe simply requires 3 pounds of ripe tomatoes, one and a half cucumbers, one and a half green peppers, three to four slices of white bread, and a few basic pantry items, including garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper, vinegar, and paprika.

Assuming you have those pantry items on deck, here's what you can expect in terms of cost. The 3 pounds of ripe tomatoes in Walmart's produce section are going to work out to about $1.97 per pound or $5.91. With cucumbers being 76 cents each, that puts your total cucumber cost at $1.14. Similarly, green peppers are 86 cents each, so $1.29 for the soup. Lastly, if you buy a 20-ounce loaf of Great Value white sandwich bread, you'll pay the equivalent of 6 cents per slice, so 18 cents for this recipe. That all adds up to $8.52 for an entire pot of gazpacho.

For those of us who love soup all year round, regardless of weather, no-cook soups come in handy once the mercury begins to trend upward — and this no-cook sweet corn soup recipe is just the thing to fulfill your soup needs in mid-summer. It even takes advantage of everyone's favorite seasonal summer produce: fresh sweet corn.

You'll need a clamshell pack of chives, plus eight ears of corn. That's it, but the results will be far more impressive than you think. The chives transform into a topping oil, while the corn is juiced into a perfectly slurpable soup. 

A pack of fresh chives at Walmart is $1.92. Actual farm-fresh sweet corn may be available only seasonally at your Walmart, but you can reliably find corn cobs pre-shucked and ready to go, for $3.98 for four ears in the produce section. That puts our total cost for this soup at $9.88.

Who doesn't love broccoli cheese soup? However, getting it at a restaurant like Panera or a chain deli can be pricey. You don't have to pay a lot to get your fix, though. This broccoli cheese soup recipe utilizes only a handful of ingredients, creating a roux first for thickness and flavor, and then adding in broth, cheese, and spices. Extra vegetables and hot sauce are optional.

For the basic recipe, you likely already have the scant amounts of garlic, butter, flour, broth, and spices required, so you'll just have to pick up some milk, Velveeta, and broccoli. Garelick Farms whole milk is $1.32 for a pint (2 cups), but we only need 1 ½ cups, so that knocks our cost down to 99 cents. The pound of Velveeta is the biggest expense here at $5.86. Add on two heads of broccoli at $1.92 each. That puts this soup at $10.69, but keep in mind that you'll definitely have enough soup for more than one person or meal.

Soup recipes are ranked by the cost of the required ingredients for the entire recommended recipe, not necessarily the costs of the ingredients themselves when purchased in larger quantities, and not based on individual servings. All prices are taken from the Walmart Plattsburgh Supercenter in northern New York (unless otherwise stated). Cheapest available ingredients were chosen for each soup. It's assumed that home cooks already have basic pantry items available, including those necessary to create a stock or broth.