How to Eat Soup Served in a Bread Bowl

Co-authored by Sasha Reyes and Jessica Gibson

Last Updated: May 27, 2024 References

There's no wrong way to eat a bread bowl, but you might be wondering how to approach it. Treat the bread bowl like a regular bowl of soup and use a spoon to eat the actual soup, chili, or chowder. Then, have fun cutting or tearing apart the bread bowl itself. Remember that they can be messy, so have napkins handy and enjoy yourself!

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Enjoying the Bread with the Soup

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1
Remove the lid of the bread bowl and dip it into the soup. You probably want to enjoy bread while you're eating the soup, but you don't want to destroy the bowl just yet. Fortunately, you can eat the lid of the bread bowl. You might see the lid already on the soup or it may be set to the side of the bowl. Take the lid and dunk it into the soup to soften it a little before you eat it.^{[1]
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- If you don't want to dip the bread, spread softened butter onto the piece and eat it with the soup.
2
Use a spoon to eat the soup before cutting or tearing into the bowl. Dip a regular spoon or a wide soup spoon into the soup, chowder, or chili and eat it while it's hot. Try to practice good manners and don't slurp your soup or make a mess. If you drip soup, wipe it up with a napkin.^{[2]
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- Don't try to lift up the bread bowl and drink the soup out of it. Since bread bowls don't have distinctive edges along the rim, the soup will spill over the sides instead.
- If you're eating multiple courses, finish the soup before moving on since bread will become soggy over time.
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3
Slice into the nearly empty bowl with a knife if you don't want to get your hands messy. Once you've eaten most of the soup, take a short serrated bread knife and carefully cut back and forth to remove a slice of the bread. Keep cutting around the sides of the bread bowl until you've got as many slices as you want.
- It's tricky to cut into a bread bowl with a butter knife. If that's the only utensil you have, you may want to tear the bread with your hands instead.
Tip: It's easier to cut into the bread bowl with metal knives and forks. Don't use plastic utensils since these tend to break when you cut into the thick bread bowl.
4
Tear bite-sized pieces of the bread bowl with your fingers. Bread bowls are casual foods, so don't be afraid to use your fingers to eat the bread once you've finished most of the soup.^{[3]
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- Unfortunately, bread bowls don't keep well once you've filled them with soup, so eat as much of the bread as you want!
5
Avoid pulling the bread bowl apart while it's full of soup. If you've finished eating the lid of the bowl and want more bread, but you haven't eaten much of the soup, you'll make a mess! Eat enough of the soup to expose the upper sides of the bowl before you tear them away.
- You'll have to use your hands to tear small portions of the bowl off so you don't accidentally pull an entire side of the bowl away.

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Choosing Thick Soups for Bread Bowls

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1
Pick thick, cheesy soups or chowders. These are classic bread bowl soups for a reason. Their thick, creamy consistency doesn't soak into the bread so the bowl holds its shape long enough for you to finish eating the soup.^{[4]
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- Try a bread bowl with clam chowder, potato soup, broccoli cheddar soup, or corn chowder for instance.
2
Fill the bowl with a hearty chili. Meat-filled or veggie-based chili is great in a bread bowl since there's not a lot of liquid to soak into the bread. For a fun way to serve chili in the bread bowls, set up a chili condiment bar. Let people fill their own bread bowls with chili and then top them with any of these garnishes:^{[5]
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- Shredded cheddar cheese
- Sour cream
- Chopped chives
- Hot sauce
- Guacamole
You don't have to limit yourself to cream-based soups. To create a filling soup that doesn't soak into the bread bowl too quickly, choose thick tomato soup, blended butternut squash soup, or pureed mushroom soup.^{[6]
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Tip: For a light-tasting soup that has a hearty texture, puree steamed vegetables. You could blend spring peas in chicken stock with garlic for instance.
4
Choose soups thickened with rice, orzo, or chunks of protein. If you want to eat soup that has a chunky, filling texture, select soup that has rice, shredded chicken, or garbanzo beans. These make the soups a little thicker so they hold up in the bread bowl longer.^{[7]
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- Quinoa also thickens soup while adding protein. It's a great option if you're trying to balance the carbs of the bread bowl meal.
5
Avoid eating thin, clear soups in a bread bowl. Thin soups like chicken noodle, minestrone, or tortilla soup soak into the bread too quickly. This makes the bread bowl become soggy so the bowl loses its shape a lot faster.
- If you do get a thin soup in a bread bowl, be prepared to eat it quickly!

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Tips

Wait to fill the bread bowl with soup until you're ready to sit down and eat it. The longer the soup sits in the bowl, the soggier the bread bowl becomes.

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