Soup is one of the easiest dishes to feed a crowd: it scales well, holds hot for hours and costs little. The hard part is the volume. This calculator works out how much soup to make, how many batches your pot allows and roughly how many vegetables and how much stock to buy.
Serving sizes
| Role | Serving |
|---|---|
| Main course, with bread | about 1.5 cups (12 fl oz) |
| Starter, or with sandwiches | about 1 cup (8 fl oz) |
| Tasting cup at a party | about ½ cup |
Add a margin for seconds: 10% is usual for a seated meal, more for a cold day or a hungry crowd.
Example
Twenty guests eating soup as a main course:
20 × 1.5 cups × 1.10 = 33 cups, about 8.3 quarts or 2.1 gallons.
Pot size and batches
Never fill a stockpot to the brim: leave room to stir and simmer. The calculator assumes you fill it to 80%. An 8-quart pot then holds 6.4 quarts of soup, so 8.3 quarts take 2 batches, or two pots side by side.
| Pot | Usable volume at 80% |
|---|---|
| 6 qt | 4.8 qt |
| 8 qt | 6.4 qt |
| 12 qt | 9.6 qt |
| 20 qt | 16 qt |
Ingredients
For a vegetable soup, count roughly 1 lb of raw vegetables and 3 cups of stock or water per quart of finished soup. Thick, blended soups need more vegetables, broths and noodle soups fewer. Legumes and grains swell, so add them by the recipe rather than by volume.
Keeping it safe
- Cool large batches quickly: divide into shallow containers rather than leaving a full pot on the stove.
- Reheat to a full simmer before serving and keep it hot, above 140 °F, in a slow cooker or a chafing dish.
- Stir thick soups often from the bottom to avoid scorching.
Tips
Make the base the day before, when flavors improve, and add fresh herbs, cream or pasta just before serving. Plan about one ladle per 20 guests and enough bowls for seconds, and bring bread: about 2 to 3 oz per person.