What’s the Brocha? Soup

For many Jewish people around the world, enjoying a variety of soups during Pesach is a tradition, but the appropriate brocha for these soups is not always clear.

Let’s delve into the Halachic considerations.

Vegetable Soup: When the soup is made from vegetables that are usually eaten cooked (like potato), the brocha on the soup is the same as the brocha on the vegetable. This is true even if the main part of the soup was the broth and the vegetables are only a garnish.¹

If the soup contains vegetables that are commonly eaten both raw and cooked, and the vegetable is also commonly pureed (like butternut squash soup), the brocha is ha’adamah.² If the vegetables can be removed or if the vegetable is not generally eaten mashed (like tomato) and the broth is the main part, the brocha on the broth is shehakol.³ If both parts are important to the dish (like a chunky vegetable soup containing carrots), the best practice is to recite shehakol on the broth (while having in mind to exclude the vegetables) and then say the appropriate brocha on the vegetable. If one made the brocha on the vegetable first, they should make shehakol on another drink, as they may have already fulfilled their obligation for the broth.⁴

Soup with Chicken or Meat: The broth is shehakol as the meat is more important than the vegetables.⁵ A second brocha should be recited on the vegetables. If the soup contains noodles or matzah balls, mezonos should be recited on them.⁶

If the soup is a balanced mix of starches (mezonos), protein (shehakol) and vegetables (ha’adamah), and all are important (like minestrone soup with flanken), one should only recite the brocha of mezonos.⁷

סב”ה פ’’ז הל’ י’’ז 1
שם הל’ כ’’ג 2 . According to some, there is a doubt as to the proper brocha and shehakol should be recited.
ט’’ו 3 . Some opinions hold that the flavor should be distinct for the vegetable’s blessing be transferred.
שם הל’ י’’ב 4
שם הל’ כ 5
שם הל’ ט’’ו 6
שם 7