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Don’t miss a second of the halftime show with these expert tips.

By Ben Mims

Published Feb. 3, 2026Updated Feb. 3, 2026

We’ve all been there: It’s the last quarter of the Super Bowl, and over on the buffet, the chicken wings are cold, the guacamole is brown and the once-lush and smooth dips have taken on the consistency of wallpaper paste.

If you’re hosting, there’s a better way. These tips will ensure your game-day spread is warm and inviting throughout the evening, while letting you actually enjoy the game.

Fully Cook Dishes Ahead of Time

Just as with any party prep, you’ll want to get as much as you can done ahead of time. This allows you to focus on keeping hot food hot the day of the party and not on any last-minute stirring of onions into sour cream.

Ideally, everything that needs to be hot should be cooked well before game time, then reheated just before you need it. To that end, the key word is “reheat,” not cook. Most people think hot food needs to be cooked through fully just before serving, but ask any caterer, and they’ll tell you that’s not the case — nor is it advised.

Here are a few things you can do the day before, so the day of, you’re only on reheating duty.

Fry or roast chicken wings.

But don’t toss them in their coating sauces just yet. You’ll do that the day of. Just before people come over, blast them in a hot oven for about 10 minutes. As they reheat, take the time to prepare or heat up any sauces, then transfer them to a large bowl. There, they’ll be ready to catch the wings as soon as they’re out of the oven, so all you have to do is toss and serve.

Grill or roast your pork ribs.

Making chili ahead of time is a given: It only gets better as it sits. But did you know you can also cook up some ribs the day before? Like the chicken wings, you’ll want to keep from adding any final glazes until after reheating the day of. (Both wings and ribs can cool up to a day ahead of time in the fridge.) Once they’re hot and ready to serve, quickly brush the ribs with sauce and let your guests enjoy.

Partly cook any burger patties.

When searing burgers ahead of time, you’ll want to undercook them slightly so that when you reheat them in the oven (with a slice of cheese on top), they’re perfectly cooked to your liking and ready to go from sheet pan to bun in a second.

Make all your dips.

Hot dips, by and large, can be made ahead of time and reheated: Pop any into the oven for 10 minutes, and perhaps put them under the broiler to get any tops that need crisping nice and crunchy. As for cold dips, most actually benefit from at least a day or two in the fridge. This gives the flavors time to marry and textures time to thicken up. If you really want to prep like a pro, store your dips in their serving vessels in the fridge. That way, when it’s time to put them out, all you have to do is remove the cover.

Stagger Your Rollout

This last tip is critical in avoiding dried out bean dips and cold, congealed burgers. It’s tempting to put out every single thing at kickoff and then sit back while the game unfolds over the next few hours. But unless you’re serving just snack mix and popcorn, the food will start to suffer after about 30 minutes.

Think of treating the run-time of the game like a tasting menu, so you can course out different dishes throughout the night.

Before the game: Start with cold dips and chips and popcorn first, since those things can sit out while people arrive and offer some snack to quell any “hangry” pangs while the rest of the food is getting ready.

During the second quarter: Trot out the nachos, hot dips, potato skins and other appetizer-like foods. They’ll give your guests a little something with heft to sink their teeth into and will fuel them through the halftime performance.

Just before halftime: Heat up those chicken wings, burgers, ribs, chili and any other “main event” food you’re preparing, and serve it up at the start of the third quarter.

And, at the start of the fourth quarter: Break out the cookies, brownies, ice cream sundaes, or whatever desserts you have. They’ll wake everyone up just enough to make the end of the game memorable and ready to leave your house as the final seconds tick down.

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And most of them are ready in under an hour.

By Samantha Cassetty

Samantha Cassetty is a registered dietitian nutritionist.

Published Jan. 29, 2026Updated Jan. 29, 2026

If you’re trying to eat more vegetables, consider slurping more soup. Most of them rely on vegetables as a base, and from there, it’s easy to add even more for a belly-filling, nourishing meal. Without much effort, you can easily work two servings of vegetables into a single bowl.

Soup also happens to be one of the most simple and soul-warming things to make, a breeze to customize and easily packed for lunches, or frozen for a future you who is too busy and too tired to cook. These 24 soups give you all of that, along with plenty of nutrition and comfort in every bowl.

1. Hearty Vegetable Tofu Soup

Christian Reynoso’s vegetable and tofu soup proves that light and hearty don’t have to be opposites. This soup strikes a perfect balance between bite and tenderness, thanks to a vegetable-packed broth finished with silken tofu.

Recipe: Hearty Vegetable Tofu Soup

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2. Chickpea Tomato-Rice Soup

Kristina Felix’s smoky soup comes together in about the time it takes to roast the chickpeas you’ll scatter on top at the end. As the rice simmers, it releases starches and gives the broth more structure, while chipotles add gentle heat. Skip the yogurt if you want to keep the soup dairy-free, and use low-sodium broth and less salt during prep if you’re watching your intake.

Recipe: Chickpea Tomato-Rice Soup

3. Creamy Pinto Bean Soup

Inspired by sopa Tarasca, a velvety Mexican bean, tomato and chile soup, Kristina Felix uses convenient canned pinto beans and chipotles in adobo in her quick version. Fresh toppings finish the job: Avocado offers a cooling counterpoint, Greek yogurt adds tang and the chips bring a welcome crunch.

Recipe: Creamy Pinto Bean Soup

4. Creamy Tomato Hummus Soup

The beloved chickpea dip works overtime in Carolina Gelen’s tomato soup, creating a smooth and creamy base with built-in seasoning. Grilled cheese is a natural pairing, but avocado toast is a lighter option that keeps the meal dairy-free.

Recipe: Creamy Tomato Hummus Soup

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5. Chickpea Vegetable Soup With Parmesan, Rosemary and Lemon

Melissa Clark’s super-simple vegetarian soup doesn’t require any sautéing. Just toss everything into a pot and simmer until tender. A Parmesan rind adds umami, while chickpeas lend tender chew and heft. For more veg, toss in fresh or frozen green beans, napa cabbage or chopped greens. The amount of salt can seem like a lot, but you need more to season the dried beans than you do canned which often have added salt. And remember, you can always adjust to taste.

Recipe: Chickpea Vegetable Soup With Parmesan, Rosemary and Lemon

6. Turmeric-Ginger Coconut Soup With Greens

Comfort food that leaves you feeling healthy is a win, and Yasmin Fahr’s coconut-ginger soup is a perfect example of that. It’s soothing and substantial, silky from the coconut milk but not heavy. With rice and greens, it’s a light meal, but adding tofu would make it more filling.

Recipe: Turmeric-Ginger Coconut Soup With Greens

7. Pasta and Bean Soup

The secret to Tom Valenti’s pasta and bean soup is mashing the potatoes, which thickens the broth and gives it a smooth, comforting texture. Prosciutto is used sparingly, just enough to build flavor. Greens like kale or spinach are an easy addition to boost your veggie intake, or keep the soup simple and pair with some kale chips on the side for crunch.

Recipe: Pasta and Bean Soup

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8. Parmesan Cabbage Soup

Melissa Clark’s quietly luxurious soup is layered with flavor, starting with butter to coax sweetness from the leeks and cabbage. A Parmesan rind adds body to the broth, and the grated Parmesan gives it a nutty finish. Brightened with lemon and herbs at the end, this soup hits the trifecta of “easy, delicious and satisfying.” Throw in a can of white beans for a more protein-forward meal.

Recipe: Parmesan Cabbage Soup

9. Vegetable Soup With Tamarind and Lemongrass

Yewande Komolafe’s light, brothy soup leans into the beauty of contrasting flavors. Tamarind and tomatoes provide brightness, and ginger and lemongrass add warmth while chiles bring just enough heat to keep things lively. It’s also impressive: “definitely in the running for a guest meal,” one reader wrote.

Recipe: Vegetable Soup With Tamarind and Lemongrass

10. Spicy Peanut and Pumpkin Soup

Canned pumpkin proves it can pull year-round duty in Yewande Komolafe’s creamy soup. Onion, garlic and ginger deepen the base, while chile adds heat that’s softened by coconut milk and peanut butter. Keep it vegan, or finish with yogurt for extra creaminess and protein. Bread on the side isn’t required, but it’s tasty.

Recipe: Spicy Peanut and Pumpkin Soup

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11. Vegetable Soup

Lidey Heuck’s recipe makes “eating the rainbow” a breeze. The colors (and a spectrum of nutrients) come from frozen vegetables, an economical and welcome shortcut. The recipe also invites tinkering: Mix in different veggies, like zucchini or cauliflower, play with the seasonings, and add red lentils or chickpeas for protein.

Recipe: Vegetable Soup

12. Chicken and Rice Soup

“Incredibly easy and fast” is how one reader describes Ali Slagle’s chicken and rice soup. As the rice cooks, it releases starch to lightly thicken the broth, while chicken thighs add protein to make it extra satisfying. A hit of lemon provides some freshness and balances its cozy, restorative feel. Serve with a simple vegetable on the side, like honey-glazed carrots.

Recipe: Chicken and Rice Soup

13. Hobakjuk (Korean Squash Porridge)

Kay Chun’s hobakjuk, a traditional Korean blended porridge of squash and glutinous rice, highlights the natural richness of winter squash. Walnuts, seeds and dates scattered on top create what a reader described as festive and complex flavors and textures. If you like, make extra topping; it works on everything from yogurt to broccoli.

Recipe: Hobakjuk (Korean Squash Porridge)

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14. Citrus-Soy Chicken Ramen

This streamlined ramen recipe skips the seasoning packet in favor of a quick, deeply flavorful broth built from garlic, soy sauce and the bones and skin of a rotisserie chicken. Christian Reynoso balances richness with brightness using soy sauce and fresh citrus, creating a bowl that tastes slow-simmered but isn’t.

Recipe: Citrus-Soy Chicken Ramen

15. Broccoli and Potato Soup

Yasmin Fahr takes run-of-the-mill broccoli and potatoes and turns them into a soup that’s more interesting than you might expect. Mashing a portion adds creaminess while maintaining some bite. Grated Parmesan finishes the soup and gives it another savory dimension, though sharp Cheddar is another delicious idea. Warm bread on the side is perfect for dunking.

Recipe: Broccoli and Potato Soup

16. Hamburger Soup

Economical ground beef, potatoes, mixed frozen vegetables and canned tomatoes are turned into a satisfying, one-pot meal in this cozy soup from Melissa Knific. It also works with ground turkey or chicken. “Nostalgia in a pot,” one reader wrote. Toss in a can of beans for even more protein.

Recipe: Hamburger Soup

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17. Spicy Miso Lentil Soup

The delightful bright green color of Ali Slagle’s lentil soup comes from a spinach-miso mixture stirred in at the end, which keeps the color and flavor fresh and lively. Topped with sautéed mushrooms, it’s also excellent with a scattering of crumbled feta.

Recipe: Spicy Miso Lentil Soup

18. Lemony Chicken-Feta Meatball Soup With Spinach

“The best soup I’ve ever had in my entire life,” wrote one reader about Yasmin Fahr’s lemony meatball soup. Oatmeal is added to the meatball mixture, which helps keep them light and tender, then again to the broth for texture.

Recipe: Lemony Chicken-Feta Meatball Soup With Spinach

19. Pesto Chickpea Soup

Carolina Gelen turns pantry staples into a weeknight win with this pesto chickpea soup. Store-bought pesto does most of the work, while chickpeas pull double duty, thickening the broth and giving the soup staying power.

Recipe: Pesto Chickpea Soup

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20. Brothy Tomato Rice Soup

Eric Kim’s recipe brings out the savory flavor and natural sweetness of fresh cherry or grape tomatoes any time of year. The rice thickens the soup just enough, stopping short of anything stewlike, and little bit of guanciale is the savory touch that makes the whole thing click. Serve it with a boiled egg on the side for a bit more protein.

Recipe: Brothy Tomato Rice Soup

21. Quick Tomato, White Bean and Kale Soup

“A keeper,” wrote one reader about Martha Rose Shulman’s hearty soup. Feel free to mix things up by swapping out the beans or adding pasta instead of potatoes. You can’t go wrong with this nourishing soup, especially with warm bread on the side.

Recipe: Quick Tomato, White Bean and Kale Soup

22. Italian Wedding Soup

Italian wedding soup gets its name from the “marriage” of meat and vegetables, and Lidey Heuck’s version gets that balance just right. One reader described it as “exquisite,” even with vegetarian swaps, like plant-based meat and vegetable broth.

Recipe: Italian Wedding Soup

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23. Vegetable Beef Soup

A higher broth-to-meat ratio makes Melissa Knific’s vegetable beef soup a lighter choice than a classic beef stew, while still delivering the same comfort. For ease, use frozen veggies, and customize it as you wish by tossing in shredded cabbage. Or, do like one reader did, and add Spicy V8 for some heat.

Recipe: Vegetable Beef Soup

24. Lemony White Bean Soup With Turkey and Greens

“This is my favorite recipe from NYT so far,” wrote one reader about Melissa Clark’s white bean soup, which is also an excellent way to use ground turkey. Another called it “more a guide than a recipe.” That’s part of the draw; adjust it to use what you have on hand, and it will deliver outstanding results every time.

Recipe: Lemony White Bean Soup With Turkey and Greens

By Pete Wells

A reporter for the Food section, Pete Wells was The Times’s chief restaurant critic for 12 years.

Published Jan. 26, 2026Updated Jan. 26, 2026

Reset Your Appetite This is the last of four articles by Pete Wells about how he developed healthier eating habits. The first focused on reducing sugar consumption, the second on stocking the home with the right foods and the third on mindful eating.

When the time came to purge some of the idiocy from the way I ate, I had no trouble swearing off duck skin, sticky buns, jelly beans and other foods that are highly stimulating but ultimately insubstantial. The hole they left in my diet was not large and easily filled with sensible choices.

I wasn’t all that upset, either, about having to find more nutritious stand-ins for white rice, pasta and other starchy foods that I relied on whenever my stomach sounded like a box of wolverines. I don’t suck up bowls full of bouncy yellow ramen noodles as often as I used to, but I do rely on soba made, deliciously and wholesomely, with pure buckwheat flour.

Cleaning up the way I drank was more challenging.

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Sometimes it seemed to me that I had a richer, more rewarding relationship with alcohol than I did with all but a handful of humans. It was an inexhaustible field of study, an incandescent companion during great meals, a reliable consolation on dull ones. And it brought me close to my real friends, at least some of them, some of the time.

Over time, though, the rewards had become more equivocal and harder to justify. It wasn’t just the weight I gained, a predictable result of having a cocktail each night followed by about three glasses of wine or beer. They were, by this point, undeniable signs that my liver was overworked.

I slept badly with all that alcohol in my system, too, and it got worse as time went on. Anyone who stayed under the same roof told me my gasping and snoring weren’t just loud but frightening — a symptom of sleep apnea, aggravated by all that drinking. I was always tired. Most mornings, I fell asleep in a chair after my second cup of coffee.

Into each of those cups, I stirred a teaspoon of sugar and into the two or three I’d consume after the nap. My head howled for sugar to get going in the morning, and howled loudest of all on days when I was also hungover.

The howling got quieter once I started going to sleep sober and stopped when I’d lost enough weight to control my sleep apnea. When I cut back on drinking, a considerable number of daily calories just went away — some from the alcohol itself, some from the sugar in my coffee, and the rest from the extra food that alcohol made me want to eat.

When I drink at dinner, I am always a little hungrier. My mind gets vague and unfocused — part of the point of alcohol, of course, but it could make me lose track of which glass of wine I was on.

And whatever resolutions I’d made about, say, sitting out the dessert course would be undone once the alcohol soaked into my prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that is supposed to be in charge of impulse control and judgment.

Do a Morning-After Check

In his book “The Hunger Habit: Why We Eat When We’re Not Hungry and How to Stop” Judson Brewer, a professor of behavioral and social sciences at Brown University, calls alcohol a “double whammy” for eaters because it clouds our judgment and fuzzes up our perceptions.

He suggests that people wait to assess the damage until the morning after.

“They want to ask in a nonjudgmental way, Was that drink worth it? And just objectively, like a scientist, measure the outcomes from that drink,” including how clearly they remember the meal, whether they were in control of how much they ate and drank, and how well rested they feel.

“And then do the comparison to what happens when they don’t drink,” he said.

Even in sober moments, I didn’t give much thought to all the alcohol and sugar in the liquid portion of my diet. I knew enough to stay away from soda, bottled sweet tea and other sugary beverages, one piece of advice on which nutritionists seem to be unanimous.

I would shudder when I saw baristas double-pump caramel syrup into somebody else’s latte. But I didn’t notice how closely my own coffee was starting to resemble melted ice cream or worry too much about how my first glass of wine made it easier to order more.

Looking at the changes I’ve made, I realize that I am one of the lucky ones. Much as I enjoy alcohol, it was not a compulsion for me. I sometimes have a glass or two when I go out to eat, but I’m not tempted to have another and another and another.

I’m fortunate, too, that I enjoy my coffee black, the way I drank it before driving my metabolism into the ditch.

“Coffee by itself is a health food,” said Dr. David Ludwig, an endocrinologist and researcher at Boston Children’s Hospital. “One of the nice things is that it squeezes calories out of your fat cells so you’re less hungry,” he said, citing studies that suggest that caffeine stimulates lipolysis, the process of breaking down stored fats.

But when you add a lot of sugar, he said, “you undermine the health benefits of the coffee.”

Search for Substitutes

I have water with most meals now, though sometimes not, because I’m still an interesting person, OK? Especially with Mexican food, I make a lot of agua frescas and find that they don’t need much sugar if they’re made from sweet ingredients like melon, cucumber and pineapple. In Mexico, they are often strained, but I usually leave the pulp in, which slows the rate at which the sugar hits the bloodstream.

Recipe: Cucumber, Mint and Pineapple Agua Fresca

Last summer I experimented with Indian spiced lemonade, known as shikanji or nimbu pani, to see how sour I could drink it before I made a face. The toasted cumin and black rock salt, with its sulfurous aroma of boiled eggs, distracted me from the reduction in sugar, up to a point. Maybe next summer, I’ll cut out the sugar entirely, as some people in India do.

I’m into a soft drink served at Superiority Burger in Manhattan, the Sugarless Cape Cod — unadulterated cranberry juice mixed with a copious squirt of seltzer. It’s lean and potent, and scours the mouth usefully between bites.

Unsweetened iced tea, that old standby for abstainers, has saved me many times. Like wine, tea has tannins, which provide some friction for richer food to brush up against, although very strong tea can be overbearing at the table. I prefer the softer effect you get from cold brewing for several hours. Oolong and hojicha respond well to this treatment. Korean barley tea gets along nicely with food, too, though, of course, it’s not a true tea.

There are nights when I feel lucky to live in the glorious age when humanity finally figured out how to make nonalcoholic beer taste good. Drunk with a meal, it behaves more or less the way real beer does, though it’s not as good at sluicing away capsaicin, the stuff that makes chiles spicy. Nonalcoholic wine and cocktails haven’t come quite as far, but they are much better than they used to be.

But, I’m glad to say, I still have wine every week or two. And I haven’t completely given up martinis, the first drink I learned to love. Ordering one at a bar, feeling the hair on the back of my neck stand up as the first sip takes hold, I feel like I’ve been reunited with an old friend. At the same time, it’s one of those old friends I don’t need to hang out with more than two or three times a year.

Recipes to Reset Your Drinking

More From This Series

To Tune Out Food Noise, Our Critic Listened to His Hunger

To Eat Healthier, Our Critic Went to the Source: His Kitchen

Our Former Restaurant Critic Changed His Eating Habits. You Can, Too.

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