Unearth The Voyage
When the weather turns chilly or you just need something warm and comforting, a good bowl of soup can be the perfect meal. Many popular restaurant chains have made soup a signature part of their menu, offering everything from creamy chowders to spicy tortillas. Whether you’re looking for unlimited refills, seasonal favorites, or classic comfort bowls, these chains deliver soup that’s worth seeking out.
1. Panera Bread: Broccoli Cheddar & Friends That Built a Cult Following
Panera has basically turned soup into a core brand identity. Their soup lineup typically includes Broccoli Cheddar, Chicken Noodle, Tomato, French Onion, Chicken & Wild Rice and seasonal flavors like Autumn Squash or Black Bean.
Broccoli Cheddar, in particular, has become a fan obsession, inspiring countless copycat recipes and even being highlighted as one of the most-saved soup recipes online. You can pair soups with salads or sandwiches via the You Pick Two deal, which explicitly lets you mix and match soups alongside other entrees.
With more than 2,200 locations across the U.S., this isn’t some niche find.
2. Olive Garden: The Unlimited Soup, Salad & Breadsticks Powerhouse
Olive Garden’s never-ending Soup, Salad & Breadsticks combo is legendary for a reason. The chain offers a rotation of four main soups: Zuppa Toscana, Chicken & Gnocchi, Minestrone, and Pasta e Fagioli, that you can enjoy in unlimited refills when you order the combo.
Zuppa Toscana, made with Italian sausage, potatoes, kale, and cream, has become especially iconic and is often called out in copycat recipes and fan reviews as the must-order bowl.
If you want a chain where soup is absolutely not an afterthought, this one is at the top of the list.
3. Chick-fil-A: Seasonal Chicken Tortilla Soup People Wait All Year For
Chick-fil-A is better known for chicken sandwiches, but their Chicken Tortilla Soup has a serious fanbase. The soup typically appears as a seasonal offering in colder months and features shredded chicken, beans, corn, a creamy, lightly spicy broth, and crunchy tortilla strips on top.
Because it’s seasonal, you won’t always find it on the menu, but when it drops, social media and food sites routinely signal its return, and many locations sell out during peak days.
If you’re visiting in winter, it’s one of the few fast-food soups genuinely worth planning around.
4. Chili’s Grill & Bar: A Real Soup & Chili Lineup, Not Just a Side
Chili’s doesn’t just serve soup as a tiny cup with your salad. Their Soups & Chili menu includes options like Chicken Enchilada Soup, Loaded Baked Potato Soup, Southwest Chicken Soup, and the Original Chili, with bowls and cups listed as standalone items.
Soups and chili also show up as starters or add-ons in the chain’s value-focused 3 For Me deals, where you can pick soup as the starter portion of a drink, starter, and entree combo.
If you want a hearty bowl plus a full meal without blowing your budget, this is a smart choice.
5. Jason’s Deli: Tomato Basil Soup With True Deli Energy
Jason’s Deli leans heavily into classic deli comfort food: sandwiches, salads, baked potatoes, and yes, soup. Their menus prominently feature a Soups category with options like Tomato Basil, Broccoli Cheese, and Chicken Noodle.
The chain, still operating hundreds of locations in 2025 with the majority in Texas and across 28 states, uses clean ingredients as a brand point, which extends to its soups.
Tomato Basil in particular has enough of a following that there’s a specific grilled cheese & tomato soup combo marketed as a comfort-food favorite.
6. Corner Bakery Cafe: Tomato Basil & Chicken Orzo From a Revived Brand
Corner Bakery went through a rough patch with bankruptcy and location closures, but it’s very much still around and actively remodeling and expanding under new ownership.
On the menu, there’s an entire Soups section, with choices like Tomato Basil, Chicken Noodle, and Chicken Orzo featuring chicken with orzo pasta, vegetables, and a hint of lemon.
These soups are sold in cups or bowls and often featured in soup-and-sandwich or soup-and-salad combos, making Corner Bakery one of the more soup-forward cafe chains still standing today.
7. Potbelly Sandwich Shop: Cozy Bowls to Go With Your Toasty
Potbelly is famous for toasted sandwiches, but the chain has embraced soups and macs as a dedicated menu category. Recent 2025 guides show items like Broccoli Cheddar, Chicken Pot Pie Soup, and various chili or mac bowls marketed as hearty, standalone options.
You can swap your usual chips for soup, or build a full warm-bowl meal if you’re not in a sandwich mood.
For a quick-service chain, their soup selection is more developed than you’d expect, and updated menu coverage confirms it’s still a current focus, not a forgotten side option.
8. Culver’s: Rotating Soups With Real Comfort-Food Vibes
Culver’s is better known for ButterBurgers and frozen custard, but the brand also maintains a Soups category as part of its core menu. Items like Boston Clam Chowder and Chicken Noodle Soup appear on its soup list, with soups rotated by day and location.
These aren’t just tiny add-ons; they’re marketed alongside burgers and salads and often show up in meal suggestion write-ups.
If you’re on a road trip through the Midwest and want a quick bowl of chowder from a drive-thru, Culver’s is one of the more reliable chain options available.
9. Carrabba’s Italian Grill: Mama Mandola’s Sicilian Chicken Soup
Carrabba’s has one soup that fans talk about like it’s a family secret: Mama Mandola’s Sicilian Chicken Soup. It’s described as a spicy chicken soup with mezzi tubetti pasta, available in cups and bowls on the regular menu and even in catering.
This isn’t a generic chicken noodle; it leans into Italian flavors and a bit of heat.
Many diners treat it as a standalone meal with bread on the side, and the fact that it’s a named, signature soup (not just soup of the day) says a lot about how central it is to the brand.
10. P.F. Chang’s: Hot & Sour Soup With Actual Depth
P.F. Chang’s doesn’t bury soup at the bottom of the menu. Their Hot & Sour Soup is highlighted as a balance of rich, tangy broth with silken tofu, chicken, bamboo shoots, and egg. Egg Drop Soup is another core option.
These soups function as more than just a prelude to stir-fries; they’re frequently recommended as shareable starters.
Recent menu-focused sites and official listings continue to treat soup as part of the Salads & Soups section rather than an afterthought, which is rare at big Asian-themed chains today.
11. The Cheesecake Factory: Mexican Chicken Tortilla Soup (Served Daily)
The Cheesecake Factory’s massive menu includes a Soup of the Day lineup, and one specific soup is called out as a daily staple: Mexican Chicken and Tortilla Soup, served every day across locations.
Other regular options include Cream of Chicken with Artichoke Hearts and Mushrooms (served daily except Friday) and a Friday-only Clam Chowder.
Given the brand’s scale and emphasis on consistency, this makes Cheesecake Factory one of the most reliable sit-down chains if you’re specifically hunting for a well-executed tortilla soup anywhere.
12. Red Lobster: Lobster Bisque From a Seafood Icon
Red Lobster has had a turbulent couple of years, including bankruptcy and store closures, but it remains open with hundreds of locations and an active menu, including a Lobster Bisque listed in its Soups & Sides.
The bisque is exactly what you’d hope for from a seafood chain: a creamy, lobster-forward soup that reads like an indulgent starter rather than a filler side.
For many guests, it’s the go-to warm-up before shrimp or lobster entrees, delivering rich flavor and luxurious texture in every spoonful.
13. Au Bon Pain: Soup-and-Sandwich Combo Specialists
Au Bon Pain operates a smaller but still active footprint in the U.S., with locations concentrated in states like Florida and New York. The chain is explicitly described by itself and by reviewers as a place where soup-and-sandwich combos are a core draw.
Their soup menu is unusually broad for a fast-casual bakery cafe, featuring options like Broccoli Cheddar, Chicken Noodle, Harvest Pumpkin (seasonally), clam chowder, turkey chili, and a 12 Veggie soup.
If you want soup variety more than sheer location count, Au Bon Pain punches above its size.
14. Pret A Manger: Fresh, Rotating Soups With Real Promo Love
Pret A Manger may have started as a UK chain, but it maintains dozens of U.S. locations, especially in New York City and a few other major markets, and continues to position soup as part of its core offering.
Pret’s Soups category sits alongside salads and sandwiches, and recent U.S. menu promos include deals like Buy a sandwich, get a free small soup at certain purchase thresholds.
The specific flavors rotate, but you’ll typically see vegetable-heavy, globally inspired options like tomato, lentil, or spicy chicken-based soups aimed at office workers wanting something lighter yet substantial.
