60% of soup success is knowing when to add which ingredients. Do you want flavor? Texture? Do you want the collagen or pectin or oils to give the broth some body? You don’t want undercooked beans or overcooked pasta.

Soup can be easy, and this guide gives you a good idea of what goes into a soup. But do yourself a favor and look up an actual recipe.

Also, don’t use low sodium broth. It’s going to taste bad until you add salt. The salt flavors the vegetables and grains cooking in the soup. If you must be on a low sodium diet for health reasons (like kidney failure), then do what you must. But don’t trust any recipes from a source that recommends low-sodium broth as standard. It’s like a baker who shares a bunch of cake recipes and all of them use Stevia instead of sugar.