The one thing that Ina Garten always puts in her soup that makes it taste great

Ina Garten claims it takes her soups “over the top,” and other food professionals concur.

Say hello to soup season. Depending on where you live, you may be in month four of bundling up and still need a hot supper when you get home. Soup is the ideal companion after a walk in a winter wonderland.

It’s also the traditional sick-season dish, and the least delightful time of the year is in full swing as people return to work after their holiday celebrations. Remember when you were ill and your parents made you chicken noodle soup? Just the flavor of nostalgia from a pot of homemade soup may help you feel better faster.

Reaching for canned soup is an option (particularly when you’re sick), but a from-scratch recipe allows you to flex your home-cook skills, gain bragging rights, and/or test out new kitchen gadgets like food processors you received for the holidays.

However, after a few efforts at making homemade soup, you may wonder: “Why is my soup bland?” Despite your best efforts, your product lacks the taste of canned goods or restaurant menu items.

Fortunately for you (and soup producers worldwide), everyone from Ina Garten to TikTok stars has a hot soup tip that will elevate your dish to the next level (or, as Garten puts it, “over the top”).

Ina Garten advises adding a Parmesan rind to her cozy Chicken Pot Pie Soup dish while it is simmering. Wait, back up, and simmer—parmesan, what?

A Parmesan rind is waxy and stiff, and it is normally discarded. Instead of throwing it out, save the cheesy bits in the freezer and add them to your soup. If Garten’s perspective isn’t enough to persuade you, consider Getty Stewart, the Professional Home Economist.

“Don’t toss your Parmesan rind,” Stewart advised her TikTok followers in a video. “Save them, and turn them into soup. Add these at the same time you add the bay leaves. “Instant flavor is guaranteed.”

And The Barefoot Contessa isn’t the only queen who adds Parmesan rind to her soup. Nadia Caterina Munno, called The Pasta Queen, swears by the method to improve her minestrone. In a TikTok video, she demonstrated how she makes a delicious homemade soup. She begins with onion, carrot, celery, and extra virgin olive oil. Then she adds the rosemary, tomatoes, and potatoes. Next, bring the water to a boil. Then, she scrapes off the Parmesan rind, puts it to the soup, and cooks it for 45 minutes.

Waiting is perhaps the most difficult part. When it’s finished, Munno adds canned beans and grates Parmesan on top, completing the circle.

“Just gorgeous,” Munno concludes.

I will say.

But should you actually cut apart the rind? Some cooks (including Garten and Stewart) add the rind and then remove it before serving. Munno and famed chef Lidia Bastianich (also a queen) support the chop-it-up approach. Bastianich wrote a blog article about the benefits of Parmesan rind, recommending using natural rind instead of wax or paraffin and thoroughly cleaning it to eliminate any marks before adding it to your soup pot. Unlike Munno, Bastianch like to slice up the cheese rind after it has simmered in the soup. It will be soft and malleable, making it simpler to cut.