Round or Oval? How to Choose the Best Soup Spoons

Soup is a big part of cooking in a Mexican kitchen, from caldo to pozole, and it’s the one course where your spoon really gets a workout. Most drawers hold dinner spoons and teaspoons, and those get the job done. A spoon made for soup can sit better in a bowl, though, and it can make a thin broth easier to eat.

Two things decide which one you want: the bowl shape and the steel. Etiquette Scholar, a guide to table settings, describes an oval soup spoon of about 5¾ to 8¼ inches and a round cream soup spoon of about 6 inches, with a smaller bouillon spoon at about 5 to 5½ inches. Most listings use these names loosely, so we’ve noted what each one actually states about its size, its shape and its grade.

Julia’s earns a commission on purchases made through links on this page, at no cost to you. We have not used these spoons ourselves. Recommendations rest on maker and listing details and the flatware etiquette page we read.

Quick verdict: which soup spoons to buy

Five soup spoons at a glance

Five that cover the main choices. Details come from each listing, and anything missing is marked in the picks below.

Our picks for the best soup spoons

Which soup spoon suits your soups

For brothy soups, a round, shallow spoon from Winco, New Star or Hiware is the traditional choice. For chunky soups, stews and pozole, a deeper oval spoon holds more, so look at Oneida, Liberty Tabletop or Zwilling. That’s our kitchen’s reasoning on shape, and the listings mostly don’t go into it.

If you already like your flatware, check whether the maker sells a soup spoon in the same pattern before buying a new set. Our flatware guide lists full sets if you’re starting over.

How to choose a round soup spoon set

Bowl shape

Round bowls follow the curve of a soup cup, and the listings for Winco’s spoons say as much. Oval spoons, which is often what you get when a listing says soup or dinner spoon, are more general purpose. If round matters to you, buy one that says so, because several listings here don’t state a shape.

Steel grade

The first number is chromium and the second is nickel. As a general rule, 18/10 resists rust and holds a shine better than 18/0, with 18/8 in between. That’s a general materials point and it doesn’t guarantee how any one spoon will perform. Rinse soon after salty soups regardless.

Length and fit

Soup spoons here run from about 6 to 7 inches. Keawell gives both length and bowl width, and Oneida’s Aptitude gives its length. Compare those with your bowls, as a wide spoon can feel clumsy in a small cup.

Count

A set of 4 suits a small household. Twelve makes sense if you serve soup to a crowd or want a spare or two. Food-service brands tend to sell only by the dozen.

Maker and warranty

Oneida states a limited lifetime warranty on its sets here. Most of the others don’t state one in the listing text we read, so if that matters, it’s a reason to lean toward Oneida.

How we picked these soup spoons

We looked for spoons sold as soup or bouillon spoons from makers we could identify, with Amazon-first brands kept to two. Every pick was in stock with a new lead offer on our final check, and none repeats a product from our flatware guide. We left out disposable spoons, Asian-style short spoons, which are a separate type, and Lenox’s Butterfly Meadow spoon, which is glazed porcelain with no lead-free statement on its listing.

We have not used any of these. We read one etiquette guide for the spoon definitions, and a restaurant-supplier guide returned an error, so we didn’t use it. There’s no independent review behind these rankings. They rest on what the listings say and which makers we can identify.

Soup spoon questions, answered

What’s the difference between a soup spoon and a dinner spoon?

Etiquette Scholar describes the oval soup spoon as similar to a tablespoon, with a slightly smaller bowl that tapers to a tip. Many listings blur the line, and Liberty Tabletop calls its spoon a soup or dinner spoon.

What’s a bouillon spoon?

Etiquette Scholar describes it as a small round-bowled spoon about 5 to 5½ inches long, used for clear or jellied soup. The ones sold under that name here run a bit longer, near 6 inches.

Should a soup spoon be round?

It’s a matter of what you’re eating. A round bowl suits broths and cream soups, and an oval spoon suits chunkier ones. That’s a common view, and a fair one, but there’s no rule for a home table.

Are 18/0 soup spoons worth buying?

They can be, particularly at a dozen. Steel marked 18/0 has no nickel, so it’s generally less rust resistant than 18/10. Rinse soon after use and it’s a fair everyday choice.

Do soup spoons go in the dishwasher?

Most on this page state that they do. Hiware adds no harsh detergents. Rinse first if soup has been sitting, as salt is hard on steel.

Our final pick for the soup bowl

Our pick for most kitchens is the Oneida Moda, for its weight, its grade and its warranty. If you’re replacing everything, see our guide to the best flatware sets, or our best cheap flatware set guide for a lower-cost start. A good spoon deserves a good bowl, and the best soup bowls guide covers those. And if you’d rather someone else made the soup, you can call to order from Julia’s Mexican Restaurant.