Make soup using leftovers

Making soups from leftovers is ever so easy

Making soups from leftovers is ever so easy. Play around with flavour combinations, depending on what you have. Sweet-fleshed roots such as parsnips, carrots or sweet potatoes go well with leeks. Adding leftover blue cheese is a great way of perking up a soup.

For your base

Simply chop half an onion and gently fry it in a little butter or oil in a saucepan. If you have some herbs, all the better – add a bay leaf or a handful of chopped parsley to the pan, then pour in Knorr Stock – chicken, beef, vegetable or fish, depending on what type of soup you want to make.

Minestrone

For a chunky minestrone-style soup, gather a variety of chopped cooked vegetables – carrots, potatoes, peas, a handful of leftover cooked pasta and a squeeze of tomato paste. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat, then simmer gently for 15 minutes.

Chicken Noodle Soup

For a chicken noodle soup, use Knorr Chicken Stock and add in finely diced leftover chicken or turkey from your Christmas roast with a handful of broken-up noodles – spaghetti, vermicelli, whichever you like.

Smooth-style

For a smooth-textured soup, follow the recipe for the base, then add in a generous amount of chopped cooked vegetables, simmer for 20 minutes and then blend.

Flavour

Play around with flavour combinations, depending on what you have. Sweet-fleshed roots such as parsnips, carrots or sweet potatoes go well with leeks.

Cheese

Adding leftover blue cheese is a great way of perking up a soup – simply crumble in around 75–100g blue cheese before simmering and blending – broccoli and Stilton soup, cauliflower and blue cheese, or potato and blue cheese are all good combinations.

Garnish

Dress up your soup with a swirl of leftover cream or a tablespoon of crème fraîche. Alternatively, you could use a sprinkling of chopped chives or parsley; or a scattering of croutons made from leftover bread, cubed and fried in oil or butter until golden-brown.