17 Creative Ways To Use Up Leftover Soup

Can’t stomach the idea of eating soup for a third day in a row? Here's an idea: Take your leftover soup and make a completely new dish. From a tasty pasta sauce to a new exciting dip for the next holiday party, here are 17 ways to use leftover soup.

Turn yesterday’s soup into today’s healthy bowl. Start with a base of grains like rice, farro, or quinoa. Add roasted veggies and a protein. Then top with a soup. Soups that are ideal for this are creamy soups, like cauliflower, or ones with veggies and protein already built in.

Skip the store sauces for pasta and use your creamy tomato or vegetable soup as a sauce. You can put it on spaghetti, macaroni, or even in a lasagna. 

Sick of slurping? You can boil off the broth of your vegetable soup and have healthy veggies that weren’t cooked with oil. Eat them as a side dish or use them as part of another recipe without having to cook from scratch.

If you’ve got leftover chicken and vegetable soup, use it as a filler for a pot pie. Remove some of the liquid and top with pie crust or biscuits, and you’ve got a fast and tasty dinner.

Creamy soups like potato or cauliflower make ideal dips. Heat it up, add a little cheese, grab a box of crackers or chips, and you’ve got the ideal snack. Plus, if you’re headed to a potluck, you eliminate the stress and labor of making a new dish.

With this solution, you solve two problems at once. Problem 1: You’re sick of eating the soup you made days ago. Problem 2: At some point in the future, you won’t have time to cook, and will need a quick solution. By stashing your leftover soup in the freezer, you’re paying it forward. When you’re searching for what to eat for dinner, just defrost it and it’s ready to go!

Yes, one soup can become a new soup. Blend a chunky soup and it becomes bisque. Add a few new ingredients like pasta or meat, and you enhance your soup. Add different spices and you create a new flavor sensation.

Sure, you can simply heat up your leftover soup in the morning … or you could get creative with it. Add a flavorful broth to eggs, grits, or oatmeal to add some zing. Make soup toast by adding a nice slice of toast topped with a poached egg to your bowl of broth. 

Look, we all love potatoes slathered with cheese, cream, and butter, but those aren’t the healthiest options, are they? Instead, add a bit of last night’s soup, and I guarantee you won’t miss the other flavors. 

So many parties are laden with dips and cookies … but you can add a healthy element by bringing your own soup! Serve it in shot glasses so that it’s easy to consume. Garnish with cheese or parsley to add some style. 

Leftover soups, particularly creamy ones, make a great base for casseroles. Simply replace the liquid in the recipe with your soup. And be mindful of salt; if your soup was already salty, you might add less or none to the recipe. 

You can even make your sandwich healthier by replacing the mayonnaise you usually use with a creamy soup. Just reduce the soup to a thicker consistency by cooking it on low for a bit, then spread it on your bread.

If your chili is out of this world, imagine how good it would be turned into nachos! Simply spoon out the meat and beans (the broth will make the nachos soggy) and put them on top of tortilla chips. Top with cheese or cheese dip, salsa, and garnishes.

Risotto calls for broth, but if you’ve already made a soup with a broth base, there’s no need to pull out the bouillon cubes. Simply swap the water with the broth from the soup you’ve made. If it’s got fat in it from the meat you added to the soup, so much the better when it comes to adding flavor.

You can let your steak, chicken, or even tofu marinate in a flavorful soup for a few hours to give it a real punch of flavor. Dump the marinade and cook your protein on the stove, grill, or in the oven. 

Rather than cooking your rice with boring old water, cook it in your leftover broth. Broth with onions, garlic, and strong spices will make your rice phenomenal. 

Whether you’re making hamburgers or meatballs, your leftover soup can really enhance the flavor and add moisture. 

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