Trust The Process And Turn Your Leftover Salad Into A Tasty Soup

If you've ever stocked your fridge to the brim with salad ingredients only to find them on the verge of wilting a week later, you're not alone. Even if you manage to put together a simple kale Caesar salad, leftovers with a finite shelf life are almost inevitable. Fortunately, there's a practical and delicious solution to this dilemma that'll help take the pressure off your wallet and make getting your daily dose of veggies something to look forward to — salad soup.

This may sound like one of the weirdest ways to use up salad fixings, and you're not wrong. Things like romaine lettuce, black olives, and julienned radishes don't exactly scream "tasty soup ingredients." However, if you trust the process, virtually any combination of veggies can go from compost fodder to a light, refreshing soup perfect for an early autumn evening or springtime lunch. The trick is to develop the flavors and then purée everything together to create a velvety texture similar to your favorite creamy tomato soup recipe.

To achieve the depth of flavor present in every good soup, you'll need a few ingredients beyond your salad ingredients to start building a beautiful and savory broth. Simmering chicken stock together with things like garlic and onions, and miso or bouillon paste is a great way to make your broth sing by turning it into a flavor bomb. This process also creates a flavorful foundation that will help mellow out any astringence or bitterness, helping to marry the contrasting flavors of your other ingredients.

The first thing to remember when repurposing salad leftovers to make soup is that most salad fare is more delicate than typical soup ingredients. Mesclun greens, baby spinach, and arugula can't withstand much heat and will quickly wilt and turn bitter if you add them to your stewpot too early. Instead, it's best to sauté heartier ingredients first to help bloom their flavor and get them soft enough to puree later on.

For instance, things like raw cabbage, broccoli or cauliflower, and bell peppers are super crunchy and take time while to soften. If you're in a hurry, you can cut them a bit smaller so they cook slightly faster — however, they won't produce a truly creamy bisque unless they're fork tender. Once they've reached the al dente stage, it should be safe to add softer veg like peas, summer squash, and tomatoes, along with the obligatory leafy greens. An immersion blender makes finishing your soup a breeze, but you can also ladle it into a countertop blender.

Of course, when working with delicate ingredients, it's doubly important to choose your flavors carefully to ensure one doesn't overwhelm the whole dish, or to prevent clashing. For instance, you may want to avoid combinations like carrots and tomatoes or zucchini and mushrooms. Instead, think about the flavors you usually find in soup and use it as a guideline to choose the right combination of salad veggies to achieve perfect balance.