This Three Bone Soup With Veggies and Beans is a great way to make the most of your leftovers!
Totally stole this idea from my mum.
I always save the bones from roast chicken and boil them up, but this is a combination of different bones. Chicken of course, and also lamb from our roast lamb dinner and beef ribs from THAT short rib recipe.
My mum’s been making this Three Bone Soup With Veggies and Beans for years
If you’re having a meal with meat that’s cooked on the bone (roast joints are great, but ribs, cutlets, chicken portions etc are all good too), save those bones and freeze them – then you can cook them all up together for this delicious soup.
I even do this if I’ve cooked the meat in spices, I just give the bones a rinse under the tap before freezing to wash off any excess spice.
Before freezing, trim off any shreds of meat and wrap them in foil. Freeze them with the bones and you can add the meat into the soup too.
I like to add lots of veggies and mixed beans to bulk it out and make it filling enough for dinner.
Three Bone Soup With Veggies and Beans, is one of those meals that’s totally satisfying, but light and energising too. Exactly the kind of thing I’m enjoying now that I’m back on track with exercising and losing the Christmas weight. Four pounds down, six to go. Let’s hope I can actually maintain the weight loss this time instead of slipping back to my greedy self.
I managed to keep the weight off all over summer – for a good three months. But it slowly started coming back on again during the building work (no kitchen=far too much convenience and treat food) and over Christmas.
I’m watching what I eat (one treat day a week) and exercising at least three times a week now. I took the kids to my fitness class today – since it’s half term – and we finished off with a run around the lake in the blustering wind and rain.
We’re all back home now and dried off. The kids are enjoying movie day for the rest of the afternoon – in their PJ’s (even though it’s only early afternoon) with a bucket of popcorn.
Life’s all about balance!
Hope you enjoy the soup. You can check out some of my other soup favourites here.
Also, if you’re a fan of the beans and chicken combo, try my friend Bintu’s White Chicken Chili on her blog Recipes From A Pantry (the recipe includes an instant pot version too!).
The Recipe:
Three Bone Soup With Veggies and Beans
Ingredients
- a selection of leftover cooked bones from previous dinners * see note below - I used:
- 1 leftover cooked chicken carcass
- 1 leftover cooked lamb leg bone
- leftover bones from cooked short ribs
- 4 litres (1 gallon) water
- 2 chicken stock cubes (or 2 tsp bouillon for gluten-free) this is optional but adds even more flavour
- 1 onion sliced in half - no need to peel
- 4 large carrots one broken in half (no need to peel), the rest peeled and chopped into chunks
- 1 stick of celery broken in half
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 400 g (14 oz tin) cooked cannellini beans washed and drained
- 200 g (half of a 14 oz tin) cooked mixed beans washed and drained
- ½ savoy cabbage sliced into strips
- leftover shredded meat from the meat bones defrosted
- 4 radishes chopped finely
Instructions
- Place the bones, water, stock cubes/bouillon, onion, unpeeled carrot, celery, salt, and pepper in a very large pan. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 3-4 hours until the water is reduced by two-thirds. You may need to stir a couple of times during cooking to ensure the bones are submerged in the water as much as possible. Once reduced, leave to cool slightly.a selection of leftover cooked bones from previous dinners, 1 leftover cooked chicken carcass, 1 leftover cooked lamb leg bone, leftover bones from cooked short ribs, 4 litres (1 gallon) water, 2 chicken stock cubes, 1 onion, 4 large carrots, 1 stick of celery, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper
- Place a sieve over a large jug or bowl (you can use a colander if you prefer, but the holes are bigger and can let through smaller bits of bone) and carefully strain the liquid. Squash the bones and veggies in the sieve to get all the liquid out.
- Clean the pan and pour the liquid back in. Add the chopped carrots, bring to the boil and and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Add the cannellini and mixed beans and simmer for a further 10 minutes.400 g (14 oz tin) cooked cannellini beans, 200 g (half of a 14 oz tin) cooked mixed beans
- Add the cabbage and the leftover shredded meat and heat through for 5 minutes, then serve topped with the crunchy chopped radishes.1/2 savoy cabbage, leftover shredded meat from the meat bones, 4 radishes
- If you like, you can crisp up some of the leftover shredded meat in a frying pan with one teaspoon of vegetable oil. I do this for pieces of lamb - as it can look a little grey when added to the soup. Crisping it up and sprinkling it on top of the soup adds lots of extra flavour and texture.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I always use my chicken carcass for chicken stock. Been freezing bones from any meat dishes recently ready to try this. It was certainly worth it, such a fab low cost meal from bones I would usually discard.
When I make bone broth I use whatever bones I have and it is often a mixture of beef, pork and chicken (I rarely cook lamb because my family doesn’t like it — did I really birth these people?). If you were to add 2-4 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar you would increase the food value – it helps to draw the marrow from the bone and to soften the bones so they release minerals from the bone itself. Recipe sounds really good.