Need a budget-friendly dinner idea that helps you use what you have and prevent food waste? This soup tastes like potato soup, but it’s made with the scraps! Real food and delicious.
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As cheapskate cooks, one of our goals is to never ever waste food. Maybe this means we save all the onion skins and celery leaves and simmered them into vegetable broth (with our freezer broth bags!). Maybe we blend carrots tops together with garlic and nuts and make pesto (yes, you can!). Or we scrape the dregs of the pizza sauce jar into marinara sauce for spaghetti.
Over the years, some of my food-saving practices failed epically. Like when I tried blending leftover sauteed vegetables into a smoothie. I was young, broke, desperate, and trying new things. DO NOT TRY IT. You’re probably a smart person who already knows that.
(If you want to save money on smoothies, try these ideas instead.)
Sometimes I tried new things and found a winner – like this potato peel soup.
Potato Peel Soup
Normally, I don’t recommend peeling potatoes. If you are a busy frugal person, you likely don’t have the time or desire to obsess over potato peels. Besides, they add fiber. Why take them away?
However, sometimes, for some dishes, we end up peeling potatoes.
When you do, make some Potato Peel Soup. It’s like Potato Soup, but basically FREE. You still get the flavor of potato soup, but now you’ve stretched those potatoes into 2 meals – whatever fussy recipe that required peeled potatoes, and this soup!
BONUS: This recipe is one of those real food gems that cost pennies and is also:
- gluten-free
- dairy-free
- egg-free
- vegetarian
- vegan
- grain-free
- paleo
- budget-friendly
- Whole30
But you can also sprinkle it with shredded cheese and crumbled bacon.
So it’s perfect.
Budget-Friendly Soup
If I make this with homemade chicken or vegetable broth – which is essentially free – this soup costs around 25 cents per serving. Great deal!
More Budget-Friendly Soup Recipes:
- 10-Minute Tomato Soup
- Beef & Veggie Soup
- Picadillo (Mexican Beef & Veggie Soup)
- Githeri (Kenyan Corn & Beans Soup)
- Turmeric Lentil Soup
Potato Peel Soup
Need a budget-friendly dinner idea that helps you use what you have and prevent food waste? This soup tastes like potato soup, but it’s made with the scraps! Real food and delicious.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp butter or oil
- 1 cup onion, chopped
- 1 cup carrots, chopped (optional)
- 1 1/2 cups potato peels, (yellow or new potatoes work best)
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 1/2 cups vegetable or chicken stock
- 2 cups milk or cream, (almond milk works great!)
- Salt, to taste
- Pepper, to taste
Instructions
- In a medium-size pot, heat butter or oil.
- Add onion (and carrots, if using) to pot and saute, stirring frequently until onion is translucent.
- Stir in potato peels, stock, and bay leaf.
- Cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes, until carrots are soft.
- Remove from heat. Stir in milk or cream, and let soup cool slightly.
- Use an immersion blender to puree the soup, or blend it in batches in a countertop blender (only fill the blender halfway - hot liquids expand then explode and make a terrible mess. Ask me how I know). You can also leave the soup as is! Whatever works for you.
- Top as desired and serve warm with salad, steamed veggies, crackers, or bread.
Notes
If you want more veggies in your soup, add cauliflower or more carrots. If you want to add something green, like broccoli or spinach, cook them separately, then add them to the soup after blending. Blending the greens with the soup results in a color that's pretty off-putting.
Recommended Products
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Nutrition Information
Yield 6 Serving Size 1 gramsAmount Per Serving Calories 212Total Fat 10gSaturated Fat 5gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 5gCholesterol 24mgSodium 267mgCarbohydrates 25gFiber 4gSugar 5gProtein 7g
Please note: The actual calories and nutrition of this dish will change depending on what ingredients you use. Nutrition information is not always accurate.
Whether you’re simply trying to reduce food waste or find ways to feed your family on a tight budget, I hope this Potato Peel Soup helps you save money and eat healthy!
Eat Potato Peel Soup with:
- 5-Minute Egg & Cheese Muffins – Pop them into the oven while the soup is simmering!
- Bread Made Without Yeast
- 4-Ingredient Sausage – The cleanest, cheapest sausage you’ll ever eat. Goes perfectly with potato soup.
- Easiest Bread You’ll Ever Make – Serve it alongside this soup for a cozy, cold-weather dinner.
- The Only Beef You Have to Make – The easiest way to add clean, frugal protein to this soup.
Prevent Food Waste:
Check out these recipes that help you prevent food waste!
- Easy Frittata
- How to Create Cheap & Healthy Pantry Meals
- 1-Bowl Sweet Potato Bread
- Macaroni & Cheese 4 Ways
- 1-Bowl Banana Bread
- Easy Slow-Cooker Marinara Sauce
- Chocolate “Juicing” Muffins
- The Easy Way to Freeze Fresh Tomatoes
- How to Make Cheap Smoothies (or how to save fruits and vegetables for smoothies)
What You Can Do Now:
How do you like to top your potato soup?
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Potato peel soup might sound weird at first, but it tastes like potato soup!
This looks delicious and is perfect for the current weather! Yummy!
Thanks, Luci! It is.
OMG This is the best and easiest recipe & can’t believe all the years of using peels for compost when I could’ve been having this. I added turmeric powder which made it even so much better!! Thank you & will be looking for more frugal recipes!!
I’m so glad you liked it, Leila! Great idea adding turmeric.
Such a brilliant ideas this. Perfect for winters 🙂
Thanks, Monika! We’ve been souping it up over here.
I hate wasting food and am always trying to think up new ways to use things up – will definitely be giving this recipe a try!
Glad to hear it! LMK if you try anything new with it!
Now I have never heard of a potato peel soup but I am willing to try it! 🙂 Loved the post, especially the part about sauteed veggie smoothie! 🙂
Haha, thanks Julia. Not one of my best moments 🙂
That’s very interesting idea. I would have never thought about cooking a soup from potato peels. I’m impressed. Need to try it 🙂
Thanks, Edyta! LMK if you try it.
I’m using russet potatoes for a mashed potato casserole (potatoes peeled, cooked in salted milk, mashed with butter, mixed with crumbled blue cheese then defrosted and squeezed dry chopped spinach, finally crisp bacon folded in) but I love potato skins so I’ve decided to use them, as well as any leftover milk from the cooked potatoes, in a soup — I’ll dry them, then chop them up and add to chopped onion cooking in oil. I’ll use the leftover potato milk (adding milk and some heavy cream as needed) along with bay leaf and my two powerhouse ingredients: smoked paprika and caraway seeds. If I have extra defrosted spinach, I’ll add it to this soup. I like my soups chunky so I won’t be blending it.
Can you freeze the potato peel soup?
Hmmm, good question! I haven’t tried it before. I think it’s worth trying to freeze a little bit! However, freezing may mess with the texture after you thaw it and reheat it.
I want to try this, but what would I use the actual potatoes for? My mom and I made a huge batch of potato soup last week, that didn’t work so well. First try. But 5 pounds of potatoes is a lot of skins.
I make this soup whenever I make potatoes for something else (like mashed potatoes or something like that.) It’s just a nice way to “waste not, want not”.