10 Simple Seasonal Soup Recipes

Soup recipes to warm the soul on a budget

Soup season is when a simple pot on the stove can do a lot of heavy lifting for both people and planet – especially when it is fuelled by surplus food. City Harvest was founded in 2014 as London’s first food redistribution charity, rescuing good food that would otherwise go to waste and delivering it, free of charge, to organisations feeding people facing hunger across the capital. Every tray of “wonky” carrots, bendy leeks or surplus beans saved from going to landfill is diverted to community projects that transform this food into nutritious meals, cutting greenhouse gas emissions and stretching tight budgets for charities, community centres and hostels.​

This blog includes 10 simple, low‑cost soup recipes, designed with that same spirit: making something comforting and nourishing out of what is already there. From Carrot & Lentil “Pantry” Soup and Leek, Potato & Any‑Green Soup to Beetroot & Apple, Cabbage & White Bean, and Curried Parsnip & Swede, each recipe uses a handful of seasonal or long‑life ingredients that regularly flow through City Harvest depots. Creamy (No‑Cream) Mushroom Soup, Tomato & Lentil “All‑Year” Soup, Kale, Potato & Garlic Broth, Swede & Carrot Sunshine Soup and a final “Fridge‑Raid” Ramen created by our Community Volunteer Manager, Georgie, show how easily surplus veg, pulses and potatoes can be transformed into big batches of bowls to share.​

Whether you are cooking at home, for a community kitchen or with a donation from City Harvest, these soup recipes are deliberately flexible: swap in the veg you have, scale up for a crowd and use up every leaf, stalk and odd end. If this collection helps you stretch your own food further this winter, it mirrors what City Harvest does every day at scale – rescuing food, supporting people and protecting the planet, one pot of soup at a time.

Don’t forget to let us know if you try any of our soup recipes. Find contact details at the bottom of this blog. 

Our top 10 seasonal soup recipes

These simple soup recipes are designed to be tweaked. Please feel free to adjust them to what you might have in your fridge, but generally, we’ve kept our soup recipes low-budget and mostly seasonal to keep them easy on the planet and purse strings.

1. Carrot & Lentil “Pantry” Soup

• Ingredients: carrots, onion, red lentils, stock or water, oil, salt/pepper.​

• Method: Soften chopped onion and carrots in a little oil, stir through rinsed red lentils, cover with stock or water, simmer until soft, then blend or mash.​

• Rescue tip: Any tired carrots or bendy parsnips can join the pot here.​

2. Leek, Potato & Any-Green Soup

• Ingredients: leeks, potatoes, any leafy greens (kale, cabbage, spring greens), stock, oil.​

• Method: Gently fry sliced leeks, add diced potatoes and shredded greens, pour over stock, simmer until soft, then serve chunky or blended.​

• Rescue tip: Swap in leftover mash, or the dark leek tops and cabbage cores that usually get thrown away.​

3. Roast Beetroot & Apple Soup

• Ingredients: beetroot, onion, apple or pear, oil, stock or water.​

• Method: Roast chunks of beetroot, onion and apple until soft, then simmer briefly with stock and blend until smooth and bright.​

• Rescue tip: Beetroot that’s gone a bit soft still roasts beautifully, and windfall apples add natural sweetness.​

4. Cabbage & White Bean Broth

• Ingredients: any cabbage (Savoy, white, spring greens), onion, garlic if available, tinned or cooked white beans, stock or water, oil.​

• Method: Fry onion (and garlic), add shredded cabbage and cook until wilted, stir in beans and stock, simmer for a light but filling broth.​

• Rescue tip: Use outer cabbage leaves and stalks; slice finely so they soften.​

5. Curried Parsnip & Swede Soup

• Ingredients: parsnips, swede or turnip, onion, mild curry powder or paste, stock, oil.​

• Method: Fry a diced onion with curry powder, add chopped parsnip and swede, coat in the spices, then add stock and cook until soft before blending.​

• Rescue tip: Mix any combination of root veg – the “odds and ends” at the bottom of the veg drawer are perfect here.​

6. Creamy (No‑Cream) Mushroom Soup

• Ingredients: mushrooms, onion, potato, stock, oil, and herbs if you have them.​

• Method: Brown sliced mushrooms with onion, add diced potato and stock, simmer until soft, then blend for a silky, naturally creamy soup.​

• Rescue tip: Mushrooms that are a bit wrinkled still add deep flavour once cooked.​

7. Simple Tomato & Lentil “All‑Year” Soup

• Ingredients: tinned tomatoes, red or green lentils, onion, stock or water, oil.​

• Method: Soften the onion, add lentils and tomatoes, top up with water or stock, simmer until lentils are tender, then blend or leave rustic.​

• Rescue tip: Great base for using up odd veg – grate in carrots or finely chop celery if you have it.​

8. Kale, Potato & Garlic Broth

• Ingredients: kale, potatoes, onion or garlic, stock or water, oil.​

• Method: Fry onion or garlic gently, add diced potatoes and cook for a few minutes, then add shredded kale and stock; simmer until the potatoes are soft.​

• Rescue tip: Tough kale stems can be finely chopped and simmered first so nothing is wasted.​

9. Swede & Carrot Sunshine Soup

• Ingredients: swede, carrots, onion, stock or water, oil, optional pinch of cumin or smoked paprika.​

• Method: Fry the onion, add chopped swede and carrot, season and cover with stock; simmer until soft and blend into a bright, sweet bowl.​

• Rescue tip: This is ideal when big catering swedes or bags of surplus carrots come in all at once.​

10. “Fridge‑Raid” Ramen

(Find the full recipe blog here)

Ingredients:

• 2 cloves garlic, crushed with salt (until it forms a paste)
• 1″ fresh ginger, grated or minced
• 1 bunch spring onions, white part chopped for sauteeing, green part chopped for garnish
• 1 tbsp neutral oil (for frying)
• 1 pack bok choy, white part diced into bite-sized chunks
• 800g (2 bags) Tonkotsu Broth by Borough Broth
• 3 lasagne sheets, snapped into strips as our make-shift noodles (or if you’d rather use noodles here, please do)

For the garnish:

• 2 boiled eggs, cut in half
• Finely sliced spring onion tops
• Roughly chopped fresh coriander
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 2 tsp crispy chilli oil

Method

1. Peel and crush the garlic cloves using a pinch of salt and dragging the cloves across the chopping board with a broad knife to create a paste.
2. Peel an inch of fresh ginger with a teaspoon to prevent unnecessary waste and grate or finely mince the ginger.
3. Separate your bunch of spring onions into white and green parts and finely chop the white parts.
4. In a deep pan, heat 1 tablespoon of neutral oil and add the white spring onion, garlic and ginger and lightly sautee until aromatic.
5. Add the two bags of broth to the warm pan and allow the jelly in the broth to melt, and let the water heat through and temperature rise to a simmer.
6. Bring the broth to a gentle boi,l then add the snapped lasagne sheets and let the pasta soften for about 5 minutes.
7. After 5 minutes, add the harder bits of veg: bok choy stems and halved mushrooms.
8. Let the vegetables and pasta boil together for another 3-4 minutes before adding the bok choy leaves.
9. Shortly before serving, add 1 tbsp soy sauce (light or dark), a tsp of sesame oil and 2 tsp chilli crisp (1 of the crisp and 1 of the chilli oil).
10. Ladle the ramen into deep, heat-proof bowls and garnish with halved boiled eggs, finely chopped spring onion, fresh coriander and extra chilli crisp (optional). Slurp and enjoy!

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