Chicken Leftover Soup is one of my favourite soup recipes. Using leftover chicken pieces including the carcass adds so much flavour that you don’t get from the flesh itself. An added bonus is the alluring aroma of the chicken simmering away. Serve as a soup or as a main dish. This is a soup you definitely need bread for dunking as you don’t want to leave any.
Turning leftovers into a dish that feels entirely new makes the dish tastes even better. Chicken Leftover Soup is one of those kitchen miracles — a humble pot of warmth that brings together thrift, comfort and home-cooked goodness in one go. It’s the sort of soup you whip up on a quiet Sunday afternoon when the roast dinner is behind you, the kitchen smells gently of herbs, and there’s a half-picked chicken carcass waiting to be transformed rather than thrown away.
What I love most about this Chicken Leftover Soup is how honest it is. Nothing fancy, nothing pretentious — just real ingredients doing their job well. The leftover roast chicken carcass becomes the heart of the broth, giving you a depth of flavour money simply can’t buy. There’s something about simmering bones, scraps, and the odd bit of hidden meat that feels almost ancient, as though you’re tapping into the earliest form of comfort cooking. All you need is a big stock pot, enough water to cover the frame, and a bit of patience. Ninety minutes of gentle simmering is all it takes for the kitchen to fill with the kind of aroma that draws people in like moths to a warm lamp.
Once the bones have done their work, the fun begins. Fishing out the chicken frame always feels a bit like treasure hunting. Sometimes you’ll find little pockets of tender meat still clinging on, and those bits — tiny though they may be — are absolute gold in the finished soup. What remains in the pot is a broth that’s rich but not heavy, fragrant but not overpowering, ready for the vegetables that give this dish its hearty character.
Carrots and onions form the flavourful backbone, their sweetness mellowing beautifully as they cook. Green beans add freshness and colour, while potatoes bring substance — the kind of comforting bulk that makes the soup feel like a meal rather than a starter. When you add everything in — along with bay leaves and whole black peppercorns — the pot suddenly comes alive with promise. The vegetables bob gently on the surface like little boats, soaking up the broth and releasing their own flavours back into it.
There’s something wonderfully hands-off about this stage. All you need to do is top up the water so that the vegetables are fully submerged, put the lid on, and let time do its magic. Chicken Leftover Soup simmers away quietly, and before long the vegetables soften, the peppercorns lend a gentle warmth, and the bay leaves offer up their unmistakable cosy aroma. You don’t need complicated spices or special tricks — just a bit of seasoning at the end to bring everything together.
What you end up with is the kind of soup that tastes so good. It’s rustic, hearty, and deeply comforting, the sort of thing you can ladle generously into bowls and enjoy with crusty bread, a dollop of butter, or nothing at all. It’s perfect for cold evenings, sniffly noses, or days when you simply want something easy and nourishing without fuss.
Chicken Leftover Soup isn’t just about using leftovers — it’s about honouring them. It’s a reminder that good food doesn’t have to be extravagant or elaborate. Sometimes it’s the simple things, the everyday ingredients simmered slowly with care, that bring the most pleasure. And when you sit down with a warm bowl and that familiar, homely aroma rises up to greet you, it’s hard not to feel that you’ve made something truly special from what started as scraps.
Chicken Leftover Soup
Ingredients
- 1 leftover roast chicken carcass
- 2 large carrots chopped
- 1 large onion diced
- 1 cup green beans chopped
- 4 large potatoes diced
- 2 large bay leaf
- 1 tsp whole black peppercorns
- salt
Instructions
- In a large stock pot place chicken frame, bones, giblets etc.1 leftover roast chicken carcass
- Add sufficient water to cover chicken frame and simmer gently for 90 minutes
- Remove all bones and chicken frame, but leave any chicken pieces in the soup.
- Add the peppercorns, bay leaves, carrots, onions, green beans and potatoes.2 large carrots, 1 large onion, 1 cup green beans, 2 large bay leaf, 1 tsp whole black peppercorns, salt, 4 large potatoes
- Add sufficient water so that the vegetables are covered.
- Cover and simmer gently until the vegetables are soft.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve the Chicken Leftover Soup hot.
39 comments
What a brilliant recipe to use leftovers. This is ideal for Sunday roasts and Christmas, Thanksgiving etc
A wonderfully comforting soup that made great use of my roast chicken remains.
Such an easy dish but truly feels like comfort in a bowl.
My family couldn’t believe this soup started with a chicken carcass.
The leftover bits of chicken in the broth were like little surprises in each spoonful.
The bay leaves gave it a lovely, homely aroma that made the soup even more inviting.
I enjoyed how adaptable it felt — you can toss in whatever veg you have.
It’s a gentle, soothing soup — ideal if you’re feeling under the weather.
My potatoes softened perfectly and made the soup wonderfully thick.
The vegetables absorbed the chicken flavour perfectly, making every bite delicious.
My whole family loved it, and we finished the pot in no time.
It’s a brilliant example of stretching ingredients without losing quality.
A brilliant budget-friendly dish that feels anything but cheap.
The aroma while it simmered filled the whole house and had everyone hungry.
I loved the balance of sweetness from the carrots and earthiness from the potatoes.
This soup reminded me of my grandmother’s cooking — rustic, honest, and full of warmth.
The peppercorns added just the right amount of gentle heat.
Ideal for using up leftovers without feeling like “leftovers.”
Such a cosy dish, especially with a sprinkle of extra black pepper on top.
A great dish for anyone who loves old-fashioned home cooking.
It was mild, nourishing, and perfect for a quiet evening at home.
The green beans added a refreshing pop of colour and texture.
The vegetables softened beautifully and made the broth feel wholesome and filling.
Perfect for turning a Sunday roast into a Monday meal without feeling repetitive.
The flavour of the broth was deep, savoury, and incredibly satisfying.
This recipe helped me reduce food waste and enjoy a delicious meal — win–win.
So hearty and warming — perfect for a cold, rainy evening.
This soup felt like a warm hug — simple, nourishing, and made with love.
I appreciated how hands-off the cooking process was — just simmer and wait.
The Chicken Leftover Soup turned out richer than I expected, with a lovely deep flavour from the bones.
Simple ingredients, but the result was far greater than the sum of its parts.
The broth was incredibly flavourful considering it came from leftovers.
A comforting classic that I’ll definitely make again after future roasts.
A great way to avoid waste and create something delicious at the same time.
I loved how simple this dish was, yet it tasted like it simmered all day.
The soup was hearty enough to stand alone as a main meal.
The broth tasted clean, wholesome, and incredibly comforting.
A very satisfying bowlful, especially when served with crusty bread.
The soup reheated beautifully the next day and tasted even better.