This super easy homemade pork soup recipe is the best way to use leftover pork. It’s thick and creamy – almost like a stew – but dairy-free (no cream cheese). Whole30 compliant and if you skip the pork, it’s a delicious vegetarian meal!
My super easy homemade pork soup recipe is the best way to use leftover pork. It’s thick and creamy like a stew, and a perfect soup for the whole family to enjoy any time of the year.
Friends, whether you want soup or stew, the combination of pork and potatoes is out of this world!
Not only is this recipe easy and delicious, but it’s also:
- Simple. With a handful of easy-to-find ingredients, you can’t get any simpler.
- Versatile. Use what you have. Out of kale, but you have spinach? Throw that in instead.
- Frugal. Using leftover pork, and super affordable vegetables like potatoes, carrots, and celery, this soup is easy on the wallet.
- Dairy-free. An ideal creamy soup, minus the dairy.
- Whole30 compliant.
Ingredients for Pork Soup
- olive oil
- onions
- celery ribs
- carrots
- cloves garlic
- sliced mushrooms
- medium potatoes
- chicken stock (I use homemade chicken stock)
- leftover pork
- onion flakes
- Italian seasoning (It’s easy to make it yourself)
- granulated garlic
- salt
- ground or rubbed sage
- ground thyme
- pepper
- kale
Notes On Ingredients
- Pork. I used leftover rib meat for this recipe, but you can use any pork really. Leftover pulled pork carnitas, classic pot roast, or Instant Pot whole chicken will work. The flavors may vary a little, but that’s the beauty of leftovers!
- In fact, it doesn’t even HAVE to be leftover. If you have frozen pork chops in the freezer, by all means, use them. Boil them in water with seasonings, and use the cooking broth instead of chicken broth!
- Seasonings. My rib meat was intensely flavored in homemade barbeque sauce, but I made sure that there were plenty of seasonings in the recipe to make any pork addition taste good. Just know that if your pork is already cooked, that flavor will come through a bit!
- Chicken Broth / Chicken Stock. I save up all of our chicken bones in gallon freezer bags and make homemade chicken stock, which adds a delicious broth base for this recipe. (I use this Instant Pot chicken stock tutorial to make my own, but you can use the slow cooker chicken stock method too.)
- If you are using fresh / thawed pork for this recipe rather than leftovers, you can replace the chicken broth in the recipe with the pork broth from boiling the pork chops in water and seasonings.
- Vegetables. Use up any stray veggies from your fridge for this meal. If you have the staples mentioned in the recipe, use them, but if you want to add in some bell pepper, leeks, or even some cabbage try it out!
- Kale. Can be replaced with other leafy greens that you might have on hand like collard greens, chard or spinach.
- Potatoes. You can even use leftover potatoes for this recipe. For example, perhaps you have hash browns on your meal plan for a weekend for breakfast, and potato wedges are served with another dinner. Plan to make extras and use what you have on hand!
A complete list of ingredients with the amounts you need is located in the recipe card below.
Another Quick Note on the Pork
Serving my family heritage pork is important to me, so we’re members of Butcher Box. Butcher Box delivers heritage pork, grass-fed beef, and pasture-raised and organic chicken directly to your front door each month, saving me the hassle of driving all over town trying to find the cuts of meat I want on my meal plan!
You can read my honest review on Butcher Box here, and my post on how to make Butcher Box worth the cost! Click this LINK to get their current offer!
Step By Step Instructions for Leftover Pork Soup
Step 1: Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onions, celery, and carrots and cook on medium, stirring occasionally, until the onions just start to turn translucent.
Step 2: Add the mushrooms and garlic. Cook until the vegetables start to become soft.
Step 3: Add the potatoes and chicken stock. Turn the heat to high, bring just to a boil, and then turn the heat down to a medium simmer. Cook until the potatoes are fork-tender, about 15-20 minutes.
Step 4: Add the leftover pork, seasonings, and kale. Cook until the kale is wilted and the pork is heated through about 5-10 minutes.
Step 5: Taste and adjust seasonings, if needed.
Pork Soup Recipe Tips
- Any leftover meat will work well in this soup recipe. Leftover carnitas, classic pot roast, or Instant Pot whole chicken will work. The flavors may vary a little, but that’s the beauty of leftovers!
- Use up any stray veggies from your fridge for this meal. If you have the staples mentioned in the recipe, use them, but if you want to add in whichever diced veggies you may have on hand, go right ahead! They will be delicious in this pork soup.
- I made this on the stove every time, but I’m sure it would work in a slow cooker or Instant Pot (especially since the Instant Pot can save you money!). Before you jump in though, read these Instant Pot tips and also how to make a slow cooker recipe in the Instant Pot. Avoid making one of these Instant Pot mistakes at dinner time!
FAQs
For this recipe, I use homemade chicken broth since it is the broth that I usually have on hand in my freezer, and it goes well with other meats. I would not recommend beef broth in this recipe.
Pork chops will tend to dry out if you overcook them. In the case of this recipe, you are only reheating your fully cooked leftover pork for 5-10 minutes in broth, so your pork will not be dry in this pork soup recipe. In my Maple Glazed Pork Chops recipe, the pork cooks in a cast iron skillet for 10-13 minutes total. The pork comes out super tender and delicious.
Well-seasoned pork cooked with the proper cook time is what makes pork very flavorful and tender. For example:
The pork is made very flavorful and tender in this pork stew recipe when it is cooked in homemade chicken broth with seasonings like homemade Italian Seasoning, garlic, onion, celery, sage, thyme, salt & pepper, plus mushrooms.
My Maple Glazed Pork Chop recipe is very flavorful with just the right amount of maple syrup, and seasonings like cayenne, garlic, paprika, salt & pepper.
To Serve
- Serve with my No-Knead Artisan Bread and a Kale Caesar Salad.
- Use any vegetables that you have on hand (i.e. bell pepper, leeks, cabbage, collard greens &, etc).
- Any leftover pork will work (carnitas, classic pot roast, maple glazed pork chops). Or even Instant Pot whole chicken will work.
More Quick & Easy Soup Recipes
- Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup
- White Bean and Sausage Soup
- Instant Pot Curried Butternut Squash Soup
- Garlic White Bean with Kale Soup
- Slow Cooker Mexican Potato Soup
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Leftover Pork and Potato Soup
Super easy homemade pork and potato soup recipe is the best way to use leftover pork. It’s thick and creamy – almost like a stew – but dairy-free (no cream cheese). Whole30 compliant and if you skip the pork, it’s a delicious vegetarian meal!
- Prep Time: 7 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 37 mins
- Yield: 6–8 serving 1x
- Category: Soup & Salad
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 onions, diced
- 4 celery ribs, diced
- 4 large carrots, diced
- 2 large cloves garlic
- 2 cups sliced mushrooms
- 4 medium potatoes, scrubbed and diced
- 2 quarts chicken stock
- 2 cups leftover pork, cubed into 1/2” pieces or smaller
- 2 Tbsp onion flakes
- 2 Tbsp dried Italian seasoning
- 2 tsp granulated garlic
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp ground or rubbed sage
- 1 tsp ground thyme
- 1 tsp pepper
- 2 large fistfuls of kale
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onions, celery and carrots and cook on medium until the onions just start to turn translucent.
- Add the mushrooms and garlic and cook until the vegetables start to become soft.
- Add the potatoes and chicken stock and simmer, cooking until the potatoes are fork-tender, about 15-20 minutes.
- Add the leftover pork, seasonings and kale and cook until the kale is wilted and the pork is heated through, about 5-10 minutes.
- Taste and adjust seasonings, if needed.
Notes
- Any leftover meat will work well in this soup recipe. Leftover carnitas, classic pot roast, or Instant Pot whole chicken will work. The flavors may vary a little, but that’s the beauty of leftovers!
- Use up any stray veggies from your fridge for this meal. If you have the staples mentioned in the recipe, use them, but if you want to add in whichever diced veggies you may have on hand, go right ahead! They will be delicious in this pork soup.
Nutrition
- Calories: 228
An “A Lister” recipe for me now! I’m a BBQ guy and always have some leftover pork, be it butt/shoulder, loin, chops, or especially ribs, and recipes for leftover pork soups are….rare. I modified this for the crockpot, my soup cooker of choice, by eliminating the saute steps (but DO add the oil), added smoked baby back ribs in sections of two once the pot is hot, and just let it simmer. Later, I removed the ribs, let them cool, and shredded the meat from the bones, added back (rib meat is phenomenal when added to a soup). Fantastique!!!
Wonderful Brett! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Note: Your recipe lists garlic as an ingredient, however, it’s not included in any of the steps. My original pork tenderloin was very dry. I assumed it wouldn’t improve in this recipe but it was moist & tender so this recipe saved my crappy pork tenderloin!! We really enjoyed it
Hi Rich!
Thank you so much for noticing that we left garlic out of the instructions! I will fix the recipe card to include the garlic now. 🙂 I’m so glad that you loved the recipe, and that your pork tenderloin came out delicious in the soup. YUM!
Went on web looking for recipe to use two leftover pork chops! This was great! Although I very seldom has leftover pork, I would definitely do this again just to make this soup!
Hello Patricia,
We’re so glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for sharing!
Looks delicious. I want to try this recipe since I have left over shredded pork. Only 2 of us, can you freeze this soup?
Yes, but freeze it before it is fully cooked. Then finish cooking what you want to eat so that when you rewarm the soup it has a good texture.
Love this recipe!!
I added bok choy, red pepper, summer squash and zucchini to mine, as well as cumin, onion powder and paprika!
Amazing soup!!! Hearty and Flavorful!!
Thanks!
So excited to hear you love this recipe, Bren!
Tiffany, in looking for different soup recipes, I came across this leftover pork & potato recipe. I live in over-55 beautiful area in RI. I feed a few people in this area with different foods. Soup is my main thing. This sounds delicious! Have you made any changes that might affect older people, that you like better?
Anyway, the reason that I am writing is to see if you can answer the question I am always asking…what is considered a serving in your recipe? I drop off quarts of soup, how many of your servings is this considered on average?
Cooking for my adult kids at time, they could eat a quart of soup on their own, LOL. If you can help, I would appreciate it, thanks, sanni
Hi Sanni! To help determine how many quarts of soup are in a total recipe, I take the number of quarts of stock that are called for and double it. This isn’t exact of course, but I’ve found that in my recipes, there’s a rough equivalent of “stuff” to broth, so doubling the stock makes sense in your math problem. 🙂
I made this recipe today it’s simmering!! Smells yummy😆 I spaced out while chatting with hubby and dumped in all my measured out spices., and pork when I put potatoes in! Well hopefully it will still be yummy😉
I left out the garlic, flaked onion and Italian seasoning; all I had was better than boil lion chicken so I used that for the stock (oh, and omitted the salt!)…added more leftover pork and kale…I can’t have potatoes so I added some frozen French cut green beans, (added the potatoes to hubby’s)… this soup is AMAZING!!! I LOVE IT!!!
In my house there are NEVER leftover ribs, but pork roast? yes. Made this soup w the leftover meat and the de-fatted pork juices from the crock pot as part of the stock portion. Delicious!
I’m so glad you enjoyed this!! Great way to use those leftovers!
Enjoyed your recipe, thank you. I used less stock (about 1.5 quarts) and added cannellini beans (1 can), it was very yummy and a great way to use our leftover baby back rib meat.
I’m going to replace the kale with collards, which I have tons of in my garden. The collards have the same robust flavor of kale, but no bitterness, and a buttery edge that goes well with pork. Bon appetit!
Sounds like a great swap, Gale!
How long can u keep this soup in the fridge?
This will be good in the fridge for a few days. Use the smell test if you’re not sure if it’s still good or not!
This sounds delicious! Do you have a suggestion for a substitution for the kale? My husband isn’t a fan of kale, but I’d still like to try the soup.
You can leave it out, or add spinach at the very end!
Made this tonight and it was delicious. It might be my new favorite soup/strew. The only difference I made was adding some frozen butternut squash because I had it on hand and wanted to use it. I don’t think it affected the final product much. Will definitely be making again.
Yay! I’m so glad you liked this Heidi! I think the addition of the squash sounds GOOD!
Made this soup with leftover Pork Carnita. Had to sub a couple of things as I didn’t have Thyme and hubby does not like mushrooms; so used Basil and butternut squash. Everything else I had and the soup was just wonderful. Thanks so much for a delicious recipe.
You’re very welcome Carol!
Delicious and easy! Thanks so much!
Dee,
You’re so welcome! 🙂
Very good. A bit over powering with the herbs. Overall very tasty. Thanks for the recipe.
You’re very welcome!
I also found that the mixed herbs I have (basil, oregano, thyme) was sufficient without the need to add the additional herbs listed.
I see you have thyme in your recipe. Have you tried using Thyme essential oil yet? I’ve been putting one drop each of thyme, basil, and oregano in my soups and it’s so yummy! You just put them on a spoon with little bit of olive oil then stir it into the finished soup. More ways to use oils!! 🙂
I haven’t yet, but I have thyme! I’ll make sure NOT to restock next time I’m out. Thanks for the tip!
Great tasting soup and very easy to make. Delicious!
Great soup..I don’t eat mushrooms so was not added….my only issue is saltiness… I will eliminate the salt next time I make it.
Is it really 4 quarts of stock??
No!! It’s 2 – fixing that typo now!
Can you use beef stock instead of chicken ? Aslo would chopped up brussel sprouts work instead of kale ?
Yes to the stock, but no to the brussel sprouts. You could use spinach or chard though!
Well, it looks like a version of the Hungarian Goulash.
I’ve never had that before, but I’m hoping that’s a good thing? LOL!
Can you use sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes
Would like to make it tonight but I only have sweet potatoes on hand
Yes you can Claudia!
This soup is delicious and Hungarian goulash is delicious; however, this soup doesn’t even remotely resemble Hungarian goulash – at least not the traditional/authentic version which uses completely different ingredients and has a completely and flavour profile.