Learn four easy, cost-effective juice pulp recipes to make delicious, nutrient-dense soups.
The Benefits of Juice Pulp
There are so many great reasons to juice: for nutrition, for healing from the inside out, for the prevention of disease. Juicing allows us to hit our daily nutrient goals more quickly, which is especially helpful on days we don’t have the time to sit down and eat everything our body needs to maintain strength and vitality.
At PURE, we’re proud to offer a cold-press juicer that provides the most nutrient-dense juice possible. We also believe juicing complements a healthy diet that includes plant-based fiber. And juicing generates a lot of leftover fibrous pulp that is often thrown away.
That’s one of the reasons we love to come up with new ways to use juice pulp. There are so many ways to use leftover juice pulp: you can make a refreshing face mask, scrumptious cookies, and even healthy homemade dog treats (our PURE team pooches give these five our of five paws).
In our test kitchen, our team has (happily) taste-tested and heartily approved four ways to use juicer pulp to make delicious, nutrient-dense soup.
1. Use Juice Pulp as Soup Stock
One of the simplest ways to use leftover juice pulp is to use it as a soup starter, or soup stock.
When making soup stock in our test kitchen, we typically use our green pulp leftover from our apple-kale-carrot juice, but you can really use any kind of juice pulp. We fill a large pot wil water and add the pulp, bringing it all to a boil before letting it simmer for about 30 minutes to an hour. For a little extra kick, you can add sliced onion and minced garlic as the stock simmers.
When the stock is ready, we pour the liquid through a strainer to remove excess pulp. Sometimes, if we are eager to get every last drop of soup stock available, we press the pulp, but more often we put the used pulp directly into our compost.
Bonus Vegetable Pulp Recipe: Veggie Stock over Quinoa and Rice
We use this broth for any kind of soup recipe that calls for vegetable stock. We have also used the stock for rice and quinoa which turned out to be delicious. The rice and quinoa take on the color of the stock which can be beautiful as well.
2. Use Pulp to Make Soup
Making soup takes a unique twist when we use a PURE Juicer because we don’t have to bake or boil our produce to soften it. The grinder uses ½ horsepower to grind produce QUICKLY, keeping the temperature low and texture smooth–perfect for soup!
Previously on the blog, we shared six recipes for baby food. We ground the produce using a #3 grid (#4 for greens) and it gave us smooth baby food, perfect for stage one eating.
A bit jealous of the babies, we asked ourselves how we could eat these combinations too! Thanks to the help of Kimmie Bee, we tested out two soups that were good enough for any party or simply to enjoy with your baby who may just be eating their own blended treat.
Sweet Potato Curry Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 onion, chopped
- 3 to 5 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 T olive oil or grapeseed oil
- About 2 cups of sweet potato/apple/cinnamon puree
- 1 tsp cumin
- 2 T curry powder
- 1 tsp garam masala (optional)
- ⅛ tsp cayenne pepper (or more if you like more of a kick)
- ¼ tsp turmeric powder (can use 1 tsp fresh grated)
- ½ tsp ginger powder (can use 1 tsp fresh grated)
- 2 to 3 cups of vegetable broth (less, if you like a thicker soup & can use chicken)
- 1 can of coconut milk (full fat)
- Kosher salt and freshly ground to taste
Directions
- Heat a heavy pot and add the oil and onion.
- Saute for a few minutes and add the garlic.
- Add all of the spices and cook for a few minutes while stirring.
- Add the sweet potato puree and stir to combine.
- Add the broth and coconut milk and taste to see if you need to adjust the seasonings.
- Reduce heat and simmer for 20 – 25 minutes.
- If you’d like the soup to be smooth, you can use an immersion blender. Otherwise, serve and top with the crispy chickpeas (drizzle rinsed and drained chickpeas with olive oil, salt, pepper, cayenne and curry powder and bake on 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes), toasted almonds or chopped fresh cilantro.
3. Add Pulp to Thicken an Existing Soup
In Dr. William Li’s Book, Eat To Beat Disease, Dr. Li offers a recipe for a Roasted Purple Potato soup, beautiful dish that gets its color from the nutrient-dense purple potatoes he includes in the recipe.
In our test kitchen, we prepared the soup as directed by Dr. Li with one addition: we took about half a cup of our green pulp (from our apple, kale, and carrot juice), and added it it to the soup ingredients to be processed together in the immersion blender. The soup remained a rich purple color and only slightly thicker, making the texture easy to eat and a bit more filling.
Dr. Li’s Roasted Purple Potato Soup (+ Pulp!)
Prep Time: 10 min
Cooking Time: 45 min
Servings: 2-3
Ingredients
- 1lb purple potatoes, peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
- 1/2 small red onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 rib celery with leafy top, chopped
- 2 small stalks rosemary
- 4-6 cups of vegetable broth
- 1/2 cup of your choice of juice pulp (we used pulp from apple-kale-carrot juice)
- Finely chopped parsley
- Sea salt and black pepper to taste
Directions
- Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Place potatoes on large baking sheet.
- Drizzle with 1 tbsp of olive oil, season with salt and pepper.
- Roast about 20-30 min
- In medium stockpot, heat remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil over medium-high heat.
- Add onion and saute for 1-2 minutes.
- Add garlic, celery, and rosemary, season with salt and pepper.
- Saute about 4-5 minutes.
- Add roasted potatoes and enough vegetable broth to cover the potatoes. Bring to boil.
- Reduce heat to low and simmer for 8-10 minutes.
- Remove stalks of rosemary.
- Using immersion blender, process soup (and green pulp!) until smooth and creamy.
- Top with chopped parsley.
4. Use Pulp to Make Any Soup into a Hearty Stew
There are days when you just want a little more to your soup–when you just want to sink your teeth into something delicious and chew. That’s where stews come in. The line between a soup and a stew lies in the heartiness of the dish. A soup can be thin or thick, chunky or smooth. A vegetable stew is thick, boasting chewable pieces of produce that enhance the flavor of the broth or stock used as a base.
Using pulp to transform a soup into a stew is simple. In our test kitchen, we wanted to bulk up our tortilla soup recipe. We simply broke apart our leftover green pulp (apple, kale, and carrot!) and sprinkled it in.
Bonus: when you add fibrous pulp to a stew, you’ll make sure to get all the roughage your body needs for a “smooth” start the next day.
Pro tip: wait until the end of the cooking process to add green juice pulp to tortilla soup: otherwise that gorgeous green color may change to brown! We ended up with a stew that was not only delicious, but beautiful, too.
Juice Pulp Recipes Reduce Waste
One of the best things about making soup from juicer pulp is that you can completely customize your dishes. Make juice out of the produce you like, and try adding that pulp to a favorite soup recipe. Or simmer it with onions and garlic and use it as a soup base. Because you’re using ingredients that might have otherwise been thrown away, these soups are an environmentally friendly and cost-effective way to prepare a warm and comforting meal.
Making soup from leftover juice pulp is a wonderful way to reduce waste and enjoy a hot, nutrient-dense dish. Next time you try out a new juice recipe, consider saving the pulp and seeing what else you can make of it!
Health Benefits
onion: high in nutrients like vitamin C, B vitamins, and potassium, onions are also rich sources of prebiotics and can aid in digestive health.
garlic: garlic can boost immunity, improve blood pressure, and prevent food-borne infections.
sweet potatoes: a great source of fiber, vitamins, and minerals, sweet potatoes are also rich in antioxidants, which protect your body from free radicals. Sweet potatoes get their bright orange color from beta-carotene, which the body converts into vitamin A, known to improve eye health.
apples: nutrient dense and high in soluble fiber, apples are an excellent source of vitamin C and antioxidants like vitamin E and polyphenols, which are linked to lower risk of heart disease and Type 2 diabetes. Apples can aid in healthy weight loss due to their high fiber and water content, helping to manage your appetite.
cinnamon: anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal, cinnamon may support both gut health and heart health. Studies show it could also be beneficial to the aging brain, particularly in the case of inhibiting the kinds of proteins that cause Alzheimer’s.
turmeric: turmeric has been found to help prevent Alzheimer’s and cancer. It can also lessen symptoms of depression and arthritis while also being a powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant.
ginger: ginger contains gingerol, considered to be powerfully medicinal and anti-inflammatory, prevents nausea and can help treat chronic indigestion, and may also drastically lower blood sugar levels and heart disease risk factors.
coconut milk: made of coconut flesh and water, coconut milk is hydrating and contains many nutrients such as manganese (which plays a role in carbohydrate and fat metabolism, mineral absorption, and blood sugar regulation), calcium, copper, magnesium, potassium and zinc. Coconut milk has been shown to reduce inflammation, decrease ulcer size and fight viruses and bacteria.
Sources
Dr. Li: Easy Recipe with Cancer-Fighting Properties
9 Impressive Health Benefits of Onions
The Health Benefits of Purple Potatoes
6 Surprising Health Benefits of Sweet Potatoes
8 Impressive Health Benefits of Apples
10 Proven Health Benefits of Turmeric and Curcumin
11 Proven Health Benefits of Ginger
Coconut Milk: Health Benefits and Uses
Medical Disclaimer
PURE Juicer is a juicing company. We are not doctors or medical experts. All content and information on this blog and website is for informational and educational purposes only, does not constitute medical advice, and does not establish any patient-client relationship by using this website.
Although we strive to provide accurate general information, the information presented here is not a substitute for professional advice. You should not rely solely on this information. Always consult a professional in your area for your health questions and concerns before making any professional, legal, medical, financial, or tax-related decisions.
