- Adding a leftover Parmesan rind to simmering soup gives the broth a rich, nutty umami flavor.
- The rind slowly infuses flavor like tea steeping, unlike grated cheese that clumps without deepening the broth.
- This trick works best in brothy or blended soups and avoids letting food go to waste.
For some, fall means all things sweet and spice. Flavors like pumpkin, pecan, maple and apple come to mind, enhanced with those warming kitchen spices like cinnamon, clove and nutmeg. But for me, when the temperature starts to drop outside, the one thing I look forward to the most is a big pot of soup simmering on the stove. Savory broth, lots of vegetables and crusty homemade bread for dipping—all the perfect elements to kick off the season. And every time I make a big pot of minestrone or chicken noodle, there’s one ingredient that is an absolute must, and that’s a leftover Parmesan rind.
I adopted this trick when I was on a journey to try to reduce my food waste and found myself with a few leftover rinds. In my family, Parmesan is an absolute staple. We would place chunks of it in a rotary grater and sprinkle it on top of our meatballs and red gravy. It made our weekly Sunday dinners feel like an Italian restaurant, and needless to say, we went through Parmesan cheese fast. Unfortunately, the rinds always ended up in the trash.
After picking up this Sunday dinner tradition in my adult years, I was sick of throwing out the rinds and wondered if there was another way I could use them. After all, there’s still a little cheese on there! Could I break it off somehow? Naturally, I turned to the Internet and searched for what to do with Parmesan rinds. The answer? Soup!
I gave it a go and found that adding a Parmesan rind to some of my favorite soup recipes significantly improved the flavor, and I decided that I would never again make a brothy soup without one. I mean, if Ina Garten is also doing it, then I had to be onto something.
How Parmesan Rinds Improve Soups
I’m not kidding when I say a Parmesan rind turns the soup into liquid gold. When a soup simmers with the rind, it adds this unique nutty quality that enhances the umami flavor of the soup. (Umami is a meaty, rich and savory flavor.) The broth picks up that flavor as the soup simmers, and when it’s time to finish the soup before serving, you simply discard the soft leftover rind.
Using a Rind vs. Grated Cheese
Why not just add grated Parmesan cheese? While it may seem like the cheese will simply melt into the broth, truthfully, the texture of it won’t be the same. Many times that cheese will glob together and melt to the bottom of the pot, and it won’t create that same flavor profile that a rind does. Think of it like steeping tea—the water picks up the tea flavor slowly as it steeps. The same happens here with the rind.
Don’t have a leftover rind? Then just grate the cheese and save it for sprinkling on top of your soup. You’ll still get some of those umami notes.
Vegetarian-Friendly Options
Keep in mind that regular Parmesan rind is made with animal rennet, which means that your soup won’t be vegetarian if you use the rind. However, there are some brands that will use vegetable alternatives for the rennet, so if this is something that matters to you and your diet, then be sure to seek out a Parmesan produced with completely vegetarian products.
Best Soups for Parmesan Rinds
While this is a savvy trick for soups, it doesn’t work for all soups. The best soups to add Parmesan rinds to are brothy soups. The broth can pick up flavor from the rind while the soup simmers for a longer period of time. Does that mean creamy soups won’t work? It honestly depends. If your soup is thickened with butternut squash or beans that have simmered in a broth and are blended later, then yes, you can still let the soup simmer with your rind. This can also work if you have a creamy soup that has the cream and cheese added after the simmering process, because some soups—like this Creamy Tortellini—start with a broth and finish with cream.
The Bottom Line
Soup is one of the best one-pot dinners for fall, perfect for meal prepping for lunches or easy dinners throughout the week, and adding a Parmesan rind to your broth takes your soup to a whole new flavor level. When the soup is simmering on the stove or in a slow cooker, add the rind so the broth can gather up all that flavor goodness. Then discard it before serving. This trick works well for brothy soups; even if the recipe doesn’t call for a rind, you can still include it!
So yes, it’s fall, the time of the year that everyone is ready for all things pumpkin. But not me. As the famous George Costanza once said, “I gotta focus. I’m shifting into soup mode.”
