Everything Including The Quack Leftover Duck Soup Recipe

The Ultimate No Duck Left Behind Meal

It’s not every day you get the opportunity to roast a whole duck, so when the ducky day arrives, I use this recipe to ensure absolutely nothing goes to waste.

Duck has such a rich and unique flavor, that it’s a crying shame to throw it away. This simple recipe uses every part of the duck, even the bones. 

They provide the perfect foundation for delicious duck broth, and as for any slivers of remaining meat, I cook them up until they’re nice and crispy and use them as a garnish.

If that’s not enough to tantalize your tongue and get your tummy rumbling, I don’t know what is.

What You’ll Need for This Leftover Duck Noodle Soup Recipe

The great thing about this recipe is that it’s easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy, and speaking of lemon, you’re going to need one!

What I think puts a lot of people off attempting to make a meal like this is the time you have to invest. We’re all busy people, and making a broth from scratch isn’t exactly a quick-cook activity.

That said, once you’ve got the broth on the burner, you can go about your day as normal, checking on it only every now and again. Still, due to the lengthy simmering process, this is more of a weekend recipe. Here’s what you’ll need.

Ingredients for the Broth

1. A lemon – Thought I’d get the famous lemon out of the way first, as we’ve already spoken of it.
2. A duck carcass – Carcass isn’t the most appetizing word in the dictionary, but this is where most of the flavor is going to come from.
3. Lots of water – You’ll need enough water to fill a large pot. 3 liters should do the trick.
4. 3 tbsp of Soy sauce ( check out our delicious dark soy sauce recipes)- A dash of soy sauce adds the finishing touches to our tongue-tingling broth.
5. 2 x star anise – This beautiful star-shaped spice adds some otherworldly flavors to our noodle soup.
6. 3 x crushed garlic cloves – Garlic is my favorite thing, so of course, plenty goes into this recipe.
7. A quartered onion (skin on) – We’re going full mirepoix here, as if we’re roasting a joint of meat.
8. 15g of fresh ginger – Ginger adds complexity to the robust flavor profile of the broth.

Ingredients for the Soup

1. Whatever noodles you’re in the mood for – I prefer udon or egg.
2. Leftover duck – Crispy and delicious, the leftover duck goes down a storm in this recipe, but you can make it without it, and it will still taste amazing.
3. Spring Onions – Used as a nice, fresh garnish.
4. Pak Choi – Feel free to switch up the veggies if you don’t have any Pak Choi to hand.
5. Chili oil – A generous drizzle to serve.

Equipment

1. 2 large pots – One for the duck bones, and one to strain into.
2. A small pot –  For the noodles and Pak Choi.
3. An air fryer (if you’ve got one) – A frying pan will also do fine.
4. A large strainer.

Method

Leftover duck noodle soup is a lengthy cook, so let’s drive straight in, shall we?

Step 1. Stripping the duck

I like to pick absolutely every sliver of meat off the duck that I can to cook up and use as a garnish. Once you’ve stripped as much as you can, cover it and store it in your fridge.

Step 2. Prepare the broth pot

Place the duck carcass in your large pot, pour in your 3 liters of water, then put on a medium or large burner and bring it to a boil.

Step 3. Prepare the flavoring ingredients

While you’re waiting for the water to boil, quarter your onion, leaving the skin on, and crush your garlic and ginger.

Why leave the onion skin on? Well, believe it or not, there’s lots of flavor to be extracted from the skin of an onion. Just make sure you give it a good scrub before you quarter it.

Step 4. Pump up the Flavor

Once the water is bubbling away in the pot, you can add in all the little flavor modifiers, the onion, the garlic, the star anise, and the ginger.

Step 5. Set to simmer

Turn down the burner to a medium-low heat, cover, and leave to simmer.

Step 6. Go about your day

The longer you leave the duck simmering in the water, the more flavor you’ll extract from it. I recommend a minimum of four hours. 

Feel free to get a few things done in this time, but remember to check every so often to stir it and skim away fat rising to the surface.

Step 7. Strain the broth

As we don’t actually want to eat any onion skin, we need to strain our broth of solids using a large strainer.

Step 8. Add the soy sauce

Once strained, return the broth to the heated pot, and place it back on the burner. Then add in your 3 tablespoons of soy sauce. Leave to simmer for a further 15-20 minutes.

Step 9. Reheat the duck meat

I prefer to use an air fryer at 200°C for 5 minutes to achieve that perfect crispness, but feel free to fry it up normally if you don’t have one.

Step 10. Preparing the soup

Now that your broth is simmered to perfection, take a smaller pot, portion your noodles into it, then add the Pak Choi. Ladle the desired amount of broth into the noodle pan, and bring to a boil for 3-5 minutes.

Step 11. Chop the spring onions

Chop the onions as the noodles (give our special rice noodle recipe a trial)and Pak Choi cook. I hope you’re hungry because it’s almost time to eat!

Step 12. The lemon

Squeeze a thin segment of lemon into the small pan to perk up the flavors.

Step 13. Serve it up

Dish your noodle soup up in a bowl, sprinkle on the spring onions and crispy duck, then drizzle some chili oil over the steaming surface — yum!

Final Thoughts – Duck for Days

I like to keep the broth separate from my other ingredients in order to keep it fresh for as long as possible, and so I can use it for other meals. It should last up to four days when stored in a refrigerator. Just make sure it’s fully cooled before you chill it. Enjoy!