If you’re looking for an easy hostess gift or want to share just a little something this holiday season, you can hardly go wrong with this friendship soup mix in a jar. It’s a perfect way to give a chef the night off after a busy time of year.
Be sure to try our favorite sausage lentil soup recipe, too!
Homemade soup mix in a jar
When it comes to making homemade gifts, sometimes simpler is better. I mean, if it’s easy to do, you’ll get it done, right?? This layered soup in a jar is as easy as that. In fact, this is one of those gifts that kids can make, since it’s basically just a matter of pouring ingredients into a jar in the proper order. A canning funnel makes this even easier, my friends.
Purchase dried split peas, lentils, barley, and rice in bulk and make up several of these jars. Give them as teacher gifts or hostess gifts or leave a jar in the mailbox for the mail carrier. They’ll appreciate the gesture.
Filling the jar
There’s really not a lot to making this soup mix in a jar, but do note that it’s best to layer the ingredients in the proper order. This prevents the seasonings from getting all jumbled up with the other dry ingredients, making the jar look messy. The pasta should go on top of everything, as it’s added to the soup at a different time. If you’d like, you could cut a piece of paperboard to fit in the jar and set it on top of the ingredients before measuring in the pasta. This will make it easier for your gift recipient to separate it when cooking.
Related: White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies in a Jar
★ Did you make this soup mix in a jar? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below! ★
Friendship Soup Mix in a Jar
This layered dry mix is perfect for gift giving. Just print out and tie on instructions for using it!
Ingredients
To make the gift jar
- 1 cup dried split peas
- 1 cup dried lentils
- ½ cup pearl barley
- ⅓ cup beef granules
- ¼ cup dried minced onion
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- ¼ cup uncooked white rice
- 2 bay leaves
- ½ cup uncooked small pasta like Ditalini
Instructions
Layer the dry friendship soup ingredients in the jar in this order to prevent the seasonings from sifting through the beans: onion, ½ cup split peas, rice, ½ cup lentils, beef granules, ½ cup split peas, barley, ½ cup lentils, Italian seasoning, and pasta. Optional: Cut a piece of card stock to fit inside the jar and set it in place before adding the pasta. This will make it easy to set the pasta aside as required when cooking the soup.
Seal and attach gift tag with instructions for making soup.
Download this printable label to tie onto the jar by going here. (You’ll get four labels on one sheet of paper.) These labels will make your soup mix in a jar look festive without any extra wrapping.
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Can you substitute barley for something gluten free?
If it were me, I’d try brown rice. Similar cooking times and textures.
What size jar do you use?
Quart – sorry! It shows up in the backend but for some reason isn’t showing in the actual recipe. I’ll see if I can figure out why!