This nourishing tripe soup is a simple, approachable way to enjoy one of the most underrated traditional foods. Made with collagen-rich tripe and a base of bone broth, it’s deeply satisfying and packed with nutrients. Gently flavored with onions, garlic, bay leaf, and fresh parsley, this recipe is perfect for anyone curious about how to start adding organ meats to their family’s real food routine.

easy tripe soup recipe in a brown clay bowl with carrots and chopped fresh parsley with some peppercorns and a wooden spoon on the side

Rediscovering a Traditional Superfood

Organ meats were once the staple of human diet. For one, no one in their right mind would butcher an animal and then throw all the organs away (or feed them to the dogs). Secondly, all traditional cultures recognised the tremendous value of organ meats, which can be up to 200 times as nutrient dense as muscle meats. Tripe is rich in protein, B vitamins (especially B12), and minerals such as zinc, selenium, iron, and phosphorus. Like all tougher cuts of meat, it is also a great source of collagen, which is great for your joints, skin, and gut health.

What Is Tripe, Really?

Tripe is the edible lining from the stomachs of ruminant animals like cows, sheep, and goats. I almost always use sheep tripe because that’s what we have easy access to—we butcher a sheep once a year, and lamb is the most popular meat in our region. Lamb tripe is also easy to find at local butchers here. That said, beef or goat tripe is very similar in appearance and texture to sheep tripe—except that beef tripe is of course larger in size—and can be cooked in the exact same way. So whatever kind of tripe you have on hand, it will work well in this recipe.

Types of Tripe and Where They Come From

Ruminant animals have four stomach chambers: the rumen, reticulum, omasum, and abomasum. Each produces a slightly different type of tripe. The most commonly sold variety is honeycomb tripe, which comes from the reticulum and is known for its sponge-like texture. It’s often the easiest to find at butcher shops.

As you can see in the photo below, fresh tripe is not naturally white or cream-colored. Raw tripe straight from the animal is usually a brownish-grey tone (except for reed tripe, which is paler). Most of the tripe sold commercially has been bleached for visual appeal. The photo below shows the four types of tripe we harvested from our home-butchered sheep, in their natural state.

blanket tripe reed tripe honeycomb tripe and book tripe on a marble counter top

Tripe in Traditional Recipes

Tripe appears in many beloved traditional dishes around the world—like British tripe and onions, Italian trippa alla Romana (Roman-style tripe), and the rich, spicy Mexican menudo. But not every recipe will suit every palate, especially at first.

When I lived in Scotland, organ meats were surprisingly hard to find—except for liver and hearts. One day we finally spotted some tripe at a local ethnic butcher. I was excited to try it Roman-style, cooked in tomato sauce with Italian spices. Unfortunately, it was a total disappointment.

For some reason, I just can’t stand organ meats with tomato-based sauces. That dish put me off tripe for years—until I tried it again in a tomato-free soup. And to my surprise, it was actually delicious.

The takeaway? Don’t write off tripe after one bad experience. Like many traditional foods, it takes some trial and error to find the right preparation for your tastes. Give your taste buds time to adjust—new textures and flavors often grow on you with a little patience and an open mind.

This simple tripe soup is the recipe that changed my mind—mild, nourishing, and full of comforting flavor. I hope it helps you fall in love with tripe too.

Tripe FAQs

Does tripe smell when you cook it?

Yes it can smell a bit. Some people say that it smells like the barnyard. In my opinion, cooking raw tripe makes your house smell like wet sheep. If you are like me and love to cook weird things, this will be funny rather than bothersome for you. However, to avoid having your house smell like a barn, you can cook your raw tripe in a crockpot on your back porch. We currently live in a flat, so I have the option of cooking the tripe on a gas bottle on my balcony.

An ever better way to make the raw tripe smell less as it cooks is to add some aromatics to the cooking water – half an onion, a few peeled garlic cloves, a stick of celery, and a bay leaf.

Also, once your raw tripe has been cooked, it won’t smell much anymore, so cooking your tripe soup with the already pre-cooked tripe will not make your house smelly at all!

What does tripe taste like?

Tripe is very mild tasting. I once heard someone saying that the weirdest organ meats are usually the ones with the mildest taste, and that is certainly true of tripe. Sheep tripe tastes mildly like lamb. Compared to liver for example, tripe is very mild indeed (I would say even bland) and great for anyone new to organ meats. Because of lack of a distinctive flavor, tripe can easily take on other flavors. So use liberal amounts of your favorite spices when cooking tripe and it will get infused with them, especially if you add it to dishes that cook long and slow, like curries or stews.

Is tripe full of collagen?

Yes, tripe contains a lot of connective tissue so it is full of collagen. That is why it requires long and slow cooking to make it tender. The collagen in tripe is great for your skin, nails and hair. It is also very healing to your gut, for the same reason that bone broth is. Adding tripe to soups made with bone broth makes it a real superfood.

Can you overcook tripe?

If you forget about it for a really long time, it will eventually overcook. This won’t happen if you just leave it to simmer for an extra 10 minutes – tripe takes long to cook so you can’t easily ruin it by overcooking. That said, a couple of hours is usually enough to cook tripe to tenderness so set your timer and check on the tripe after 2 hours have passed. It should be fork tender when it is ready – which means you can easily pierce it with a fork.

What type of tripe is best for use in soup recipes?

I usually use blanket tripe or honeycomb tripe for soups, but reed tripe will work fine as well. I have never made soup with book tripe (I should though- so I could have some wisdome to share with you) because book tripe is great if you fry it in some fat for a quick snack. To make fried book tripe, slice the tripe into thin strips and fry in some butter or tallow, with plenty of salt, until crispy (about 10 minutes). If you are a fan of jerky, you’ll love fried book tripe. It is salty, slightly chewy, with lovely crisped edges. Yum!

If you want to make a large pot of soup, go with the blanket tripe which is the largest type of tripe and so gives you the biggest amount of meat.

Preparing Tripe for Use in Recipes: The Basics

If you have just butchered a sheep/goat/calf and you want to get your tripe ready for use in recipes, follow steps 1 – 4 below. If you have bought tripe at the butcher, the only thing you need to do in step 1 is to give the tripe a quick wash under warm water, then proceed to step 2.

Some sites recommend to bleach tripe by soaking it in a vinegar and water solution, or in lime juice, and then to boil it briefly. This is supposed to whiten the tripe and remove some of the odor. I tried that once with the book tripe and to be honest it didn’t make any difference – the tripe still looked and smelled the same. Maybe that process only works with beef tripe, and not with sheep?

If you know of any foolproof way to bleach sheep tripe, let me know. Honestly though, tripe is very mild tasting and cooks to tenderness if you simmer it long enough, so is it really worth the time trying to bleach tripe? Maybe if one really wants it to take on that attractive creamy hue. Personally, I am not bothered by its brownish appearance.

Step by Step Raw Tripe Preparation

tips

I find it useful to salt the water for cooking tripe as much as when cooking pasta. If you don’t salt the water now, you will need to add quite a bit of salt to the soup later on because the tripe will absorb a lot of it.
If you want to use the tripe in dishes such as curries or stews which will be simmered for a couple of hours, only simmer the tripe for 15 minutes. Then drain it, rinse it well, cut into desired shapes, then add to the stew/curry.
If you want to give the tripe extra flavor as it simmers, you can add a peeled onion, a few garlic cloves, bay leaves, and some whole peppercorns to the cooking water. This gentle infusion can help mellow the natural scent and add depth. That said, for this particular soup recipe, it’s not necessary. The tripe will later simmer in a rich broth full of aromatics, herbs, and vegetables—so I simply cook it in plain water.

Step 1

Firstly, wash the tripe in several changes of water. Give it a good scrub inside and out. Use either your hands or a scrubbing brush – the inside of the tripe will have the remains of the sheep’s food in it and you need to rinse it out and then scrub off anything stuck to the surface of the tripe. After scrubbing, rinse it well again.

Step 2

Place the freshly cleaned tripe in a pot and cover with water. Bring the pot to boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer the tripe for about 2 hours until fork tender.

Step 3

cooked blanket tripe on a marble counter top

After 2 hours of cooking the tripe should be tender and ready for dicing and adding to the soup. If you are going to use this tripe in other recipes, cut it into whatever shapes you want.

Step 4

chopped tripe on the left tripe sliced into strips on the right witha a chefs knife on the side

I first slice the tripe into strips and then line up a few strips at a time and dice them into approximately 3/4 inch pieces. The size of the pieces is up to you really, so follow your own preferences. I think tripe diced into small squares looks pretty in a soup.

Ingredients for this easy tripe soup recipe

a bowl of diced tripe a bowl of diced carrots a bowl of diced potatoes a bay leaf salt and pepper on a jar lid a bowl of diced onions a jar of bone broth some garlic cloves and a piece of butter in the middle

Feel free to replace the carrots with other veggies of your choice.
I used chicken bone broth in this recipe but feel free to use any that you have on hand.
If you are dairy free, use coconut oil or chicken fat instead of butter to sauté the onions.

Simple Tripe Soup Recipe (British Style)

onions potatoes and stock in a metal pot

Melt the butter in a medium pot. Add the onions and season them liberally with salt and pepper. Sauté the onions until translucent, then add the garlic and sauté it for another minute. Add in the diced potatoes, bay leaf and 2 cups of stock. Bring the soup to the boil. Then reduce the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes until the potatoes are soft.

blended tripe soup base in a pot with the stick blender on the left

Once the potatoes are soft, remove the bay leaf and blend the soup until smooth. Or if you prefer, leave some of the onions and potatoes unblended.

Blending at least some of the veggies gives the soup a thicker and creamier texture.

easy tripe soup with carrots in a metal pot

Add the bay leaf back into the soup. Then add in the carrots, tripe and the rest of the stock. Season well with salt and black pepper. Simmer the soup for about 20 minutes until the carrots are tender.

easy tripe soup with chopped fresh parsley in a pot

Take the soup off the heat and then stir in the fresh chopped parsley. Check and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Your tripe soup is now ready to be served.

What to Eat with Tripe Soup

two mugs with easy tripe soup and a metal spoon on the side

This soup is great served with some crusty sourdough bread or some hot buttered biscuits for a nutrient dense lunch.

For dinner, you can also serve this soup with burgers, wraps or some slices of homemade pizza.

Why You Should Give Tripe a Chance

Tripe is a deeply nourishing and surprisingly easy-to-cook organ meat that deserves a place in every traditional kitchen. It’s budget-friendly, rich in nutrients, and—like all organ meats—a far better investment than most store-bought supplements. Choosing to eat tripe also honors the whole animal, making it both a frugal and sustainable choice. I hope you’ll give tripe a try! And if you’d like to see more tripe recipes here, let me know in the comments—I’d love to hear from you.

Makes sure to check out some of my other organ meat recipes!

Nutrient-Rich Chicken Liver Pâté

How To Prepare Chicken Hearts

How To Prepare Gizzards For Cooking

Tripe Soup

This simple and flavorful tripe soup is a nourishing way to enjoy this underrated, collagen-rich superfood.

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 30

Total Time 45

Serving Size 5

Equipment

immersion blender (optional)

Ingredients

2 tbsp butter
2 cups diced onions
4 garlic cloves, crushed or grated
1 cup diced potatoes
3 cups diced cooked tripe
2 cups diced carrots
4 cups chicken stock
1 bay leaf
salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ cup chopped fresh parsley

Instructions

Melt the butter in a medium pot. Add the onions and season them well with some salt and pepper. Sauté the onions until translucent, then add the garlic and sauté it for another minute.
Add the diced potatoes, bay leaf and 2 cups of stock. Bring the soup to boil, then reduce the heat and simmer the soup for about 10 minutes until the potatoes are soft.
Remove the bay leaf and blend the soup until smooth. Or if you prefer to leave some of the onions and potatoes unblended, then only blend half way. Blending at least some of the veggies gives the soup a creamier texture.
Add the bay leaf back into the soup. Then add in the carrots, tripe and the rest of the stock. Season the soup well with salt and black pepper.
Simmer the soup for about 20 minutes until the carrots are tender.
Take the pot off the heat and then stir in the fresh chopped parsley. Check and adjust the seasoning if necessary.
Serve the soup hot with some crusty sourdough bread or some hot buttered biscuits.

Notes

To learn how to prepare and cook raw tripe for use in this soup recipe, check the full blog post.
This soup can be kept in the fridge for up to 3 days; it is also freezer friendly.