A SOUP in a bun recipe that a Hampshire dad has cooked his family for 30 years is to go on sale at Tesco supermarkets nation-wide after it came out on top in a TV cooking show.

The snack which won the Channel Five show Breaking Into Tesco is the brainchild of Nick Smallwood, who beat off 20 other chefs to have his product sold by the supermarket.

His recipe - a Thai spiced butternut squash soup with a roll that needs to be baked - is to go on sale in 155 Tesco stores across the UK.

Mr Smallwood, from Four Marks, near Winchester, said: "I am still pinching myself. This is a dish I have been cooking for my family and friends for 30 years, but I never believed it would one day be sold in a supermarket.

"Besides being an easy to prepare and cheap, nutritious snack the concept of baking the roll should also appeal to the growing number of people who like to feel more involved in the preparation of their food."

The bread roll needs to be baked for ten minutes during which time the soup should be heated.

Once the roll is baked the top is cut off, the dough inside is scooped out and it is filled with the soup.

Breaking Into Tesco ran for six weeks and followed the fortunes of 20 amateur chefs who each came up with an innovative recipe with the aim of getting it stocked by the supermarket.

Tesco commercial and UK marketing director Richard Brasher said: "This is the first time we have opened our doors in this way and it has proved to be an exciting experiment for us as well as the amateur cooks.

"I think very few people realise how much work goes into developing a product for the supermarket shelf. We were thrill-ed to discover Nick's soup in a bun and wish him every success."

And with fresh soup sales growing at ten per cent year-on-year across all retailers in a market worth £130m a year, all the signs are good that Mr Smallwood's recipe will be a success. Mr Smallwood will earn royalties from the sales of his £2.99 soup in a bun snack.