Follow this delicious turkey soup recipe and get the most out of your holiday turkey leftovers. Turkey soup can be safely frozen after creation, so it won’t necessarily need to contribute to the overabundance of holiday turkey meals. And, you can enjoy this nutrient rich soup and bone broth base when you’re not “turkey’d out.”
Turkey is a common holiday meal option, often served at Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. It can actually be hard to get a full turkey at off holiday times, since some stores only carry full sized turkeys during the holidays. However, a couple turkey legs can also provide a bone base for a non-holiday turkey soup.
This delicious turkey soup recipe uses some of your holiday leftovers and can be safely frozen for enjoyment when the turkey comas have worn off. While you can technically get away with simply throwing all your leftovers into the soup, a bit of planning can make this delicious turkey soup a lot less like leftover-mayham and more like a planned dish.
Turkey Soup Recipe:
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Turkey Soup Recipe
- Prep Time: 1 hr
- Cook Time: 2-4 hrs
- Total Time: 6 hours
- Yield: 4-8 servings of soup 1x
- Category: soup
- Method: stove top
Description
A simple, warming, and delicious turkey soup make using holiday leftovers.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Place turkey carcass in a stock pot, crock pot, insta-pot, or large stew pot. Add enough water to cover the turkey, and add the rosemary, sage, and apple cider vinegar. Cook on low for 2 hours.
- Let cool to handling temperature.
- Remove carcass from the stock pot and strip off remaining meat. Return meat to stock pot, and discard bones.
- Add celery, garlic, and onions. Return soup to a simmer.
- Optional: Add leftover gravy to add flavor to the broth.
- Add potato and sweet potato and cook until they start to soften.
- Add grated carrots and frozen green peas.
- Bring soup back to a simmer. Add salt and pepper to taste, serve hot.
Notes
Potato and sweet potato can be substituted with mashed potato or mashed sweet potato leftovers. Simply add one or two cups of leftover mashed, it’ll make the soup more like a stew. If you have leftover baked carrots or squash, add those in place of the grated carrots. Leftover veggies can also be added in place of frozen peas.
If soup seems too thin, or doesn’t have enough ingredients, add additional frozen veggies or half a packet of rice noodles.
- 1 turkey carcass, most meat already stripped
- 2 tablespoons dried sage
- 1 teaspoon dried, crushed rosemary
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 4 sticks celery
- 1 yellow onion
- 5 garlic cloves
- 2 large potatoes
- 1-2 cups cubed squash or sweet potato
- 4 large carrots, grated
- 1 cup frozen green peas
Directions
- Place turkey carcass in a stock pot, crock pot, insta-pot, or large stew pot. Add enough water to cover the turkey, and add the rosemary, sage, and apple cider vinegar. Bring to a boil and simmer for 2 hours, if using an insta-pot or crock pot, set to low heat for two hours.
- Let cool to handling temperature.
- Remove carcass from the stock pot and strip off remaining meat. Return meat to stock pot, and discard bones. If you are in a time crunch, remove carcass using a skimmer spoon and set aside to cool before stripping. Follow the steps down to #7 while waiting for the carcass to cool, then strip the meat and add it as the second to last step.
- Add celery, garlic, and onions. Return your turkey soup to a simmer.
- Optional: Add leftover gravy to add flavor to the broth.
- Add potato and sweet potato and cook until they start to soften.
- Add grated carrots and frozen green peas.
- Bring soup back to a simmer. Add salt and pepper to taste, serve hot.
Variations on the Turkey Soup Recipe:
If you’re working from holiday leftovers, this soup recipe becomes even easier. Simply substitute the potato and sweet potato for whatever potato or squash leftovers you have from your holiday meal. Add in any leftover carrots or other vegetables you have, if the soup seems thin due to not a lot of leftovers, then add additional carrot or frozen peas.
If there really doesn’t seem like a lot of soup, this can also be turned into a turkey noodle soup by adding in some rice noodles, or about 1 cup dry of small macaroni noodles. Always bring the soup back to a simmer until noodles are cooked, if they are added.
An interesting additional variation involves adding leftover turkey stuffing to the soup. It makes it more like a stew or casserole in a pot.
Saving for Later:
Divide the completed soup up into 1.5-2 cup containers and freeze. Make sure to label and date your freezer containers. Soup will keep about 3 months in the freezer, and 1 week in the fridge. To heat from frozen, let the soup container thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Pour into your bowl, and microwave for 2-3 minutes on high, or until thoroughly heated. Stir heated soup and let stand and additional 2-3 minutes for the heat to permeate. Enjoy hot.
Other Holiday Recipes:
Holiday dinner wouldn’t be the same without making a turkey. Make it one you can be proud of with grandma’s tips and tricks for the perfect turkey! Don’t forget the sizzling goodness of fresh, hot,gluten free gravy either.
My favorite holiday dish is always the mashed potatoes. Who doesn’t like mashed potatoes? Skip the “instant” boxed stuff, and make your own that’s tastier, creamier, and over-all better. And, honestly, the stove’s already on anyway.
It may have become a trope, but don’t forget the cranberry sauce. This cranberry orange relish is a raw take on traditional cranberry sauce, and this fermented version is also delicious and can keep for months in the fridge.
There’s always eggnog for a festive drink. But, if you want something healthier try this cranberry kombucha. It’s healthier than soda, or soda masquerading with added cranberry juice, and has even gotten the kid-seal of approval in our house. It’ll also give you the probiotic boost you need to avoid the after dinner bloat from enjoying too much turkey, gravy, and mashed potatoes. Yum!
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