This healthy, Easy Turkey Soup is made from a leftover turkey carcass and is a great way to use up all that extra Thanksgiving turkey!
We’ve been having some real winter weather here, and when it’s cold outside, nothing tastes better than a bowl of hot soup. This year, I decided to make homemade stock by boiling the turkey carcass after Thanksgiving. This might sound complicated, but it’s actually very easy. And Leftover Turkey Soup is absolutely delicious!
Homemade stock isn’t complicated–you just remove as much meat as possible from the turkey and place the carcass in a large stock pot filled with lightly salted water. After the water boils, let the turkey simmer for about a half an hour, and then skim off as much fat as possible. I refrigerated the stock, but you can freeze it if you won’t be using it right away. Once the stock is done, you can easily make your own turkey soup.
My family is divided when it comes to eating soup. Some like mostly broth, and some like it loaded with meat, vegetables and pasta. To make it easier on everyone, I serve cooked pasta on the side and let people choose how much extras they want. Otherwise, it’s way too hard to accommodate everyone.
We like our soup with some crusty bread or crackers on the side–delicious! It’s the perfect meal for a cold day.
How to Make Easy Turkey Soup from Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey
Easy Turkey Soup
Ingredients
Turkey Stock
- 1 large turkey carcass with most of the meat removed
- enough water to cover carcass
Turkey Soup
- 1 batch turkey stock (about 10 to 12 cups)
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 celery stalks, washed and sliced thin
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 1 cup thinly sliced carrots
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 3 cups cooked turkey, chopped
- 5 leaves from celery stalk optional
Instructions
Turkey Stock
- Remove as much meat from turkey carcass as possible, and refrigerate for later.Place carcass in large stock potFill pot with enough water to cover the carcass, cover and boil for about 30 minutes,Remove carcass from pot, and discardSkim fat from turkey stock, and use immediately in soup, or split into smaller portions to refrigerate or freeze.
Turkey Soup
- In a large pot, sautee onions, garlic, carrots and celery in butter with 1/2 teaspoon salt until soft.
Remove extra fat from turkey stock, then, add the turkey stock, turkey and a few celery leaves for extra flavor.Add the remaining salt and pepper, cover and cook until hot. Add more seasoning, if desired
Nutrition
My family is divided when it comes to eating soup. Some like mostly broth, and some like it loaded with meat, vegetables and pasta. To make it easier on everyone, I serve cooked pasta on the side and let people choose how much extras they want. Otherwise, it’s way too hard to accommodate everyone.
We like our soup with some crusty bread or crackers on the side–delicious! It’s the perfect meal for a cold day.
Thanks so much for joining me today for some homemade turkey soup!
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Stacey Wright says
This looks like a very simple recipe! I don’t have the carcass anymore, but I have a ton of turkey. Could I use store turkey broth and cook that with the shredded turkey?
Dee says
Yes. You can definitely do that if you don’t have the carcass. 🙂
Jocelyne Comeau says
Thank you for your recipe – how many cups of broth do you put in your turkey soup – I will give it a try and cook the noodles on the side.
Jocelyne Comeau says
The reason why I am asking is I made a turkey and it produce 8 cups of jelly broth I remove the fat from the top and I would love to make your turkey soup in my instant pot but with out the noodles – if you were to do this soup in the instant pot how much time
Thank you
Dee says
Here is the soup recipe from my turkey stock recipe. Hope this helps. 🙂 https://www.meatloafandmelodrama.com/instant-pot-turkey-soup/