Fall • Recipes • Soup • Thanksgiving

AMAZING Thanksgiving Leftover Soup

September 10, 2020
7 Comments
by Beth Gorden

This AMAZING Thanksgiving Soup is going to become your families favorite soup recipe! This is not only super yummy, but a great way to use up leftover Turkey after you Thanksgiving feast! Our family is known to cook up a turkey just to make this turkey leftover soup recipe! I know you will love this easy-to-make thanksgiving leftover soup.

AMAZING Thanksgiving Soup is going to become your families favorite soup recipe! This is not only super yummy, but a great way to use up leftover Turkey after you Thanksgiving feast! Our family is known to cook up a turkey just to make this turkey leftover soup recipe! I know you will love this easy-to-make thanksgiving leftover soup. 

Thanksgiving Leftover Soup

With Thanksgiving coming up most people are thinking about what they will make for the big day…..we spend most of our time dreaming of the day after. Nope – not talking about leftover turkey sandwiches (although those are super yummy!) I am talking about our family favorite Thanksgiving Leftover Soup. This super flavorful and delicious Thanksgiving Soup is one of our favorite soup recipes and a great way to use up leftover turkey for a super satisfying, simple soup recipe with turkey.

This soup is so good we are known to make turkey just to get to make this soup!! Seriously!!!

boil turkey in water to make broth and get the remaining turkey off the carcass

How to Make Turkey Broth from Scratch

First you put the turkey carcass (with some meat still on it) in a large stock pot and cover it with water. Bring it to a boil and simmer for a couple hours. You are making homemade turkey broth! (No mgs or artificial nonsense!)

easily pull off remaining turkey from the whole turkey

Pull out the carcass and put it in a strainer. Let it cool a little bit so you can touch it without burning your hands. The meat will just “melt” right off it! Pull off meat and with your fingers (checking carefully for bones) and put aside. I get about 4 cups of meat from our turkey carcass – and we pick it pretty clean for dinner! Note: Make sure you check the broth for meat that came off during boiling. Put it aside as well. DO NOT DISCARD BROTH!

chop onion, celery, carrots, and garlic

Thanksgiving Soup

Next chop up 1 large onion, 4-5 ribs celery, 3-4 carrots, and 4 cloves garlic.

Melt 1/2 cup butter in a stock pot. Add veggies and sauté over medium/high heat until tender, about 5-7 minutes.  Add 1/2 cup flour and cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly. The flour is going to thicken up your soup. You need to cook it with the flour on to loose the powder flavor!

easy homemade turkey broth

Gradually add 8-10 cups of the turkey broth you made to you veggies.

Season your soup with 1 teas thyme, 1/2 teas parsley, 1/2 teas pepper, 1/2 teas salt, and 1/4 cup sherry (optional – note alcohol cooks off!). Bring to a boil.

add in your wild rice

Add 2 cups+ cooked wild rice to the stock pot.

Note: I use turkey broth instead of water to make the wild rice as it adds more flavor! I make 2 cups dry wild rice which = more than 2 cups cooked.

As wild rice takes about 20-30 minutes to cook I recommend starting it as soon as you begin sautéing your veggies.

 make your Turkey Wild Rice Soup creamy

At the same time as you add the rice, add 2 cups half and half and reserved 4 cups of turkey to the stock pot and simmer 20 minutes to blend flavor. Serve warm with good dipping bread – YUMMY!

yummy leftover turkey soup with wild rice and homemade turkey stock

Our Families Favorite Soup

This makes a LOT of wonderful soup and is a real penny pincher! We usually freeze a pitcher worth and still have soup for 2+ meals.  As the rice will absorb the liquid as it sits you may want to add additional turkey broth the next day when reheating to make it “soupier”. If not it will be a thick stew – equally yummy in my opinion =-)

Incredibly delicious and easy to make thanksgiving leftover soup for November

*This recipe was tweaked from a recipe my neighbor Tyra shared with me. 
**Refreshed photography by Patty Kraikittikun-Phuong

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AMAZING Thanksgiving Leftover Soup
Print Recipe
5 from 9 votes

AMAZING Thanksgiving Leftover Soup

This Thanksgiving Leftover Soup is going to become your families favorite recipe! Our family is known to cook up a turkey just to make this turkey leftover soup recipe!
Prep Time2 hrs
Cook Time30 mins
Total Time2 hrs 30 mins
Course: Main Course, Soup
Cuisine: American
Keyword: hearty soup, rice soups, soup, soup recipes, thanksgiving, turkey, turkey recipes
Author: Beth Gorden

Ingredients

  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 3-4 medium carrots, chopped
  • 4-5 ribs celery, chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 1 teaspoon thyme
  • 1/2 teaspoon parsley
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 2 cups wild rice, cooked
  • 2 cups half & half
  • 2 cups cooked turkey, cut up
  • 8-10 cups turkey broth
  • 1/4 cup sherry, optional

Instructions

  • Cover turkey carcass in water; boil. Reduce heat & simmer 2+ hours (the longer you simmer, the more flavor). Pull off loose meat and save (about 2 cups). Strain mixture to save broth for soup, discard bones.
  • Make wild rice soup per package directions. I like to use extra turkey broth instead of water to give it extra flavor.
  • In soup kettle over medium heat melt butter; add onion, celery, garlic, and carrots until transparent, about 5-7 minutes.
  • Reduce heat and add in flour; cook and stir for 2 minutes.
  • Gradually add in broth; stirring constantly. Add seasonings while bringing to a boil; cook for 1 minute.
  • Reduce heat to low; add wild rice, turkey, and sherry and simmer 20 minutes.

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About the author

Beth Gorden

Beth Gorden is the creative multi-tasking creator of 123 Homeschool 4 Me. As a busy homeschooling mother of six, she strives to create hands-on learning activities and worksheets that kids will love to make learning FUN! She has created over 1 million pages of printables to help teach kids ABCs, science, English grammar, history, math, and so much more! Beth is also the creator of 2 additional sites with even more educational activities and FREE printables - www.kindergartenworksheetsandgames.com and www.preschoolplayandlearn.com

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