This AMAZING 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!

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AMAZING Thanksgiving Leftover Soup

Name: AMAZING Thanksgiving Leftover Soup
Prep time: 120 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 150 min
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

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 AMAZING Thanksgiving Leftover Soup.

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

How to Make Turkey Broth from Scratch

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

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!

Thanksgiving Leftover Turkey Wild Rice Soup Recipe

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!

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 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.

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!

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 =-)

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

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