A quick and easy turkey Soup recipe is a go-to after holiday meals!
This shortcut soup tastes like it’s been cooking all day and has tender pieces of turkey, carrots, onions, celery, and pasta noodles simmered a turkey broth.
It’s easy to make and only takes about 25 minutes, a great option for busy weeknights.
Ingredients in Turkey Soup
Broth: Use either homemade or boxed turkey broth or even chicken broth or stock in this recipe. The addition of poultry seasoning and a sprinkle of parsley really adds a homemade flavor to boxed broth.
To make homemade turkey soup from scratch, use the leftover turkey carcass or bones from Thanksgiving to make homemade turkey stock. You can also check with your local deli; they sometimes sell homemade broth or stock. Once the broth is prepared, follow the directions below to prepare the soup.
Vegetables: I keep it simple with carrots, celery, and onion. Add your favorite veggies like sweet potatoes, mushrooms, canned tomatoes, green beans, or corn.
Noodles: Add any kind of pasta or egg noodles to this recipe. Cook pasta or rice on the side for leftovers and add to each bowl. You can also use white rice, brown rice, or wild rice blend.
Turkey: This is a leftover turkey soup recipe but if you don’t have leftover turkey meat, cooked chicken works too.
How To Make Turkey Soup
This recipe is a shortcut version of a homemade turkey soup recipe. It tastes like it’s been cooking all day!
- Soften the onion in olive oil in a large dutch oven.
- Add veggies, turkey, poultry seasoning, and herbs, and simmer for a few minutes.
- Add noodles and cook until tender. Serve.
If planning for leftovers, keep the noodles or rice separate when cooking. Turkey soup can be stored for 4 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator or frozen for up to 4 months.
Freeze it in individual freezer bags to make reheating the right amount easier. Thaw directly in a saucepan or large pot over medium heat.
Pasta can sometimes change in texture when frozen and reheated so it’s best to omit the pasta and add it when you reheat it.
Broth-based soups like turkey noodle soup generally aren’t thickened. I add a tiny bit of flour to give the broth a little bit of body, and the starches in the pasta do a good job of creating a silky broth that isn’t too thick or thin.
If you prefer a slightly thicker broth soup, combine equal parts cornstarch and water (a tablespoon or two) and whisk it into the simmering soup. Let it boil for a minute or two with the slurry to get rid of any starchy flavor.
More Ways to Love Leftover Turkey
Turkey Soup
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium onion diced
- 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
- 3 large carrots peeled and sliced
- 2 ribs celery
- 2-3 cups leftover cooked turkey diced
- 8 cups turkey broth or chicken broth, homemade or store bought
- ½ teaspoon poultry seasoning
- 1 bay leaf
- salt and pepper to taste
- 4 ounces shell noodles about 1 ½ cups, or medium pasta
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley chopped, optional
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and cook until tender, about 3-4 minutes. Add flour and cook for 1 minute.
- Stir in carrots, celery, turkey, broth, poultry seasoning, bay leaf, and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 10 minutes.
- Add noodles (*see note) and cook 8-10 minutes or until tender. Remove from heat, discard bay leaf and stir in parsley.
- Season to taste and serve.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Main Course, Soup
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Amazingly easy and so good! I used a box of turkey broth and a box of low sodium chicken broth with 3 uncooked turkey drumsticks. It will be added into our “rotation” for sure!
Delicious! Thanks for sharing Kathy.
Great recipe.
I tried this turkey soup recipe to use up my Christmas turkey and it was delicious and easy to make! I highly recommend this recipe to anyone who needs to come up with something different.
I loved this so much, I contiplating buying another guy just to make this again. I am currently in the process of making this with chicken for my lunches this week!
This recipe was perfect to use with the homemade turkey broth and leftover turkey we had from Thanksgiving. I also used riced cauliflower instead of pasta. My husband had two servings which is a clear indication that it was delicious!
great recipe, though I would make two suggestions…..boil the pasta separately, rinse and place a serving portion in each soup bowl and ladle the soup over the top (this way you can freeze the leftover soup and always have fresh noodles each time you serve it)….also, boil (with a slow rolling boil) the carrots and celery in the broth for an hour and ad the turkey when you boil the pasta in another pan, so that the turkey remains more or less in tact (rather than disintegrating into the broth if cooked too long, the turkey already being cooked just needs to be heated up, not recooked).
Easy and delicious!
This is so easy, so quick, and so delicious! I omitted the bay leaf and used chicken broth and added basil, thyme, and a bit of lavender to mine–Foolproof!