Leftover Turkey Soup for the Soul!
Leftover Turkey soup is perfect for a light lunch or dinner after the holiday! It’s our favorite way to use our leftover turkey from Thanksgiving.
When holiday frenzy and shop till you drop comes into play, not only today but for the entire weekend, no one really has the time to cook. You know what they say, “Soup is good for the soul” and it’s good for our soul if we can make it under 10 minutes! Right? You know me by now, quick and easy is my motto!
Mom always made a large pot of turkey soup for us to enjoy for days. To help speed up the time, I prefer using a store bought chicken stock, and nowadays you can even find turkey stock at the supermarket.
Simple recipe: grab a large soup pot, sauté some shallots (or onions) with some garlic, then add in some chicken stock, some water, fresh vegetables, seasonings and our leftover shredded turkey meat. This soup becomes a snap and it’s perfect enough to serve the day after devouring a heavy meal on Thanksgiving.
However, if you prefer to make your own turkey stock? Start by using the carcass of the turkey, simmer in water with fresh vegetables and herbs for about 1 to 2 hours. Then remove all the bones and vegetables and you have your own turkey broth. Wonderful! But for me, that’s very time consuming, so I prefer the easy way out. It’s just as good – if not better.
Leftover Turkey soup is good for the whole family. This recipe takes less than 40 minutes to make, it’s very light, tasty and terrific to eat for a few days after the holiday. Enjoy!
Leftover Turkey Soup
- 2 to 3 cups leftover Turkey meat
- 32 ounce chicken stock
- 2 cups water
- 3 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1 large shallot- chopped
- 2 garlic cloves
- 3 carrots – chopped
- 3 celery stalks – chopped
- 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley- chopped
- Optional: add some noodles, rice, or quinoa
In a medium or large soup pot, heat olive oil.
Add the chopped shallot and garlic cloves.
Sauté for 3 minutes. Add remaining ingredients.
Cover with a lid. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for half hour.
Remove bay leaves before serving. Refrigerate up to 3 days.
Serves 6
Hey girls, love, love, love the soup and so did my family. Arianna is the biggest critic and she loved it too:) I will definitely make this again. Thanks, great way to enjoy the left over turkey:)
Hi June! Welcome to our site and thank you for the lovely comment! We are so glad you tried our recipe. Have a great week! xxoo Anna and Liz
There was a lot of talk about turkey soup at my family's house this weekend! Makes me want to curl up with a bowl. Such a classic use of leftovers!
I wish we had leftovers so I could make up this soup girls! We had Thanksgiving at my girlfriend's house which was awesome, but the only bummer was that we didn't get to enjoy any of the Thanksgiving leftovers. Sometimes the leftovers and the sandwiches and soups you make from them are the best part ! Maybe next year. I hope you both had a wonderful Thanksgiving 🙂 xoxo, Jackie
Your turkey soup looks perfect for this time of year and nothing looks leftover about it! I adore soups, especially on these cold nights. Very nice! Have a great week!
finger licking good!
I always make a big turkey just so I can have things like this soup! Looks so good! Hope you had a great day!
Leftover turkey is one of my favorite parts of my favorite holiday. This soup provides sound rationale for that sentiment! Thanks for this, wish I had a bowl myself!!