Leftover Turkey Soup

5 from 2 votes

Use every part of your turkey...carcass and all! This Leftover Turkey Soup starts with a homemade turkey broth and adds in loads of vegetables for a comforting soup recipe.

Prep Time15

Cook Time2 25

Total Time2 40

Course: Main Dish

Cuisine: American

Keyword: easy soup recipe, leftover turkey recipe, turkey soup

Servings:

Calories: 247kcal

Author: Julie Clark

Ingredients

Leftover turkey carcass
4 quarts water ( about 16 cups)
1 small to medium sized butternut squash (about 3 ½- 4 cups, set aside skin)
3 fresh thyme springs (or 2 teaspoons dried thyme)
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon oil
2 stalks celery (chopped, set scraps aside)
2 carrots (chopped, set scraps aside)
2 onions (divided)
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
½ cup heavy cream (or half and half)
2 cups leftover turkey (roughly chopped)
Cilantro or Parsley (to garnish)
Salt and Pepper (to taste)

Instructions

To make turkey stock:

Place turkey carcass in a large stock pot.
Begin by chopping and peeling butternut squash, celery, and carrots and placing vegetable scraps into the pot with the turkey. If you have any scraps left over from earlier in the week, put those in there as well. Place skin of butternut squash in pot as well.
Quarter one onion, leaving the skin on, and set inside pot.
Add in thyme and 1 tablespoon salt.
Fill the pot with 4 quarts of water and bring to a boil. Once stock is boiling, turn heat down and simmer for about 2 hours or until skin falls off of the turkey carcass.
Once the stock is finished simmering, pour liquid through a fine mesh sieve into a separate container. Discard carcass and food scraps.

To Make the Soup:

While stock is cooking, deseed butternut squash and cut into 1 inch cubes.
Chop celery, carrots, and onion.
In the now empty stock pot, heat oil and add chopped vegetables. Cook on medium high heat until fork tender, about 5-7 minutes.
Once tender, pour in 4 cups of fresh turkey stock, cumin, italian seasoning, and heavy cream. Stir until completely incorporated.
Take pot off heat and immediately add in chopped turkey. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Garnish with cilantro or parsley and enjoy!

Notes

I chose to leave out the butternut squash seeds for the stock, but you can use them if you'd like.

Vegetable scraps include the tops and bottoms of the celery and carrots as well as the skin of both the butternut squash and onion.

I added the entire onion into the stock for more flavoring.

It’s important to add in chopped turkey at the last second because it can become really rubbery if cooked for too long in the soup. The soup heats the turkey up very quickly once it’s taken off the heat.

**If you don’t have time to cook the turkey stock, feel free to add 4 cups of chicken broth or stock.**

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