Easy Homemade Turkey Soup
Making homemade turkey soup after your Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner is super easy and a delicious way to use all the leftovers. This is the basic, easy homemade turkey soup recipe you remember your mom making. It's delicious!
Serve this with some no yeast bread with herbs and cheese for a truly cozy meal!
It's that time of year again, friends! Time to grab our soup pots and get ready to dig into a warm and delicious bowl of post-Thanksgiving turkey soup!
This is a recipe that I've made a million times, or once a year since I was probably 19 so not actually anywhere near a million. Sidebar → I think I may have been the only 19-year-old on the planet geeky enough to make homemade turkey soup after her Thanksgiving dinner.
Why we love this turkey soup recipe
- It reminds us of home and family and being a kid. It's the same exact recipe that my mom made after every Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner so there's big-time nostalgia going on here.
- It's super easy to make.
- The broth, made from simmering that pile of turkey bones you have, is unbelievably flavorful.
- Eating a bowl of this turkey soup is like getting a big hug. Honestly, it's all good feelings here.
The Best Homemade Turkey Soup
This soup is 90% about the delicious homemade turkey stock. You could drink the stock on its own it's so good.
It's also ridiculously easy to make. All you're going to do is remove as much of the meat as you can, break the bones into a few pieces so that they fit in your largest pot or crockpot, then fill with water. You'll slowly simmer the stock overnight and wake up to the most amazing smelling home and a pot of tasty turkey broth.
You'll notice that I don't add anything other than the turkey bones to the pot. I've made it plenty of times by adding different herbs, peppercorns, onions, carrots, etc. but I don't notice a major difference in flavor at the end so I've stopped doing that. The roasted turkey is all the flavor you need.
You can either make the soup right away from the turkey stock, or you can refrigerate it for up to 3 days, or freeze it for at least 3 months.
Butter up some bread and dig in!
How to make homemade turkey soup
The recipe goes something like this:
- Grab your biggest pot (or crockpot!), pop in the turkey bones, and fill the pot with water.
- Simmer. Keep simmering. Strain.
- Sauté some onions, carrots, and celery.
- Now add the turkey broth you just made and some leftover turkey meat.
Serve, preferably with a thick slice of well-buttered no yeast bread with herbs and cheese.
The recipe below is how I typically make homemade turkey soup. If you choose to add egg noodles and turn this recipe into a homemade turkey noodle soup, cook them separately and add them to each bowl of soup to prevent them from getting over-cooked and mushy.
If you'd rather have a homemade turkey vegetable soup, or you eat paleo or Whole30, simply leave the noodles out.
Time saving tip!
After dinner, when you're cleaning up the kitchen, put the turkey bones immediately into your crockpot to start making the stock. You'll clean up AND start the soup all at the same time!
Wondering what to do with all your Thanksgiving leftovers?
If you have a pile of turkey dinner leftovers in your fridge, here are a few of our other favorite recipe that put them to good use.
- Thanksgiving Leftovers Eggs Benedict
- Blue Cheese and Roasted Brussels Sprouts Pizza
- Cheesy Leftover Mashed Potato Cakes
- Crockpot Leftover Turkey Bolognese
- BBQ Pulled Turkey Pizza
- Butter Turkey Curry
More turkey soup recipes
- Healthy Creamy Turkey Mushroom Soup
- Thai Coconut Turkey Soup
- Chicken Vegetable Soup (delicious made with turkey and turkey broth!)
Homemade Turkey Soup
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Prep Time: 10 mins -
Cook Time: 8 hours
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Total Time: 8 hours 10 minutes
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Yield: 8 servings 1x -
Category: Soup -
Method: Stovetop -
Cuisine: North American
Description
Making homemade turkey soup after your Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner is super easy and a delicious way to use all the leftovers. This is the basic, easy homemade turkey soup recipe you remember your mom making. It's delicious!
Ingredients
Turkey stock:
- Bones from your roast turkey
Homemade Turkey Soup:
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 medium onion, minced
- 4 celery stalks, chopped
- 3 large carrots, chopped
- 6 cups turkey stock
- Reserved turkey meat (see notes)
- Sea salt, to taste
- Optional: cooked egg noodles
Instructions
Turkey stock:
- Remove all of the meat from the turkey and reserve 3 cups for the soup. If you've cooked your stuffing in the turkey, make sure to remove it all.
- Break the roast turkey into 3 or 4 pieces small enough that they will fit in your largest pot. Fill the pot with cold water so that the water comes 2 inches above the bones. Bring the pot almost to a boil then reduce the heat so that it is barely simmering. You want the water to moving around, but not bubbling. Cook for 8-10 hours, leaving the lid off. (See notes if you'd like to use your crockpot instead.)
- Strain the turkey stock through a colander into a large bowl and discard the solids. Strain once more through a fine mesh sieve. You can either use the turkey stock immediately or let it cool and refrigerate it for up to 3 days or freeze it for up to 3 months.
Homemade Turkey Soup:
- Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes. Add the carrot and cook until it begins to brown in a few places, about 5 minutes.
- Add the celery, turkey stock, and the reserved turkey meat to the pot and bring to a boil. Simmer for 5 minutes, or until the carrots and celery are soft. Season to taste generously with sea salt.
- If you're using the egg noodles, add them cooked to your soup bowl, ladle in the soup, and garnish with a little sprinkle of parsley.
Notes
If you'd like to use your crockpot to make the turkey stock, put all the bones in, fill with water, and set the timer for 8-10 hours. PRO TIP: this while you're cleaning up from dinner so you don't have to store the bones! Here's a link to the full Crockpot Turkey Stock recipe.
Pin this turkey soup recipe to save it for later!
Nice ‘Rosol’ soup you have there 😉
haha I had to look up what that meant! Looks like Poland has their own version of chicken/turkey soup. 😉
Love this recipe and making it with the bone broth is so rich and healthy. Nice basic recipe and easy. (I do bone broth in pressure cooker.) Thank you for recipe.
★★★★★
Also to defat the broth, being very cold outside, I put the pot outside in garage overnight. Besides there was no room in refrigerator.
I almost always do the same with mine!
You’re so welcome, Joan!
Try putting all the carrots, onions, celery along with the spices you have listed as well as a package of frozen peas and a half pound of barley or rice and not making stock but a hearty soup! I cook it basically 2 hrs, pull all the bones and skin etc and serve!!
Good idea!
The soup turned out rancid. I kept it at low all night for 10 hours until the next morning. Then I refrigerated it. We were going to have it for lunch, but it was sour.
This recipe is horrible. We could have all gotten extremely sick. Luckily I tasted it before hand and realized it was rotten.
Please do not make this for your family.
I suspect that the temperature was too low. When making the stock, the water should be hot enough to move around with little bubbles rising. If it’s not moving at all, it won’t be hot enough to be safe to eat.
Turkey soup has been a family tradition in my family for a long long time. Im almost 70 an learned it from my grandma.. But were going back many a years where u used everything. in it. with that said lets see how strange this get an if anyone wants to experament wth it. Dont forget the little dab of (homemade ofcourse) stuffing ,an that dab of cranberries. an if you had a vegie like corn yes throw that in too. even peppers are good. Like said no waste in this family. youll be surprised @ how good it can be. an if you love garlic like us throw in a dash of it to.
I’ll have to try adding a little cranberry sauce and stuffing next year!
Thank you Very Much!
You’re so welcome!
Yet another great recipe Kristen.
If I’m short on meat I’ll roast turkey neck bones then painstakingly separate the meat & use the bones for stock. Gives the soup a stronger turkey flavour but a real pain.
That’s dedication! But a really good idea. 🙂
I could go for a big bowl of this right now. It looks amazingly delicious.
★★★★★
Thank you! We love it. 🙂
This is the perfect soup to make with leftover turkey! It’s so heartwarming and delicious and my family devours it.
★★★★★
I’m so happy to hear that you and your family love the recipe!
Love it! So warm and comforting and was the perfect way to use up leftover turkey!
★★★★★
I’m so happy to hear that the recipe was a hit!
This is total comfort food! Can’t wait to whip this up tomorrow 🙂
★★★★★
It totally is! I make a batch after every Thanksgiving!
I forgot how much I love this soup! Will be making this again soon. Pinned!
★★★★★
It’s a yearly favorite for us, too!
Dear Kristen I’m trying out your “Easy Homemade Turkey” soup tomorrow & so my husband accentally bought turkey broth would that do? Bc I didn’t save the bones to make that stock before I saw this recipe & we have only the turkey leftover in the freezer from thanksgiving thank-you Kristen
While you can make it with store-bought broth, it won’t be nearly as flavorful. One trick I often do is to add chicken bones (skinless, bone in thighs work well) to store-bought stock and let them simmer for an hour or more. They’ll add a ton of flavor. You can pull the meat off the bones and add that into the soup, too. 🙂
No idea how much noodles to use! Am I not reading thoroughly enough?
There’s not an exact amount listed as they are optional. I generally cook a bag of noodles then add a scoop to my bowl before I ladle in the soup. If you like noodles more than I do you can load them up. 🙂
You are wonderful, Kristen.
You should come inhale the aroma!!! Doing this soup now.
Scotty in Seattle
It smells amazing, doesn’t it?!!
I made this soup today. It is delicious. Beyond yummy. I added green peas on the second round. Only vegetables was carrots, chopped celery then the peas. A light sprinkle of salt.
★★★★★
I’m so happy you liked it!
I’m a bachelor that drinks then wants to eat noodle soup so what I do is freeze the soup in 500ml. containers 3/4″ full then when frozen add the al dente prepped no yoke egg noodles on top of the frozen soup and freeze. To reheat simply run hot water on the plastic container, dump it in a glass bowl & nuke it.
Also I love turkey drums & buy them on $1.49 day (a pound) 10-20 at a time, peel back the skin and season the meat with turkey rub, pull the skin back up & roast 2 trays at a time, freeze and eat them individually with a meal, save the bones for stock. When making stock I use my vise in my shop to crush the bones, simmer with a stove top defuser to get a low temp for up to 36 hours mashing the bones down periodically. The stock I get is awesome, so rich in marrow that it is a meal in itself, never mind the soup it makes. I Don’t waste the drippings either, I make 1 quart of gravy, pour into ice cube trays,freeze to use individually on potatoes & veggies when eating the drums as a meal.
Far-out eh?
That’s a really great idea to freeze the egg noodles on top of the frozen soup!!!
DUDE! I read your post with a smile on my face, why didn’t I think of that eyebrows, and a I could try to enter this far out zone of epicness at some point and on any level in this 2020.
Here goes….
The Dreya xx
★★★★★
I don’t have the turkey carcass, but do have wings and one drumstick.
Is this enough to make turkey stock?
Yep! Just put them in a pot and cover them with about 2 inches of water. It’ll make enough for some soup!
I made this with our leftover Thanksgiving turkey and it was perfect. Loved the addition of the noodles. Will make it again after Christmas!
★★★★★
I’m so happy to hear you liked it! Happy Thanksgiving!!
This is EXACTLY how my whole family makes this soup. It’s amazing and brings back memories every single time I have a bowl. I haven’t made any in a while but today, I made a big turkey just for the soup. Yay! 🤤🤤
That makes me so happy to hear! Hooray!
When making the stock in the crock pot do you have it on high or low? 🙂
I always set it to low and cook the stock overnight. If you’re short on time you could cook it on high. I think it’s even better though if you let it cook low and slow. 🙂
You are not the only 19-yr-old geeky enough to make home made turkey soup. Still making the family recipe since high school , but thought this year as the family monarch at 47, I’d look for somethIng new. Thanks for sharing.
We must be kindred spirits! Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!
My turkey carcass is in the freezer waiting patiently to be turned into stock for soup. Yours looks great, and I can’t wait to make some!
What a great post-Thanksgiving dish! I usually end up doing something boring with my leftover turkey like sandwiches, but this soup looks so manageable and far better tasting 🙂
Hi Kathryn,
It is totally manageable, perfect for after the big meal. But even if they’re a little boring, I still love turkey sandwiches. Maybe it’s nostalgia but I can’t imagine post Thanksgiving or Christmas without them 🙂
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