The herb roasted turkey I made for this Thanksgiving was amazing! But 10 pounds of turkey for two people means a lot of leftovers. That would normally mean lots of reheated turkey dinners for us, but I thought I’d try something different this year and make turkey soup. This recipe is adapted from my mother-in-law’s fabulous chicken noodle soup (that I must post one of these days).
This warm and comforting turkey soup is an easy way to use quickly up those Thanksgiving leftovers.
The Ingredients
Leftovers. Kidding, there’s more to it than that. First off, you need to make the turkey stock. I did this the day before I wanted to make my turkey soup since it has to simmer for 4-5 hours. I know, it’s a long time, but all you have to do is let the stove do the work while you go about your day. Trust me, it’s so worth it for that delicious stock!
The Process
The soup itself is easy and helps use up the leftover carrots and celery from the stock recipe. (I know, the irony of having leftovers from making turkey stock with the leftover turkey!) The complete recipe is below, but here it is in a nutshell:
- Prep the veggies and turkey meat
- Cook the veggies in oil until softened
- Add the meat and stock, simmer for an hour
- Cook the egg noodles
- Serve
One thing I wanted to stress was to store any leftover noodles and soup separately. I always used to cook the noodles with the soup, adding them for the last 10 minutes or so. They tasted great, but then I would wind up with soggy noodles in the leftover soup.
My mother-in-law clued me into making and storing the soup and noodles separately to prevent that. Just be sure to drizzle a little olive oil over the cooked noodles and mix well to keep them from sticking together.
Turkey Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion diced
- 2 carrots diced
- 3 celery stalks sliced
- 6 cups turkey stock
- 2 cups water
- 2 cups leftover turkey meat (I used half of the breast, a leg, and a thigh) roughly chopped
- 16 ounces egg noodles
- additional olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- parsley chopped, optional
Instructions
Turkey Soup
- Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.
- Add the onion, carrots, and celery, and saute for 5 minutes or until softened.
- Add the turkey stock, water, and turkey meat. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer covered for 30 minutes.
- Check the soup and add salt and pepper to adjust seasonings if needed.
Egg Noodles
- While the turkey soup is simmering, cook the egg noodles according to the package directions.
- After draining water, drizzle a little olive oil over the noodles and mix well to keep them from sticking together. Set aside.
To Serve
- When the soup is ready, add noodles to a bowl then ladle the soup over them and garnish with chopped parsley.
- Store any leftover noodles and soup separately to keep the noodles from getting soggy.
