Turkey Rice Soup
Turkey Rice Soup is an easy way to use up leftover Thanksgiving turkey – the soup is easy to make and your whole family will love it!
Have you ever hosted a holiday meal (Thanksgiving, Christmas – I’m looking at you) and had so many leftovers that there was no hope for your family to eat them all? Like, I’m talking multiple pounds. I have good news: I can help you upcycle your leftover turkey into something your family will be happy to eat.
Since ¾ of my family loves soup, when we had a whole large Ziploc bag full of turkey left over after this year’s (Canadian) Thanksgiving, I knew I was going to put the majority of it into a batch of homemade Turkey Rice Soup. This is one meaty soup – it will fill you up, unlike those bowls of mostly broth and soggy noodles that come out of a can.
Plus, it’s very quick and easy to make. You can have it on the table in just over 30 minutes. Keep reading to learn how to make it yourself.
How to Make Turkey Rice Soup
To make your hearty soup, start by dicing the vegetables – carrots, onion, and celery. Note that if you prefer not to spend your time chopping, you can purchase a frozen mirepoix mix instead. Find it in the frozen foods section with the other vegetable mixes. Use 4 cups of it.
Add the diced veggies to a Dutch oven or large saucepan with a little oil and salt and cook until softened. Stir in some minced garlic, fresh or dried thyme, and pepper, and cook until fragrant.
Slowly pour in the turkey stock, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Add the rice and bay leaf, and bring to a simmer. Simmer for about 10 minutes until the rice is tender.
Stir in the turkey, and cook until it’s heated through, about 3-5 minutes. Taste the soup and add more salt and pepper, if needed. Remove the bay leaf before serving.
Turkey Rice Soup Ingredients
- Olive oil – or substitute with any neutral-flavored cooking oil
- Carrots
- Celery – FYI celery doesn’t need to be super fresh and crisp for soups. I like to use up my aging celery that’s starting to get floppy in soups with no compromise to the finished flavor or texture of the soup.
- Yellow onion
- (Instead of using the fresh diced carrots, celery, and onion above, you can replace them with 4 cups of frozen mirepoix blend to save on chopping time. Find it in the frozen foods section with other vegetable mixes).
- Kosher salt (this is a great recipe to use MSG-salt instead of regular kosher salt)
- Garlic
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Fresh thyme – if you’re making this after Thanksgiving, theres a good chance that you have leftover fresh tyme hanging around. If not, feel free to use ¼ teaspoon of dried thyme instead.
- Bay leaf
- Turkey stock – You can use homemade or storeboth stock. Also feel free to use chicken stock or reduced sodium or no salt added chicken stock if you’re on a reduced sodium diet.
- Long Grain Rice – choose what you have on hand – I used a long grain/wild rice mix that’s been hanging out in my pantry. You can also use any variety of long grain white rice (eg. jasmine or basmati) or long grain brown rice.
- Leftover turkey – this is a great way to use up your leftover Thanksgiving turkey when your family starts to get sick of it.
Want more easy soup recipes?
Turkey Rice Soup Nutrition Notes
The nutrition information in the recipe below is for a bowl of soup that is 1/6th of the recipe. If your portion is larger (or smaller) than this, the nutrition information will vary accordingly.
Note that this soup is fairly high in sodium if you make it with store-bought turkey stock. Making homemade stock with minimal salt or using reduced sodium or no-salt-added chicken stock will reduce sodium.
This soup is dairy-free and gluten-free as written.
Equipment
Ingredients
Instructions
- Heat 1 Tablespoon olive oil in a Dutch oven or large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the diced carrots, celery, onion, and ½ teaspoon kosher salt and cook, stirring occasionally until softened and just starting to brown, about 8 minutes. Stir in the minced garlic, ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, and 1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Slowly pour in 8 cups turkey stock, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Bring to a boil. Add 1 cup long grain rice and 1 bay leaf then reduce heat to medium. Simmer for 10-12 minutes until the rice is soft and fully cooked.
- Stir in the turkey and cook until heated through, about 3-5 minutes. Add additional salt and/or pepper to taste if needed. Remove the bay leaf and serve.
Nutrition
Notes
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