You’ll love this hearty turkey rice soup with a rich homemade broth, vegetables and rice. This soup is ready in under one hour and is the perfect way to use your leftover Thanksgiving turkey.
If you’ve roasted a turkey for Thanksgiving or Christmas, you’ve probably found yourself with a leftover carcass and a goal of making a delicious, savoury and comforting soup. You’ve landed on the right spot.
Even if you’ve just made a bone-in turkey breast, you can still make a delicious soup with the leftovers.
If you’ve already gone ahead and made your broth, this soup comes together in under an hour, and if you haven’t? You can try this turkey broth tutorial.
Why this recipe works
Turkey broth can be extra rich (which is part of what what makes it so delicious)! The key to a great turkey soup is to balance it with fresh vegetables and lemon juice. Lots of garlic, dried sage and a bay leaf help to add depth to the aromatic soup.
Ingredient notes
- Mushrooms may not be a traditional turkey soup ingredient, but they add umami to this recipe. I like to use cremini, but white button mushrooms would work as well.
- Feel free to use regular rice, wild rice or even brown rice. It get cooked separately, so any variety will work here.
- I opt for dried sage as it is more potent than fresh and pairs well with the turkey flavour.
- Lemon! It’s what makes all the difference in this soup, because turkey tends to have a richer flavour than chicken and I find brightening the soup up with a sprinkle of lemon juice does the trick.
Expert tips
- Don’t cook the rice in the broth, keep it separate and add the rice as you serve the soup. As it sits in the fridge, the rice will continue absorbing the broth so you’ll end up with stodgy rice.
- Be patient and give your vegetables time to saute in the olive oil. This helps build the flavour as you go.
- Use your own judgment for the salt, I call for one teaspoon, but if your broth is on the saltier side, you may want to add less to start and taste as you go.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, this can be frozen. I would recommend freezing the soup without the rice and cooking rice fresh when you want to enjoy the soup.
This is a classic turkey soup, so it uses herbs like bay and sage instead of spices. If you want some spice, you can add some chili flakes while sauteing the aromatics.
If you’ve got lots of leftover turkey to use, it would also work well in any soup that has chicken like chicken gnocchi soup.
Turkey rice soup
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 carrots, peeled diced
- 1 rib of celery, diced
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1 227 gram pkg. sliced cremini mushrooms
- 1 tsp salt
- 10 cups turkey broth, or chicken broth
- 2 bay leaves
- ¼ tsp dried sage
- 2 cups leftover cubed or shredded turkey
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- ⅔ cup white rice, or wild rice blend
Instructions
- Heat a large pot over medium heat, add oil, carrot, celery and onion. Cook for 7 minutes until softened.
- Meanwhile, cook the rice according to its package directions.
- Add mushrooms and cook for another 3 minutes until browned. Add broth, dried sage and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat and simmer for 35 minutes.
- Stir in leftover cubed turkey and lemon juice, cook to heat turkey, about 1-2 minutes. Remove bay leaves and serve with a scoop of rice.
Notes
Let me know if you give this leftover turkey and wild rice soup a try in the comments below.
Melissa 
Louisa Clements 
Kathy Ranalli
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