Leftover Turkey Noodle Soup is a simple down-home type of comfort food that we love to enjoy year-round, and it certainly is a wonderful use of your holiday oven-roasted turkey (carcass and all)! Want to make your turkey soup before or after Thanksgiving and Christmas? Try using the turkey legs that can be bought separately and use them for your turkey stock and soup instead!
This Leftover Turkey Noodle Soup is one of those recipes that I think everyone has their own version and method to, but I figured it was way overdue to be added here. I've included all of my tips and tricks for making the most flavorful turkey soup every time!
I like to start out with making my turkey stock since it is the best use of my turkey carcass. This goes a lot easier if you are working with a turkey that is 15 pounds or less, however, larger turkeys can be broken down to fit into your stockpot as well.
If you follow our instructions for oven-roasted turkey, you would have used chicken broth or stock in the roasting pan. This combined with the drippings was used for our classic turkey gravy. If after making your gravy, you have any drippings remaining, save them for making this broth-based soup!
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💡 Difference Between Stock and Broth
You can use broth and stock interchangeably as they are similar.
Stock (or bone broth) is made using the bones and cartilage and cooking them to yield not only a richer flavor than broth but also more collagen from long-term cooking.
The broth is made by cooking down the meat that has been removed from the bone and is thinner than stock (or bone broth).
Stock and bone broth are the same, both have bones and cartilage cooked long term to yield a rich broth.
*Stocks are best made with bones that have been stripped of the meat completely, it allows all of the wonderful nutrients from bone, marrow, and cartilage to cook best and enhance your stock.
🥘 Ingredients
Turkey Stock
- 1 Leftover Turkey Carcass (12-15 lb turkey, including bones from wings legs, etc.)
- 1 medium White Onion (rough chopped)
- 6 cloves Garlic (whole, peeled)
- 2 Bay Leaves
- 4 sprigs fresh Thyme (or rosemary, or sage)
- 10-12 c Water (more or less - enough to cover your carcass)
Leftover Turkey Noodle Soup
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil (extra virgin)
- 1 tablespoon Butter (salted)
- 1 medium White Onion (diced)
- 2 cloves Garlic (finely minced)
- 3 medium Carrots (washed, chopped)
- 4 ribs Celery (washed, chopped)
- 1 Knorr Chicken Bouillon cube
- ¼ c fresh Parsley (finely chopped)
- 1 tablespoon fresh Thyme (finely chopped)
- 1 Bay Leaf
- 10 c Turkey Stock (or chicken broth/stock)
- 4 c Leftover Turkey Meat (chopped or shredded)
- Salt & Pepper (to taste, we prefer course ground pepper in this soup)
- 5 c Egg Noodles (uncooked)
Can I Substitute Turkey Broth for Chicken Broth?
Yes, most definitely! I have included instructions below for making the turkey broth using your leftover turkey on the bone.
However, if you only have leftover turkey meat that you would like to use for a hearty bowl of turkey noodle soup, then definitely use what you have on hand. Chicken broth will work wonderfully.
🔪 Step-By-Step Instructions
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How To Make Turkey Stock
- First, in a large stockpot, place the leftover turkey carcass (broken down to fit, if using a large (15 lb+) turkey), onion, garlic, bay leaves, and thyme.
- Add enough water to cover the carcass, about 10-12 cups of water.
- Cover and bring the water to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for about 90 minutes to two hours or until the meat is falling off the bone.
- Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Remove the bones, then strain the broth to remove remaining meat, onion, garlic, and herbs.
Leftover Turkey Noodle Soup
- Return your stockpot to the stove top, add olive oil and butter and bring them to medium high temperature.
- Add onion, garlic, carrots, celery, bouillon cube and herbs (thyme, parsley, bay leaf) and saute for 2-3 minutes or until onion is translucent.
- Next, add turkey stock and chopped leftover turkey meat to the stockpot and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for about 10-12 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.
- Taste and season with salt and pepper. Remove bay leaf.
- Add pasta and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Remove from heat and serve.
💭 Angela's Tips & Recipe Notes
Can I Cook Pasta In My Soup?
Yes, you can definitely cook your pasta in your soup. However, if you plan on storing your soup you may want to consider one of these options. Cook your pasta separately, then drain and rinse in cold water to arrest the cooking process and help to prevent your cooked pasta from soaking up the soup broth.
Then, option (a) add the cooked pasta to your soup directly, or option (b) toss the drained and rinsed pasta in olive oil and store it in its own air-tight container in the refrigerator. With option (b) you simply add a portion of the noodles to your soup when reheating. Option (b) is preferred for storage.
How Do I Add Pasta To My Soup?
If you are going to add your pasta directly to a soup, make sure that you add it at the very end of the cooking process. Typically in the last five minutes, or whatever your pasta packaging instructions say (minus 2 minutes).
I recommend that your pasta be cooked, rinsed, tossed in olive oil, and portioned directly into servings of the leftover turkey noodle soup (see above).
🥡 Storing
You can freeze your leftover turkey noodle soup. Although I definitely recommend that the noodles be withheld if you are going to be freezing your soup. You can freeze your soup in freezer bags, airtight containers, and individual serving-size containers.
Freezing Turkey Soup
Your cooked turkey soup will last 4 - 6 months (for best quality) if stored correctly. It can last much longer, cooked turkey soup that is stored properly at 0ºF will last, forever.
But seriously, I can't go 4 - 6 months without cooking up more turkey 🙂
🦃 More Leftover Turkey Recipes
If you’re looking for more leftover recipe ideas to use up your oven-roasted turkey, check out my other tasty turkey leftover meals.
- Leftover Turkey Curry
- Turkey & Rice Casserole
- Leftover Turkey a la King
- Leftover Turkey Tetrazzini
- Turkey Stroganoff
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📋 Recipe
Leftover Turkey Noodle Soup
Ingredients
Turkey Stock
- 1 leftover turkey carcass (12-15 lb turkey, including bones from wings legs, etc.)
- 1 medium white onion (rough chopped)
- 6 cloves garlic (whole, peeled)
- 2 bay leaves
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme (or rosemary, or sage)
- 10-12 c water (more or less - enough to cover your carcass)
Leftover Turkey Noodle Soup
- 1 tablespoon olive oil (extra virgin)
- 1 tablespoon butter (salted)
- 1 medium white onion (diced)
- 2 cloves garlic (finely minced)
- 3 medium carrots (washed, chopped)
- 4 ribs celery (washed, chopped)
- 1 Knorr chicken bouillon cube
- ¼ c fresh parsley (finely chopped)
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme (finely chopped)
- 1 bay leaf
- 10 c turkey stock (or chicken broth/stock)
- 4 c leftover turkey meat (chopped or shredded)
- salt & pepper (to taste, we prefer course ground pepper in this soup)
- 5 c egg noodles (uncooked)
Instructions
Turkey Stock
- In a large stockpot, place the leftover turkey carcass (broken down to fit, if using a large (15 lb+) turkey), wings, legs, onion, garlic, bay leaves, and thyme.
- Add enough water to cover the carcass, about 10-12 cups of water.
- Cover and bring the water to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for about 90 minutes to two hours or until the meat is falling off the bone.
- Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Remove the bones, then strain the broth to remove remaining meat, onion, garlic, and herbs.
Leftover Turkey Noodle Soup
- Return your stockpot to the stove top, add olive oil and butter and bring them to medium high temperature.
- Add onion, garlic, carrots, celery, bouillon cube and herbs (thyme, parsley, bay leaf) and saute for 2-3 minutes or until onion is translucent.
- Add turkey stock and chopped leftover turkey meat to the stockpot and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for about 10-12 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.
- Taste and season with salt and pepper. Remove bay leaf.
- Add pasta and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Remove from heat and serve.
Notes
Cooking the pasta separately is my preferred method when making large batches of soup, as anyone who cooks with egg noodles will know that they expand exponentially once left in your soup. Plus, overcooking your pasta makes it slimy and soggy. We recommend the pasta be cooked, rinsed, tossed in olive oil, and portioned directly into servings of the leftover turkey noodle soup.
Nutrition
Angela is an at home chef that developed a passion for all things cooking and baking at a young age in her Grandma's kitchen. After many years in the food service industry, she now enjoys sharing all of her family favorite recipes and creating tasty dinner and amazing dessert recipes here at Bake It With Love!
George says
Do you throw away the remaining remaining meat, onion, garlic, and herbs from making the turkey stock or does it go into the next step making the soup? Thanks.
Angela @ BakeItWithLove.com says
I usually throw out everything that I strain from the broth and start with fresh veggies. This depends on how carefully I picked the meat from my turkey frame though!
If you want to add the meat back into the turkey stock, it will work just fine.