By Frederick Schramm
This recipe for turkey wild rice soup is a great way to use your left-over Thanksgiving turkey. Or use chicken and make it any time of year!
In the United States (and Canada too) Thanksgiving = Turkey!
It’s a celebration of the Autumn harvest and a time when people are giving thanks, in prayer and feasting. A time to gather with family and watch parades and football games. It’s also a day that makes the perfect excuse for stretchy-pants!
However, all that food has its own dilemma: leftovers.
Leftover Turkey Wild Rice Soup
Turkey leftovers and what to do with them? It’s a question I’ve heard many times. That same great dinner just warmed up in the Microwave the next day just doesn’t seem to do it justice. Do that three times in a row is a great way to make anyone to hate turkey for sure.
There are so many different things you can do with leftover turkey besides a turkey sandwich the next day. Put a little bacon, a slice of tomato, and some avocado and make a Turkey Club that it worthy of the feast the day before. Turkey Cesar salad, turkey pot-pie, or even turkey hash, now your talking.
One of my favorites is this quick and easy wild rice and turkey soup. I use the dark meat as it has some of the richest flavors from the bird. Place a carrot or two aside before you make the glazed carrots. The same goes for onion, celery, and mushrooms from the stuffing. Throw it all in a dutch oven and simmer for about 30-45 min and you have a soup that will keep you warm and comfortable. It’s a great alternative to the rush of Black-Friday shopping, even if it’s online this year.
Turkey Wild Rice Soup
This recipe for turkey wild rice soup is a great way to use your left-over Thanksgiving turkey. Or use chicken and make it any time of year!
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Active Time
- 1 hour
- Total Time
- 1 hour 10 minutes
- Servings
- 6 people
- Course
- Soup
- Cuisine
- American
- Estimated Cost
- $8
Ingredients
- 1 lb leftover turkey or chicken (I prefer dark meat)
- 1 yellow onion (diced)
- 1 Tbsp butter
- 1 large carrot (diced)
- 2 celery stalks (diced)
- 1 garlic clove (minced)
- 8 ounces baby bella mushrooms (sliced)
- 1 cup wild rice
- 64 ounces chicken broth (or veggie broth)
- 1 Tbsp fresh thyme (minced)
- salt and pepper (to taste)
- ½ cup parsley (chopped)
Instructions
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To make this turkey wild rice soup, melt butter in a large stockpot over medium heat.
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Add diced onion, carrot, and celery and cook until the onions start to caramelize; about 10-15 min.
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Add garlic and cook for another minute.
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Add the broth, rice, mushrooms, turkey, thyme, and salt/pepper to the stockpot. Bring to a soft boil and reduce to simmer. Cook for about 35 min, stirring occasionally, or until rice is tender and the carrots and celery have softened.
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Add salt and pepper to taste.
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Garnish with parsley before serving.
Notes
This soup freezes well so go ahead and make a double batch.
Nutrition:
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More Soup Recipes
Check out our other soup recipes.
Do you enjoy turkey wild rice soup? What are some other ways you use your leftover Thanksgiving turkey?
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Love the recipe. Cheers!
I was able to throw this together with Thanksgiving leftovers and some other produce we had that was about to go bad – so glad to be able to use it all up and my husband and I both loved the soup!! Easy to adapt to what you have on hand. Thanks for this helpful recipe!
I’m glad you liked the soup. That’s the best part of this soup: use what you have!
We do soup like this using leftover gravy. We dilute the gravy with water/salt-free chicken or turkey broth. We use the turkey carcass to make the broth. I will be trying this as I have extra turkey gravy.
I’ll have to give that gravy trick a try next time. It sounds really good too.