I make this leftover turkey noodle soup recipe every year and almost never have to go shopping for ingredients! I just use whatever is left from Thanksgiving; for me, that included celery, carrots, onion, frozen peas, frozen corn, and leftover turkey. I also made the turkey stock from scratch using the carcass and bones of my Thanksgiving turkey.
This is basically like chicken noodle soup and it’s a no-brainer to make. You can use almost any fresh veggies or herbs, and season it how you want. I mostly just used Spicy Dan-O’s Seasoning in mine, which gave it a little kick and a great blend of herbs, citrus, garlic, salt, and onion. It’s really good every time!
So yes, always save the leftover bones and body of your turkey. What you’ll want to do with it, is clean off any good meat that you might plan to use in your soup. Add the bones, skin, leftover drippings, and meat you don’t plan to eat to a pot and cover to the top with water. Add some fresh veggies and herbs, and some Dan-O’s Seasoning, and let it cook for a few hours.
I do not spend a ton of time letting my stock reduce because ain’t nobody got time for that. I must also say, I DID not have the noodles I wanted for my soup this time. I usually use egg noodles, but again I wanted to make a point to avoid a trip to the store, so rotini worked just fine. But, if you’re going to the store for this… get some egg noodles and bay leaves.
So, there you have it! If you’re tired of Thanksgiving leftovers, turn them into soup! And don’t let anything go to waste. Give your leftovers a fresh lease on life. Enjoy!
Ingredients
- Turkey Carcass (bones, skin, leftover drippings)
- Turkey meat (1-1.5 lbs)
- 6 carrots
- 5 stalks of celery
- Frozen corn and peas (optional)
- 2 onions
- 2 tbs garlic
- ½ stick of butter
- 1 can of chicken broth (optional)
- Herbs of choice (parsley, bay leaves)
- ¼ cup Spicy Dan-O’s Seasoning
- Salt and pepper
- ½ box of rotini or egg noodles
Preparation Instructions
- Make your stock by adding bones, skins, and drippings to a large pot. Fill pot with water until it covers all the ingredients. Add in a few carrots, celery stalks, garlic cloves, and a whole onion to the broth. Add in a few TBS of Dan-O’s, and any fresh herbs you plan to use. Bring to a high boil, then reduce to a low boil for a few hours. Skim off surface fat occasionally.
- Using a strainer, carefully dump the broth pot into a separate container and remove all of the solid pieces. You can choose to reduce the broth, but I typically do not. Set broth to the side.
- Chop up roughly 3, carrots, 3 stalks of celery, and 3 cloves of garlic into soup-sized pieces. Add them to a separate pot, and sautee with a half stick of butter for about 10 minutes until they soften up.
- Pour broth over top of sauteed carrots and celery in the second pot. Add in your onion, 2 more tbs of Dan-O’s Seasoning, and can of chicken broth. Cook for about 15 minutes on medium heat to reduce and soften the veggies.
- Add in the rest of your veggies, such as frozen peas and corn. Turn down the heat to medium-low and simmer for 15-20 more minutes. Start another pot of boiling water for your noodles.
- Add in your turkey and turn the heat to low. Cook your noodles in separate pot until al-dente. Add noodles to soup mix and keep on low heat for 15 minutes or so.
- Scoop out your onion and any large herbs. Salt, pepper, and Dan-O’s to taste.
- Enjoy!
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