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Today I am sharing one of my absolute favorite recipes to make in November — Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey Noodle Soup! It’s made with homemade turkey bone broth and just feels so nourishing after a day full of eating.
We all have our favorite things to do with leftover turkey and there are so many delicious recipes to choose from with leftovers. I have to say, for me, it will forever be the simple classics — turkey sandwiches and soup. Ah, all the feels.
When making this soup with your leftover turkey, I highly recommend that you make your own turkey stock for the best tasting soup. I have so many memories of a giant pot on the stovetop with the entire turkey carcass stuffed into it boiling away, making my entire home smell even more like Thanksgiving than it already did the day before. I’ve included my go-to recipe for homemade bone broth below. One thing to note, though: This works best with a roasted turkey. If you have leftover smoked or fried turkey, I’d stick to using the meat for sandwiches. The flavor just doesn’t quite work.
After that, this recipe is simple, classic, and comforting. The perfect post-Thanksgiving meal to continue the comfort in the form of a lighter soup!
ingredients:
- Leftover Roasted Turkey Carcass
- Yellow Onions
- Celery
- Carrots
- Bay Leaves
- Fresh Rosemary
- Fresh Thyme
- Whole Black Peppercorns
- Apple Cider Vinegar
- Water
- Olive Oil
- Garlic
- Kosher Salt
- Fresh Thyme
- Dried Sage
- Diced, Cooked Turkey Meat
- Uncooked Fusilli Pasta
step-by-step:
step one: make the turkey bone broth
Place the turkey carcass in a very large pot. Add the onion, celery, carrot, bay leaves, rosemary, thyme, peppercorns, and apple cider vinegar.
step two: add the water
Fill the pot with water. This will likely be close to 16 to 18 cups of water, but this depends on the size of your pot. Some of the water will evaporate during the cooking process.
step three: boil the broth
Bring the water to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to low, cover, and cook for 12 to 24 hours.
step four: strain the broth
When the cook time is complete, pour the broth through a large fine mesh strainer set over a separate large pot. Discard the carcass/scraps from the cooking process.
step five: store the broth
Allow the broth to cool completely before pouring into wide mouth mason jars. Fill the mason jars about 3/4 of the way to allow for the broth to expand once frozen. Store in the fridge for 7 to 10 days or freeze for about 3 months.
step six: sauté the vegetable for the soup
Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onions, carrots, celery, garlic, salt, and pepper and cook, stirring, until the veggies are just tender, 5 to 7 minutes.
step seven: add the turkey and prepared broth
Pour in the broth, thyme, sage, and the cooked turkey. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to a simmer.
step eight: cook the pasta
Add the pasta and stir to combine. Cook, covered, until the pasta is al dente, about 10 minutes.
step nine: serve
Serve immediately and enjoy!
Yes! I would store the noodles separately from the broth so that they don’t absorb too much liquid and turn soggy.
Absolutely! Jut use your favorite brown rice pasta such as Jovial, which is my favorite!
I hope y’all try this Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey Noodle Soup this year! Comment below and let me know what you think!
looking for more Thanksgiving recipes? try these!
Dairy-Free Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey Soup
Ingredients
For the Broth
- 1 leftover roasted turkey carcass
- 1 yellow onion, halved
- 4 stalks celery, halved
- 1½ cups diced yellow onion
- 2 large carrots, halved
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary
- 8 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 teaspoons black peppercorns
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 16 to 18 cups water
For the Soup
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup diced carrot
- 1 cup diced celery
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoons kosher salt
- 10 cups homemade turkey bone broth
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
- 1 teaspoon dried ground sage
- 4 cups diced, cooked turkey meat
- 3 cups uncooked fusilli pasta
Instructions
For the Bone Broth:
- Place the turkey carcass in a very large pot. Add the onion, celery, carrot, bay leaves, rosemary, thyme, peppercorns, and apple cider vinegar.
- Fill the pot with water. This will likely be close to 16 to 18 cups of water, but this depends on the size of your pot. Some of the water will evaporate during the cooking process.
- Bring the water to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to low, cover, and cook for 12 to 24 hours.
- When the cook time is complete, pour the broth through a large fine mesh strainer set over a separate large pot. Discard the carcass/scraps from the cooking process.
- Allow the broth to cool completely before pouring into wide mouth mason jars. Fill the mason jars about 3/4 of the way to allow for the broth to expand once frozen. Store in the fridge for 7 to 10 days or freeze for about 3 months.
For the Soup:
- Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onions, carrots, celery, garlic, salt, and pepper and cook, stirring, until the veggies are just tender, 5 to 7 minutes.
- Pour in the broth, thyme, sage, and the cooked turkey. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to a simmer.
- Add the pasta and stir to combine. Cook, covered, until the pasta is al dente, about 10 minutes.
- Serve immediately and enjoy!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I have made chicken soup tons but never leftover thanksgiving turkey soup and I did it this year and wow it has such a different taste! It was so good! Obviously it will change depending on how you season your turkey but wow I will definitely do this again with next years leftovers
Can this be frozen? If so at what point would you freeze?
Yes!! I would freeze it without the noodles for best results. Then reheat and add noodles after thawing.
What container do you freeze the broth in?
large glass mason jars.
I made this turkey stock and soup with my leftovers from Thanksgiving and it was AMAZING!! Thank you once again for the most flavor packed soup recipe. Your recipes never fail me…..
Thank you,
Susie Klein
When making the broth, does the whole turkey carcus need to be submerged? I filled my pot with 18 cups of water and it doesn’t cover even half of it. Do I just fill the rest of the pot? Do I double the ingredients as well?
Yes, you can just keep filling if you have a huge turkey and it needs more water. You’ll end up with a TON of broth– but you can freeze it!
Have any suggestions for making this in the crockpot? How about substituting rice for noodles, when would I add it in? Thanks!
I haven’t yet madethis recipe in the crockpot yet– but if you want to do rice instead of noodles i’d go with this recipe instead! Just sub turkey!
https://thedefineddish.com/dairy-free-creamy-chicken-wild-rice-soup/
Hi! Can you make the bone broth in the instant pot?
yes for sure! I recommend doing it no manual high-pressure for 120-180 minutes!
I added a dollop of leftover gravy and holy smokes, it’s so good!!!! Love this recipe!
Delicious! Followed the broth recipe and noodle soup recipe. Wow. I am blown away with the flavor. I want my husband to smoke another turkey to have the bone broth on hand.
oh yees!! if you smoke the turkey– the broth is super smokey, but it’s delicious in Gumbo!!
We LOVED this – first time to use our turkey bones for something and it was so fun / fulfilling to make the broth. Took soup to neighbors (with Covid, eek) and they loved it. We did use our smoked turkey carcass and it was still wonderful! Thank you!
Hello Alex,
Any ideas on what type of soup to make with smoked turkey stock? I’m at a loss on what to make with my stock.
Kind Regards,
Andrea
I would definitely make a gumbo with smoked turkey stock!!! Here is a recipe you can follow, just sub the turkey stock + leftover turkey for the chicken broth and chicken! 🙂
https://thedefineddish.com/whole30-chicken-and-sausage-gumbo/