This leftover turkey soup is an easy and delicious meal that puts your turkey carcass to good use. Save the carcass from your Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner — and some stuffing too! — and make this tasty soup for lunch or a light dinner the next day. I usually make cornbread muffins to serve with it.
Ingredients
- picked over turkey carcass: 1 piece
- leftover stuffing: 1.5 cups
- onion: 1 piece (diced)
- carrots: 2 piece (sliced)
- celery stalks: 2 piece (chopped)
- poultry seasoning: 1 Tbsp
- ground sage: 1 tsp
- bay leaves: 2 piece
- chicken broth: 2.5 quarts
- garlic salt: 0.5 tsp (to taste)
- ground black pepper: 0 piece (to taste)
- (uncooked) regular long-grain white rice: 2 cups
- frozen green peas: 1 pack (16 ounce pack)
- water: 1 cup (or as needed, optional)
Metric Conversion
Stages of cooking
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Place turkey carcass in a large, deep pot. Add stuffing, onion, carrots, celery, poultry seasoning, sage, and bay leaves. Pour in chicken broth, and add additional water, if needed, to cover. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
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Reduce heat to medium and simmer, skimming off any foam, for about 1 hour. Remove carcass and any bones.
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Pick any meat off carcass and bones. Return meat to the pot and discard bones and skin.
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Season soup with garlic salt and pepper. Stir in rice and return to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in peas, and continue to simmer until rice is tender, about 10 minutes more.
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Adjust seasonings to taste before serving.