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Square overhead shot of a bowl of turkey and rice soup.
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5 from 14 votes

Leftover Turkey Soup with Wild Rice

This easy turkey and rice soup is a simple, delicious dinner that takes advantage of your holiday extras! Don't have turkey on hand? Use chicken instead!
Course Dinner
Cuisine American
Keyword leftover turkey soup, turkey and rice soup, turkey soup recipe, Wild rice soup
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Servings 8 cups
Calories 174kcal
Author Blair Lonergan

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 4 carrots, peeled and diced
  • 4 celery stalks, diced
  • 1 garlic clove, minced or pressed
  • 2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme (or ½ teaspoon dried thyme)
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 4 cups homemade turkey stock, homemade chicken broth, or store-bought chicken broth
  • ⅔ cup wild rice blend
  • 2 ½ cups water
  • 2-3 cups (about 8-11 ounces) cooked, shredded leftover turkey (or substitute with cooked, shredded chicken)
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
  • Kosher salt and ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions

  • Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the onion, carrots and celery and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
    Adding carrots celery and onion to a Dutch oven
  • Add the thyme, bay leaf, broth, rice, and water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to low and simmer (covered) for about 35 minutes, or until rice is tender.
    Adding wild rice to a Dutch oven
  • Stir in cooked turkey and simmer just until heated through. Remove bay leaf.
    Adding leftover diced turkey to a blue Dutch oven
  • Add fresh parsley; taste and season with salt and pepper, if necessary. Serve immediately, or allow to cool completely before storing in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
    Ladle serving leftover turkey soup with wild rice from a blue dutch oven

Video

Notes

  • The more flavorful your meat, the more flavorful your soup! We love to use leftover smoked turkey breast in this recipe, but a maple-glazed roasted turkey breast or an apple cider brined whole roasted turkey are also great. As an alternative, try the meat from this rosemary oven roasted chicken.
  • Make the soup within 5-6 days of cooking a turkey. After that point, the leftover turkey meat should be frozen or discarded.
  • Taste and season as you go. The total amount of salt necessary will vary depending on the saltiness of your broth, and on personal preference. Add extra salt for more flavor, and feel free to increase the other herbs and seasonings as well. Extra sage, thyme, rosemary or parsley all add great flavor to the pot.
  • Instead of leftover turkey, use leftover chicken or a store-bought rotisserie chicken.
  • Replace the wild rice with another type of rice -- such as long grain white rice or brown rice. You will need to adjust the cooking time accordingly; white rice tends to cook faster than wild rice, while brown rice will require more time.
  • Use homemade turkey stock from a leftover turkey carcass, homemade chicken broth, or a high-quality store-bought chicken broth.
  • Instead of cutting up fresh vegetables, add frozen mixed vegetables (such as corn, peas, and carrots) towards the end of cooking. You can pick your family's favorites!
  • Mix up the herbs and use your favorites. In addition to the parsley and thyme, good options include rosemary, sage, oregano and chives.

Nutrition

Serving: 1cup | Calories: 174kcal | Carbohydrates: 16g | Protein: 16g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 30mg | Sodium: 90mg | Potassium: 378mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 5199IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 31mg | Iron: 1mg