When I was younger, we would all go over to my grandma’s the day after Thanksgiving – even if we had just been there for the holiday – to eat the leftovers. I’m fairly sure many members of my family still do this. In fact, I’d be doing it too if we still lived in the state. Day after Thanksgiving leftovers at grandma’s are really a time honored tradition in our family.
But, after that…how may turkey sandwiches can one really eat? Instead, I had another idea.
The inspiration
As you know I’m a big soup person. I love making soups because not only do they taste delicious, but they’re also easy, usually lower in calories and a great way to incorporate your daily dose of vegetables. Instead of eating turkey sandwiches on repeat, I decided to make Turkey Soup with our leftovers.
The inspiration for this recipe came from a cooking show. The cook ( I don’t remember who) was making dinner on a Friday night from the week’s meatloaf leftovers. That sounded like a great idea to me and I loved that she used up food that might have gone to waste. That one idea led me to create this recipe.
The Turkey Soup I’m sharing with you is honestly more of a guide for you to follow. The final taste will depend on your turkey seasonings and the mashed potatoes you use. But, this is one of the most flavorful soups I’ve ever created.
Make Turkey Soup throughout the year
As a side note, since I did not wait until Thanksgiving to make this so it could be done early for the blog. But I also wanted to show how easily it could be made year-round if you were making just a simple turkey breast with some mashed potatoes.
I made a large turkey breast in the slow cooker. I used the following dried herbs to season the turkey before adding it to the slow cooker: basil, oregano, Italian seasoning, rosemary, garlic salt and pepper. It was cooked with a cup of chicken broth for added flavor. Lastly, also added a few sprigs of all the fresh herbs I mentioned above.
We ate this for dinner one night with the mashed potatoes and then made the soup the next night.
Shop our kitchen
I use my Le Creuset Dutch Oven for all soups and sauces. Between that and my cast iron pans, it’s the work horse of my kitchen. You can find me favorite Le Creuset Dutch Oven {HERE}. I have it in white.
I love these soup crocks that I recently bought {HERE} and these gorgeous farmhouse style bowls {HERE} too. And these ones {HERE} are next on my list since I can’t get enough of soup.
My favorite wooden spoon set {HERE}. To be honest, I have a lot of favorite wooden spoons, but these ones are my favorite set.
Thank you so much for stopping by friends! I hope that you will come back to visit us again here at Sugar Maple Farmhouse! You can find the full recipe for Turkey Soup below. And check out some of my other favorite Thanksgiving Favorites like this Whipped Cranberry Butter {HERE} and these amazing pumpkin muffins {HERE}.
Turkey Soup with Thanksgiving Leftovers
Equipment
- Slow cooker
Ingredients
- 32 oz + 1 cup chicken broth
- 4 cups or more of leftover turkey
- 2 cups mashed potatoes
- 1-2 cups green beans
- 1 cup corn
- 1/2 large white onion, diced
- 2 Tbsp. fresh oregano leaves, chopped
- 3 bay leaves
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 1 Tbsp. dried oregano
- 1 Tbsp. dried basil
- 1 Tbsp. garlic salt
- 1 Tbsp. pepper
- 2 Tbsp. olive oil
- Additional salt and pepper to taste
- Optional: Leftover stuffing
- Topping Options: Pepper, breadcrumbs, additional fresh herbs or cheese.
Instructions
- Add olive oil to Dutch Oven and heat through.
- Once the oil is warm add the diced onions. Mix continuously until the onions are translucent.
- Add your chicken broth and bring to a boil.
- Add leftover turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn and all fresh herbs and heat on low for one hour. If you’re adding stuffing feel free to add it at this point. However, if you add stuffing make sure to add extra chicken broth too as the bread in it will soak up a lot of the broth. If you decide to forgo the stuffing do not worry. The mashed potatoes will make this broth perfect and creamy
- Add dried herbs and continue to let it simmer for an hour. Add additional salt and pepper to taste now too.
- Remove from heat and serve. Top with bread crumbs, fresh herbs and freshly ground pepper if desired
Your turkey sound sounds really delicious. I love a good soup, especially in this colder weather.
Now this is how you do leftovers! I can’t wait to make these. We always have leftovers, and I never know what to do with them.
Why have I never thought of making turkey soup? Like my brain thought of chicken soup but not turkey soup! This is the perfect leftover option!
This is a great idea for the leftover turkey. My husband would love this soup.
This looks so good. It would be perfect for leftover turkey from Thanksgiving too. I’ll be trying this with our leftovers for sure.
This looks like Heaven! I’m totally making this!
Wow this soup looks so good. Turkey soup needs to be in my cookbook!
Now this is a delicious way to use leftover turkey. This soup is just loaded with flavor. I so want a bowl right now.
Sounds so relaxing,I love soups so much. Especially when it has meat on it. Thanks!
This looks delicious!! I need to make this for dinner to warm up after a long day at work!
I love this with the green beans! What a delightful way to use of that leftover turkey!
I am drooling over this soup! I love hearty and delicious soups like this! I will make it tonight!
Wow, this is a super tasty soup, I’m so excited to try it. BTW, thanks for sharing!
Oh my gosh, that looks amazing and perfect for the fall season!
I love recipes that use up leftover turkey! Soup would be great, especially because the more you reheat the turkey, the tougher it gets. This looks delicious!
This is such a healthy recipe! I love soups but never tried The Turkey Soup. This is easy to follow so I’ll definitely give your recipe a try 🙂
I am definitely saving this recipe! This will be perfect for me for Thanksgiving because I’m on a Paleo diet.
Thanks for this soup idea! Will have to use it for Thanksgiving Turkey leftovers!
I was just wondering what I was going to do with our leftover turkey. This recipe sounds delicious!!! My family loves soups and I have all the ingredients, yay!
Give me any soup, especially homemade, any time.
This looks delicious! I’ll definitely be making this with leftover Turkey this year. Thank you for sharing!
It is good to have some ideas for how to use up those Thanksgiving leftovers – this sounds great!
Turkey soup has always been my favorite to have after Thanksgiving
This looks like a good way to use up turkey and veggies. Sounds like an easy recipe and a great fall dish for this cooler weather.
Great recipe! I have so much left over turkey and was looking for something to do with it!
I never know what to make with leftover turkey. Thank you for sharing. Definitely making this recipe.
I need to make this for sure. We do have leftover turkey and I don’t want it to go to waste.
This looks amazing, can’t wait to try it!
What a perfect time to read this recipe. I bet this would do wonders with leftover turkey..
I luv to eat soup and no just when I’m sick. I especially love to eat it when it’s particularly cold outside. Plus this sounds amazing! I’ll have to try it out!
This is such a great use of Thanksgiving leftovers! Will definitely be giving this a go!
Wow, this sounds amazing!!! Pinning this to try this weekend! 🙂
This is perfect for all the leftovers. It is also perfect for this cold day that we are having.
The pictures of your soup recipe just show how fresh and wholesome this soup is! All the veggies are from your own farm!
Yum. This soup would be a perfect way to use up that last bit of turkey. I love soup especially when it’s cold outside.
Wow! This looks absolutely delicious and tasty! I would really love to try this recipe!
Looks delicious and a great way to use up all those turkey leftovers.
YUM we do this too such a great idea and way to use the whole turkey!
This was so delicious! A perfect post-Thanksgiving warm soup. My kids and family members loved it!
I absolutely love turkey soup! I like that you used leftovers in this version. We do that too. The green beans in the soup look delicious!
Such a great use of leftovers – can’t wait to try!
I pinned this one for next year as this is a fabulous and delicious way to reuses those leftovers. My husband would love this too! Thank you!
This is a wonderful way to use your leftovers and make a great homemade soup. That is so good and delious too.
This would be perfect to use up the leftover turkey at Christmas. I never know what to do with it as I don’t really eat turkey although I’d eat this soup!
That’s a nice looking soup, looks like it would go easy on your stomach which is good around the holidays!
What a wonderful way to use up those Thanksgiving day leftovers. I love the addition of the stuffing on top.
Perfect for left over turkey and so cozy!!!
I haven’t yet tried any Turkey dishes! The soup looks so good 😍. I can try making this at home for me and my family ❤️.
This soup is so rich and flavorful! Love the idea to use turkey!
I’ve never had turkey soup before. That looks good. Would be perfect on this rainy day.