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Put your leftover turkey to work in this quick and easy Turkey Noodle Soup. It’s simple but delicious and perfect year-round. Also great with chicken!
Recipe ingredients:
Ingredient notes:
- Broth: You can use either chicken broth or turkey broth in this recipe.
Step-by-step instructions:
- In a large soup pot or Dutch oven, heat some olive oil. Then add chopped onion, carrots, and celery. Sauté the vegetables until softened.
- Then pour in the broth, herbs, and the turkey. Bring the soup to a simmer and cook until the vegetables are fork-tender—maybe 15 minutes or so. That’s it!
- If you want noodles, stir them in uncooked. Add extra pasta, if you like—but don’t add too many, otherwise they’ll soak up all your broth and you’ll be left with mush.
- Cook the noodles for as long as it takes for them to soften, anywhere between 5 to 10 minutes.
- Garnish with parsley, adjust the seasoning if needed, then pour into bowls and serve.
Recipe tips and variations:
- Leftovers: Cool completely, then store in the fridge and eat within 4 days.
- Freezer: Freeze for up to 3 months to have on hand for soup emergencies.
- Slow cooker: This takes a lot longer than the stove-top, but I don’t mind if you don’t. Add the broth, turkey, carrots, celery, onion, bay leaves, and thyme to the slow cooker. Cover, and cook on HIGH for 3 hours, or LOW for 6 hours. Stir in the egg noodles and cook 15 minutes longer on HIGH until the egg noodles are tender.
- Turkey Wild Rice Soup: Another perfect use for your leftover turkey. It’s creamy, delicious, and ready in just 40 minutes.
More delicious soups:
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Leftover Turkey Noodle Soup
Put your leftover turkey to work in this quick and easy Turkey Noodle Soup. It's simple but delicious and perfect year-round. Also great with chicken!
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil or butter
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 1 carrot peeled and chopped
- 1 celery rib chopped
- 8 cups (2 quarts) chicken broth or turkey broth (see note 1)
- 3 cups cooked turkey chopped or shredded
- 2 teaspoons fresh thyme minced, or ½ teaspoon dried
- 1 bay leaf
- 8 ounces wide egg noodles
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- fresh parsley minced, for garnish
Instructions
- In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add onion, carrots, and celery and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
- Stir in broth, turkey, thyme, and bay leaf. Bring to simmer and cook until vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes.
- Stir in noodles and cook until tender, about 5 minutes longer. Remove from heat, season to taste with salt and pepper, and garnish with fresh parsley.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Broth: You can use either chicken broth or turkey broth in this recipe.
- Leftovers: Cool completely, then store in the fridge and eat within 4 days.
- Freezer: Freeze for up to 3 months to have on hand for soup emergencies.Â
- Slow cooker: This takes a lot longer than the stove-top, but I don’t mind if you don’t. Add the broth, turkey, carrots, celery, onion, bay leaves, and thyme to the slow cooker. Cover, and cook on HIGH for 3 hours, or LOW for 6 hours. Stir in the egg noodles and cook 15 minutes longer on HIGH until the egg noodles are tender.
Nutrition
Calories: 261kcalCarbohydrates: 24gProtein: 20gFat: 9gSaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 81mgSodium: 936mgPotassium: 441mgFiber: 2gSugar: 2gVitamin A: 1358IUVitamin C: 19mgCalcium: 41mgIron: 2mg
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Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.
Wonderful recipe.
I’m so happy you enjoyed the soup, Shannon! – Meggan
Super tasty! I added only half the the amount of noodles and it was still plenty noodley. 😋
So glad you enjoyed it, Sharilee! Take care! – Meggan
Best turkey noodle soup I’ve ever made. Thanks for the great recipe!
You’re so welcome! I’m so happy you loved it! – Meggan
Very good! I used dried oregano substitution so thanks for the handy conversion in the recipe. The only thing I did different is to cook the egg noodles separately and I scoop them in each bowl. Hubs said it was the best; I agree, so this recipe is a keeper!
You’re welcome, Anne! I’m so glad you both enjoyed it! – Meggan
This was really good. Added some dried marjoram.
Yum! I’m so glad you loved it! Take care! – Meggan
My wife and daughter thought it had to be about the best soup they ever ate. I did add 1/2 tea of dried oregano.
Thank you for writing! I’m so they both loved it! – Meggan
So easy, so good!!! Thank you Meggan.
You’re welcome, Dwayne! I’m glad you loved it! – Meggan
Would love to make this . Would i be able to use rice instead of noodles and how do you think i can do the chance ty
Hi Linda, thank you for your question! I would do it one of these two ways, either add uncooked rice in at step 2 with the vegetables, adding a a little more broth to compensate for what the rice will absorb, and simmering until the vegetables and rice are tender, or adding cooked rice into the soup at step 3 instead of the noodles, and simmering until warmed thoroughly. Please write back and let me know how it comes out! – Meggan
Thank you for sharing this delicious and easy recipe. I’ve made the soup twice so far and have saved this recipe to use again and again!
Hi Shelley! You’re so welcome! I’m glad you love it! – Meggan
I had to change this up a bit as I’m gluten free, so I used the closest thing I had on hand in gluten free form. It came out truly amazing! Thank you for a delicious recipe that I’ll make again and again!
You’re so welcome, Stacey! I’m glad you loved it! – Meggan
does the recipe call for 8 oz cooked noodles or uncooked noodles?
Hi Iri, thank you so much for the question, sorry about the confusion. It’s 8 ounces of uncooked egg noodles. Sorry again and I hope you love this soup! – Meggan
I’m making this as I write. Love it just as written. I cook noodles and keep them out of soup till ready to eat. Soup and noodles will last longer in fridge if kept separate. Sometimes making a large batch, it will spoil with noodles added, if not quickly eaten up! 😉
Finally pulled my leftover Turkey out of the freezer to make this. So easy and tasty! I had some leftover heavy cream in the freezer (about 1/2 cup) that I threw in as well. Gave it a nice creamy texture and taste!
Hi Nelda, sounds delicious! Going to try that myself! – Meggan
This is the second recipe I’ve tried from this source. I loved both. I just signed up for the newsletter, can’t wait to try more options.
Thank you for signing up, Joyce! I’m glad you loved the recipes so far, and I hope you love what is to come! Take care! – Meggan
Thanks for this Simple recipe – Delicious and satisfying. I cook my turkey/chicken bones for 20+ hours to make a rich bone broth. I loved putting the uncooked noodles not long before serving. Everyone loved it! (the broth was still very clear)
Hi Tammy, that’s so great! Thank you so much for the comment and I’m glad the soup was a hit. This is one of my favorites. Thanks again! -Meggan
Thank you Meggan and happy holidays.This was fantastic for my first try at Turkey Soup!!
You’re so welcome, Kaye! Happy holidays to you as well! I’m so glad you loved this soup. Take care! – Meggan
This was simple and yummy. I mixed the original “carcass broth” I had saved from boiling down the turkey, with several cups of chicken broth and 2 cups of water. Also used some breast meat, but mostly carcass meat that had boiled off the bone last week. It was DELICIOUS! Thought I was too sick of turkey, but this was a big hit a few days later. Freezing half – if it’s not gone in a day!
So glad you loved it, Mary! – Meggan
There is nothing wrong with this recipe. It is just turkey noodle soup like it’s supposed to be.
Thank you, Simon! I appreciate your comment! – Meggan
Family loved the flavor. I will make it again but will add more vegetables the next time.
Hi Steph, glad your family loved it! – Meggan
This was great! I added some lemon at the end when I put in the noodles because I love that extra acidity.
Sounds delicious, Tyler! Same here! Take care! – Meggan
Very good and very easy! Would highly recommend!
This was good but a bit under-seasoned for our taste. I added a bit of cumin, Knorr’s bouillon, and a whiskey barrel black pepper. Great use for Thanksgiving leftovers!
Hi 3boymom, sorry about that! Glad you were able to adjust it to your liking! – Meggan
So good! Made with homemade turkey stock and leftover turkey from Thanksgiving – so much flavor and the kids ate it up! Just added oyster crackers.
Sounds delicious, Susan! So glad it was a hit with the kids! – Meggan
Don’t adding the noodles in soup to cook cloud the broth. I like clear soup and I always wonder about that
Better to add when ready to eat???
Hi Joan, you can always cook the noodles on the side, drain, and add to your soup. I love that clear soup sparks joy for you! – Meggan
Simple to make and very tasty!
Glad you loved it! – Meggan
DELISH! I was just dreaming of lemon chicken soup – and found this recipe to use w/my turkey broth.
I used Brown rRice Medley from Trader Joe’s which added a little heartiness.
Yum! Take care! – Meggan
Amazing recipe, I added chopped cabbage..
Great recipe for leftover turkey. Thanks for the super easy recipes. No over the top dialog. Just a nice description then right down to the recipe.
Hi Scott, thank you and you’re absolutely welcome. Enjoy! – Meggan
Great quick, simple recipe, easy to make and tasty to eat! We used homemade turkey bone broth, amish dried noodles and made for a great cold evening soup.
I have made this soup several times and am doing so again today with leftovers from my Christmas
turkey. Exceptionally easy to prepare and tastes delicious.
Great recipe and not hard to follow. My fiancé loves it.
This recipe is permanently on my iPad as I can alternate the turkey with chicken
A full 5 stars from me!
This was a great soup – and so quick and easy !! Will definitely make it again !
Just made your turkey soup and it is amazing! My family loved it.
Thanks
Thanks Connie, so glad you all enjoyed! – Meggan
Great recipe!
I added garlic, English peas, green beans, & leeks…
Fantastic outcome!
I’m so glad you enjoyed Dora, thanks! – Meggan
Yummy! I’m eating it now and it’s perfectly seasoned and delicious. I used al dente cooked ditallini pasta and only added it in at the very end. 5 stars for sure (:
How many does this serve?
Hi Debbie, this soup serves 8. If you would like to adjust this to serve more or less, you can adjust the number of servings in the recipe card above. Enjoy! – Meggan
Leftover turkey is always a must! To make my own broth, I break up the carcass, place it in a large pot; cover with water. Add some garlic some onion-skin and all, tops of celery. Cover and bring to boil. Then simmer for a couple hours. Drain off liquid and toss all other ingredients. Your house will smell heavenly! You’ll appreciate the soup all the more having smelled the broth all day! Be adventurous, make your own egg noodles too! Lori
Super simple and tasty recipe! Used a couple more cups of broth and an additional carrot and celery stalk just to make an additional bowl, but I’m sure this recipe is perfect as is for a normal sized family. Definitely adding it to our repertoire!
Love the simplicity and wholesomeness, I make it weekly in the winter.
WOW WOW WOW, LOVE IT
When cooking this recipe in the slow cooker, do you precook the veggies like in the regular recipe or put them in raw? Thank you! Can’t wait to try this with my leftover turkey!
Hi Sarah, they go in raw! They will cook perfectly in the slow cooker. 🙂 – Meggan
This soup recipe turned out to very nice way to use the leftover turkey. Thank you!
When you say stalk of celery, do you mean the whole stalk or a stick? Thanks!
Hi Millie, great question! Technically it would be a rib of celery, or one of the sticks. But since it’s common for folks to call a rib a stalk, it’s listed that way. But yes, just one of the sticks of celery. – Meggan
This was very easy and very tasty!
Hi Mary, thank you that’s great! I’m glad you loved it! 🙂 – Meggan
Very easy very satisfying dish this time of the year
Thank you so much Frances! Definitely one of my favorites right after Thanksgiving. 🙂 -Meggan
This is an amazing recipe!
This was an absolute perfect use of my leftover turkey. So good.
Made this easy recipe in my CrockPot didn’t have a carrot but totally delicious! Even better than my last 2 batches of chicken noodles soup. Look forward to making it again soon. Have lots of leftover turkey.
Simple. Excellent day after Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. Great on a wintery day
Excellent simple straightforward recipe.
I’m glad you enjoyed it Adrienne! Thank you!
Good straightforward “simple is best” kind of soup. Perfect after the stresses of Thanksgiving Day cooking; something no-fuss like this is just the ticket.
In response to an earlier post, I like that you suggested chicken broth. Anyone who has homemade stock or broth on hand will surely use that if they prefer, but this works for the folks who may have made a bone-out stuffed breast or something like that, and didn’t have a carcass or homemade stock on hand. Always good to have alternatives.
Why would use several dollars worth of purchased chicken broth when you can make delicious turkey broth by simmering your turkey carcass for a couple of hours? Can also pick those bones and salvage enough turkey for your soup. Save the nice sliced turkey leftovers for another entire meal. Otherwise the recipe is fine. Standard soup recipe, start with mirapois/sofrito, add other ingredients according to what kind of soup you’re making. For example, pork is great with any kind of bean soup (I use the bag of dried 15 kinds of bean.) Ham is great with green split peas or dried lima beans. And of course chicken with noodles or rice for classic chicken soup.
Not everyone cooks a whole turkey or even a bone in breast so that is why people use store bought broth/stock.
awesome recipe will make it again.
Great post. I’m going to be linking here in my upcoming Holiday Leftovers post over at hampersandhiccups.com. I’ll be sure to update you with the link 🙂
Thanks
Katelynn, hampersandhiccups.com
Exelente receta muuuuyyyyy rica te felicito linda Meggan, un fuerte abrazo y muchos besos. tu amigo Juan Carlos