Smoked Turkey Noodle Soup
On November 17, 2021 (Updated November 05, 2024)
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After you enjoy your Thanksgiving turkey, use leftovers and trimmings to make an amazing smoked turkey noodle soup. This entire soup is made from scratch, including a savory turkey stock made from the leftover turkey carcass. It’s so good, you won’t even realize you’re eating leftovers!
Leftover Turkey Noodle Soup
Leftover turkey noodle soup is a holiday classic at our house. We all know leftovers are sometimes the best part of a big family meal, and this soup puts those leftovers to good use! Save your onion ends, carrot peelings, and celery trimmings while you’re preparing your meal, and don’t toss your smoked turkey carcass! Combined, they make the silkiest, luxurious, and most delicious turkey stock!
Once you have a great turkey stock made, you just need to add in fresh vegetables, cubed turkey, and egg noodles and you’re set! This turkey noodle soup is, in my option, the #1 way to get the most money out of your Thanksgiving turkey. (It also tastes the best too!)
How to Make Turkey Noodle Soup
There are two main steps to making this leftover smoked turkey noodle soup. The stock and the soup. Let’s dive into these steps.
- Turkey stock. I like to go all out with my turkey noodle soup and make my own stock. If you’re simply looking to use the leftover meat, by all means, feel free to use use a pre-made stock or broth. To make the turkey stock, simmer the leftover turkey carcass, leftover wings and legs, turkey neck, vegetables, herbs, and spices in 4 quarts of water for 4 hours. Skim any scrummy bubbles that rise to the surface as the stock cooks.
- Turkey Noodle Soup. Strain the stock and discard the bones and vegetables. Return the broth to the pot. Bring the broth up to a boil and add freshly diced celery and carrots, and onions. Boil for 10 minutes. Add the egg noodles and continue to boil for another 5 minutes. Last, add in leftover cubed smoked turkey, parsley, and black pepper. Check the noodles and vegetables for doneness, and enjoy!
This soup is extremely easy to make, and the only time commitment it needs is those 4 hours to make the stock. If you skip making the stock from scratch, you’re looking at a whole other filling dinner in less than 30 minutes. That Thanksgiving turkey is the gift that keeps on giving!
Tips for Homemade Turkey Noodle Soup
- Save your scraps. You can bag up and freeze celery tips and cores, carrot tops and peels, and onion ends during food prep throughout the week. Add those to your stockpot with your turkey carcass and reduce food waste.
- Swap out your birds. This recipe works amazingly well with chicken instead of turkey. If you’ve got a rotisserie chicken carcass and some leftover meat, swap that out for turkey in this recipe.
- Go even more homemade! I love using the premade egg noodles from the grocery store for ease and convenience, but my family also loves when I make a batch of homemade noodles. The kids even help roll out and cut the dough. This recipe for homemade egg noodles is our favorite.
Can You Freeze Turkey Noodle Soup?
If you’re like my family, we rarely have leftovers from this soup. It’s that good! If you do find yourself with leftovers of your…uh…leftovers, you can freeze the soup if you don’t intend to eat it right away.
f you’re a little sick of turkey, you can also make this soup and freeze it right away to be enjoyed at a later time. This soup allows for lots of options!
When planning to freeze this soup, allow the soup to cool to at least room temperature. You can speed this process by placing the soup in the fridge and stirring occasionally to allow the entire contents to cool.
Once the soup has cooled completely, transfer to a freezer-safe container. I usually just put my soup in a gallon-sized zip-top bag and label it clearly before placing it in the freezer. This allows for easy thawing, storage, and heating when you’re ready to enjoy the soup.
More Smoked Turkey Recipes
If you thought this turkey recipe was good, you have GOT to try out these other smoked turkey recipes! Better yet, start with one of these smoked turkeys, and use the leftovers to make this turkey noodle soup! It’s a win-win!
Smoked Turkey Noodle Soup Recipe
Here’s hoping you loved this smoked turkey noodle soup recipe as much as we do! Let us know how your soup turned out in the comments section below.
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Smoked Turkey Noodle Soup
Ingredients
Homemade Turkey Broth
- 1 smoked turkey carcass
- 2 leftover smoked turkey wings meat removed
- 2 leftover smoked turkey legs meat removed
- 1 turkey neck bone previously smoked alongside the turkey
- 1 medium onion skin left on and cut into wedges
- 2 small carrots cut into chunks
- 2 ribs celery cut into chunks
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary
- 6 garlic cloves peeled
- 1 Tablespoon salt
- 4 quarts water
Turkey Noodle Soup
- 5 cups uncooked egg noodles
- 2 cups carrots diced
- 2 cups celery diced
- 3 cups smoked turkey cubed
- ¼ cup fresh parsley minced
- 1 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Make the homemade turkey broth. Place all ingredients for the broth into an 8-quart stock pot. Cover the bones and vegetables with 4 quarts of cool water. Bring the liquid up to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer for 4 hours.
- Strain the stock. Every 30 minutes, remove the lid and use a wooden spoon to carefully scoop out any scummy bubbles on top of the stock. After 4 hours of simmering, remove the stockpot from the heat and strain to separate the bones and vegetables from the stock. Discard the bones and vegetables and return the stock to the pan.
- Make the turkey noodle soup. Bring the stock back up to a boil and stir in the diced carrots, celery, and onions. Boil for 8-10 minutes. Add the egg noodles to the pot and boil for an additional 4-5 minutes. Stir in the smoked turkey, fresh parsley, and black pepper. Taste the soup and add salt, as needed.
- Enjoy. Dish up the soup immediately. Take care! The soup will be hot. Enjoy.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
The instructions say to toss in the diced carrots, celery and onions. There are no onions listed for the soup ingredients; how much do you recommend?
There’s an onion in the ingredients, just above the carrots. I medium onion cut into wedges, skin left on.
Excellent. Had not made soup with smoked turkey, and this was delicious.
Excellent turkey-repurposing suggestion! Tip: Consider cutting or cracking open the turkey bones when making the “stock!” Exposing the marrow adds to the depth of flavor!
Made this tonight and it was amazing. Super simple and but really flavorful. Used homemade egg noodles, and sautéed veggies before adding smoked turkey and grilled beer can turkey stock.
I bet this smells mouth-watering as it cooks, Susie! The family usually gets pretty drunk on the night of Thanksgiving so making a soup out of our leftover turkey seems like a perfect idea for the morning after. One question, how long will it last in the fridge with the noodles? I’m quite skeptical that it may spoil after a day or two. Thanks for sharing, Susie!
I don’t think it would spoil, necessarily, after a day or two, but the noodles will absorb all of the extra broth as it sits.