Homemade soups are much easier to make than you think and my turkey noodle soup recipe makes the perfect lunch or light dinner during the chilly winter months.
For my soup, I used my leftover turkey carcass and all the scraps from deboning my turkey to make a stock. Some parts of my dry brine turkey recipe are perfect for this. But you can use a store-bought chicken or vegetable stock if you’d rather skip that part of the recipe.
Ingredients
Let’s start by gathering the ingredients we need to make my Turkey Noodle Soup Recipe. In Chef Speak this is called the “Mise en Place” which translates to “Everything in its Place”.
Not only does setting your ingredients up ahead of time speed up the cooking process, it also helps ensure you have everything you need to make the dish.
Can I make this soup with chicken instead of turkey?
You certainly can. I created this recipe after Thanksgiving which is why I used turkey. You can also use beef if you like beef noodle soup.
How long does it take to make soup?
Homemade soup can be made in just about 45 minutes, but if you have the time let it simmer for just a little longer to build the flavor profile.
How do I keep the noodles in my soup from getting mushy?
The trick to any noodle soup is not adding the noodles to the very end of the process, allowing them to cook just enough before serving. A great way to ensure your noodles are perfect every time is to cook them ahead of time.
Make sure to rinse and chill them down and when you’re ready to serve simply place the noodles in the bowl and ladle the hot soup over top of them. This will help cool the soup down just a bit and the noodles will be plump and firm! It’s going to be oh so delicioso, just serve it with a salad and some crusty bread and you’ve got dinner!
What kind of noodles can I use in my soup?
There are so many types of noodles if you’re not a fan of egg noodles use one of your favorites.
Broken spaghetti, macaroni, ramen or any variety of Asian noodles are good choices. I also love using tiny pasta like acini di pepe, ditali, pastina and orzo.
Other good choices are orecchiette, farfalle or any smaller pasta shape. I also enjoy adding tortellini or mini ravioli to my soups, making them even heartier and more filling.
I don’t like noodles what else can I use?
If you’re not a fan of noodles you can use rice, barley, zucchini noodles (aka zoodles), beans, or simply add more vegetables.
More soup recipes you’ll love!
How to Make Turkey Noodle Soup
Follow along with my detailed instructions below to see how to make turkey noodle soup in your kitchen the same way I made it in the restaurant!
Turkey Noodle Soup
Ingredients
- 2 carrots diced
- 4 stalks celery diced
- 1 medium onion diced
- 1 cup of frozen peas
- olive oil for sauteing veggies
- sea salt and pepper to taste
- 4 cups homemade turkey stock or store bought chicken or veggie stock
- 2 cups turkey meat diced or pulled into small easy to eat pieces
- 2-4 cups uncooked egg noodles or your favorite pasta shape
Instructions
Turkey Stock
- place all your scraps and turkey carcass in a large pot with the peels and vegetable scraps from the soup prep. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Allow stock to simmer and reduce by 60-70% or about 4 cups of stock. This process should take about an hour or a little longer.
Turkey soup
- heat a medium stockpot and add olive oil to sweat down the veggies (mirepoix)
- Add in diced celery, carrots and onion stir well and season with a little sea salt and black pepper, allow to cook for 3-4 minutes
- Add turkey stock and turkey meat, bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer allowing to cook for at least 30 minutes. I like to let my soups simmer for 90 minutes whenever possible.
- While soup is cooking in another pot cook your egg noodles a little on the al dente side, then rinse and chill until you serve the soup.
- finish seasoning the soup as needed and add in frozen peas, allow to cook for 5 minutes longer before serving.
- Add a heaping helping of cooked noodles to the bowl and ladle over the hot soup and serve with your favorite crusty bread.
Nutrition
Leslie
This was the perfect recipe for my leftover turkey!
Mama Maggie's Kitchen
My family loved this soup!
Swathi
Your noodle soup was delicious!
Audrey
I love Thanksgiving but this is perfect when you’re tired of leftovers!
Emily Flint
Perfect timing for this recipe, it was a delicious and healthy soup!
Sue
I’m so glad I found this. I have a crazy amount of leftovers turkey and am totally craving soup!
Ramona
A truly delicious soup this is. I’ve made it last night and it was a real success. The kids absolutely loved it too.
Rika Livingston
That soup was so good! I love soup! I may need to purchase the fresh turkey meat to make this again
Fatima Torres
Yum. I could go for some turkey noodle soup. Moreso with this cold front we’re experiencing here in SOuth Florida.
Jenn@Engineermommy
This turkey soup was a great way to handle the Thanksgiving leftovers. It’s the perfect thing for the frigid weather lately.
Farrah Less
How can you get wrong for the soup on this cold weather? And yes to they left over turkey this recipe looks very tasty. I can’t wait to try this sometime this week when I get a chance.
Cherise Kachelmuss
What a great and simple enough recipe! I will save this for after Christmas since we tend to have extra turkey then too!
Kathy
I’ve never had a turkey noodle soup before. I love chicken noodle, so I’m sure this is just as great. I do love turkey too, so I’d really be interested in giving this a try.
Victoria
This is the perfect recipe to make sure turkey leftovers don’t go bad. Hmm, I wonder how it would turn out with turducken leftovers, though?
Lynndee
That looks good. And that would be the perfect dish to have for dinner today because it’s cold in our neck of the woods.