Turkey Soup
Updated Dec. 5, 2025

- Total Time
- About 1 hour
- Prep Time
- 15 minutes
- Cook Time
- 40 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 3tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1large yellow onion, chopped
- 3medium carrots, diced (2 cups)
- 2 to 3ribs celery, diced (1½ cups)
- 4large garlic cloves, minced (2 tablespoons)
- 2teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, or 1 teaspoon dried
- 12cups (3 quarts) turkey or chicken broth
- Kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
- Black pepper
- 2cups dried egg noodles
- 3cups cooked, shredded turkey
- ¼cup chopped fresh parsley, plus more for serving
- ½cup prepared turkey gravy, plus more to taste (optional)
Preparation
- Step 1
Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables start to soften, about 12 minutes. Add the garlic and thyme and cook until fragrant, 1 minute more.
- Step 2
Add the broth, 1 teaspoon salt, and a few grinds (or shakes) of black pepper, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Stir in the noodles, then lower the heat and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, until they’re tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in the turkey and parsley; cook until the meat is just heated.
- Step 3
Add the gravy, if using, then taste and season with more salt and pepper, if desired. Serve hot with a sprinkle of parsley.
- To freeze, cool the soup to room temperature in the pot, then transfer to airtight containers and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge, or run the container under hot tap water until the soup releases. Reheat in a saucepan on the stove, partially covered, until simmering, adding more water or broth if necessary.
Private Notes
Comments
Knowing this makes a decent size batch, we pull out about half of the soup and set it aside before adding the noodles. That allows us to reheat and add noodles for the next bowls, or freeze easily and not worry about soggy noodles on the reheat….
This was such a wonderful solution to too much leftover turkey sitting in the fridge. I followed the recipe exactly as delineated and was struck by the elegant simplicity of the ingredients, which ultimately led to a fabulous flavor. The use of thyme and some turkey gravy to the broth worked magic and really finished off the dish. This one is a keeper. I am already looking forward to next Thanksgiving’s leftovers and repeating this recipe (probably even before then).
Great and easy recipe. I added sautéed chard and mushrooms as well, and subbed rice for noodles.
Can you add weights for the ingredients. How much does 2 cups of dried noodles weigh?
This soup is delicious. I cut back on the noodles because I didn't want a pasta dish. Excellent way to use up leftover Thanksgiving turkey. We ate it all before I had a chance to freeze some of it, my original plan. That's how good it is.
Used mix of Better than Bullion Chicken, Veggie and Garlic, 5-6 big cloves of garlic and the full cup of prepped turkey gravy. Keeper for any poultry protein!
