This Turkey is Still Giving

I realize I'm a few weeks late on my Thanksgiving post but since I'm still eating my leftovers in the form of this turkey soup, I figured it was okay to still share this recipe with you!

Last year I attempted to create turkey soup from the leftover turkey carcass from our Thanksgiving dinner.  The end result is what I would call...well...a turkey failure.  I'm not going to get into the details, but it wasn't good.  So naturally, this year I claimed redemption.  And what a redemption it was (insert roommates head nodding in agreement here).

I was too busy perfecting the soup to take snapshots of each step, but if you follow the below recipe, I assure you that you won't care you missed the pictures.

Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey Soup

Ingredients:


Broth:
1 turkey carcass (with all meat removed)
2 carrots, peeled and halved
1 onion, quartered
2 celery stalks
4 peppercorns
2 bay leaves

Soup:
3 carrots, peeled and diced
1 onion, diced (I had frozen pearl onions so I threw those in)
3 celery stalks, diced
1 cup small baby potatoes
1 cup butternut squash, diced
1 cup turnips and parsnips (I bought Trader Joe's pre diced mixture)
soup noodles of your choice
reserved turkey leftovers (cover your leftovers in an airtight container with a few teaspoons of gravy so it doesn't dry out)
1 bay leave
salt
pepper
parsley for topping

Directions:


For Broth:
Add celery, carrots, onion, peppercorns, bay leaves, turkey carcass in a large stock pot and fill with water until carcass is mostly covered with water.  Turn heat to high, bring to boil.  Reduce heat, simmer and cover for 2+ hours.  The longer you simmer the flavors together, the better your broth will take.  Mine simmered for close to 4 hours.

Remove carcass, and strain soup with cheese cloth to make sure you don't get any unwanted turkey bits in your broth.  Discard veggies, peppercorns, carcass, and bay leaves.

For Soup:
Add diced celery, carrots, onions, butternut squash, turnips, and parsnips into stock pot.  Add turkey broth and simmer until veggies are tender.  Add turkey to reheat.

Place noodles in a bowl, pour soup over, and enjoy!  Sprinkle with parsley for topping if desired.

This was delicious!  The potatoes were perfectly cooked with a crunch on the outside and warm potato center.  The pearl onions added a different texture than I usually use in my soup and the butternut squash made it extra colorful.  I enjoyed this for lunches for almost a week and have some more in my freezer for upcoming cold months.

What do you do with your Thanksgiving leftovers?