Once you have your rich stock, add sauteed vegetables and leftover turkey meat for a wonderfully satisfying meal. Having a hot, comforting bowl of soup for a late dinner on Thanksgiving is something I look forward to every year. We eat our Thanksgiving meal early to ensure we get to enjoy this delicious soup that same night! This turkey carcass soup is rich and delicious. After carving, we always save the turkey bones, plus any skin we’re not interested in eating, and often the wings. Turkey bones with some attached meat and skin, slowly simmered for several hours, make a rich, flavorful stock.
Ingredients
Recipe Card
For the turkey stock:
Bones from a 10-12-pound turkey. If some meat is still attached to the bones, that’s even better and will make for a richer, more flavorful soup. When I roast turkey wings separately, I add the wing tips, too. Water: Enough to cover the bones. Seasonings: Kosher salt, black pepper, dried thyme, and a bay leaf.
For the soup:
Olive oil: For sauteing the vegetables. Vegetables: Sliced carrots, sliced celery, and chopped onions. Cooked turkey meat: White or dark - both work, though typically use white. Be sure to remove the skin.
Simmer turkey bones in water with spices for three hours. Strain the rich stock and discard the bones. Cook vegetables (onions, celery, and carrots) in olive oil or butter. Add diced cooked turkey meat. Serve immediately. If you decide to skim it, it’s easier to do so if you allow the stock to cool completely in the fridge. The fat will float to the top and harden, making it easy to remove. Then, you can reheat the stock and proceed to make the soup. Since this soup contains meat and vegetables, it makes a complete and filling meal. If you’d like to add something on the side, try thick slices of almond flour bread (great for dipping in the soup!), cornbread, keto crackers, or these delicious keto biscuits. You can add cooked noodles or rice to the soup if you’re not eating a low-carb diet. The photo below shows a bowl of this soup with cooked noodles - that’s how my kids eat theirs:
