This turkey wild rice soup recipe uses leftover turkey (or chicken) meat and makes the coziest soup!
There's two types of people - the ones who look forward to the Thanksgiving feast itself, and then the type that looks even more forward to the leftovers. Which camp do you fall into?
In case you were wondering... what is wild rice? A bit of trivia for you - wild rice isn't technically rice at all. It's the seed of a tall aquatic grass. Now you know.
Wild rice takes a fair bit of time to cook, but as I like to keep things simple around here, there's no pre-cooking of the rice required like in some other wild rice soup recipes. I give the rice a head start and then add the turkey and mushrooms into the soup a bit later so they don't overcook. One pot meal. Ok, so I have this pet peeve where I get irritated when people describe soup as a "one pot meal". It's pretty rare when soup isn't just made in one pot, isn't it? I can think of like one soup that I make where you need to dirty up more than one pot, and it involves sieving a roux into the soup. But anyway...
Recipe notes:
- I've tested this with a wild rice blend, and it tastes just as good, but it discolored the soup a bit (made it a little brown). It really depends on the blend you buy, but just letting you know that this can happen depending on what rices are in the blend.
- You could try swapping the wild rice for white rice or brown rice, but keep in mind that you may need to adjust cooking time a bit (white rice especially cooks much faster).
- This soup will work just as well with leftover cooked chicken meat (or even buy a rotisserie chicken).
- Feel free to add different vegetables or leave out the mushrooms if they're not your thing.
- If you're planning on freezing this soup, I suggest freezing it without the rice and then adding cooked rice to it prior to serving. I'd also add the cream in just prior to serving it.
- This soup will keep for a few days in the fridge, but you may need to add some more broth when reheating if the wild rice soaks up too much liquid for your tastes.
Other leftover turkey recipes you may like:
- Easy Leftover Turkey Soup Recipe
- Easy Creamy Leftover Turkey Pasta Recipe
- Thai Turkey Soup
- Quick and Easy Turkey Noodle Soup
Will you make this turkey and wild rice soup?
Questions? Leave me a comment below! What's your favorite way to use up turkey?
Leftover Turkey Wild Rice Soup
This turkey wild rice soup recipe uses leftover turkey (or chicken) meat and makes the coziest soup!
Ingredients
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 2 medium carrots peeled & chopped
- 3 sticks celery chopped
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 dashes Italian seasoning
- 3 heaping tablespoons flour
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup uncooked wild rice
- 2 cups (or more) cooked turkey meat shredded/cut up
- 7 ounces cremini mushrooms sliced
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup heavy/whipping cream optional
Instructions
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Prep your onion, carrots, and celery. I just roughly chopped the carrots and celery.
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Add the oil and butter to a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion, carrots, and celery. Sauté for 7 minutes, stirring occasionally.
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Stir in the garlic, Italian seasoning, and flour. Cook for 1-2 minutes.
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Whisk in the chicken broth until the flour is dissolved.
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Stir in the rice.
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Increase the heat to high and bring the soup to a boil. Once it's just boiling, cover the pot with the lid slightly ajar. Reduce the heat so it's gently boiling for 15 minutes.
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If you haven't already prepped the turkey and mushrooms, you can do it now.
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Add the turkey and mushrooms to the soup. Increase the heat again so it just comes to a boil, then reduce the heat so it's simmering again and continue cooking the soup for another 15-20 minutes (cover with lid slightly ajar) or until the rice is tender (wild rice does have a bit of "chew" to it, though).
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Stir in the cream (if using). Season soup with salt & pepper as needed.
Recipe Notes
- Recipe adapted from here.
- You can use a wild rice blend if you prefer.
Shelly says
Made this today with left over Thanksgiving Turkey. Easy and delicious! This is the second time I’ve used wild rice in a soup. The first time it disintegrated 🙁 It held up really nice in this recipe! Thanks for sharing!
Natasha says
I'm so glad you enjoyed it and that the wild rice held up! It can be a little tricky to cook with... it takes a long time for it to cook, but then, as you say, it can disintegrate. Thanks for taking the time to leave me a comment, Shelly! 🙂
AC says
Made this for dinner last night and it was delicious! Usually make at least one soup a week and this will join my soup rotation.
Natasha says
I'm so happy to hear it!! Thanks for leaving me a comment! 🙂