Creamy Turkey Wild Rice Soup (Crockpot/Stovetop)
This is my favorite recipe for Creamy Turkey Wild Rice Soup! Use your leftover turkey and herbs from Thanksgiving to make a satisfying and healthy soup that is just what you need after all the carb loading you did on Thursday. (I know you.) The hint of lemon and the shredded carrots make this soup really unique and flavorful! Make it in the slow cooker or on the stove.
This post is sponsored by Zoup! Good, Really Good® Broth, but all opinions are my own of course! Thanks for supporting the amazing brands that keep The Food Charlatan chugging along.
The other day I was out on my front porch taking pictures of this Turkey Wild Rice Soup, getting an overhead shot by standing on a rickety old wicker chair that has to be at least an eternity old.
It’s the kind of chair that has a metal frame, so even though the seat part is completely disintegrating, if you stand on the metal frame you are good to go. I mean, if you are careful. (Come over to my house sometime. I’m sure you will feel really welcomed when I offer you a chair that has actual holes in it. Don’t worry I won’t call you fat when you sit down and it breaks.)
Well apparently this made my neighbors nervous. I don’t know why seeing an 8-month-pregnant woman standing on a chair that is clearly falling apart, hunched over and wielding a giant camera is cause for concern, but my friends Tyrone and Alex came rushing over. Alex even went to his garage to get me a stool.
Well there’s really no way to get overhead shots without standing on something, and the stool was even sketchier than the chair. So they just hovered over me while I finished up my photos, me griping at them when they got too close and blocked my light.
Chivalry is not dead my friends. Neighbors really do care about each other. Also, move into a court. I’ve never gotten to know my neighbors better than in this house, and I think it’s because you’re basically in a giant fishbowl, staring at the houses across from you. I love it. It’s nice to know people still watch out for each other!
We are T minus SEVEN days to the big T my friends! Thanksgiving is in just one week away, are you ready? Have you got your menu planned? We all know that leftovers are the best part of this holiday and I’m SO ready. Make this Turkey Wild Rice Soup when the potatoes and gravy are gone and you are left with a mountain of sad lonely turkey.
Zoup! Good, Really Good Chicken Bone Broth
Today’s post is sponsored by Zoup! Good, Really Good Broth, and I couldn’t be more excited about it! Their broths are SO delicious, and as their tagline says, are good enough to drink. Zoup! runs multiple soup-focused restaurants (follow @ZoupEatery to check out all their soups!), and is branching out now to bring high-quality broths to the market so that you can use it in your own kitchen. You can pick it up at Walmart, Raley’s, Albertson’s, and many other stores nationwide.
Their broths are kettle-cooked in small batches and are low-calorie, perfect for a post Thanksgiving detox from carbs. (My brother was over the other day and saw all the jars on the counter. He was impressed that there are only 7 calories per serving. Awesome right?) Their broths are also paleo-friendly and don’t have hormones, gluten, or saturated fat.
I used Zoup!’s Chicken Bone Broth for today’s Turkey Wild Rice Soup, but they also have Chicken Broth, Low-Sodium Chicken Broth, Veggie Broth, Beef Bone Broth, and new Organic Chicken and Veggie Broths. Head over to Zoup! Broth to learn more! And here is a custom coupon just for my readers to use.
How to make Turkey Wild Rice Soup
I’m in LOVE with this Turkey Wild Rice Soup. It has tons of flavor thanks to an excellent broth, fresh herbs, and a splash of lemon at the end that really brightens up the soup.
First we start out with a heck ton of celery. I don’t love raw celery, but I’m obsessed with it in soup. I chop it from the leaf end to get all that flavor in there. Dice up an onion and garlic and saute it all til soft. Add some flour to thicken up the soup and make it extra thick and rich.
Pour in your chicken bone broth and fresh thyme. Thyme is the only fresh herb I like to add before the very end. Cooking the whole stems makes the tiny leaves fall right off, and then you just have to fish out the stems later. So much easier than chopping it beforehand!
I like to shred my carrots for this soup. I love the texture that it adds, and that I can get all the flavors of the soup in every bite. It’s the recipe step that sets apart Eric’s Nana’s recipe for Beef Barley Soup, which is one of the most popular recipes on my blog.
And here’s the wild rice I chose. This is a blend of several different kinds of rice. You can use straight up wild rice if you want, or any blend that you find. You may have to adjust the cooking times. Make sure to check the cook times on the packaging of the rice you choose. See notes for more details.
The Zoup! Good, Really Good Broths come in nice, recyclable quart-size glass jars. I put some of the finished soup right back into the empty jars and gave it to a friend. This soup makes a HUGE batch, so it’s perfect for gifting to a family in need or freezing half for a rainy day.
How to make Turkey Wild Rice Soup from leftovers
The nice thing about soup is that once you know the basics, you can basically do whatever you want with the flavors. Starting out with a good, flavorful broth, is essential of course. But if you are stumped with what to do with your leftover produce from Thanksgiving, soup is the answer.
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme are all called for in this recipe, but you can adjust this to what you have. (If you only have sage, for example, just add that. It’s still going to be a great soup.) If you want to replace some of the carrots with mushrooms, go for it. (Saute them with the onions.) If you have cooked veggies that you served at Thanksgiving, and the flavors would be good in this soup, toss them in at the end with the lemon. The possibilities are endless!
Happy Thanksgiving prep everyone! If you need menu inspiration, check out all my Thanksgiving recipes here. There are several pages, be sure to click through all of them to see older recipes.
More soup and turkey recipes you are going to love!
- Turkey Barley Soup (Slow Cooker) << this recipe is similar to today’s but uses barley instead of rice! I love it!
- Kale, Chicken, and White Bean Soup with Parmesan Shavings << you could add your turkey leftovers to this soup too!
- Beef Barley Soup << this soup is from Eric’s grandma. It’s famous for a dang good reason.
- Creamy Chicken Enchilada Soup << another recipe you could use with your turkey!
- Chicken Noodle Soup with Homemade Noodles << can’t beat a classic!
- Zuppa Toscana Copycat << just like at Olive Garden! Irresistible!
- Roasted Butternut Squash Soup << so easy, and so flavorful!
- Cream Cheese Chicken Chili (Crock Pot) << you could use turkey in this one too. It’s so easy.
- Creamy Italian Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup from Recipe Rebel
- Instant Pot Broccoli Cheese Soup with Chicken from Diethood
- Crockpot Lasagna Soup from Family Fresh Meals
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Creamy Turkey Wild Rice Soup
10-12 adjust servingsThis is my favorite recipe for Creamy Turkey Wild Rice Soup! Use your leftover turkey and herbs from Thanksgiving to make a satisfying and healthy soup that is just what you need after all the carb loading you did on Thursday. (I know you.) The hint of lemon and the shredded carrots make this soup really unique and flavorful!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
- 3 cups celery, chopped
- 2 large onions, chopped
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon dried poultry seasoning
- 4 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 12 cups Zoup! Good, Really Good Chicken Bone Broth (4 31-ounce jars)
- 1 bay leaf
- 5 sprigs fresh thyme
- 8 medium to large carrots, shredded
- 4 cups leftover cooked turkey, a mixture of dark and white meat
- 1 and 1/2 cups quick-cooking wild rice blend*
- 1 and 1/2 cups cream
- juice from 1 large lemon (1/4 cup), or to taste
- 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh sage, chopped
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
- more fresh herbs, to garnish
Instructions
- In a very large stock pot, melt 1/2 cup butter over medium heat.
- Chop 3 cups celery. I used almost a whole medium head of celery, including the leaves at the end. (They add great flavor!) Instead of pulling off individual stalks, just start chopping the whole head from the leafed end. See photos.
- Chop 2 large onions. Add celery and onions to the pot with the melted butter.
- Add 1 teaspoon kosher salt and 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning.
- Saute for 13-14 minutes on medium heat, stirring occasionally until the onions are translucent.
- Add 4 cloves of minced garlic and stir for about 1 minute, until the garlic is fragrant.
- Sprinkle the vegetables with 1/2 cup flour and stir for 1 more minute.
- SLOWLY add 12 cups Zoup! Chicken Bone Broth, stirring the whole time. You don't want lumps of flour so make sure to stir up those vegetables.
- Add 5 sprigs of thyme and 1 bay leaf.
- Peel 8 medium to large carrots, and cut off the ends. Use a food processor to shred the carrots. You can do this using a cheese grater if you don't have a food processor. You can also chop the carrots into rounds if you like. But shredded carrots is what gives this soup the texture I love, so keep that in mind. (Shredded carrots are what made Nana's Beef Barley Soup internet famous.) It's going to taste good either way, no matter how you prepare your carrots.
- Add all the shredded carrots and turn the heat to high. Cover with a lid and bring to a boil. Don't walk away and let it boil over!
- When the soup is boiling, add 4 cups leftover cooked turkey meat. I like a mixture of dark and white meat, but you can use whatever you have. (You can also use cooked chicken!) Lower the heat to a simmer, somewhere between low and medium low depending on your stove. There should be slow bubbles happening but nothing too active. Simmer for about 30 minutes, until the carrots are tender.
- Add 1 and 1/2 cups quick cooking wild rice blend* (see note!) and bring to a boil over high heat. Once it boils, turn the heat back down and simmer for another 15-30 minutes, until your rice is tender.
- When the rice is cooked, turn the heat all the way to low and stir in 1 and 1/2 cups cream.
- Stir in 1/4 cup lemon juice. This gives the soup a bright and lemony flavor, so if you are not into that, start with 2 tablespoons and add more from there.
- Use a sharp knife to chop 1 teaspoon rosemary, 1 tablespoon sage, and 2 tablespoons parsley. You can adjust these amounts to taste. Stir the herbs into the soup and turn off the heat.
- Add salt and pepper to taste. Don't skip this step! I added at least 1 more teaspoon salt, but this will depend on how salty your leftovers were.
- Don't forget to remove the thyme stems and bay leaf.
- Serve with fresh herbs sprinkled on top and another drizzle of cream, if you want.
- This makes a really big batch of soup! Soup freezes beautifully, so I put half in a ziplock and am saving it for a rainy day. I also put some of the finished soup back into one of the Zoup broth jars, which are almost exactly 1 quart, and gave it to a friend.
Slow Cooker Instructions
- Follow instructions through step 7 (sprinkling on the flour), except you can use a large skillet to cook the onion and celery (instead of a large stock pot.)
- Slowly pour in about 3-4 cups of broth, stirring the whole time so that your flour doesn't get lumpy. Transfer the mixture to a large crock pot (at least 6 quarts).
- Add all the remaining broth, the bay leaf, and 5 sprigs of thyme.
- Cook on low for about 6 hours, or on high for 3 hours.
- Add the shredded carrots and turkey, and cook on low for another hour.
- Add the wild rice and cook for another 30-60 minutes, until the rice is tender.
- Stir in the cream, lemon juice, and all the fresh herbs. Season with salt and pepper. Put the lid back on to warm it back up for a few minutes, if necessary, otherwise serve immediately.
by The Food Charlatan
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This was honestly really delicious. I halved everything except the turkey and added some egg noodles and it was amazing. Definitely will make again.
Love the idea of adding in egg noodles Zachary! I bet it was delicious. Thanks so much for reviewing!
Very good! I made with a rotisserie chicken and the whole family enjoyed it and I’m looking forward to the leftovers for lunches throughout the week.
What kind of “cream” is being used for this recipe?
Hi Gloria! Cream is a dairy product, it’s sold near the cream. Sometimes it’s labeled heavy cream or whipping cream. Any type will do for this recipe!
This soup is definitely “THE BOMB”. I knew it would be yummy as I make your beef stew all the time as we are addicted. Only problem the beef makes a terrible mess on my stove when i brown it. But it’s worth it. These are two of the best soups I have ever made.😊
Searing the beef for Beef Barley Soup does make a terrible mess, you’re so right. Have you ever tried using a splatter shield? They help some. I’m SO glad you are loving the turkey soup and the barley soup! Thank you for commenting!
what an awesome soup I enjoyed it immensely very flavorful thank you
I made this soup but cut back the ingredients because there’s only two of us. My crock pot was still filled to the brim. I bagged the leftovers for another cold day.
I just made this recipe today and all I can say is it is the bomb.com. This soup is hearty, creamy, rich and flavorful. My whole family loved it. Even though it makes plenty, not sure it’ll last. Thank you for the recipe. 🙏🏽
bomb.com indeed Tracy! Haha. I just made this again over the weekend too. Still a favorite! I’m so glad it was a hit with your family. Thanks so much for sharing!
How much soup is a serving size? It is delicious and a great way to use our left over turkey!
I’m so glad you liked it Annie! I don’t have exact nutrition facts for this recipe, so a serving size to me is whatever fits in my bowl ;) I said it serves 10-12, but it might even serve up to 15 realistically. It really makes a huge batch, my soup pot is full to the brim when I make it.
Made this recipe with the leftover Turkey Breast from Thanksgiving. OMG…I have given this away to our neighbors and had other people over for the leftover soup. Everyone wanted the recipe! This has to be one of the best Turkey soup’s I have ever made.
That is so awesome Donna! Your neighbors are lucky :) Thanks so much for taking the time to comment! Happy holidays!
I’ve made this soup 3 times in the past month using Zoup! Bone broth and regular chicken broth made with Better than Bouillon. I’ve also used both shredded chicken breasts and leftover ham–each time it was phenomenal. It’s a very forgiving soup in terms of subbing similar ingredients. Each time it has been so so good!! We never have enough left over to freeze!
Absolutely delicious!!! Thank you so much for the recipe!
This is amazing!!! I’m not waiting a year. I’m going to make it with chicken. I think it’s best soup I’ve ever eaten.
That’s it you’re my favorite blogger ever. I’m making my way through your recipes and as promised this soup is delicious. My daughter who is picky said that this soup was ahhhhmazing!!! My husband and two boys were right behind her in her comments. This recipe made a lot of soup and I’m glad I’ll have some for the freezer. One day I’ll try the zoup broth. I instead used my own Turkey broth from Thanksgiving. I made French bread with it and it was perfect. My next adventure is Nana’s beef barley soup!! I’ve already informed my family it’s a soup week because it’s getting colder here in Texas (finally). Once again thank you. It was absolutely delicious!
Can you used dried herbs instead of fresh ones?
Hi Olivia! Yes, add them in with the onions and celery. start with a half teaspoon each and move up from there!
Absolutely delicious! This is the second year I’ve made this soup. I made Turkey broth from the carcass of our smoked Turkey and used that instead of the chicken Roth. This is a hearty soup with a unique flavor.
We need a dairy free soup, but this recipe sounds delicious. Have you made it with coconut milk instead of cream?
I haven’t tried that Julia but I think that’s a wonderful idea! Let me know how it goes. I’m thinking the soup has enough flavor to overcome any coconut-iness.
I love the idea of freezing the left over soup using the recycled jars. Is there a certain process to do this, or just fill and freeze?
Hi Debra, just fill and freeze! Don’t fill it all the way as the soup will expand as is freezes. Leave at least an inch or two at the top. Enjoy!
I have to say this is absolutely the best turkey soup. Made this with a wild turkey and turned out spectacular. I also made the broth and precooked the turkey breast and dark meat in the slow cooker. The lemon and fresh herbs , I mean just delicious!!
I’m so happy to hear this Andy! I love the sound of this with the wild turkey. I bet it was epic. Thanks so much for reviewing the recipe!
This is hands down my family’s favorite soup! I’ve made it now several times and my family raves about it every time. I use dried herbs, not fresh, because that’s what I have on hand. I also use less broth than the recipe calls for (3 jars instead of 4) plus a splash of regular chicken broth, if needed. My family likes thick soup.
Thick soup really hits the spot sometimes, right? I’m so glad you and the family are loving the soup Claudia! Thanks for sharing your tips and coming back to leave a review!
Although I did change out turkey for chicken and only used thyme and regular chicken stock this recipe was AMAZING. I will definitely make this again.
Great substitutions Michelle! I’m so glad you liked the soup. Thanks so much for commenting with a review!
So excited to try this! If I want to make a smaller batch, can I just halve all portions?
Yeah totally Cheri! It will work just fine to half it. It makes a huge batch, so halving makes sense. Though I will say, it freezes very well!
This is a great turkey soup. I did add diced gold potatoes to the recipe so that kind of goes against the low carb thing😉. I used 1/2 chicken broth and 1/2 turkey bone broth. Superdelish !
Hey I’m all about the potatoes Dan, it sounds delicious! I’m so glad you loved the soup, thank you for commenting!
This soup is so AMAZING!!! Love love it! Thank you for sharing.
Hooray! So glad it was a hit Annie! Thanks so much for reviewing!
Merciful Heavens! I made this soup for supper last night, using homemade Turkey Bone Broth. It was delicious!!! My husband had 3 bowlfuls and my son had 2 Huge servings. Definately a hit and a recipe I will make over and over!
I did reduce the cream, subbed it with milk and next time I will probably reduce the amount of butter. I skimmed off the extra fat this morning after it had chilled in the fridge overnight.
Thank you for such a wonderful recipe!
Hooray, soup success! I’m so glad it was a hit Cheri! Good idea using the milk and you could definitely get away with less butter. Thanks so much for your tips, I so appreciate your comment! Merry Christmas!
Made it tonight. Very good. I did use frozen rice medley, sine that is what I had. It worked out well. I also added lemon pepper and lemon peel instead of the lemon juice, as my lemons are not quite ready to be picked yet. Great recipe for thanksgiving turkey leftovers. My husband and I really enjoyed it. Thank you.
Ooh frozen rice! I’ve never thought to buy that, but great idea. And lemon pepper would be so good in this! Love all your tips. Thanks so much for sharing Diane! Merry Christmas!
By the way – I followed the instructions for making the stock as well. Here are the links:
○ Stock the day before: https://thefoodcharlatan.com/turkey-broth-from-the-bones/
○ Soup the day of: https://thefoodcharlatan.com/turkey-wild-rice-soup/
Fantastic!
I’m so happy you enjoyed the soup Ken! I just made it again tonight, it’s that good. We don’t make stuff twice around here that often :) Great idea making turkey stock, that gives great flavor. Thanks so much for reviewing! Happy holidays!!
Awesome – made exactly as written but made my own stock as well since I had the turkey bones from Thanksgiving and it turned out fantastic. Lots of turkey flavor and a hearty meal served with a salad. I used all fresh herbs and whipping cream. I will make this again!
When you say cream do you mean act whipping cream or what?
Hi Kim! Cream is the same as whipping cream or heavy cream. Depending on the brand, the fat levels might be different. Any kind of cream will work fine for this recipe! It’s usually sold in cartons by the milk. Enjoy!
This looks wonderful Karen! And I’m excited to try that new broth! Thanks for sharing this!
Thanks Kris! So glad you could find Zoup even up there in Sidney! That’s awesome.
Ooh this looks and sounds so good!
Thanks Misty! I bet you will love it! Eric just texted me after reading the post and said we need to get the other half out of the freezer, haha! It’s so good.
What’s the serving size and calorie count. Can’t wait to make it! Thanks
Hi Eleanor! I don’t provide nutrition info for the recipes on my blog, but you can plug the ingredients into an online nutrition calculator if you want! Enjoy the soup!!