This Turkey and Wild Rice Soup is hearty, delicious, and comes together in just about 30 minutes. Packed with wild rice, plenty of veggies, and leftover turkey, it hits the spot during the holidays or any other time of year.
For a real treat, serve with a sprinkle of fresh parsley and a loaf of Rustic Cheddar Cheese Bread, homemade Parker House Rolls, or our Quick Dinner Rolls.
Turkey and Wild Rice Soup
This is the perfect warm and cozy comfort food to make with leftover Thanksgiving turkey. In just about 30 minutes, you can easily have homemade soup ready for the whole family. Once you have caramelized the onions, just toss the veggies, leftover turkey, and wild rice into chicken broth and simmer until the veggies are cooked and the turkey is warmed.
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I absolutely love the texture of wild rice in soup, but feel free to substitute any other kind of long grain white rice or brown rice if you prefer. You can also use leftover chicken or rotisserie chicken to make this recipe, and mix and match your favorite veggies.
Want to make your turkey and rice soup in the crockpot? See below for our easy instructions, or try any of our other favorite crockpot recipes.
Key Ingredients
- Butter – you will need butter to cook the onions. Salted or unsalted will work, or you can even substitute olive oil.
- Onion – white, sweet or yellow onions have the best flavor once they are cooked.
- Celery – slice celery into about ½” pieces.
- Carrots – peel and slice your carrots into ½” pieces.
- Turkey – you can use any kind of leftover turkey meat, including white meat, dark meat or a combination. Cooked chicken will also work. In fact, rotisserie chicken is one of my favorite kitchen hacks for making soups like this one.
- Wild Rice – I like wild rice because it gives the soup a nice texture, and it’s super healthy. Any kind of wild rice blend will work. Barley would also be good, and of course you can substitute white rice or brown rice. Just make sure and check the packaging to see the recommended cooking time that is listed. Egg noodles would work great too.
- Chicken Broth – use any type of chicken broth or chicken stock that you’d like.
How to Make Turkey Wild Rice Soup
- Caramelize the onion. In a large sauce pot over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the chopped onion and cook over medium heat until the onions are a light caramel color, or about 5 minutes.
- Add the rest and simmer. Add the celery, carrots, cooked turkey, rice, chicken broth, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and cook the soup for about 20-30 minutes, or until the rice is tender.
- Serve. Remove from the heat and add additional salt and pepper as needed. Enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
Yup! Just cool completely and transfer to freezer bags. Lay them flat in the freezer and store for up to 3 months. Once you are ready to use, you can thaw overnight in the fridge, or else transfer directly into a pot on the stovetop and re-heat on medium-low heat, stirring often.
If you want to go the microwave route, just transfer into a microwave-safe container and reheat for about 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between.
Nope, this recipe calls for adding uncooked rice to the soup. It will cook as the soup simmers, giving it extra flavor and slightly thickening the broth.
Absolutely. You can substitute any kind of long grain white rice if you prefer. You may just need to adjust the cooking time because white rice cooks much faster than wild rice.
Yes! I recommend that you still caramelize the onions on the stovetop first. Then, add them to your slow cooker along with the celery, carrots, rice, chicken broth, salt, and pepper. Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours or high for 2-3 hours.
Once the rice is almost completely tender, add the turkey and cook for an additional 30-45 minutes. Set the crockpot to warm, add additional salt and pepper as needed and serve.
Storing and Reheating Instructions
- Refrigerator: store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- Freezer: store cooled soup in freezer bags for up to 3 months. To thaw, transfer to the fridge overnight.
- To reheat: put soup into a dutch oven or sauce pot and warm over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until warmed through.
Turkey and Wild Rice Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1 cup yellow onion, chopped
- 2 cups celery, sliced
- 1 cup carrots, thinly sliced
- 2 cups turkey, cooked and cut into 1/2" pieces
- 2 cups wild rice
- 5-6 cups chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- In a large sauce pot over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the chopped onion and cook over medium heat until the onions are a light caramel color, or about 5 minutes.
- Add the celery, carrots, cooked turkey, rice, chicken broth, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and cook the soup for about 20-30 minutes, or until the rice is tender.
- Remove from the heat and add additional salt and pepper as needed. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
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More of the Best Winter Soup Recipes
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- Chicken Noodle Soup
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This leftover turkey soup with rice is quick and easy to throw together and the perfect post-Thanksgiving recipe. It’s hearty, delicious and can be ready in about 30 minutes.
Categories:
30-Minute Meals, Crockpot, Easy Weeknight Meals, Gluten-Free, Healthy, Main Dish, Nut-Free, Soups, Thanksgiving, Turkey, Winter Recipes,
This soup was delicious. Made it as directed but added some thyme, rosemary and a bay leaf while simmering. Came out fantastic. Thank you for the recipe.