If you are looking for a great recipe for your leftover turkey, you found it in this Turkey Wild Rice Soup!
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families! Today I bring you a recipe for my favorite thing to make with leftovers: soup!
This Turkey Wild Rice soup is perfect to make with your leftover turkey because it has all the things in it that you probably already have on hand from your Thanksgiving cooking extravaganza: carrots, onion, celery, garlic, and fresh herbs.
I make my Turkey Wild Rice Soup with butter and a little half and half to give it some creaminess. If you want to make this dairy-free, it’s easy to do. Just use oil in place of the butter to sauté the vegetables and either skip the half and half or use a plain non-dairy creamer.
This is an easy way to make good use of a lot of your leftovers. I just love the flavor of this Turkey and Wild Rice soup and it won’t take you nearly as long as it took to make your Thanksgiving feast.
If you use your turkey bones to make stock this soup will really sing, but it’s also great using chicken stock, so use what you have. 
Sherry wine compliments the flavor well here, but if you don’t have it that’s okay, your soup will still be delicious.
The first time I had slivered almonds in my turkey and wild rice soup I knew I’d never go back to leaving them out. Another great addition if you have them. They give the soup an unexpected, but welcome crunch.
If it happens to be any other day of the year when you’re reading this, you can certainly make this soup with leftover chicken as well.
I hope you enjoy this soup and the rest of the weekend with your family!
How to Make Turkey and Wild Rice Soup
Leftover Turkey and Wild Rice Soup
This Turkey and Wild Rice Soup is perfect for your leftover turkey or use leftover chicken!
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 60 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 mins
- Yield: 6-8 1x
- Category: soups
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 2 carrots, chopped
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 celery stalks, sliced
- 8 ounces sliced mushrooms (chopped if you prefer, but not necessary)
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 4 tablespoons flour
- 4–5 cups turkey or chicken stock
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
- 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 cup uncooked wild rice
- 1/2 cup sherry wine (optional)
- 3 cups shredded cooked turkey
- 1/2 cup half and half
- 1/4 cup slivered almonds (optional)
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Melt your butter in a large Dutch oven or stock pot.
- Add the carrots, onion, and celery to the pot, season with salt and pepper, and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
- Add the mushrooms and garlic and cook another 5 minutes.
- Add the flour and cook about 3-5 minutes.
- Add 4 cups of the turkey or chicken stock, thyme, rosemary, Worcestershire sauce, and rice.
- Bring to a simmer and then cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Add the sherry and turkey and simmer, uncovered, another 15-20 minutes, until the rice is cooked.
- Stir in the half and half and slivered almonds.
- Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.
- Add more stock if soup is too thick for your liking. Enjoy!
Nutrition
- Calories: 335
- Sugar: 5.5g
- Sodium: 253.7mg
- Fat: 12.8g
- Saturated Fat: 5.9g
- Carbohydrates: 28.7g
- Fiber: 2.9g
- Protein: 24.1g
- Cholesterol: 77.5mg
If you love healthy soups, you MUST try this Easy Oven Chicken Stew!
This recipe was first published in 2016. A video was added in 2019.
Aaryn says
November 26, 2016 at 8:20 amThis looks great, but I don’t see the turkey in the ingredient list. How much do you add and when?
Maryea says
November 26, 2016 at 8:51 amWell that was a terrible thing to forget! It’s 3 cups shredded turkey and you add it with the sherry. I’m editing the recipe now!
Mary says
November 29, 2016 at 3:08 pmI sure would love nutritional breakdowns and carb counts on your recipes.
Maryea says
November 29, 2016 at 10:23 pmI do provide it for most of my recipes since I have had access to a calculation tool about a year ago. For this one I didn’t include it because I was traveling for Thanksgiving and honestly, I totally forgot to calculate it! I will do it now and insert the nutritional label. 🙂 Let me know if there are any other recipes you need the info for and I can get it.
Denise says
September 16, 2017 at 1:31 amI thought this tasted amazing. I love the creaminess of the soup. I made my soup in the crock pot. I forgot to add the sherry. I can’t wait to make this again, this time with the sherry!
★★★★★
Maryea says
September 18, 2017 at 10:25 amThanks for the feedback, Denise! 🙂
Teya says
December 2, 2018 at 1:36 amIf cooking in the crock pot, do you still cook everything first? How long do you cook in crockpot?
Carole Barr says
November 26, 2017 at 8:10 pmWe made this for dinner tonight – absolutely delicious! The almonds take it to the next level! We did add more broth at the end as it was a little thick for our taste, but overall this is a fabulous recipe!
★★★★★
Maryea says
November 27, 2017 at 1:01 pmThanks, Carole! So glad to hear that!
Tina Hoffman says
November 28, 2017 at 12:15 amI made this and love it so does my husband. I also gave the leftovers to my sick pastor and his wife. Thanks for sharing.
★★★★★
Maryea says
November 29, 2017 at 10:14 amYou’re welcome Tina! I’m glad you enjoyed this. 🙂
Barb says
December 28, 2017 at 5:53 pmLove this recipe…..it has become our go to recipe for leftover turkey. I did add extra broth…..probably twice what the recipe called for.
★★★★★
Maryea says
December 29, 2017 at 10:10 amThanks for letting me know, Barb!
Cara says
January 5, 2018 at 5:37 pmThis was delicious! Have you tried freezing it? Any thoughts on whether it would freeze well?
Maryea says
January 6, 2018 at 8:40 amWe always eat it up so quickly, we never have any to freeze! So I haven’t tried it. But, I do feel like it would freeze fine. Please let me know if you try it!
Janice says
April 23, 2018 at 7:34 pmwhen does the rice get added in? I don’t see it in the instructions…
Thanks!
Maryea says
April 23, 2018 at 9:35 pmIt’s in step 5. You add it along with the stock. 🙂 Enjoy!
Jan says
November 23, 2018 at 11:01 pmThis was a great way to get rid of my leftover Thanksgiving turkey. It was worth the effort, so yummy.
Deb says
November 24, 2018 at 8:57 pmThis has to be the best soup I have ever made! Restaurant quality and just so hearty! I will make this again! Lil tip I grabbed (not mentioned in this recipe) is to soak ur wild rice about 6 hrs ahead of making the soup!
★★★★★
Jennifer says
November 24, 2018 at 10:54 pmI used the turkey carcass to make a homemade broth and just threw in the leftover herbs from thanksgiving dinner while it simmered. I strained this and followed the rest of the recipe. It was amazing and is now a Thanksgiving tradition!
★★★★★
Amber says
November 25, 2018 at 11:40 amWould this recipe turn out okay if I used olive oil instead of butter and almond milk instead of half and half or just added more broth instead of the half and half? Dairy free is my goal especially with dinners.
Deb says
November 25, 2018 at 1:20 pmI suspect u cud use some good olive oil to replace the butter and just omit the cream for dairy free option – the trick is good rich bone broth for better flavor – I think the almond milk may Change the flavor and suggest not adding.
★★★★★
Maryea says
November 25, 2018 at 3:00 pmYes, you can use olive oil in place of the butter. For the half and half, you can either leave it out all together, OR use a non-dairy milk. For the best flavor, I recommend Ripple pea milk. I’ve found that to have the most neutral flavor. You can use almond milk, but it will change the flavor.
Amber says
November 25, 2018 at 3:34 pmThank you! I’m glad I asked. I’ve tried to use almond milk a couple times as an alternative in similar recipes and it never turns out right. The consistency is usually off or it tastes funny (I use unflavored unsweetened almond milk). Thank you again!
Kari A. says
November 26, 2018 at 7:53 pmI was looking for something a little different from our standard Thanksgiving leftover turkey noodle soup. I’m so glad I found your recipe. It is absolutely delicious. My 5 year old picky eater declared me to be the best cook over this one. Thank you for sharing.
★★★★★
Emily says
November 28, 2018 at 10:06 amI stumbled upon this recipe when searching for a good soup to use up our Thanksgiving leftovers, and I’m so glad I did! I made it over the weekend and I am making it again for dinner tonight, that’s how good it is!!
★★★★★
Maryea says
November 28, 2018 at 12:51 pmSo happy to hear that, Emily! 🙂
Pam Hicks says
December 2, 2018 at 4:55 pmAbsolutely delicious! This is a definite keeper! Loved the texture and extra flavor the almonds added. YUMMY!
Encore says
December 31, 2018 at 5:54 pmDelicious, satisfying, comfort food. Will definitely make it again!
★★★★★
Maryea says
January 2, 2019 at 7:48 amSo happy to hear that!
JanetThompson says
February 1, 2019 at 6:28 pmI would rate this soup a 10!!! I love it. I used only a tbs of butter and olive oil to sauté the veggies and fat free 1/2 and 1/2. Added extra stock. It is a perfect winter soup
★★★★★
Carla Patricia Moraes Lacerda says
February 8, 2019 at 12:32 amThis was THE BEST and is now my FAVORITE soup to make at home.
Thank you for sharing this amazing recipe. It was a HIT at my house.
★★★★★
Taniss says
November 2, 2019 at 2:58 pmI have made this soup before and loved it so much! I went to make it again but I cannot find the receipe on this page, am I missing some?
Maryea says
November 2, 2019 at 5:00 pmI’m not sure what happened, but I think I restored it. Is is showing now? Sorry about that!
Taniss says
November 3, 2019 at 1:08 amYes thank you!