Turkey Noodle Soup | Chickens in the Road

Oct
21

First, go outside and get a turkey.

I’m just kidding!! Unless, well, that’s what you want to do, then I’m not judging!

I already have turkey and Thanksgiving on the brain. Now is the perfect time to find turkeys on sale–buy two and roast one ahead of time to set aside stock for your turkey stuffing and/or gravy. There’s still enough time to get over turkey and be ready for more, more, more in a month. (I actually love to have turkey several times a year, especially if I can find it on sale.) I cooked one this past week and set aside two quart-size jars of stock, freezing one to have on-hand when I’m making stuffing next month.

I used the other one for soup! With the first frosts kicking in, it’s definitely soup weather around here. And using your turkey bones for soup is a great way to be frugal, too, and get every last bit out of that turkey. It’s amazing how much meat still comes off the bone even after you’ve already taken what can be carved off. And once you chill the juices that came off your turkey when you roasted it, the fat solidifies at the top and is easily removed, leaving the good stuff.

Start with the carcass of one 15-20 pound turkey.

How to make Turkey Noodle Soup:

1 turkey carcass
2 cups turkey stock
4 cups water
2 to 3 cups vegetables of your choice (chopped celery, onion, carrots, and/or peas, green beans, diced potatoes)
1 clove minced garlic or 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried herbs of your choice (dill, basil, rosemary, or chives work well)
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
3 cups uncooked egg noodles

Bring turkey carcass with water and stock to a boil then cover and simmer one hour.

Strain and remove bones and any skin, leaving the meat. Add vegetables and seasonings. I like to add about 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper here, too. If your family really likes spicy, consider adding a chopped jalapeno! (Spicy Turkey Noodle Soup! Yum!) Simmer for another hour. Enjoy the fantastic aroma!

Melt the 1/4 cup butter in a small saucepan. Add 1/4 cup flour, and some extra pepper if you like. Stir and simmer to bubbling for a few minutes.

Spoon into your soup for thickening the broth. Add egg noodles; cover and simmer another 10 minutes.

Serve it up with some fresh-from-the-oven bread!

(Don’t forget to save the rest of your stock in the freezer for your stuffing next month!)

You got Thanksgiving on the brain yet? Or is it just me?

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39 Responses
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10-21
5:57
am

I am sooooo into the Thanksgiving mood that I thought I smelled pumpkin pie yesterday. I have to order my turkey soon. As a most of the time vegetarian, I get a free range, lovingly killed turkey to assuage my guilt at loving the meal so much.

I have NEVER made good turkey or chicken soup. I always end up with tasteless, greasy water with vegetables in it.My mom use to throw ever left over, dressing, potatoes, everything, into the pot for her turkey soup, and I remember it was really good.

Kathie - Reply
10-21
6:29
am

mmm…now I want soup! LOL I like Thanksgiving too.

TeresaH - Reply
10-21
6:40
am

My turkey has already been purchased and is in the freezer awaiting the day I thaw it, season it, and throw his butt in my slow cooker with lots of carrots, celery and potatoes. Once everything is done, I will take the potatoes and make mashed potatoes out of them. Oh my goodness! So good! Thanks for sharing your soup recipe. I’ll have to try that. xxoo

Carolyn A. - Reply
10-21
7:16
am

The weather here is starting to turn cool and a bowl of hot soup sounds really good. As always, thanks for the great idea and good recipe.

Shari C - Reply
10-21
7:56
am

I am glad I am not the only one who gets soup on the brain as soon as the weather starts to cool down. I thought maybe it was some food addiction-LOL

Teresa in nc - Reply
10-21
8:01
am

More Garlic! More Onion, one or so of the big sweet ones!!
Cold & flu season is here (at least down in the foothills for the past month).

Add a dash of your favorite hot sauce in your bowl … that will help open up the sinuses (you can tell where my head is )

m - Reply
10-21
8:14
am

That looks delicious!

I love to eat turkey but don’t enjoy them in their natural state. They eat baby quail and spook horses.

Remudamom - Reply
10-21
8:42
am

Turkey is such an inexpensive meat. I have a friend that cooks one up and has a turkey dinner, slices it for sandwiches, makes creamed turkey over biscuits and then soup. She freezes what she doesn’t immediately use – and has several meals.

We just have it for Thanksgiving – but this year we’ll be having the “birthday meal” instead. Whenever our son’s birthday falls on Thanksgiving, we have steak, mashed potatoes and salad – and The Cake. He hates turkey – so we’ll be having that the weekend before this year.

Your soup looks delicious! I’ll give it a try this year. (Maybe he’ll eat it and think it’s chicken noodle? – For the longest time, he didn’t eat chicken – but he did eat hot wings. We didn’t tell him those came from a chicken. To this day we don’t know what he thought he was eating…)

beeyourself - Reply
10-21
8:44
am

I never thought about cooking the carcass. I will keep that in mind. I prepare a lot of soup for my brother and I’ll add this to his menu.

Becky - Reply
10-21
8:56
am

:biggrin: I always have a carcass in my freezer. My non-cooking friends even give them to me! It does make a delish soup. My favorite turkey leftover is turkey curry. Not a real curry, but rice, turkey, leftover stuffing, onions, garlic, mushrooms, turkey stock,curry powder, cumin, and thyme, baked in a casserole. Everyone loves it, even those who don’t like curry. I’m getting hungry again!! Have a great day! :flying:

MARY - Reply
10-21
9:04
am

I’m not much of a soup-maker, since I live alone. But, now that I’ve learned to can, maybe I’ll start exploring soups. This one looks like a GREAT start! Your recipes really tempt me to action!

Suzette - Reply
10-21
9:24
am

I have done the carcass/stock thing for a few years now and I always make turkey salad with the left over meat. That soup sounds awesome!! Thanks for the tip.

:flying:

wkf - Reply
10-21
9:34
am

When I lived in California I usually cooked the Thanksgiving feast, then took the food to my sister’s house for the family dinner. I LOVE to cook, and she loves to entertain and can’t cook to save her life. I don’t like to entertain, and I don’t have to clean the house and the kitchen for company, so that made a great division of labor. This year I’m in WV so I have no idea what my family will do for Thanksgiving. I suspect each family will find a turkey buffet at a local restaurant and eat out.

My favorite meal for Thanksgiving at home is the turkey carcus. I get first crack at the meat left on the bones for my dinner. It’s much better than the sliced turkey that gets served at the formal meal. The remaining meat and the bones go into the soup. I make it much like Suzanne’s recipe, but in recent years I’ve started using a jar of Ragu Alfredo Sauce to thicken the soup and add a creamy texture. It also adds some much-needed extra calories. As if we need extra calories during the holidays! Enjoy.

WV_Hills - Reply
10-21
9:39
am

Yay, this looks right up my alley.

Jill S. - Reply
10-21
9:39
am

Regarding your beautiful photograph of the old barn — a wonderful Christmas gift to friends and family would be a compilation of your daily photos, with their comments, printed as a book. I bet that’s one gift that wouldn’t be put on a shelf and forgotten. You’ve already done the work, and you can get actual photos made, use a web source like KodakGallery to print an album, or simply print your own photos on good paper and bind them yourself. Personal touch, and inexpensive.

WV_Hills - Reply
10-21
10:13
am

YUMMM….that looks WONDERFUL, Suzanne!!!! I am so in the mood for soups now..it is just getting a tad chilly here. I made chicken and dumplings yesterday, doubling the dumplings.
I am not big on Turkey, but LOVE LOVE LOVE stuffing. I do love these little Butterball “young breast of Turkey” we get now, around this time. Nothing bur young Turkey breast – the real thing – not the one that is “formed meat” – those are NOT good.
They are about 7 or 8 dollars here, and PLENTY for two people. The meat is soooo juicy and tender and they bake in about an hour and a half. I love those. We are looking for them now…We were doing little Cornish Game Hens, because they look like little Turkeys, but this is so much tastier.
What a GREAT idea to store up some broth now!!! :mrgreen:

Donna - Reply
10-21
10:17
am

You just gave me Thanksgiving Brain! You do the exact same thing I do with my turkey for Thanksgiving…I use every last ounce of anything edible on that bird…YUM…I have never bought one before and used it, I always wait and get mine on sale the last week or so. (I have no storage for that big of a anything in my freezer!) I think last year I spent $7 for a 26 pound bird.

Claudia W. - Reply
10-21
10:42
am

We get “fresh” turkey and they are still gobbling, so I will have to wait for Turkey Noodle Soup. *pouting*

Susan - Reply
10-21
10:50
am

That sounds great, but, um…. How do you make turkey stock?

Jen (aaron-n-jen.com) - Reply
10-21
10:52
am

Now I am so ready for some turkey,soup and lunch! Love the photo of the old barn. There’s something special about barns for sure!

IowaDeb - Reply
10-21
11:10
am

Mmmmmm….that looks amazing and the bread looks even better!

The FringeGirl - Reply
10-21
11:52
am

Holy cow, as Harry Carey used to say, that looks absolutely delicious. It’s a very cold morning here on the Illinois prairie and that looks like it would hit the spot.

- Suzanne, the Farmer’s Wife

Suzanne, the Farmer's Wife - Reply
10-21
12:10
pm

My friend and I were discussing our menu’s for Thanksgiving this morning. Can’t wait.

Shirley - Reply
10-21
12:40
pm

Love the pic of the turkeys. When we lived on the other side of our county we used to have to stop and let a monsterous gobbler and his harem cross the road. Of course, he would take his good ol’ sweet time! But now that we don’t have those wild turkeys on this side of the county, I miss them. Since we’ve lived here we’ve traded the wild turkeys for foxes, coyotes, bob cats, and deer … hmmmm … maybe those foxes, coyotes, and bob cats are a good reason for the turkeys to stay on he OTHER SIDE of the county! lol :fryingpan:

Blessings from Ohio…

Kim W - Reply
10-21
12:41
pm

yummers! I’m ready for Thanksgiving!

Knakedknitter - Reply
10-21
1:37
pm

Mmm, like I needed the help thinking about soup. It is just about that time of year, isn’t it?

Elcie - Reply
10-21
2:36
pm

We do something similar with our left over roasted turkey carcass, but we do it the Chinese way and make rice porridge out of it. Yummy, yummy! The rest of the year I make it with left over roasted chicken carcass. Your recipe looks good too!

ML - Reply
10-21
2:38
pm

I’ll be purchasing our turkey next week and we always use the carcass to make stock and then freeze it. Your soup recipe looks yummy. We usually make turkey pot pie and turkey stir fry with our leftovers. *G*

Brandy - Reply
10-21
3:02
pm

hey i love turkey!

the daughter’s grade school used to have a turkey dinner for a fund raiser about this time of year, somewhere around 4-6 weeks before thanksgiving. i used to make 1 turkey and 2 of those large aluminum pans of dressing and they had us bring in the stock for the gravy that they made at the school. it was a good refresher for turkey day. last year i used the brine mix from sonoma, it smelled really good but you really need to rinse that turkey real well after its brined. i didn’t use that carcass(haven’t ever really, because hubby has usually cleaned all the meat off the bones), but i bet it would make a amazing soup base.

ok, i’ve tried to log in to the forum and can’t do it. it could be too mentally challenging for me, i’ve been on my meds the last few weeks. what i wanted to share with you is this PUMPKIN FRENCH TOAST.

margiesbooboo - Reply
10-21
3:54
pm

I’m not sure which looks better, the soup or the bread. It is a perfect combo for the fall weather. It’s been pretty frosty here in the mornings. But great sleeping weather.

jean - Reply
10-21
4:42
pm

You guys are making me soooooo hungry.

catslady - Reply
10-21
4:58
pm

The bread looks good. I sooo don’t like turkey. I lived in a place where about 120 wild turkeys ranged. They were the nastiest things.

Estella - Reply
10-21
5:07
pm

Your soup looks absolutely delicious! I had soup for lunch, but it came from a Campbells soup can. I’m the lazy sort, I suppose. Most of my turkeys (since I usually eat by myself) are the rotisseried-variety from the grocery store.
Brenda

Brenda Kula - Reply
10-21
5:50
pm

This sounds so good After Thanksgiving I’ve always made turkey and noodles which everyone spooned over mashed potatoes (their favorite food after Thanksgiving. I’ll have to get a second turkey so I can make the soup!

Darlene - Reply
10-21
7:13
pm

First, go outside, and get a turkey.

tee hee

Amy - Reply
10-22
1:14
am

I haven’t seen turkeys advertised here yet. I am waiting for the sale price and then I have the perfect recipe for Thanksgiving Turkey !
Watch neighbors dogs and ahmm……CHICKENS !!! For one week while neighbor is floating on a Texas river consuming cold beverages
In exchange said neighbor will knock on my front door at 6 am Thanksgiving morning , I will arise from my bed , hand over two turkeys and two racks of pork ribs . Neighbor will enject turkeys ( we can only hope with humor ) , rub two ribs , laugh and place on a large trailer size smoker until early afternoon .
I will return to my bed until eight or nine am . Make a nice pot of coffee and some breakfast rolls. Watch some of Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade and prepare the sides to go with the Turkey .
A perfect Thanksgiving Dinner !!!

Kelly - Reply
10-22
9:12
am

We usually go to Thanksgiving dinner at my Aunt’s house, but she offers up the carcass for whomever wants it. Either my MIL or I usually call dibs and we make the same thing you do – Turkey noodle soup. It is one of my favorite things to make, and is one of my husband’s favorite things to eat. YUM!

Kari - Reply
10-22
1:30
pm

My mom will cook a turkey when she finds one on sale and she will pick off the meat off the bones and freeze the meat in single sandwich increments. Want to pack a turkey sandwich? Just pull it out of your freezer. I don’t know the last time she purchased deli turkey.

Also, if you have plastic bowls, freeze the soup in single servings and they are great for packed lunches and days when you just don’t feel like cooking.

Laura - Reply
10-22
7:13
pm

I wish you were nearby, Suzanne. We raised turkeys this year. This past weekend we packed them away to “freezer camp” with tender loving care. But not after sampling one and making stock. Oh my goodness! DELICIOUS! I have never tasted anything so yummy. I would have loved to share a sample with you.

Birdi - Reply