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This Leftover Turkey (or Chicken) Soup recipe offers a delicious way to use leftover turkey or chicken. It’s a breeze to make and works for low-carb, keto, Whole-30, Atkins, Paleo, diabetic, gluten-free, dairy-free, and nut-free diets.
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I am always completely spent the day after Thanksgiving. Every motivation for cooking was used up to create the feast the day before and I’d really love to do nothing but sit on the couch. No black Friday shopping for me! Well, maybe I’ll partake if I can do it on my computer from the comfort of my own living room. But I digress…
The good thing about this day is that the fridge is full of leftovers and there’s really no need to cook. Still, sometimes, it’s nice to have something a little different than heated up Thanksgiving dinner.
This soup is so easy to make that it’s almost like not cooking at all. It comes together in less than half an hour, uses up about 2 cups of leftover turkey (or chicken), and is made with such healthy ingredients that it’s the perfect way to get back on track if you decided to splurge the day before. Yep, it’s the perfect post-holiday dinner.
This soup reminds me of the chicken soup my mother would make on cold winter days. It’s really a very traditional flavor, except I made small adjustments to decrease the carbs from “regular” chicken soup. This soup contains just enough onion and carrots to give good flavor and satisfying chunks, but not enough to make it too high in carbs. I augment the onion flavor without adding too many carbs by using a bit of onion powder, Celery, thyme, and parsley add additional complexity.
I contemplated adding something low-carb to make up for noodles and rice. I decided against it. I really just love the simplicity of this soup.
I make this soup in my favorite dutch oven. I like this pot, because it’s low and wide, giving lots of space to sautéveggies in before adding the broth. It also has excellent heat conduction. You could also use a large saucepan, or small stock pot to make this soup.
I’ve talked a lot about Thanksgiving, but this soup is great for using up leftover chicken anytime of the year. It works great with any leftovers you might have from my roasted chicken recipe. I’ve even poached chicken breasts specifically for this recipe.
This Leftover Turkey (or Chicken) Soup makes a nice light dish the day after the feast. Serve it with a salad for a complete meal. Enjoy!
-Annissa
If you’ve got tons of turkey leftover from Thanksgiving, you can turn it into Leftover Turkey (or Chicken) Soup so you can still enjoy it the next day. It’s filling and satisfying to eat. 🍲😋
5 from 1 vote
Leftover Turkey (Chicken) Soup
This Leftover Turkey (or Chicken) Soup recipe offers a delicious way to use leftover turkey or chicken. It's a breeze to make and works for low-carb, keto, Atkins, Paleo, diabetic, gluten-free, dairy-free, and nut-free diets.
Course Soup
Cuisine American, low-carb
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Servings 4
Author Annissa Slusher
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter (ghee or coconut oil may be substituted)
- 2 ribs celery sliced
- 2 ounces yellow onion chopped
- 1/4 cup carrot diced
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper freshly ground
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 4 cups chicken stock (32 ounces) packaged broth or stock works fine as well.
- 1 pound cooked chicken or turkey meat (about 2 cups) cut or torn into bite sized chunks
- sea salt to taste
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley chopped
Instructions
Heat a dutch oven or soup pot over medium high heat. Add butter. When butter has melted and is no longer foaming, add the celery and onion.
Stir celery, onion, and carrots until they are just beginning to soften. Add the thyme and black pepper. Continue to cook vegetables until they are crisp-tender.
Stir in the onion powder. Stream in the broth, while stirring. Stir in chicken or turkey meat.
Bring soup to a simmer. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender.
Taste and add salt if necessary. If you used regular broth, you may not need to add any. If you used stock or low-sodium broth, you may need to add 1/2-1 teaspoon, depending on your taste.
Stir in parsley just before serving.
Recipe Notes
Serving size: 1 1/4 cup
Per serving:
Calories: 175
Fat (g): 8
Carbs (g): 5
Fiber (g): 1
Protein (g): 24
Net carbs (g): 4
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C on March 20, 2018 at 1:06 am
Thanks! Need to use up the rest of that Costco rotisserie chicken!
Reply
Layla on June 14, 2018 at 1:13 pm
This hit the spot! I am on a Keto diet, so this recipe worked well for the diet. I used scallions instead of onions, no celery on hand, chopped baby carrots, shredded leftover dark turkey meat, a light dusting of seasoned salt, and some heavy whipping cream to give it a little more fat. Delish!
Reply
Harper and Annissa Slusher on June 15, 2018 at 1:55 pm
I love it when people add their own twist to a recipe! To me, being creative in the kitchen is what cooking is all about! I’m glad you enjoyed it and thanks for sharing your tweaks and twists!
-AnnissaReply
Carol Urquhart on June 19, 2018 at 9:49 am
I would like to double this recipe, and freeze some in mason jars. How long can I freeze a jar of turkey soup?
Reply
Harper and Annissa Slusher on June 19, 2018 at 12:15 pm
Hi Carol,
Be sure to use freezer safe Mason Jars when you freeze it. Foodsafety.gov recommends 2-3 months for freezing soups. Good luck!
-AnnissaReply
DJ on October 23, 2019 at 5:03 am
I made bone broth from the turkey bones and used it for this soup. Left the thyme out and it is excellant.
Reply
Robert Medlock on January 6, 2021 at 7:28 pm
It’s not really a keto dish or even keto friendly. The ratio of fat to protein calories should be a minimum of 2:`1
Reply
Annissa Slusher on January 6, 2021 at 8:32 pm
Robert,
This soup can be part of a ketogenic diet. A ketogenic diet is any diet that pushes the body to generate ketones. There is a great deal of misinformation out there. Also, if you are shooting for a certain ratio of macros, you can add up the macros of ALL of the foods you eat for each day. Each specific food does not need to fit the macro ratio.
Dr. SlusherReply
Rae on December 12, 2021 at 3:59 pm
Was delish! I think the thyme and onion powder gives it the kick. I used Thanksgiving turkey scraps and served over rice. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Reply
