This creamy Turkey Rice Soup is a great way to use leftover turkey or chicken! Transform your leftovers into a bowl of this cozy, hearty soup!
We LOVE leftover recipes! Making as much food as we do around our house, we try to never let anything go to waste. Be sure to check out our popular Homemade Turkey Soup made from your leftover turkey bones, and this comforting Turkey a la King Casserole!
Creamy Turkey Rice Soup Made With Leftover Turkey Or Chicken!
We usually make this Turkey Rice Soup after Thanksgiving when we always have lots of leftover turkey. But we don’t wait until Thanksgiving to make it, either! Grab a rotisserie chicken or a turkey breast from the grocery store and you can make this soup all year long.
This easy soup recipe can even use up leftover vegetables from your Thanksgiving dinner like carrots or peas if you have them laying around. Just add them to this recipe or swap out the carrots and celery we have here.
How Much Leftover Turkey Will I Need To Make This Soup Recipe?
For this soup recipe you’re going to need about 3 cups of cooked, shredded or diced turkey. A little more or a little less isn’t going to be a problem, just use what you have.
For reference, if you’re swapping out chicken, you can also grab a rotisserie chicken from the store and shred both breasts. That should give you approximately 3 cups of chicken, the perfect amount for this soup!
What Kind Of Rice Goes Into This Turkey Soup?
This turkey rice soup is also a great way to use up leftover rice from that Chinese food you ordered the other night, or just leftovers from dinner. We usually use a bag of frozen rice that you cook for 3 minutes in the microwave. It’s easy and we always have it on hand.
Brown rice, white rice, wild rice or a rice medley like we used in our recipe will all work great! No rice? Swap out pasta, egg noodles or add cauliflower to keep this soup low carb.
Can You Freeze This Creamy Turkey Soup?
Freezing soup is a great way to use up leftovers and prep for another meal. Cream based soups like this one don’t freeze very well, so if you’re going to freeze it just make it without the cream and then add the cream to the soup when you reheat it.
But if you do have leftover soup that already has the cream in in, you can still freeze it! Just warm the soup gently on the stove top and stir to incorporate the cream back into the broth. Adding another splash of cream or broth when reheating helps too.
What Sides Can I Serve With Turkey Soup?
In our house, soup recipes for dinner don’t usually require any sides since soup is usually a whole meal in a bowl. But if you do want to add a side or two, we’ve got some good options!
Looking For More Soup Recipes?
- Creamy Potato Soup with Italian Sausage
- Chicken Pot Pie Soup
- Beefy Tomato Soup
- Split Pea & Ham Soup
- Slow Cooker Pasta Fagioli
Creamy Turkey Rice Soup
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 6 Servings 1x
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeThis comforting Turkey Rice Soup can be on the table in just 30 minutes! A great way to use up leftover turkey or chicken!
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup diced onion
- 1 cup diced carrots
- 1 cup diced celery
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- Fresh black pepper to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
- 2–3 cups cooked, shredded turkey or chicken
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1/3 cup dry sherry
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 2 cups cooked white, brown or wild rice
- Fresh chopped parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Add the butter and olive oil to a dutch oven or large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots and celery and cook for 7-8 minutes until softened. Add the salt, pepper and poultry seasoning to the pot and stir to combine with the vegetables.
- Stir in the cooked turkey, then add the flour, stirring until all the flour is mixed in to the turkey and vegetables. Cook for 1 minute and then pour in the sherry to deglaze. Scrape the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon while stirring the sherry into the vegetables.
- Slowly pour in the chicken broth, stir and bring the soup to a simmer. Cook for 20 minutes until the soup has thickened and reduced slightly. Next stir in the heavy cream and cooked rice and simmer for 5 minutes longer to warm through.
- Taste the soup for seasonings and adjust if needed. Serve with fresh parsley for garnish if desired.
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stove Top
- Cuisine: American
Made it today 11/30/20. Outstanding!!!
We’re so glad you liked it! Thank you!
Can you use half and half instead of heavy cream?
You can but the soup base will be thinner.
Very good will make again for sure and it would be good with chicken too!!! I followed the recipe with a few minor changes. I used 1 t. of poultry seasoning and ⅔ C. flour. We like thick soup, more of a chowder type. I used brown rice but added it only to the bowls served because I didn’t want it to sit in the remainder of the pot and over expand. Next time I serve it I will add rice to each bowl full again. Also, I do the same thing with pasta in soup. Next time I will probably use 2% milk instead of cream as we don’t need all the extra fat.