Healthy Leftover Turkey Wild Rice Soup

This healthy leftover turkey wild rice soup is a creamy, delicious, hearty soup made with whole-grain wild rice, leftover turkey, and no cream for a light but comforting meal made with Thanksgiving leftovers! (gluten-free, nut-free, dairy-free option)

Where do you stand on Thanksgiving leftovers? Are you pro-leftover or do they sit in your fridge and eventually get tossed in the trash?

I looove Thanksgiving leftovers. I could eat the same turkey and dressing until all the leftovers are gone. But if eating the same meal for days isn't your thing, this healthy leftover turkey wild rice soup is a healthy and tasty way to transform that Thanksgiving turkey into something completely different.

Why You'll Love This Leftover Turkey Wild Rice Soup Recipe

This turkey wild rice soup is:

• Simple - made with a handful of real ingredients
• Healthy - loaded with vegetables, whole-grain wild rice, protein-packed turkey and no heavy cream. It's made with Greek yogurt instead for a smooth, creamy finish!
• A great way to use Thanksgiving turkey leftovers
• Freezer friendly - If you're tired of turkey, freeze the soup for later!

How to Make Healthy Leftover Turkey Wild Rice Soup

I like to start by making the broth out of the turkey carcass if you still have it. No food waste here! To make turkey broth:

1. Remove the meat from the turkey carcass and set aside for later. Add the bones to a large stockpot.
2. Add a bay leaf, a couple of cloves of smashed garlic, a few sprigs of fresh herbs (such as thyme, rosemary or parsley), a quartered onion, a celery rib, and a large carrot (You can also use onion, celery and carrot scraps if you have them). Throw in a few peppercorns, a glug of apple cider vinegar, and a pinch of salt. Cover everything with enough water to submerge.
3. Cover the pot and simmer at least an hour.
4. Strain the liquid and discard the solids. Now you have broth to use for the soup! If you don't have the turkey carcass, chicken or vegetable broth will work here, too.

Now, to make the soup:

1. Sauté garlic, onions, celery, and carrots in a touch of oil in a large pot.
2. Add shredded turkey, wild rice, broth, thyme, salt, and pepper.
3. Cover and simmer until the rice is fully cooked, about 45 minutes for whole-grain wild rice (or 20 minutes for regular wild rice).
4. You can stop here if you like a brothy soup, or add Greek yogurt for a creamy soup without any cream. Because yogurt has a tendency to separate when cooked, you'll need to temper it first.

How To Add Greek Yogurt to Soup

You'll need to add a little bit of the warm broth to the yogurt before adding it all to the soup. This process is called tempering and helps to keep the yogurt from separating, or curdling, in the soup. Here's how you do it:

1. Remove about ⅓ cup of the hot broth from the soup.
2. Carefully stir the hot broth into all of the Greek yogurt to warm it up.
3. With the heat turned off, add the warmed yogurt into the soup while stirring.
4. Once the yogurt is added, serve the soup immediately. If you need to warm the soup back up, gently heat it over low heat, don’t bring it to a boil.

If you don't want to mess with this step, feel free to use heavy cream and add it straight to the soup at the end of cooking!

Ingredient Substitutes

• No leftover turkey? Sad day. You can absolutely use chicken to make this creamy, healthy wild rice soup!
• If you can't find whole-grain wild rice, you can use regular wild rice. It will be done cooking after about 20 minutes. The cooking time on the package should indicate which variety you have.
• If you don't like mushrooms in your soup, feel free to leave them out.
• To make this soup dairy-free, simply leave out the yogurt, or use full-fat canned coconut milk or cauliflower puree instead. You won't need to temper these, just add them to straight to the soup at the end of cooking.
• No thyme? Try rosemary instead!

For more ways to use your Thanksgiving leftovers, try one of these recipes:

• Whole Grain Cranberry Orange Streusel Muffins
• Easy Cranberry Brie Crostini
• Leftover Turkey Pot Pie Soup
• Healthier Loaded Mashed Potato Bites
• Turkey, Cranberry and Brie Sandwich
• Leftover Ham and Gouda Sandwich with Spicy Apple Chutney

Are you team turkey leftovers, or are you done with turkey after one meal? 

If you made this recipe, please leave a star rating in the comments!

Healthy Leftover Turkey Wild Rice Soup

Print Recipe

★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

This healthy leftover turkey wild rice soup is a creamy, delicious, hearty soup made with whole grain wild rice, leftover turkey, and no cream for a light but comforting meal made with Thanksgiving leftovers! (gluten-free, nut-free)

• Author: Kaleigh
• Prep Time: 15 min
• Cook Time: 45 min
• Total Time: 1 hour
• Yield: about 12 cups 1x
• Category: soup
• Method: stovetop
• Cuisine: American

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ white onion, diced
• 2 large carrots, sliced into coins
• 2 stalks celery, sliced
• 4 oz mushrooms, sliced
• 6 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves removed and stems discarded (or 2 tsp dried thyme)
• 1 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
• ½ tsp salt
• ¾ cup whole grain wild rice
• 6 cups vegetable, chicken, or turkey broth (see notes to make broth from the turkey carcass)
• 2 cups leftover cooked turkey, shredded
• ¾ cup plain Greek yogurt (optional)

Instructions

1. In a large heavy-bottomed pot, heat oil over medium-low heat. Add garlic, onions, carrots, celery, and mushrooms. Cook, stirring, until vegetables are slightly softened, about 5 minutes.
2. Add wild rice, broth, turkey, thyme, salt and pepper. Stir and cover.
3. Simmer 45 minutes or until rice is fully cooked. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
4. Remove ⅓ cup broth from the soup and let cool slightly. Stir into the Greek yogurt.
5. Pour yogurt mixture into soup, slowly, while stirring. This will prevent the yogurt from curdling.
6. Serve immediately.

Notes

To make homemade broth from the turkey carcass:

• Remove the meat from the turkey carcass and set aside for later. Add the bones to a large stockpot.
• Add a bay leaf, a couple cloves of smashed garlic, a few sprigs of fresh herbs (such as thyme, rosemary or parsley), a quartered onion, a celery rib, and a large carrot (You can also use onion, celery and carrot scraps if you have them). Throw in a few peppercorns, a glug of apple cider vinegar, and a pinch of salt. Cover everything with enough water to submerge.
• Cover the pot and simmer at least an hour.
• Strain the liquid and discard the solids.

• The salt level will vary based on the broth you used - low sodium, homemade, etc. Add more or less salt to taste.
• If you use regular wild rice instead of whole grain, the soup will only take about 20 minutes to cook.
• To make this soup dairy-free, simply leave out the yogurt, or use full-fat canned coconut milk or cauliflower puree instead. You won't need to temper these, just add them to straight to the soup at the end of cooking.
• Feel free to use heavy cream instead of yogurt and skip the tempering step if you'd like.
• This recipe can also be made with chicken.
• Leftovers freeze well.

Keywords: healthy turkey wild rice soup, leftover turkey wild rice soup, turkey wild rice soup without cream