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Our Turkey Noodle Soup is the perfect way to use up that leftover turkey from Thanksgiving! This soup is creamy comfort food at it’s best and the whole family will rave about this one.
Don’t dread the leftovers – we’ve got you covered with our turkey noodle soup.
Because The Leftovers Are The Best Part.
I’m curious, does anyone else prepare a GIANT turkey that you know will leave you with loads of leftovers after Thanksgiving?
I definitely do!
You can use leftover turkey in just about any recipe that calls for shredded chicken, plus it’s a must when making my favorite sandwich of the year – the Hot Turkey Sandwich!
I wanted a seriously hearty soup situation this time around. Something that wraps you in a warm hug and sticks with you until your next meal.
Enter this creamy turkey noodle soup, with the thick soup base, the tender bits of leftover turkey, the slurpy noodles, and a few veggies to round things out.
Pro Tip: Freeze your leftover turkey and make this soup in a couple of months when you’re not feeling all turkey-d out. It’ll be a hit!
What We Love About TURKEY NOODLE SOUP:
- Easy & Economical: This is a simple way to use up that leftover turkey so nothing goes to waste.
- Creamy: This is a rich and creamy soup! It’s thickened with flour and evaporated milk for a heartier soup base.
- Comforting: This turkey noodle soup is pure comfort food! It’s a warm, thick soup that’s perfect for cold weather days.
Ingredients for Leftover Turkey Noodle Soup:
Turkey – We use a mix of white and dark meat turkey that we’ve shredded from our Thanksgiving meal. Use it up within a few days of Thanksgiving or freeze the shredded turkey and pull it out to make this soup in a few months!
Egg Noodles – You’ll want to use the frozen egg noodles that you can find at the grocery store. You do not need to thaw them first, they will just go right into the soup.
Chicken Broth – This is the base of the soup so make sure you use a good quality chicken broth with lots of flavor to get the most out of this soup.
Veggies – I’m using the same mix of veggies you’d find in a chicken noodle soup recipe: carrots, onion, and celery.
Evaporated Milk – This will add lots of creamy richness to the turkey noodle soup. Be sure NOT to use sweetened condensed milk or your soup will be sweet.
Seasoning – Some simple herbs and seasonings including salt, cracked pepper, dried basil, and freshly chopped parsley. You can use any other seasonings or spices that you prefer! A bit of cajun seasoning always adds a nice touch to soup!
What Noodles Are Best in Turkey Noodle Soup?
We use and love frozen egg noodles in our turkey noodle soup. They cook up thick and fluffy, with the perfect bite to them. You’ll find them in the freezer section of any well stocked grocery store. We usually go for the Reame’s brand.
Other pasta that could be used in this recipe for turkey noodle soup is dried egg noodles, spaghetti, or fettuccine. Just be sure to break longer noodles into smaller pieces that will fit nicely in your bowl.
How To Make Turkey Noodle Soup:
Veggies: Sauté the vegetables in some butter. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring often, until the veggies begin to soften. Stir in the garlic and cook for another minute.
Roux: Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and cook, stirring constantly, to form a paste.
Broth: Whisk in the chicken broth and bring the soup to a boil until it has thickened up a bit, about 5 more minutes.
Simmer: You can now add in all the remaining ingredients including the cooked turkey, frozen egg noodles, evaporated milk, and seasonings. Bring it to a low boil and simmer for 20 minutes or until the noodles are tender!
Serve: When the egg noodles are tender and the creamy turkey noodle soup is ready to serve! I’d recommend serving it hot with some crusty bread to help soak up the soup.
Helpful Tip!
Thick or Thin
It’s easy to make this soup as thick or thin as you’d like! As you can see from our pictures, we like a fairly thick soup! To make a thinner soup, just stir in additional chicken broth until you reach the consistency you desire.
Can I freeze this recipe?
Soups that contain noodles don’t always tend to freeze well, unfortunately.
The noodles are likely to turn to mush.
I’d recommend halving this recipe if you won’t be able to finish it off, but do know that it will keep in the fridge for 3-5 days depending on how fresh your turkey is when you add it to the soup.
Turkey Noodle Soup
Ingredients
- 1 small onion
- 3 carrots
- 2 celery stalks
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 tablespoons butter
- ½ cup flour
- 10 cups chicken broth
- 4 cups chopped leftover turkey
- 24 ounces frozen egg noodles
- 12 ounces canned evaporated milk
- 1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon cracked pepper
Instructions
- Dice the onion and chop the carrots and celery into bite-sized pieces. Mince the garlic.
- Add the butter to a large stock pot or dutch oven over medium heat and let melt.
- Add the onion, carrots, and celery to the melted butter and cook, stirring often, until beginning to soften, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook 1 more minute.
- Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and stir to form a paste. Cook for 1 minute.
- Gradually pour in the chicken broth, stirring constantly, until mixture has thickened a bit, about 5 minutes.
- Add the remaining ingredients to the pot and bring to a low boil. Simmer for 20 minutes or until noodles are tender. For a thinner soup, add additional chicken broth.
- Taste and season with additional salt and pepper, if needed, before serving.
Tips & Notes:
Nutrition Information:
This recipe was originally published in 2019. It was updated in 2024 with new photos. Original photos below.
Aj says
Can I change this up for a crockpot. And if so what alterations would you make to do thst
Karly says
It would be easier to just use this recipe for crockpot chicken noodle soup and sub in the turkey: https://www.bunsinmyoven.com/crockpot-chicken-noodle-soup
Dr. G says
Fabulous! Great blend of flavors and definitely comfort food! You have to try this one! FYI, I did not have fresh parsley, so I did a tablespoon of dried parsley….so good!!
Karly says
Thank you for the review! So glad you enjoyed the soup. 🙂
LeeAnn Adams says
This was a great recipe. I sautéed the veggies with evoo and then added butter for the roux after the veggies softened. I always cook/brown the roux for at least 3 minutes to cook down the flour taste. It’s perfect every time! This soup was easy, creamy, and delicious! You should make it today?
Karly says
So glad you enjoyed the recipe, LeeAnn! Thanks for the review! 🙂
Jayne says
Worst recipe ever. I wish I would have made the roux without the vegetables now I have a lumpy soup
Jayne says
I was able to salvage the soup and it turned out great! I might use a little less flour next time but that’s personal preference
Karly says
Hi Jayne! Sorry to hear you had issues. It’s pretty common in soup recipes to add the flour to the veggies. It should all work out as you add in the liquid. 😉
Jana says
I used this as a base recipe and added chicken base (1/2 cup) ,onion powder, garlic powder, more basil, dried parsley. I used gf (Bob’s 1-1) and gf noodles. It definitely thickened as it boiled. Used a bit more butter/ flour in the roux. Omitted salt due to the chicken base.
Tracey says
I am new to this blog, and I love it so far! I have a question about the soup…can I use either gluten free all purpose flour to thicken it or corn starch instead of regular flour? We have a couple people with celiac. Thanks in advance!
Karly says
Hi Tracey! So glad you’re enjoying the recipes! Unfortunately, I don’t have a lot of experience working with gluten-free flours. If you have one you like that you’ve used to make a roux before, that will work well here. Alternately, corn starch should work well. I’d just whisk together 1/4 cup of cornstarch with the evaporated milk and then add that in as directed, skipping over the flour/thickening part of the recipe. Hope that helps!
Carmen Rocha says
Made this soup for the first time this evening but it didn’t come out thick and creamy at all, the soup was really good.