Looking for tasty Thanksgiving leftovers recipes? Use leftover turkey to make this nourishing and filling soup perfect for the holiday season especially since it is budget friendly. Dairy free, can easily be gluten free. Freezes well, too!
Hopefully, you’re not feeling like you are in a food coma from Thanksgiving… but in case you are, I have help on the way. Help in the form of this tasty Turkey and Quinoa Soup.
If you have leftovers and/or still feel bloated from the Thanksgiving feast, this is the absolute perfect soup for you! You know me and my soups… I just can’t get enough. And, y’all, this one is really good.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Use leftover turkey to make this nourishing, filling, dairy free #soup perfect for the #holidays” quote=”Use leftover turkey to make this nourishing, filling, dairy free #soup perfect for the #holidays”]
I ate it 4 meals in a row {lunch, dinner, breakfast, and lunch}. And if I wasn’t on my way out of town, I totally would have made another batch.
If you have Black Friday plans, you could put this in a thermos {does anyone still own thermoses? ha} and take it with you to stand in line in the cold.
Or just shop online and eat this soup while you peruse all the sales from the comfort of your own home.
If you don’t have leftover turkey, then use cooked chicken or use a store-bought rotisserie chicken.
I love this soup because it’s light but really filling, and it’s really nourishing.
So whether you’re nursing your food hangover or not, I highly recommend this soup. Oh and this soup can be completely allergy free – just use cornstarch instead of flour {see note}
Turkey and Quinoa Soup
Ingredients
- 1 TBSP olive oil
- 1 large onion 2-3 cups, diced
- 3 carrots 2 cups, diced
- 3 stalks celery 1 1/2 cups, diced
- 3 cloves garlic 1 TBSP, minced
- 3 tablespoons flour I used whole wheat pastry flour - see note
- 4 cups unsalted chicken broth or water
- 4 cups water
- 2/3 cup uncooked quinoa
- 6 ounces cooked turkey or chicken (1 1/2 cups)
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 tablespoon dried parsley
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add onions, carrots, and celery. Sauté until tender, about 7 minutes. Stir in garlic and flour, and completely coat vegetables in flour.
- Slowly whisk in 1 cup of chicken broth {or water}. Make sure the flour is completely incorporated and there are no lumps. Stir in remaining chicken broth & water.
- Reduce heat to medium-low and stir in quinoa. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Stir in remaining ingredients, and simmer {partially covered} for 10-15 minutes. Take herb sprigs out of soup and serve. Enjoy!
Notes
What to use in this recipe:
Meme
Doesn’t this recipe look good?! You should probably pin it for later:
This recipe was shared on Michelle’s Tasty Creations
7
Meme,
I love soup! I also love finding new ways to use up leftovers so this recipe is a definite win-win. Thanks so much for linking up to Creative Thursday. Can’t wait to see what you share this week! Have a wonderful rest of the week
Michelle
Leftovers are the best, and I love soups!
Can this be made in the slow cooker instead? Can tomatoes be added somehow? Ive never made soup before but i want to try
I’m sure you could find a way to make this in the slow cooker. However, it probably isn’t necessary because it’s pretty quick!
I think tomatoes would be a yummy addition 🙂
I just made this yesterday for the first time and it was delicious! I doubled up on everything as I had a lot of turkey left. I also used dried herbs in place of fresh. I threw in some frozen sweetcorn on a whim and everyone loved it. This is a perfect leftovers recipe, healthy and it uses up the extra celery, carrots and onions that I always have hanging around after the Thanksgiving meal.
This is exactly how I want to warm up when it’s negative a million degrees outside. Classic and delicious! Gotta try this!
Thanks for the gluten free sub in the notes, worked out perfectly!!
Omg totally saving this recipe for the holidays – yum. thanks Meme!
I actually had leftover turkey from the other night so I made this and it was perfect! So warming and filling and so EASY!!!
Turkey soup is the breakfast trend we all need to be following. Thank’s for the reminder. Who’s with me? #soupforbreakky
Pinning this for Thanksgiving – we’re in charge of making the turkey this year and I know I’m going to need this!
This recipe is saved for thanksgiving week! The fam will be so happy for it!