Turkey Rice Soup (Slow Cooker)

My favorite part about roasting a turkey? The leftovers. You can enjoy turkey and mayo sandwiches for days, you can freeze the extra turkey for later use – or you could follow the example of my in-laws and make a spectacular slow cooker turkey rice soup.

This was not a standard recipe in my home growing up, but soon after I married my husband, his mom made this delightful soup. Their family is very thrifty, and has taught me a lot about maximizing your budget to make meals that are both economical and delicious. This turkey rice soup uses affordable ingredients, takes advantage of leftovers, and makes a large enough batch that you can easily freeze some soup to enjoy at a later date.

I love making this soup using Thanksgiving leftovers. If we are the ones to roast the turkey, I’ll usually start by making bone broth from the turkey carcass, after we have removed all of the useful meat from the turkey. But even if we end up using turkey or chicken stock bought from the store, this soup is a great way to use up extra turkey meat after the holidays.

Another perk of this leftover turkey recipe: it’s gluten free! As long as the turkey was not brined in any rub that contains flour or other glutenous foods, this soup should be completely safe for your gluten free friends.

Ingredients

• 12-16 oz. cooked turkey , shredded
• 4-6 cups broth (turkey or chicken)
• 4-5 cups water 
• 1 cup brown rice, rinsed
• 2 cups chopped carrots (frozen from garden)
• 2 onions, diced
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 2 teaspoons fresh rosemary
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

If you don’t have any leftover turkey but still want to utilize your homemade turkey bone broth, you can easily substitute shredded chicken in this recipe. When I’m in a rush, I’ll often pick up a rotisserie chicken from the store and use the meat in this turkey rice soup recipe. (Technically it’s then chicken and rice soup, but I’ve yet to hear any complaints.)

Along those same lines, if you have leftover turkey meat but didn’t make any broth, this soup is still delicious if you use chicken stock. The flavor will have some subtle differences, but it still will result in a wholesome, soul-nourishing bowl of soup.

How to make turkey rice soup

Start by chopping up your vegetables into fine pieces. Sauté the onion in avocado oil over medium heat until it is translucent. Then, add your minced garlic and sauté for an additional minute, until aromatic.

Transfer the sautéed onion and garlic to your slow cooker. Add the chopped carrots, rinsed brown rice, shredded turkey, spices, and lemon juice.

Cover your ingredients with 4-6 cups of broth, followed by 4-6 cups of water. You are welcome to use whatever broth-to-water ratio you prefer – I use roughly half of each in this recipe to help the turkey broth go farther. We usually make turkey broth only once or twice a year, and splitting it up allows the turkey broth to add flavor to multiple dishes. It would probably taste fine if you only used water, but the broth does add significant flavor to this turkey rice soup.

Once all of your ingredients are in the slow cooker, cover and cook – either on low for 7 hours or on high for about 3.5 hours. The soup is done once the rice has cooked through and is soft.  

You can serve this soup immediately, or you can save it for later. It should stay good in the refrigerator for about a week, or in the freezer for several months. One thing to keep in mind – when this soup gets cold, the collagen from the bone broth and the starch from the rice may cause it to gel almost solid in the refrigerator. This is normal! The turkey rice soup will return to a normal, liquid texture once it is reheated.

I hope you enjoy this slow cooker turkey rice soup recipe! It is a holiday classic in our home, and is one of my favorite leftover turkey recipes. If you make it at home, feel free to tag your social media photos with @WhiskAverseBaking, or leave a message in the comments below. You can also click “Pin Recipe” to save this soup for when you need to use up some leftover turkey. 🙂

Turkey Rice Soup

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Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time 3 hrs 30 mins

Total Time 3 hrs 45 mins

Course Soup

Cuisine American

Equipment

• Slow cooker

Ingredients

  

• 12-16 oz. cooked turkey shredded
• 4-6 cups broth
• 4-5 cups water
• 1 cup brown rice rinsed
• 2 cups chopped carrots frozen from garden
• 2 onions diced
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 2 teaspoons fresh rosemary
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

Instructions

 

• Sauté onion until translucent. Add minced garlic and saute for an additional minute, until aromatic.
• Transfer sautéed onion and garlic to your slow cooker. Add chopped carrots, rinsed brown rice, shredded turkey, spices, and lemon juice.
• Cover with 4-6 cups of broth; add additional water, if desired.
• Cook for 7 hours on low or 3.5 hours on high. Serve hot.

Notes

This recipe freezes well!

Keyword christmas, leftover turkey, soup, Thanksgiving, turkey, turkey stock