Homemade Turkey Wild Rice Soup Recipe

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This turkey wild rice soup is the ultimate comfort foods for fall recipes or winter recipes.

We make this as a leftover turkey soup from Thanksgiving leftover turkey, but I’ve made it with chicken breasts, leftover rotisserie chicken, and chicken thighs too and it’s just as good.

How To Make Homemade Turkey Wild Rice Soup

Each year, a day or two after Thanksgiving when we do Friendsgiving, my friend Tawni uses the Thanksgiving turkey leftovers and makes this homemade wild rice and turkey soup.

This turkey soup recipe is a variation of that one because I add a little different seasonings and cooking methods.

She uses the entire turkey carcass and cooks it down.

You can do that, but you can also just use leftover turkey or even cooked chicken for this. I’ve even made it with frozen chicken breasts and uncooked chicken thighs right into the pot.

Turkey & Wild Rice Soup Recipe Ingredients

• Leftover turkey (or rotisserie chicken or fresh or frozen chicken)
• Wild rice
• Onion
• Garlic
• Celery
• Mushrooms
• Carrots
• Butter
• Chicken stock
• SECRET INGREDIENT (see recipe)
• Herbs
• Salt
• Pepper

* Get the free printable recipe card for the rice turkey soup recipe below.

How To Make Drop Dumplings for Turkey Soup

When we make this soup (either with Thanksgiving leftovers or with fresh or frozen chicken thighs, because the dark meat has a lot more flavor), we also always make drop dumplings to go into it.

If you’ve never made drop dumplings, you’re going to be surprised how easy they are and they’re such a yummy recipe for this soup!

Add the drop dumplings into the last 15 minutes of cooking.

GET THE FULL RECIPE FOR SOUP DUMPLINGS

ALSO TRY THESE COMFORT FOOD RECIPES

Turkey Wild Rice Soup Recipes FAQs and Recipe Tips

What spices are good in turkey soup with rice?

As with most soups, you can really try many different spices and much of it is based on personal preference and taste.

For our turkey soup recipe, I use:

• Minced garlic
• Rosemary
• Thyme
• Parsley
• Sage
• Salt
• Pepper

Should wild rice be soaked before cooking?

No, you don’t need to soak wild rice before cooking. I throw the rice in with all the rest of the soup ingredients and it cooks fine while the soup is cooking.

Remember, though, cooked wild rice is more firm and chewy than white rice, so it will still have a firm feel when cooked. Just make sure it’s not crunchy.

Free Recipe Card Printable for Leftover Turkey & Wild Rice Soup

Be sure to check out the notes section in the recipe card for cooking time information for cooking turkey or chicken in this soup.

DON’T MISS MORE SOUP RECIPES TO TRY:

• Homemade Taco Soup Recipe
• White Chicken Chili
• Southwest Sweet Potato Stew with Cornbread Dumplings

Turkey Wild Rice Soup

We make this as a leftover turkey soup with Thanksgiving leftovers, but you can use fresh chicken or frozen chicken, too. 

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Course: Soup

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour

Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 3 Tablespoons butter unsalted
• 1 yellow onion chopped
• 2 large carrots peeled and chopped
• 3 celery stalks cleaned and chopped
• 1 teaspoon garlic minced
• 10 white mushrooms small, rinsed and chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon rosemary dried
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme dried
• 1/2 teaspoon parsley dried
• 1/2 teaspoon sage dried
• 6 cups chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon Better Than Bouillon Premium Roasted Chicken Base (optional, my secret ingredient)
• 1 cup wild rice uncooked
• 2 cups leftover cooked turkey* shredded
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste

Instructions

• In a large soup pot with lid, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the chopped onion, chopped carrots, chopped celery, minced garlic and chopped mushrooms. Sautee for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
• Add in the rosemary, thyme, parsley and sage and stir.
• Stir in the chicken broth and the Better Than Bouillon Premium Roasted Chicken Base. Stir until bouillon paste is dissolved.
• Add in rice. Stir.
• Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil.
• Reduce the heat to a gentle boil. Cover soup pot with a tipped lid (slightly ajar). Cook for 15 minutes, or until wild rice is tender. (NOTE: Wild rice always has a somewhat firm texture, even when cooked.)
• Remove lid and add shredded turkey* and stir. Reduce heat so that soup is to a simmer. Cover again with lid, tipped slightly ajar. Continue cooking soup for 20 minutes.
• Season with salt and pepper, to taste, before serving.

  NOTE: If you want to make homemade drop dumplings for this soup, scroll up to see the recipe in the body of the post!
• Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

  When reheating, you may find that the rice (or dumplings, if making those) soaked up some of the liquid. Just add a little more chicken broth when reheating to get desired consistency.

Notes

*You can used cooked shredded turkey, shredded cooked rotisserie chicken, or uncooked fresh or uncooked frozen chicken breasts (large, 1-2) or chicken thighs (2-3). If you are using uncooked fresh or frozen chicken, you may need to increase the cook time and remove the meat when cooked, shred or cube it, and add it back to the soup to finish cooking for the last 10-15 minutes.

NOTE: If you have time, especially if you are using fresh or frozen chicken, you can cook this soup on low for 3-4 hours (after the first boil) to really blend the flavors. 

If you like your soup thicker, add more meat and rice.

Nutrition Note

Nutrition calculations are approximate. If you're following a special diet, please calculate your own nutrition values.

I hope you enjoy this homemade turkey wild rice soup! 

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