Hearty Turkey Frame Soup
After a delicious turkey feast, we are often left with a turkey frame and lots of meat. A long-time family tradition is to make delicious soup out of what most throw away. Growing up in a French household, it was important never to let any food go to waste. This soup carries on that tradition. It is healthy, hearty, and packed with protein. The recipe is simple and a great way to use all those veggies you have in your fridge too. It freezes well and is easy to share.
Equipment
- Large Stock Pot 12-16 quart
Ingredients
- 4 quarts Chicken Stock or Bone Broth Avoid chicekn broth unless there is no other choice
- 1 Meaty Turkey Frame
- 2 Turkey Leg bones if available
- 2 quarts Water
- 1 large Onion in quarters
- 2 tsp Salt
- 2 16-ounce cans Cut up tomatoes with Italian spices
- 1 tsp Pepper, fine ground
- 1 tbsp Dried oregano
- 2 tsp Dried thyme
- 1 tsp Dried Basil
- 6-8 cups Fresh or frozen chopped vegetables such as carrots, celery, onion, rutabaga, mushroom, potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, cabbage, zucchini, yellow squash, peppers, etc. You pick whatever you wish.
- Any Turkey meat, leftover This is optional if you want a meatier soup
- 1 handful Fresh chopped parsley
- 1-2 pkgs Egg noodles
Instructions
- Cut the turkey frame in half to fit into the stock pot. if you are using leg bones put those in too. Place your quartered onion into the stock pot. Pour in the chicken stock or bone broth. Add water and salt. Heat to boiling over high heat; reduce heat to low. Cover; and simmer 1 hour 30 minutes.
- Remove the turkey frame and any other bones and place them on a platter to cool.
- Once cool enough to handle, remove all the meat and coarsely chop. Be careful to look for small bones and remove turkey skin if you come across any.
- You can strain the broth, return it to the stock pot or, remove onions with tongs.
- Add to the broth turkey meat, undrained tomatoes, oregano, thyme, basil, and pepper.
- Stir in all the vegetables. Bring to a boil then reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes.
- Cook egg noodles per package instructions, except reduce cooking time by one minute. Drain and set aside.
- Season to taste. Add fresh parsley. Serve hot, and add the desired amount of egg noodles to the soup. Keep egg noodles in a separate container so they do not become mushy in the soup.
- ENJOY!
Notes
Tips:
- Often, we have little pieces of turkey meat that won't be good for sandwiches. Since we prefer a meaty soup, we tend to most of the leftover breast meat into the soup.
- A big stock pot is ideal, so the liquid circulates well around the turkey frame.
- We usually have an 18-20 pound turkey. If your turkey is smaller, you can reduce the liquid, spices, and vegetables appropriately.
- Using chicken stock or bone broth makes for a much more flavorful soup and richer in protein. Bouillion cubes in the water could be used, but we do not suggest that.
- We never add the egg noodles into the full pot. They do get soggy and mushy over time. We heat the soup on the stove and microwave it, then add the noodles prior to serving.
- Barley is a good alternative to egg noodles.
- Be careful with the salt. It is better to have someone add salt to their individual serving than over-salting the whole pot of soup.
- The soup freezes well. You can add egg noodles to the soup when freezing a single portion.
- Adding apple cider vinegar when adding the turkey frame is suggested by many. Not something I have done but is a popular additive.
