Turkey soup the day after. 🙂 This is something my mother has always made. She would have a pot of water sitting on the stove waiting to receive the carcass after dinner. The smell of that soup simmering would make the whole house smell so good. I have made the soup a few times myself and this is the way I make it.

Ingredients

• Turkey carcass
• turkey meat (as much as you can salvage from the carcass) aim for 2-3 cups
• 4-6 carrots, sliced ( I like a lot of carrots in my soup)
• 4 stalks of celery, sliced (I like a lot of celery in my soup)
• 1 small onion, chopped
• Wide egg noodles (1/2 16oz bag)
• Bay leaves(2 large leaves)
• Fresh thyme (4 sprigs)
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Poultry seasoning, to taste
• 1 tbsp of butter

Directions

**Note that the above ingredients aren’t really measured. They are just approximate amounts because I just throw in how ever much I think will taste good. Feel free to add or reduce to your liking.

• Start with a large pot of cold water.
• Remove as much turkey meat from the carcass as you can salvage. Some will come off as it’s cooking, too.
• Place the carcass in the water and bring to a rolling boil. You may have to break some of the bones to fit them in the pot. Let it boil on low for 3-4 hours. The longer it boils, the more flavor that will come from the bones.

• After 3-4 hours, remove from the heat and gently pull out the carcass and bone pieces. Be careful not to burn yourself. It’s easy for the bones to slip out of the tongs back into the water and splash you. (Don’t ask me how I know that…haha)
• After you have removed all the visible bones that you can, place a mesh strainer over a large bowl and pour the soup into it. This will catch any smaller bone fragments and crud that you wouldn’t want to ingest. It will leave you with just the concentrated broth in the bowl.

• In the pot, melt the butter and start sauteing the carrots, onions, and celery. Once they are slightly softened, sprinkle some salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning on them. Cook another minute or two and then pour the turkey broth into the pot. Add turkey meat and more salt/pepper and poultry seasoning along with the bay leaves. I like to tie a string on my thyme and just throw it in in a bundle. Bring it to a boil and then pour in the egg noodles. Once they are cooked, you can call the soup done. Be sure to remove the thyme bundle and skim off any crud foam from the top of the soup before serving.

The finished product

Viola! Picture perfect if I do say so myself. It tastes even better than it looks and even better the next day.

If you have never made turkey soup with your leftover carcass, boy you are missing out. It’s really so easy to make and you feel good about using every piece of that big turkey you made and not wasting anything by throwing it away. Maybe it’s too late to make it this year because the carcass is long gone, but try it next year or whenever you make your next turkey. By the way, turkey can be made anytime of the year. 😉