This turkey rice soup is packed with flavour, bursting with goodness and is incredibly easy to make in a single pot. If you have any leftover turkey meat after Christmas or thanksgiving, this is the perfect way to use it up.
To make this yummy soup, you'll start by sweating onion, garlic, celery, carrot and thyme in a little butter.
Once lovely and soft, you'll add rice and stock and cook until almost tender, adding the leftover turkey in the last few minutes of cooking to heat through and give a wonderfully nutritious soup for the cold winter months.
Here's how to make my simple turkey rice soup.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp slightly salted butter
- 1 large (1) onion finely chopped
- 2 sticks (2) celery thinly sliced
- 2 carrots finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 sprigs (2) fresh thyme leaves removed and finely chopped
- Pinch salt and black pepper to taste
- 250 g (1¼ oz) long grain rice
- 1½ litres (3 pints) chicken stock gluten free, if required
- 325 g (2¼ cups) cooked turkey meat torn or cut into bite size pieces
- 1 lemon juiced
- 10 g (¼ cup) flat-leaf parsley chopped
Instructions
Warm the olive oil and butter in a large pan over a low heat.
Add the onion, garlic, celery, carrot and thyme, plus a pinch of salt and pepper.
Sweat for 10 minutes until softened but not browned. You can make the vegetables sweat more efficiently by covering them with a disc of damp baking paper (known as a cartouche), which helps trap the steam.
Remove the cartouche, if using.
Add the rice.
Pour in the stock and stir gently.
Bring up to a simmer, then cook for 10 minutes until the rice is almost cooked.
Add the turkey and cook for a further 2-5 minutes until the rice is cooked and the meat is tender.
Stir in the lemon juice and season to taste. If it seems too thick, you can add a little more water or stock, if you like.
Serve in bowls, garnished with the parsley.
Pointers, tricks and troubleshooting tips for the perfect Turkey rice soup
Is Turkey rice soup easy to make?
Yes, this turkey rice soup is a really simple recipe which is ideal to throw together for a laid back Boxing Day dinner. All you have to do is peel and chop some vegetables and cook everything in the same pot.
The turkey you use will already be cooked, you just need to make sure that you reheat it at a safe temperature (see below).
Will I need any special equipment to make Turkey rice soup?
No, this turkey rice soup is a super simple one pot recipe, so the only equipment you’ll need is a large cooking pot, a chopping board, a knife, some measuring equipment and utensils.
There is a full list of suggested equipment on the recipe card below.
How can I tell if turkey has gone bad?
If you’re using your leftover Thanksgiving/Christmas turkey for this recipe, you should make sure you only use meat which has been stored correctly. When you store leftover turkey you should cool the turkey down as quickly as you can, and put the leftover meat into an airtight container in the fridge.
This rapid cooling process means that any harmful bacteria or pathogens won’t have the chance to reproduce or develop while the meat is lukewarm.
Most food safety bodies (USA, UK and AUS) recommend that leftover turkey is safe to eat for 2-4 days after it has been cooked as long as it has been cooled down and stored correctly.
You should never store your cooked turkey in the oven or on the counter, even if it’s in a sealed container. This is because bacteria and pathogens which can cause food poisoning will thrive in a warmer temperature.
Is it safe to reheat leftover turkey?
Reheating cooked meat can be very dangerous if it isn't done correctly. The NHS advises that you should reheat leftover turkey by making sure that it is ‘steaming hot’ all the way through. Other food safety bodies specify this as being heated to at least 75C. You should never reheat food more than once, so this recipe should be eaten when it has been cooked and you can’t keep any leftover soup to reheat at a later date.
If you’re reheating cooked turkey it must reach a temperature of 75°C before it can be safely eaten. The boiling point of water is 100C, so when you add your turkey to the stock, make sure that it is already boiled and simmering so that the turkey is reheated at a safe temperature.
However, it’s always best to use it as soon as possible. Luckily this recipe is perfect for a light Boxing Day dish after a heavy day of Christmas feasting.
How can I tell if butter has gone off?
You should always keep your butter in the fridge, as the milk solids can spoil when left at room temperature.
Butter begins to spoil because the natural bacteria in it has released enzymes, which break down the proteins. This bacteria is present in most food and is pretty harmless to humans when food is kept refrigerated as it doesn’t function well in the cold. So when you don’t store butter correctly it will spoil quicker than if it was kept in the fridge.
Spoiled, or off, the butter will usually look a darker colour and have a sour or strange smell to it. The texture will probably be very soft and it may even have a bloom of mould growing on it.
If your butter looks, smells or tastes strange in any way you should immediately discard it and wash anything it comes in contact with to avoid contaminating any of your other ingredients.
What is a cartouche?
A cartouche is a piece of baking paper used to cover food which is cooking in an uncovered pan. The cartouche allows water to evaporate evenly, compared to the lopsided method of leaving a pan lid half resting on the rim. It's also a good way to reduce a sauce without letting a skin develop on the surface, which can cause lumps.
Is Turkey rice soup suitable for vegetarians?
No, this recipe contains turkey and chicken stock, so it isn’t suitable for vegetarians. If you need a vegetarian soup recipe I have some delicious plant-based recipes like this Pumpkin and sweet potato soup or this Fragrant Thai carrot and coconut soup.
Double-check all of your ingredients labels to make sure to check that they are suitable for vegetarians. Don't forget to also check anything extra you intend to serve the recipe with.
Is Turkey rice soup suitable for vegans?
No, this recipe contains turkey and chicken stock, so it isn’t suitable for vegans. As turkey is so central to this recipe it isn’t suitable for adapting to a vegan recipe.
The only vegan soup recipe I have is for a gazpacho, which isn’t quite as seasonal or warming as this turkey rice soup. However, I do have plenty of vegetarian soup recipes, all of which are suitable for adapting to a vegan diet.
Double-check all of your ingredients labels to make sure to check that they are suitable for vegans. Don't forget to also check anything extra you intend to serve the recipe with.
Is Turkey rice soup gluten-free?
As long as you make sure to use a gluten-free stock then your turkey rice soup will be gluten-free.
Double-check all of your ingredients labels to make sure that they’re gluten-free. Don't forget to also check anything extra you intend to serve the recipe with.
Is Turkey rice soup keto-friendly?
This turkey rice soup contains rice and root vegetables that aren’t keto-friendly. However, feel free to swap these ingredients out with keto-friendly veg.
A ketogenic diet is a low carb diet designed to encourage your body to run on fat and protein rather than burning carbohydrates (ketosis). It’s become a popular diet in recent years, so might be seen as another fad diet but the ketogenic diet has actually been around since the early 20th century.
Ketosis can impact blood sugar and metabolism, so the diet is often recommended as a way to manage symptoms for people with health conditions including diabetes and epilepsy.
Maintaining a state of ketosis on a ketogenic diet means that you can’t eat more than 20g of carbs a day. Up to ½ a cup of white rice is a standard portion for an adult, and ½ a cup of white rice contains 28g of net carbs.
There’s 250g white rice in this 6 portion recipe, which works out as around 1 ¼ cups. So coupled with the carrots in the recipe, it’s most likely that someone on a ketogenic diet could end up consuming their entire daily allowance of carbohydrates in a generous bowl.
However, as I said, if you swap out the rice and carrots for some green veg then it would be fine for someone on a ketogenic diet.
Is Turkey rice soup healthy?
Healthy is a relative term. If you asked someone on a raw vegetable diet if Turkey rice soup is healthy, then they might consider it complete junk food! But I’d say that this turkey rice soup is a nutritious, healthy meal full of vegetables and lean protein.
Is Turkey rice soup safe to eat while pregnant?
There’s nothing in this recipe that would be of concern to someone who is pregnant.
The only point to take care with is the reheated turkey. Make sure that you only use turkey which has been stored correctly, (as above) otherwise there’s a risk of food poisoning.
When you add your turkey to the soup, you should make sure to add it when the liquid soup base is boiling and heating it through properly (2-5 minutes). This way the meat will be reheated at a safe temperature and any potentially nasty pathogens will be deactivated in the hot broth.
Make sure all the ingredients are in good condition and this meal is prepared safely and hygienically.
A Mummy Too does not offer medical advice. Please seek help from a medical professional if you need further information or have any concerns.
Is Turkey rice soup suitable for babies and toddlers?
If you are making this for young children or babies, leave out the salt. The NHS explains why here.
Always give food at an appropriate size and shape for your baby or child. Cut small, round foods, like grapes and cherry tomatoes, into small pieces. So make sure any turkey and vegetable pieces are very small.
Always keep babies supported upright while eating and supervise your baby when they’re eating in case they start to choke.
A Mummy Too does not give medical advice. If you have any questions or concerns please speak to a health professional.
The NHS has some fantastic resources on their website on what to feed babies and young children.
What goes well with Turkey rice soup?
With its mix of meat, vegetables and carbohydrates, turkey rice soup is a meal in itself! But feel free to dunk some nice crusty bread or add some chilli flakes or other seasoning.
If you have any stuffing balls leftover from your Christmas/Thanksgiving dinner you could even try dropping them into your bowl, for a sort of inverted festive dumpling soup.
Can I make Turkey rice soup without rice?
Sure! This turkey rice soup recipe is pretty forgiving, so feel free to swap out the rice for more veg.
Or as I mentioned above (in the keto question), you can swap the rice and carrots for green veg to make this recipe keto-friendly.
How should I store my turkey rice soup? How long will my soup keep?
Once you’ve made your soup and added the rice and turkey, you should not store it or reheat it.
This is because the finished soup will contain cooked rice and reheated turkey.
While many sources advise that you can reheat rice as long as it has been rapidly chilled after cooking, it would be difficult to rapidly chill a pot of soup containing rice.
Rice can contain spores of Bacillus cereus, a bacterium that causes food poisoning. This bacteria is super strong and can somehow survive being cooked. Bacteria thrives and grows between 4C-60C (40°F and 140°F). So once rice is cooked and then cools down a little, this bacteria will flourish in the warm temperature of the rice and grow rapidly. So when you come back to eat your reheated rice you may unknowingly be feeding everyone a high dose of this bacteria.
It’s not ideal to eat reheated rice, but there are guidelines for how to store and reheat rice as safely as possible. The general advice states that cooked rice should be put into ice water immediately after cooking to cool it down below 4C, then to refrigerate or freeze it below 4C. This means the rice goes straight from too hot for the bacteria to too cold, with no time for it to grow in lukewarm conditions. However as this recipe is a soup, it’s hard to chill a liquid quickly as you can’t exactly submerge it under ice water.
Equally the turkey can’t be reheated either. This recipe calls for cooked turkey, so once you add your turkey to the soup it is being reheated. You can’t reheat food more than once, so you can’t cook the soup again or there will be a high risk of food poisoning.
However, if you make the vegetable soup base and don’t include the rice and turkey then it’s safe to either refrigerate (up to 4 days) or freeze the soup (up to 3 months) as long as you cool it quickly and store it in clean and airtight containers. Again, to be clear you can only refrigerate or freeze the soup if you don’t add the turkey or rice.
Food safety is very important, especially when it comes to reheating food as reheating food gives more windows for harmful bacteria to flourish.
If you have any concerns or questions about how to safely prepare and heat your food, you should check with your local health or food safety authority. The NHS or the FDA offer clear advice for cooking and reheating various foods.
Can I leave Turkey rice soup out on the counter?
No, it would be dangerous to eat this soup after leaving it out on the counter as harmful bacteria may be present.
Can I make Turkey rice soup ahead?
No, you would need to make this soup when you plan to serve it, as it contains turkey which is already cooked - so you couldn't reheat it.
Can I keep Turkey rice soup in the refrigerator?
No, as I said above, it wouldn't be safe to keep this soup as it contains reheated turkey.
Can I freeze Turkey rice soup?
It wouldn't be safe to freeze this soup as it contains turkey which has already been reheated.
Can I make Turkey rice soup in a different quantity?
Yes, if you have extra turkey to use or you don’t want to make too much soup, you can change the amount you make. I have a helpful tool in the recipe card below that will let you change the size of the recipe. The tool will work out all the ingredient amounts you need for a new portion size without changing the ratio of ingredients.
Just scroll down to the recipe card below. You'll see the servings near the top. To change this to the number you want to make just click on it and a little slider will pop up. You can move the slider up or down to get the amount you want to make.
Can I make Turkey rice soup in a stand mixer such as a KitchenAid or Kenwood Mixer?
No, there’s no need to use a food processor or stand mixer at any point while making this turkey rice soup. You only need to chop up your vegetables by hand and add them to the pot.
How can I make sure my Turkey rice soup is perfectly cooked?
This is a super easy recipe to prepare and cook as it all cooks together in one pot in under an hour. So all you have to do is make sure that your rice is cooked through and the turkey is heated through properly.
turkey rice soup is a rustic broth soup, so it doesn’t matter if your soup doesn’t look picture-perfect, it’s all about the flavour.
Why did my turkey rice soup turn out so thick?
If your turkey rice soup gets very thick, it may be because the rice has absorbed a lot of the water or it’s boiled off.
If this happens don’t worry, just add some more water until it’s at the consistency you would like it to be. If the water boils off, the flavour should be concentrated so adding more water probably won’t dilute the flavour. However, feel free to season the soup to your taste.
How can I add/change the flavours in this dish?
This turkey rice soup recipe should be packed with flavour, but it’s classic stock base also makes a great canvas for you to add your own twist to it.
You could spice things up by adding chilli flakes or fresh chilli slices.
Or you could swap the thyme and parsley for herbs like coriander, ginger and lemongrass to add a South-East Asian inspired flavour. You could also add some soy sauce or miso for a deeper umami flavour.
Some supermarkets in the UK offer little bundles of fresh herbs assembled with certain cuisines in mind. For example, Sainsbury's have a ‘Thai bundle’ which would be ideal for throwing into the pot instead of the parsley and thyme.
In the US turkey is sometimes smoked, so maybe you could take inspiration from there and add smoked salt, liquid smoke or smoked paprika.
As I said, this soup is packed full of flavour but the base is fairly neutral when it comes to world cuisines so feel free to make it personal and let me know what you add to your soup in the comments!
Why do we eat turkey during Christmas?
Turkey has become such a festive staple is because King Henry VIII liked it so much. Turkeys were introduced to England in the 1500s when a merchant returned from the Americas with the birds on his ship.
Prior to eating turkey many households, including the royal household, ate goose, beef, boar or ham for Christmas dinner. The royals also ate peacock and swan!
However, once turkey became the firm favourite of the king it became a fashionable choice throughout the country. However, most people couldn’t afford a turkey, so ham was a regular alternative centrepiece for the British public.
The tradition of ham and turkey during Christmas was then carried over to America and around the world with British colonists. In places that remained free from British rule, turkey is less common, for example in Spain it’s traditional to eat lamb on Christmas day or in Norway pork is a traditional Christmas meal.
Print this turkey rice soup recipe
Turkey Rice Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp slightly salted butter
- 1 large (1) onion finely chopped
- 2 sticks (2) celery thinly sliced
- 2 carrots finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 sprigs (2) fresh thyme leaves removed and finely chopped
- Pinch salt and black pepper to taste
- 250 g (1¼ oz) long grain rice
- 1½ litres (3 pints) chicken stock gluten free, if required
- 325 g (2¼ cups) cooked turkey meat torn or cut into bite size pieces
- 1 lemon juiced
- 10 g (¼ cup) flat-leaf parsley chopped
Instructions
- Warm the olive oil and butter in a large pan over a low heat.
- Add the onion, garlic, celery, carrot and thyme, plus a pinch of salt and pepper. Sweat for 10 minutes until softened but not browned. You can make the vegetables sweat more efficiently by covering them with a disc of damp baking paper (known as a cartouche), which helps trap the steam.
- Remove the cartouche, if using. Add the rice, then pour in the stock and stir gently.
- Bring up to a simmer, then cook for 10 minutes until the rice is almost cooked.
- Add the turkey and cook for a further 2-5 minutes until the rice is cooked and the meat is tender.
- Stir in the lemon juice and season to taste. If it seems too thick, you can add a little more water or stock, if you like.
- Serve in bowls, garnished with the parsley.
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