Homemade Turkey Noodle Soup

It is hard to get excited about making soup on a day that is almost 70 degrees. However, winter is far from over.

We’ve been working at using a turkey to provide inexpensive meals. We learned how to make our own turkey broth. Now we are going to turn our turkey into meals.

The first meal I will share with you is Turkey Noodle Soup, a winter family favorite. This meal is so easy to make. It is healthy and very inexpensive.

We used all of our turkey bones to make homemade turkey broth. However, we saved the actual turkey carcass.

Let’s take our turkey carcass (which is the boned body of the turkey) and make soup!

1. Put your carcass in a large stock pot.

2. Fill the stock pot with water to cover the carcass.

3. Sometimes I throw in large celery stalks of celery that are going limp.

4. Turn on heat to high and bring to boil.

5. Once boiling, turn down heat so that water continues to simmer.

6. Place lid on pot.

7. Simply go about your other chores. You will let this simmer for several hours. Usually, I simmer 2 or 3 hours.

8. Cut up one or 2 large onions, several stalks of celery and several large carrots. Sit to the side.

9. Throw your veggies in large pot of boiling water.

10. Throw in a package of noodles with your veggies. You can use whatever kind you prefer or have on hand. Typically I use egg or spaghetti type noodles. However, I’ve also used ziti. It depends what is in the pantry. You can boil your noodles in the broth. However, I’ve had times where my noodles soaked up too much broth and then I had to add canned broth which defeats the purpose. Drain when noodles are cooked.

11. When simmering is done, remove the carcass. Remove as much lose meat as possible and throw in pot.

12. Add a handful of your cooked veggies and noodles. I say “a handful” because everyone likes a different amount of broth in their soup. So,add as much or as little as you like. Typically I add about 6-8 oz worth of noodles.(1/2- 1/3 box). The other noodle/veggie mixture, I freeze in bags to use for another batch of soup. I have found that freezing noodles in broth can make them too soggy when reusing.

13. Throw in as much additional turkey meat as you like. I’m sorry I don’t work on specifics. Eyeball it. It is really hard to mess this up.

14. That’s it. The only spice I like to add to this soup is salt and pepper. I simply add to taste. If your broth tastes too weak, then add a little chicken bouillon. I’ve also made this soup with dried thyme. However, my family prefers it plain and pure.

That’s it.

To freeze another batch of turkey noodle soup, I put about 10 cups of broth into a large freezer bag (remember the broth you made in slowcooker?). I also add the amount of turkey I prefer. Again, the noodles for the soup I keep in a separate bag. Just make sure you label them clearly.

I know this sounds like a lot of steps. However, it is really very simple. Boil the turkey, boil the noodles.

Serve with nice tossed salad! Enjoy!