This simple and fresh turkey stew is one of those dishes that might be a tradition after every turkey holiday dinner.
Leftover turkey is simmered in a herbed broth with potatoes, carrots and mushrooms. It’s hard to resist this light and healthy soup!
Healthy Soup Recipe Using Turkey Leftovers
- This stew is quick, easy and full of delicious flavors.
- It’s the perfect way to use up your leftover roasted turkey.
- Make this as a healthy recipe after the holidays with fresh vegetables and lots of delicious dried herbs.
- For even more flavor, use homemade turkey broth which will already be seasoned by the leftover turkey carcass.
- Serve with warm crusty bread or our savory herbed quick bread recipe.
- Don’t have turkey? You can make this recipe with roasted chicken too!
Recipe Ingredients
TURKEY: Leftover turkey meat from a holiday turkey dinner works best for this recipe. However, chopped chicken breast will also work wonderfully too. I prefer to use white meat for soups and save the dark meat.
VEGETABLES: This recipe uses chopped potatoes, onion, mushrooms, celery and carrots to create a beautiful variety of tastes and textures. If short on time, adding canned mushrooms or frozen vegetables will also work.
BASE: Use homemade turkey broth or store-bought chicken broth as the base. This is combined with dried herbs, heavy cream and a bit of cornstarch to thicken the soup. Don’t like cornstarch? Sometimes we substitute cornstarch with arrowroot starch in our recipes.
How To Make Turkey Stew
Much like turkey carcass soup, this recipe is easy and packed with flavor.
- Chop and prep vegetables. Mix broth and cornstarch together.
- Cook onion and garlic in a large pot. Add the potatoes and cornstarch mixture.
- Add veggies, herbs, and broth according to the full recipe instructions below.
- Let simmer until potatoes and carrots are soft and tender.
- Stir in turkey and cream, heat until warmed through. Serve and enjoy!
Recipe Tips
PREP IN ADVANCE: Wash, peel and chop all the vegetables. Measure out the herbs and spices into a small bowl. Mix together ½ cup broth with cornstarch. Chop up turkey. This will make cooking the soup so much easier!
LEFTOVERS: This stew can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge up to 4-5 days. It also freezes well. Consider freezing in serving size portions for easy future lunches. We love these silicon freezer containers.
EASY SWAPS: We love this soup and also make it with chopped chicken. Feel free to swap out veggies for other favorites. Sweet potato, turnips, rutabaga, peas and corn, green onions, broccoli and cauliflower can all be substituted. If you’re short on time, use canned or frozen vegetables. Although they won’t taste exactly the same as fresh veggies, they’ll still do the trick!
More Soup Recipes
- Turkey Carcass Soup with carrots, tomatoes and wild rice.
- Country Ham and Bean Soup is so comforting.
- Tomato Cod Soup can be made in 20 minutes!
- Ground Turkey Soup with Kale and Beans is healthy, hearty, and made with lean ground turkey.
Did you love this soup recipe? Be sure to leave a rating below!
Turkey Stew
Ingredients
- 2 garlic cloves - minced
- 2 cups chopped yellow onion
- 2 potatoes, peeled and chopped - about 3 cups
- 2 cups sliced mushrooms
- 2 celery stalks - chopped
- 2 carrots - peeled and chopped
- 4 cups turkey broth - or chicken broth
- 2 Tbsp cornstarch - or arrowroot starch
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- ¼ tsp dried sage
- ½ tsp dried thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
- 2 cups chopped cooked turkey
- ⅓ cup heavy cream - or coconut cream
Instructions
- Wash, chop and prep the carrots, celery, potato, onion and mushrooms.
- In a small bowl, mix together cornstarch and ½ cup broth.
- In a large pot over medium high heat, add cooking oil, onion and garlic. Cook until onion turns translucent, 1-2 minutes.Add in the potatoes and cornstarch/broth mixture. Cook 1 minute.
- Add the mushrooms, celery and carrots. Mix together and cook 1 minute. Add in the last 3½ cups of broth, parsley, sage, thyme, bay leaf, salt and pepper.
- Bring soup to a boil then reduce to let simmer for 8-10 minutes until soup is thickened, and potatoes and carrots are tender when poked with a fork.Stir in the turkey. Add the heavy cream. Cook 1 more minute, until warmed through.
- Serve and enjoy!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition
The nutritional information provided is an estimate and is per serving.