Homemade Turkey Soup

After thanksgiving we always have a lot of leftover turkey in my home. This turkey soup is my go to for creating a meal out of simple ingredients & my leftover turkey. You will love how simple this recipe is!

You start by cooking veggies in butter and olive oil until they soften. This part is important because no one likes to bite into a hard carrot in a bowl of soup.

After that, you simply add the rest of the ingredients and let that pot of goodness simmer as long as you’d like! I’ll let you in on a secret … the longer it simmers, the better it usually tastes.

If you are adding pasta, make sure you wait until the end to add it. If you add the pasta into the soup towards the beginning, it will end up soggy. I always add mine about 15 minutes before I know we will sit down to eat. If you are worried, you can always boil the pasta in a separate pot of water and drain it. Then add it to the soup right before serving. I prefer to add my dry pasta directly into the soup so it can absorb all that flavor.

Ingredients:

• Leftover cooked turkey, chopped or shredded
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 3 cloves of fresh garlic, minced
• 6-8 cups of chicken broth
• 4 large carrots
• 1 medium yellow squash(or any vegetables to your choice)
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Salt, to taste
• Ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1-2 tbsp italian seasoning or fresh italian herbs
• 2 dried bay leaves
• 1 tsp paprika
• 2 cups whole wheat pasta

Directions:

1. In a large pot, heat olive oil & butter over medium low heat. Add veggies and onion and saute until softened, stirring occasionally.
2. Add the shredded turkey, salt, pepper, bay leaves, herbs & seasonings, and minced garlic. Stir around and cook for about 1 minute.
3. Add the 6 cups of chicken broth and simmer as long as you can. I like to simmer this soup for 4 hours.
4. After it’s done simmering, add the remaining 2 cups of chicken broth IF your soup has started to cook down from simmering.
5. Add pasta and cook until the pasta is done. Enjoy!