One of the best parts about Thanksgiving dinner is eating the leftovers for days, and days, and days…and turning the carcass and leftover meat into Turkey Soup!

I combined a few recipes, and added some things of my own, so I think it’s safe to say that while the inspiration for for my Turkey Frame Soup came from the Better Homes New Cookbook, the following recipe is my own.

Don’t forget to pick up what you need for the soup while shopping for Thanksgiving dinner!

Leftover Turkey Frame Soup

Ingredients

1 Turkey Frame, with some meat left on it

10 – 12 cups of water

1 Large Onion, quartered

1/2 tsp garlic powder

Chopped cooked leftover turkey (I used dark meat since we don’t care for it as much, and then added in any leftover meat that I didn’t want to save for sandwiches/lunches)

1 TBS Poultry Seasoning

1 1/2 tsp dried oregano, basil, marjoram, or thyme – whatever you have on hand (I also added a bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley as it’s still growing like crazy in my garden)

Salt and pepper to taste

2 stalks celery chopped

2 carrots pealed and chopped

2 parsnips pealed and chopped

2 – 4 cups cooked rice, depending on how much rice you would like to add (I like brown rice as it holds up to re-heating better)

Directions

Break turkey frame or cut in half and place in a large dutch oven or soup pot. Add water, onion, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 1 1/2 hours.

Remove turkey frame, and let cool. Once cool cut meat off bones and coarsely chop. Add additional left-over turkey meat to equal at least 2 cups. Set meat aside. Discard bones. Strain broth through a sieve and discard solids.

Return broth to dutch oven or soup pot. stir poultry seasoning herbs, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir in vegetables. Return to boiling; reduce heat; cover, and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in turkey, and cooked rice, and heat through.

Serve and enjoy!

This held up well to re-heating, and the best part was the 5 year old loved it as much as the adults did!

Enjoy your turkey!