Enjoy a mouth-watering bowl of keto turkey soup made from turkey leftovers from your Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. And with only 2 net carbs, it is the perfect recipe for a low carb lifestyle!
❤️ Why you'll love it
This easy keto turkey soup recipe is so flavorful and takes less than 20 minutes to make. It's a great way to make sure nothing goes to waste after enjoying your holiday turkey. I make turkey soup with the remaining turkey meat and turkey broth with the bones from the turkey carcass. The tender meat and flavorful broth taste amazing with some veggies and spices!
🥘 Equipment Used
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To make this leftover turkey soup recipe, you'll need a Dutch oven or soup pot, a cutting board, knives, and a large spoon for stirring. That's it!
🧾 Ingredients Used
- Shredded turkey: Shredded dark meat goes best with this recipe. Use leftover turkey meat from Thanksgiving or you can get turkey breast from the grocery store.
- Red bell pepper: For a slightly sweet taste.
- Olive oil: To sauté the veggies. You can also choose to use melted butter for even more flavor.
- Onion and garlic cloves: Onions and garlic add their aromas and unique tastes to the turkey soup.
- Turkey broth: This homemade bone broth forms the base of the soup. Made from leftover thanksgiving turkey bones, you can easily make this in the instant pot. You can also substitute with store-bought chicken broth or stock.
- Heavy cream: To make the keto turkey soup deliciously creamy and rich.
- Garnish: Add a sprinkle of parsley or red pepper flakes to this low-carb turkey soup recipe for extra color and flavor.
- Spices: Smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, cumin, and salt for taste.
🔪 How To Make Keto Turkey Soup
- Sauté the chopped onion, garlic, and red bell pepper in olive oil for 5 minutes in a large pot. Next, add the turkey broth, heavy cream, and spices to the big pot, and simmer on medium-high heat.
- Bring to a boil and simmer for a few minutes on low heat. Add the turkey to it and stir.
- Cook for about 5 minutes and adjust seasoning if needed. Top up with parsley and other herbs.
🥫 Storing and Reheating
You can store and preserve this low carb turkey soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week or so. For longer storage, freeze the chilled leftovers by pouring the soup into smaller sealable bags and pop them into the freezer. This way, you won't have to defrost the whole container just to get a little; you can defrost them in batches as needed.
To reheat, simply put it in the fridge to thaw out overnight. Afterward, you can reheat it on low heat on the stovetop until it's hot enough for you.
Alternatively, you can reheat this creamy soup in a microwave-safe bowl in the microwave. To prevent the hot soup from splashing around while warming, cover the bowl with a paper towel before reheating.
💭 Tips and Variations
- Frozen turkey soup tends to expand in the freezer, so leave a third of the space in the freezer bag. This way, the frozen soup won't rupture the bag.
- To make it dairy-free, use coconut cream instead of heavy whipping cream.
- Use good quality chicken or turkey stock or broth so that the soup comes out delicious and nutritious. Homemade is always best.
- If you're a fan of thick soup, add in a little bit of xanthan gum.
- For a really creamy turkey soup, add extra heavy cream at the end of the cooking tiime.
- Mix it up and use a variety of herbs and veggies for this delicious keto turkey soup. Throw in some cream cheese, celery, or bell peppers.
- Add zucchini noodles and parmesan cheese to the turkey soup for more variety.
- You can make some keto chicken soup with chicken stock or chicken broth using the same instructions in this recipe.
- Make stock for this turkey vegetable soup with the leftover bones from turkey wings or your holiday turkey instead of throwing them away.
- Use your favorite spices to make this soup your own. Add some garlic powder, black pepper, or onion powder.
- For savory and delicious chunkier turkey soup, you can add cauliflower or broccoli florets to the soup. You might have to cook the soup a little bit longer.
🍽️ What can I eat this recipe with?
The best part is that this homemade turkey soup recipe makes an easy dinner recipe, or you can have this hearty soup for lunch. Enjoy it with a side of perfectly cooked green beans or over some cauliflower rice for a more filling meal. It's also wonderful with a fresh, warm keto dinner roll to sop up all that broth!
👩🍳 Frequently asked questions
To add more flavor to turkey soup, add more spices and aromatics. Add some poultry seasoning, bouillon, bay leaf, or ground sage to it as it cooks. Also, your choice of veggies in the turkey soup can help to add flavor. The more veggies you use in your turkey soup, the more flavorful it turns out.
Turkey soup is an excellent choice of soup for its health benefits. It is nourishing, comforting, and serves as a great source of vitamins and minerals. It is also gluten-free and keto-friendly.
If prepared with low-carb ingredients, you can have turkey soup while on a keto diet. Turkey soup contains all the nutrients and healthy goodness you need. It has vitamins A and K and nutrients like calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium. The added veggies in turkey soup also add more nutritional benefits to it. This is definitely one of my favorite low-carb soup recipes!
📚 Related Recipes
Enjoy these other low carb soup recipes!
📖 Recipe
Keto Turkey Soup
Ingredients
- 1 lb shredded turkey
- 1 red bell pepper chopped
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- ½ onion chopped
- 1 cup turkey broth you can add more if you need to
- ½ cup heavy cream you can add more if you need to
- 2 tablespoon parsley
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper optional
- ¼ teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Saute onion, garlic, and red bell pepper in olive oil for 5 minutes.1 red bell pepper, 2 garlic cloves, ½ onion, ¼ cup olive oil
- Add the turkey broth, heavy cream, and spices.1 cup turkey broth, ½ cup heavy cream, 2 tablespoon parsley, ½ teaspoon smoked paprika, ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper, ¼ teaspoon cumin, ½ teaspoon salt
- Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Add the turkey and stir.1 lb shredded turkey
- Cook for about 5 minutes and adjust seasoning if needed.
- Top up with parsley and pepper flakes and serve!
Notes
- Frozen turkey soup tends to expand in the freezer, so leave a third of space in the freezer bag. This way, the frozen soup won't rupture the bag.
- To make it dairy-free, use coconut cream instead of heavy whipping cream.
- Use good quality chicken or turkey stock or broth so that the soup comes out delicious and nutritious. Homemade is always best.
- If you're a fan of thick soup, add in a little bit of xanthan gum to your turkey soup.
Nutrition
Tayo Oredola is the founder of Low Carb Africa, where she shares healthy, low carb dishes with global flavors. She is passionate about teaching people how to cook drool-worthy dishes while losing weight and living their best lives. Tayo’s recipes have been featured on MSN, Women’s Health, Parade, Yahoo News, Pure Wow, Essence, and other online publications.
I agree with all the other reviews - a 1/2 cup of broth and heavy cream is not enough to even cover the shredded turkey in the pot. I must have added an additional 1/2 cup of heavy cream and 2 cups of broth. For my pallet, I doubled the seasoning and also added garlic and herb seasoning to taste and Himalayan salt. Simmering is the key to all the flavors coming together. This soup was incredible with these adjustments. I will make this every year after Thanksgiving and already plan on making with chicken to have during the cold seasons. Thank you!
Thanks for the feedback, Heather!
The liquid measurements don’t make any sense. Can you update them? I can’t imagine it’s just 1/2 a cup.
I just updated the recipe card. Thanks for the catch!
the recipe still days 1/2 cup broth. I added a cup and it didn't seem like enough.
The flavor was incredible, unexpected twist on the usual sage and other Thanksgiving spices.
This sounds delicious. You stated that you’ve updated the amount of the liquid but it still shows 1/2 cup broth and 1/2 cup heavy cream. Is this the correct amounts? Or should they each be 1 cup?
Hi Jaymie, it's half cup of each, though you can add more broth if you need to.
This was, by far, one of the best recipes ever for a left over turkey soup. I made broth from the turkey carcass and used it in this recipe. So incredibly tasty and flavorful. My whole family loved it!!!
I'm so glad you all enjoyed it, Lori. It's a family favorite in my house too!
Thank you for your outstanding article