My 30-minute Turkey and Rice Soup recipe transforms leftovers into a bright, savory, and restorative meal that’s anything but bland.
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Warming and light, Turkey and Rice Soup is a wonderful way to enjoy leftover turkey. Tender turkey, vegetables and rice are swirled in a savory broth and finished with a splash of fresh lemon juice and a bright blend of parsley, lemon zest, and garlic. A welcome and restorative meal after days of decadent eating.
With this simple soup recipe, using ingredients that you likely have on hand, you’ll be serving up steaming bowls in just 30 minutes.
“Just made that tonight with leftover turkey. Everyone loved it and I thought it was delicious!”
Terry P.
Table of Contents
Why This Recipe Works
This soup comes together quickly, but it has a depth of flavor that tastes like it simmered for hours. Here’s why I love this specific method:
- It’s All About the “Gremolata”: The real magic here is the finish. That simple, fresh blend of parsley, garlic, and lemon zest (an Italian Gremolata) cuts through the rich broth and makes the turkey taste bright and intentional, not just like a leftover.
- A Smart 30-Minute Method: This is a true one-pot meal. By cooking the long-grain white rice directly in the broth, it soaks up all that savory flavor and releases just enough starch to give the soup a comforting, light body, all in about 30 minutes.
- You Control the Texture: This recipe gives you full control. I explain exactly when and why you’d want to rinse your rice (for a clearer broth) or leave it un-rinsed (for a slightly thicker, heartier soup). You get to choose the final texture.
Ingredients for Turkey and Rice Soup
- Leftover Turkey: White meat, dark meat or a blend.
- Onion: Yellow, white, or sweet onions work well.
- Butter: Salted or unsalted.
- Carrots: Peeled or unpeeled, your choice!
- Celery: This is a good way to enjoy those outer ribs that you may have removed for the more tender celery ribs beneath.
- Broth: Turkey broth (or homemade turkey stock – instructions below), or chicken broth or stock.
- Rice: Long grain white rice. Rinse your rice if you like a brothier soup as the outer starch will thicken the soup, particularly if you reheat it. (I don’t mind this and typically don’t rinse the rice.)
- Lemon: Juice and zest.
- Parsley: Flat leaf or curly, your choice.
- Garlic: A couple of fresh, fat garlic cloves.
- Kosher Salt: To taste.
How to Make Turkey and Rice Soup
Sauté Veggies and Simmer Rice: In a 3-quart saucepan, sauté onion in butter over medium heat for 3-5 minutes, or until softened. Stir in celery, carrots, broth, and rice; bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until rice is nearly tender, 10 to 12 minutes.
Make the Gremolata: While soup cooks, stir together lemon zest, parsley, and garlic in a small bowl. Juice lemon in separate bowl.
Finish and Serve: Stir turkey meat into soup and cook just until heated through. Add lemon juice and stir. Ladle into bowls and garnish with parsley, garlic, and lemon zest mixture (gremolata). Serve hot.
Pro Tips for the Best Turkey and Rice Soup
- Don’t Skip the Gremolata: The splash of fresh lemon juice in the pot and the parsley-garlic-zest topping are what make this soup truly special. It’s the most important step for brightening up the flavor of the broth and the turkey.
- To Rinse or Not to Rinse the Rice: It’s your call. Rice has a starch coating. If you want a thinner, clearer broth, rinse the rice well in a fine-mesh strainer before adding it. If you (like me) don’t mind a slightly thicker, cozier soup, you can skip the rinse.
- Use Homemade Stock if You Can: If you’re making this after a holiday, I highly recommend making stock from the turkey carcass. It gives the soup an incredible depth of flavor. I’ve included my simple instructions for this right in the post.
Easy Variations
- Use Brown or Wild Rice: You absolutely can, but these rices take much longer to cook (around 45 minutes). I recommend cooking them separately according to package directions and adding the cooked rice to the soup along with the turkey at the end.
- Make it Extra Lemony: If you’re a big lemon fan, feel free to increase the juice and zest from half a lemon to one full lemon.
How to Make Turkey Stock (Optional)
Though it’s not essential for this soup, homemade turkey stock tastes amazing and is easy to make. Here’s how to make it:
- Add the turkey carcass and, if you like, the little bag of treasures that you’ve pulled from the turkey before roasting (neck, gizzard, heart and liver) into a large pot or, ideally a stock pot, and add enough water to cover.
- Then add two quartered onions, a large handful of fresh parsley, a few ribs of chopped celery, a handful of black peppercorns and a bay leaf if you like.
- Bring this to boil then reduce the heat and leave simmering away for a few hours, occasionally skimming off any foam that rises. Let simmer until the volume of liquid has reduced by about half and your turkey stock has a rich, golden color.
- Let the stock cool, then strain out the solids and either enjoy it within a week or freeze in canning jars (make sure you leave a couple of inches for the liquid to expand as it freezes).
FAQ
Long-grain white rice cooks quickly (10-12 minutes) and holds its shape well. If you plan on having leftovers for several days, the rice will continue to absorb broth. If you’re making this purely for meal prep, your best bet is to cook the rice separately and add a scoop to each bowl as you reheat the soup.
I use long-grain white rice (like Jasmine or Basmati) for this recipe because it cooks quickly right in the pot. Brown rice or a wild rice blend also work, but you’ll need to cook them separately first, as they take 45+ minutes.
Yes, you can make this with ground turkey. Instead of adding cooked turkey at the end, sauté 1 pound of ground turkey with the onions until it’s cooked through. Then, add the rest of the vegetables and broth and proceed with the recipe.
How to Store and Reheat
Store leftover Turkey and Rice soup in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Gently reheat in a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring often. The rice will have absorbed more liquid, so you will likely need to add another splash of broth to thin it out.
You can also freeze this soup in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. For the best texture, I recommend rinsing your rice before adding it to the soup. Also note that soups with starchy ingredients like rice will be thicker when thawed and reheated, so plan on adding more stock or broth if needed. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight before reheating.
More Ways to Enjoy Leftover Turkey
- Turkey Pot Pie (A lighter version of the classic with a puff pastry crust.)
- Turkey Pot Pie Soup (I love to serve this with Pie Crust Crackers made from scraps of my Lard Pie Crust.)
Plan Your Holiday Menu
Turkey and Rice Soup
Video
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 large onion diced small
- 3 ribs celery thinly sliced into half moons
- 2 large carrots thinly sliced
- 8 cups chicken broth or homemade Turkey broth (see recipe note #1)
- 3/4 cup long grain white rice (see recipe note #2)
- 1/3 cup minced flat leaf parsley
- 2 medium cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 medium lemon juice and zest
- 2 cups cooked turkey shredded, ~10 ounces
- kosher salt to taste
Instructions
- Sauté Aromatics: Melt butter in a 3-quart saucepan over medium heat. Add onion; cook and stir until softened and translucent, 3-5 minutes.
- Simmer Soup: Add celery, carrots, broth and rice. Bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer 10-12 minutes, until rice is tender, but still has a little bite.
- Mix Gremolata: Meanwhile, zest lemon into a small bowl and add minced parsley and garlic; stir to combine. Juice lemon half into separate small bowl. Set both bowls aside.
- Finish and Serve: When rice is tender, add turkey meat; cook and stir until heated through, 2-3 minutes. Stir in reserved lemon juice and season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with parsley mixture. Serve.
Notes
- Stock: This soup is good with store-bought broth, but it’s fantastic with homemade turkey stock. I’ve included my method in the post above—it’s my favorite way to get every last bit of flavor from the holiday.
- Rice: I personally don’t rinse the rice because I like how the starch gives the soup a little more body. If you want a really clear, broth-forward soup, give the rice a good rinse in a fine-mesh strainer before you add it to the pot.
- Storage: Leftovers will keep beautifully in the fridge for up to 4 days. Just know that the rice will continue to drink up the broth, so the soup will get thicker. Simply add another splash of broth when you reheat it. You can also freeze the soup for up to 3 months. If you’re planning to freeze some or all of it, be sure to rinse the rice before adding to the soup.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I made this soup today to initiate the fall season. It was so delicious!. My husband is wowed by this. I used jasmine rice and added peas. I loaded the whole parsley, garlic, lemon zest into the soup at the end and served with rosemary garlic focaccia bread. A complete meal!
I love that you made this to celebrate the start of fall, Maria! Your additions sound fantastic – jasmine rice and peas are great touches, and serving it with rosemary garlic focaccia sounds absolutely perfect. So glad your husband was wowed by it. Thanks for sharing how you made it your own!
Hello
I never leave comments or reviews and such.
This is one of the best recipes of all time.
Followed almost to the tee, except for the addition of fresh herbs from the garden.
The gremolata was added to the soup at the end as most of it will be frozen for later.
The sample bowl with the fresh gremolata was outstanding!
Thanks,
Buddy
Hi Buddy,
That means a lot—thank you for taking the time to leave a comment, especially if it’s not something you usually do. I’m so glad you enjoyed the soup, and I love that you added fresh herbs from your garden. Great idea to stir in the gremolata before freezing and save a little for the sample bowl!
Just made that tonight with leftover turkey. Everyone loved it and I thought it was delicious!
That’s so great to hear, Terry!
What a perfect recipe for leftover turkey! Thank you, I love it even though my son didn’t. But he is 13 going on picky!
haha…I love it! So glad you enjoyed this, Sam.
Really enjoyed this. I added frozen spinach
So glad you enjoyed this, Laura! Spinach is a great addition.
Five Stars from my kitchen too! I made the stock from the rest of the turkey breast also. There was enough meat left to remove before rendering the carcass. After about 2 hours of simmering, it was falling apart, and I could get more of the darker meat off the bones. I also rinsed the basmati rice first too, and made both the rice and stock the day before. It came out perfect! I followed the recipe to the letter, but added some left over “roasted root vegetables” I had saved back from the TG dinner, for this soup. The turkey and pre-cooked rice also went in with the veg. I just sent the link to this recipe to a friend and told her this was probably the best soup I have ever made, and I make a lot of soup! During the year I would make this again, using the grilled chicken breast meat that we cook on the BBQ grill. Thanks for the yummy recipe. Winner!
Wow, Gail! So glad to hear this was such a hit. Thanks so much for your cooking notes and for coming back to tell me!
This was absolutely stellar. What a wonderful way to use up leftover turkey! We added some fresh sage & thyme since I had them hanging around, and I also put in a small chunk of parmesan rind during the simmer, to add a bit of richness. The gremolata took it over the top. Chef’s kiss!
Love this, Elizabeth! So glad you enjoyed this soup and added your own touches.
We LOVED this soup! I’ve make turkey and rice soup before after Thanksgiving but never remember this much flavor. Now, the trick may be that we simmered our turkey carcass for 12 hours on and off, and used the broth from this (our turkey had been stuffed with a lot of thyme, rosemary, parsely, butter, and apple.)
We used white basmati rice instead of white longrain, and I washed the rice per the optional suggestion to eliminate any starchiness. I think I also doubled the onion, carrots and celery amounts per a leftover appetizer tray and pre-cut extra onion.
The real kick and elegance (or pinch and swirl!) to this dish is the LEMON juice at the end, and the parsley, garlic and lemon zest GARNISH! Such a perfect accent of freshness and zeal to turkey soup whose downfall is often blandness. Thanks for the recipe! We will use this one for years to come, and I’d also like to try it with chicken per another comment. Bon appetit!
Wow, Alison! Thank you so much for taking the time to share your thoughts and cooking notes on this recipe.
I made this recipe tonight with my leftover turkey meat and made the stock with the carcass as recommended. The stock is heavenly. My husband loved the parsley, garlic, and zest topping. It makes the soup pop. Amazing! I highly recommend the added step for homemade stock. Totally worth the extra time. No boxed stock can compete with it!!
I agree 100% about the stock! I’m so glad you and your husband enjoyed this, Ezgi. Thank you for coming back to let me know!
Excellent!
I followed the recipe and tasted amazing. The lemon was just an exceptional and unexpected flavor. Made this with leftover turkey but will add this to our monthly menu with rotisserie chicken! Thank you for this recipe
I love to hear this, Shaka! Thank you for coming back to let me know.
This is a great base recipe. Love the gremolata .The lemon juice added to the soup needs to be doubled. I added in more garlic, some herbs and kale (only for more veggies). I would suggest adding the celery and carrots before the rice and broth and allow them to cook down a bit. The time suggested leaves you with cruchy celery. I’m a tough soup critic and I would make this again. Thank you Marissa!
Hi Kaylee! So glad you enjoyed this and made it your own!
Hello there! I’m planning on making us for dinner I would like to know the serving size
Thank you!
Hi, Sharon! This recipe makes about 3 quarts / 12 cups of soup, so the serving size is ~2 cups per person. Enjoy!
This was a great soup!
I used wild rice instead of white, and also added one small sweet potato/ diced.
Highly recommend.
So glad you enjoyed it, Julie! Thanks for your cooking notes.
One of the best turkey rice soups I have made! My husband LOVED it! More please!
I love to hear that, Barb! So happy that you and your husband enjoyed it!