When I was considering what to do with the leftovers from Thanksgiving dinner, I came up with this soup. It is wonderful and will transform leftover turkey dinner into a novel dish. You can skip the cranberry sauce or substitute any leftover vegetables. The cranberry sauce is a favorite among my family.
| Prep Time: | 2 hrs |
| Cook Time: | 2 hrs |
| Total Time: | 4 hrs |
| Servings: | 12 |
| Yield: | 12 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 roast turkey carcass
- 6 quarts water
- 4 medium onions
- 6 medium carrots
- 5 stalks celery
- 6 cups leftover stuffing
- 6 egg whites
- cooking spray
- 1 cup peas
- 1 cup corn kernels
- 1 cup cubed turnips
- 1 cup fresh green beans, trimmed
- 1 (16 ounce) can jellied cranberry sauce
- 1 (16 ounce) can whole berry cranberry sauce
- 1 tablespoon poultry seasoning, such as Bell’s
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Set the oven rack about 6 inches from the heat source and preheat the oven’s broiler. Remove all meat from cooked turkey carcass and set aside. Arrange bones in a roasting pan and broil until browned on both sides.
- Transfer browned bones to large stock pot and cover with 6 quarts of water. Trim, peel, and chop the onions, carrots, and celery; add peels and ends of raw onions, celery, and carrots to the stock pot and reserve the cleaned vegetables for the soup. Simmer bones and vegetable scraps for 1 hour. Turn off the heat and allow stock to cool for 20 minutes. Strain the stock, discarding the bones and vegetable scraps. Remove the fat from the stock by refrigerating the stock overnight and removing the hardened fat layer from the top or by skimming the fat from the top of the liquid with a ladle.
- Combine leftover stuffing and egg whites in a large bowl. Form the stuffing mixture into small balls and place on a microwave-safe plate. Microwave the dumplings on High for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and coat with cooking spray. Add the dumplings and cook until the are golden brown on all sides. Remove from pan and set aside.
- Add the reserved and chopped turkey meat, onions, celery, and carrots to the strained soup stock; simmer for 1 hour. Stir in the peas, corn, green beans, and turnips; simmer until the vegetables are tender. Pour in the jellied and whole berry cranberry sauces, poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper; stir. When the cranberry sauce has dissolved into the soup add the cooked dumplings and heat through.
- Leftover mashed potato can be added with the corn and peas but they will make the soup very thick.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 512 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 61 g |
| Cholesterol | 43 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 g |
| Protein | 16 g |
| Saturated Fat | 6 g |
| Sodium | 865 mg |
| Sugars | 32 g |
| Fat | 25 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I didn’t add the cranberries because we were out, but I did use my leftover gravy. I thought it was a bit on the bland side. The stuffing dumplings were just okay.
Ok I love this recipe and but i used a roasted chicken, followed the steps, iv also thrown ravolies or butternut squash into it.
I only made the dumplings as an addition to my turkey soup recipe, and they were a HUGE hit. My turkey soup has a little heat, so the dumplings were a perfect complement. My family “gobbled” them up. 🙂
This turned out very good. I made my dumplings with a package of stove top and added 3 egg whites. I cooked them on an oiled sheet in the oven. I left out the cranberry sauce and turnip and added some green beans, peas and zucchini. I also added some fresh oregano and parsley.
LOVED IT!!! I rolled the dumplings in cornmeal and baked for 30 minutes like was done in another comment. I had made my own cranberry sauce so used it instead of the canned. It wasn’t too sweet, and added a bit of zip! Didn’t use turnips, and used frozen peas, corn and beans. Yum!
Delicious! I had to make more dressing for this soup. I didn’t make my own stock. No cranberries. Added extra veggies-rutabaga and turnip, mashed potatoes, gravy. No poultry seasoning…added garlic, Lea & Perrins. Used whole eggs in dressing, and baked at 350 degrees for 30 min. Put the dressing dumplings in bottom of bowl and ladled soup over them. Have made 2 years in a row. Absolutely delicious….would give more stars if I could. Very versatile soup!
This looks so good and the stuffing idea is genius! I am going to try it with my leftover turkey and buy a box of stove top. Going to try and brown the stuffing balls and put them in the bowl and pour the soup over the top. Thanks for the Great idea!(only gave 4 stars since I havent tried it yet)
This rating is for the Dumplings. They were Fan-Freaking-Tastic! I rolled the balls in breadcrumbs before hitting the micro, but Im not sure it added anything to the texture. I tried the dumplings in the bottom of the bowl of soup and on top of the soup. Either way worked. I made far too many, but kept them in a “zippie” bag in the fridge until the were gone. They kept fine and made great snacks…
I love it! I took the dumpling idea and made them in a muffin tin served along side the soup. Instead of adding fresh beans I used the left over bean casserole. This is a very creative and new idea for all of those left overs! I will be freezing the left over soup to use on a cold day with not a lot of time to cook. Thank you for helping me look like a Domestic Goddess to my family!
Roasting the bones always makes soup tastes better!! I put the bones and scraps into cheese cloth before added to the water, makes it easier to remove. There was no leftover cranberry sauce from our dinner, so skipped that part. This was a very unique way to make dumplings, and we all enjoyed them as something different. Followed the suggestion from one of the reviewers to bake the dumplings and put them in the individual bowls first, then added the soup. Will freeze the leftovers if there is any today. Thanks so much for sharing!!
made it for just 2 but very good. go easy on the sweet things. the stuffing was a nice finshing touch.
Yes added more flavor with herbs. And more vegetables.
This was a very unique and different way to use up all the leftovers from a turkey dinner. I pretty much went by the recipe, changing a few little things here and there. I did add in some egg noodles. I didn’t have much cranberry sauce, but I could tell that it sweetened the broth a bit. I had extra turkey stock that I didn’t use in the soup, so I froze a couple quarts to save for later. This really made some rich turkey stock. Thanks for this great idea! I may make again sometime if I have a bunch of leftovers to use up at the last minute.
I found some smoked turkey legs at the store. It is a rainy, dreary day, this soup intrigued me, I had all the ingreds. I did forget to add the egg whites to the stuffing but I had used an ice cream scoop so they held up well. My family is not a cranberry fan, so I left that out. 2 of my kids are Gobbling it up as I type! Thanksgiving in March!! Thank you for sharing Michelle
I made a half portion of this and it was excellent. I did not even brown the turkey bones, just made a stock the day before. Made my own poultry seasoning blend from a recipe here. I didn’t have peas, turnips or green beans and it was still wonderful. I did not add the cranberry either. This was a great way to use turkey day leftovers and the dumplings held up sitting in the soup in the fridge for 2 days! Excellent! A new favorite in our house.
Great soup, especially the dumplings. They don’t get soggy if you add them just before serving. Even soggy they are great though. Would’ve given it a 5 except for the cranberry – way too sweet. We prefer a more savory flavor. Kudos for a great, flexible, throw in whatever you’ve got recipe.
Delicious, and such a great use for leftovers! I put in some leftover corn casserole and the gravy. The dumplings are awesome!
This was a unique and easy way to use turkey leftovers and the rest of the dinner too! I made a few substitutions: we replaced the cranberry jelly with leftover candied yams (pecans and all!), and rolled the dumplings in cornmeal after the egg for a bit of a crunch (it also helped them stick better). When serving, we put the dumpling at the bottom of the bowl and poured the soup on top. I love the versatility of this dish!
We skipped browning the dumplings and they were still perfect. Great use of leftovers. Everyone loved it!
I have to tell you that this is a fail proof recipe. Delicious. My neighbors came back for thirds. We froze half of it. It’s that good! It’s in the arsenal!
This is great! Of course, soup is one of those things everyone does different, so I did change some stuff. Mainly, just used more carrot, rutabaga, and peas instead of the green beans and poultry seasoning. I added some leftover gravy to the broth and it was so flavorful I didn’t even need to use bouillon, just some salt. Lastly, the stuffing balls are time consuming, but worth it. I thought they might be weird, but not at all. If you take a teaspoon and squish the stuffing into it against the side of the bowl, it’s easier and quicker to make them nice and smooth so they are easier to brown, and stay together better. Oh, and I didn’t find that the can of cranberry added much to it, either way. Would probly skip that next time.