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The Ultimate Turkey Dinner Leftovers Soup

Turkey soup in a cocotte with toasted bread and cheese topping.
Photo by Dong Kim

First of all, do not go making big batches of mashed potatoes, carrots, stuffing, and roast turkey just to make this soup. This recipe is meant for you to look at your leftovers as a mise en place for something new. This baked soup is always a hit in my household. It’s an unexpected way to use leftovers, but once you consider that broth plus cream plus mashed potatoes add up to what is essentially cream of potato soup, adding a few extra vegetables and turkey meat isn’t so odd at all.

This recipe was excerpted from 'Prairie' by Dan Clapson and Twyla Campbell. Buy the full book on Amazon.

What you’ll need

Recipe information

  • Yield

    Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients

For the soup topping

2½ cups leftover stuffing
½ cup finely grated parmesan cheese
½ cup grated mozzarella
¼ cup heavy (35%) cream

For the soup

2 Tbsp. canola oil
2 yellow onions, diced
6 cups turkey broth (or chicken broth)
2 cups leftover mashed potatoes
½ cup leftover gravy
1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. dried rosemary
1 cup chopped leftover carrots (or other winter vegetable like parsnips, acorn squash, or butternut squash)
1 cup finely chopped leftover cooked turkey meat
¼ cup heavy (35%) cream
Salt

Preparation

  1. Make the soup topping

    Step 1

    Place the stuffing, parmesan, mozzarella, and cream in a medium bowl and mix gently to combine.

  2. Make the soup

    Step 2

    Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the broth, potatoes, gravy, vinegar, and rosemary. Once the mixture comes to a simmer, reduce to the heat to low and use an immersion blender to purée until smooth.

    Step 3

    Add the carrots, turkey, and cream and continue to cook until near-simmering. Season to taste with salt.

    Step 4

    Preheat the oven to 375°F.

    Step 5

    Fill six heat-safe bowls with soup, and divide the soup topping evenly among the bowls. Bake for 10 minutes, then broil on high for 2 to 3 minutes, until the topping has turned golden brown and crispy.

    Step 6

    Allow the soup to cool for several minutes before serving. If there are any soup leftovers, well, you missed the whole point of this recipe in the first place!

Prairie-COVER
Excerpted from Prairie by Dan Clapson and Twyla Campbell. Copyright © 2023 Dan Clapson and Twyla Campbell. Photographs by Dong Kim. Published by Appetite by Random House®, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved. Buy the full book from Amazon or Penguin Random House.
TagsCookbooksSoup/StewThanksgivingDinnerPotatoRoot VegetableVegetableStuffingFallWinterChristmas

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