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I Finally Nailed Turkey Soup From the Carcass and It Beats Thanksgiving Dinner
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items That picked-over turkey carcass sitting in your fridge right now is about to become the best meal of the whole holiday weekend. If you've been tossing the bones or making bland broth that tastes like hot water with regret, this is everything I use to...
Sections
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Stock Pot and Dutch Oven for Turkey Bone Broth
Knives and Cutting Boards for Prepping Vegetables
Strainers and Sieves for Clear Turkey Stock
Herbs and Seasonings for Turkey Soup Flavor
Noodles and Grains to Fill Out Turkey Soup
Soup Storage Containers for Freezing Leftovers
Stock Pot and Dutch Oven for Turkey Bone Broth
The first three years I tried this, I used a pot that was way too small and ended up with watery, sad broth. Switching to the right vessel changed everything about the depth of flavor.
Get this if you've ever tried to cram a turkey carcass into a regular pot and watched broth volcano onto your stove. The 21 quarts fits the whole frame with room for vegetables. Bought mine the day after Thanksgiving two years ago and it's become the...
Granite Ware 12 Quart Nonstick Stock Pot with Lid
Use this for the final soup stage after you strain the broth. The cast iron holds heat so evenly that nothing scorches on the bottom while you're distracted watching football. Perfect for anyone who tends to walk away from the stove and come back to ...
Lodge Cast Iron 6 Quart Enameled Dutch Oven, Indigo
Grab this if you want something lighter than cast iron but still serious. I keep one at my parents' house specifically for the day-after soup ritual. The stainless cleans up fast, which matters when your kitchen already looks like a disaster zone fro...
Cuisinart MultiClad Pro Stainless Steel 12 Quart Stockpot
Knives and Cutting Boards for Prepping Vegetables
Chopping mirepoix with a dull knife on a slippery board turned soup prep into a 45-minute ordeal. These cut that time in half and saved my fingertips.
Swap out whatever mystery knife you've been using since college. This one stays sharp through a mountain of carrots, celery, and onions without needing a sharpener every time. For anyone who dreads the veggie prep part of soup making, a decent knife ...
Farberware Edgekeeper 8-inch Chef Knife with Self
Try this if your current board slides around the counter like it's on ice. The surface grips without being hard to clean, and it's big enough to hold all your mirepoix without onion pieces rolling onto the floor. Dishwasher safe too, which matters wh...
Epicurean Kitchen Series Cutting Board
Keep one of these in your drawer specifically for carrot and parsnip peeling. I used to skip peeling carrots for soup because my old peeler was so bad it took longer than actually cooking. This one strips a whole bag in minutes. Small thing, big diff...
OXO Good Grips Swivel Peeler
Strainers and Sieves for Clear Turkey Stock
Cloudy, gritty broth with bone fragments floating around ruined my first few attempts. Proper straining is the difference between restaurant-quality stock and something that looks like dishwater.
Use this for the first rough strain to catch bones, skin, and big vegetable chunks. Sturdy enough to handle dumping a full pot of hot stock through without bending or tipping. I learned the hard way that flimsy colanders buckle under the weight, and ...
PrepSolutions 5 Qt Stainless Steel Colander
Grab this for the second pass to catch all the tiny sediment that makes broth cloudy. Run your stock through this after the colander and the liquid comes out golden and clear. For anyone who's ever posted soup on social media and gotten roasted for m...
HIC Stainless Steel Wide Rim Mesh
Drape this inside your strainer for the cleanest possible stock. Sounds fussy, but it takes 10 seconds and catches every last particle. Wish I'd started doing this years ago instead of spending three Thanksgivings wondering why my soup had a weird gr...
Norpro Reusable Cheese Cloth, Cotton, 2 sq-yd, Shown
Herbs and Seasonings for Turkey Soup Flavor
Plain salt and pepper turkey soup is fine, but the right dried herbs and spices take it from ‘leftovers’ to something you'd actually order at a restaurant. These are the ones I reach for every single time.
Toss a generous teaspoon into your broth while it simmers and the whole house starts smelling like Thanksgiving again. This blend has sage, thyme, and marjoram already mixed, so you don't need six separate jars. For anyone who wants that classic turk...
McCormick Kosher Poultry Seasoning, 0.65 oz Bottle
Drop two of these into your stock pot right when you start simmering the carcass. They add a subtle earthy backbone that you can't quite identify but you'd definitely miss if it wasn't there. Pull them out before serving. Nobody wants to bite into a ...
Simply Organic Bay Leaf 0.14 oz.
Switch to this from regular table salt if you haven't already. The coarser grains dissolve slower, so you're less likely to accidentally over-salt your broth. I ruined an entire batch once by dumping in table salt like it was kosher. This gives you w...
Morton Kosher Salt Flakes 3 lb.
Noodles and Grains to Fill Out Turkey Soup
Broth alone doesn't make a meal. Finding the right starch that holds up without turning to mush after sitting in hot soup for 20 minutes took me a few embarrassing attempts.
These hold their shape in hot broth better than any other noodle I've tried. Cook them separately and add to each bowl right before serving. If you dump them straight into the pot, they'll absorb all your beautiful stock overnight and you'll wake up ...
Mueller's Wide Egg Noodles, 12 oz
Try orzo instead of noodles if you want something that feels a little more refined. Each grain picks up the turkey flavor and gives the soup body without making it heavy. Perfect for the person in your family who always says they want ‘just a small b...
RiceSelect® Whole Wheat Orzo
Swap this in when you want a heartier, chewier soup that sticks with you through a cold afternoon. Barley needs about 30 minutes of simmering, so add it early. Makes the soup feel like a full meal rather than an appetizer. Stock up now because barley...
Bob's Red Mill Pearl Barley, 30 oz Pkg
Soup Storage Containers for Freezing Leftovers
Making a huge batch and freezing portions is the whole point. But I cracked two glass containers and warped a cheap plastic one before finding storage that actually works for hot soup going into the freezer.
These seal tight enough that I've thrown them in a gym bag sideways without a single leak. Fill them with soup, let them cool on the counter, then straight into the freezer. For anyone who's opened their freezer to find frozen soup leaked everywhere,...
Rubbermaid, Food Storage Container, 4.7 Cup, 2-Pack
Use these for single-serving portions of broth that you can thaw for quick lunches. Leave an inch of headspace at the top or the glass will crack when the liquid expands. Learned that lesson at 3 AM when a jar exploded in my freezer like a soup grena...
Ball, Glass Mason Jar, 32 Oz. Quart, Regular Mouth 12-Count
Grab these if you want perfectly portioned frozen soup blocks you can pop out and reheat in minutes. Way easier than trying to chip frozen soup out of a container with a butter knife. Each cube is exactly two cups, so meal planning becomes dead simpl...
Customer reviews for Souper Cubes 1/2 Cup Silicone
Ladles and Serving Tools for Soup Night
Serving soup with a regular spoon is a guaranteed way to splash broth across your counter, your shirt, and somehow the ceiling. Proper tools make the difference between a nice dinner and a cleanup project.
Keep this within arm's reach of your stove from November through February. The long handle keeps your knuckles away from steam, and the deep bowl holds a real serving instead of those tiny ladles that take four scoops to fill a bowl. Comfortable grip...
OXO Good Grips Brushed Stainless Steel Ladle
Use this to fish out chunks of turkey and vegetables from the pot without draining all the broth. Sounds basic, but trying to do this with a fork while hot soup splashes your wrist is a special kind of frustration I've lived through too many times.
KitchenAid Heat Resistant Nylon Slotted Turner in Black
Toss this on the counter next to your pot for stirring and tasting without worrying about scratching your Dutch oven. The flat edge scrapes the bottom so nothing sticks and burns. Silicone doesn't conduct heat either, so no more burning your hand on ...
Rachael Ray Lazy Solid Spoon Turquoise
Bowls and Bread for Serving Turkey Soup
Eating incredible soup out of a sad, thin bowl with no bread on the side is like watching a movie with no sound. The vessel and the sidekick matter more than people think.
These are deep enough to hold a real serving without broth sloshing over the rim every time you carry one to the table. Thick porcelain keeps the soup hot while you eat instead of cooling down in three minutes like those thin ceramic bowls from the d...
Sweese Porcelain Bowls - 28 Ounce - Set of 4, White
Tear off a chunk of this and dunk it straight into your turkey soup. The sourdough tang plays off the rich broth in a way that regular white bread just can't touch. For the person who thinks soup isn't a real meal, hand them a bowl with a thick slice...
Pepperidge Farm Farmhouse ® Sourdough Bread
Throw a few of these in the oven while your soup heats up. Buttery, garlicky, crispy toast dragged through turkey broth is genuinely one of the best food combinations I've ever stumbled into. Takes five minutes and turns leftover soup into something ...
New York Bakery Real Garlic Texas Toast, 8 Count
Slow Cooker and Instant Pot for Hands-Off Broth
Standing over a stock pot for six hours stirring and checking the flame got old fast. Letting the carcass simmer unattended while I nap on the couch was a life-altering discovery.
Toss the turkey carcass in here with water, onion, celery, and carrots, set it on low, and walk away for 10 hours. Come back to the richest, most golden broth you've ever made with zero effort. For anyone who wants amazing stock but also wants to wat...
Crock-Pot Manual 7-Quart Slow Cooker, Black
Use the pressure cook setting for 90 minutes and you get broth that tastes like it simmered all day. This is the move when you forgot to start the stock in the morning and company's coming for dinner. Saved my reputation as a cook more than once duri...
Instant Pot Duo Crisp Stainless Steel 8 qt Pressure Cooker
Grab this one if you want the timer to switch to warm automatically so you don't have to set an alarm. Fell asleep on the couch last Thanksgiving with the carcass simmering, woke up to perfectly done stock instead of an overcooked mess. The keep-warm...
Hamilton Beach 6-Quart Programmable FlexCook™ Slow
Spice Additions and Finishing Touches for Turkey Soup
The last two minutes of cooking are where good soup becomes the kind people text you about later. A squeeze of this, a sprinkle of that, and suddenly it's not just leftovers anymore.
Shake a few dashes into your bowl right before eating. Not enough to make it spicy, just enough to add a warm brightness that wakes up the whole flavor. For the family member who always says your soup is ‘good but needs something,’ this is the someth...
Cholula Original Hot Sauce Review
Stir one tablespoon into your finished pot of broth and taste the difference immediately. The acid cuts through the richness and makes every other flavor pop. Sounds weird, but this trick came from a chef friend and I've never made a batch without it...
365 by Whole Foods Market, Organic Raw Apple Cider
Dump a generous pile on top of each bowl right before serving. The salty, nutty flavor melts into the hot broth and adds a layer that makes people think you spent way longer cooking than you actually did. Works especially well if you went the orzo or...
Kraft Grated Parmesan Cheese 125g