Recipe: Creamy Turkey Wild Rice Soup

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If you’re like me, you have a pile of turkey you’re trying to re-mix into something that doesn’t resemble Thanksgiving. I have a delicious and somewhat healthy twist on a Creamy Chicken Wild Rice Soup that you must try. I know you must be saying “healthy?” but although it has butter and half & half in the ingredients, it doesn’t have a lot of fat in it.  Despite that, the flavor is amazing.  It uses up 3 cups of turkey too, which is a good thing! Let me walk you through the steps on how to make this wonderful soup (techniques from CooksCountry.com Recipes.)

<Scroll all the way to the bottom for a standard printable recipe> 

Here are the ingredients: butter, wild rice, chick or turkey stock/broth, carrots, mushrooms, celery, leek (or substitute onion), dried thyme, baking soda, chopped cooked turkey, corn starch, half & half (or cream – I used low fat half & half), salt and black pepper.

In a large pot or Dutch oven, toast rice in butter over medium heat until rice begins to pop. This takes about 7 minutes. Stir occasionally.

As the wild rice is sautéing, it’s a good time to prep the vegetables (keeping a close eye on the rice too – so it doesn’t burn). I started with the leek. Cut off both ends of the leek – both root and dark green leaves at top. Note: if you don’t have a leek on hand, you can substitute an onion.

Slice the leek down the middle, giving you two halves.

Now take your knife and make cuts down, creating half-moon pieces. Add to a bowl and run cold water to cover. Mix about with your fingers to allow sand to fall to the bottom of the bowl. Set aside and allow the water to do the work for you while you prep the rest of the veggies.

Next up are the carrots!  You can peel them if you like, but I like keeping the peel on for 2 reasons. 1-I like the nutrients that come in the peel 2-I’m lazy. I simply wash them, slice them in half (giving me a flat surface), and then in half again. An average size carrot I will have 4 long pieces per carrot after this step.

Now you have all the long matchsticks (about 8 to be exact – since there are 2 carrots in this recipe), simply cut perpendicular to get the nice dice. This is the fastest way I know how to dice carrots.

Celery you do something similar.  Here I just slice into 3 or 4 long matchsticks – depending on the size of the celery stock. Then cut down perpendicular again to get the dice.

Last vegetable is mushrooms. I bought these already pre sliced, but I put a rough chop on them to make the pieces smaller. If you like larger pieces, keep them larger. It’s your soup – your call.

Time to add the stock/broth to the pot.  I used chicken stock, but you could use chicken bouillon, chicken broth, or any variation of turkey liquid.

Add in your chopped carrots, mushrooms,…

…celery, and leeks.

Give a quick stir.

Add in the thyme and baking soda. Bring to a boil.

If you’re exactly like me you were thinking – why the heck is there baking soda in this recipe. Well here’s the reason. It helps to speed up the cooking of the wild rice. It helps to break down the fibers in the wild rice, thereby reducing the cooking time a bit.

Give a quick stir.  Once mixture comes to a boil, cover the pot and reduce heat to low. Then simmer around 1-hour, or when rice is tender.

It’s been an hour.  Rice is cooked.

Now add in the chopped, cooked turkey. Stir to combine. Adding the turkey in at a later stage ensures the meat is still tender and juicy.

Combine the half & half and cornstarch in a measuring cup or bowl. Stir to combine thoroughly so there are no lumps. I typically use my finger to make sure all the cornstarch is dissolved.  Add the half & half and corn starch mixture to the soup pot.

Slowly stir or whisk cornstarch mixture into soup to thicken to desired thickness. This may take about 10 minutes or so. If you need to mix in more cornstarch mixture, do so. Be sure to only add in a little at a time and check for the reaction. It’s hard to thin it out after it goes too far on the thick side.

Check for seasoning. Add ground black pepper and salt to taste. Stir one final time.

This soup is the best of both worlds. Deep, rich flavor – but not all the fat and calories you get with a cream based soup. Give it a try and let me know how it turns out (PLEASE COMMENT BELOW). It’s sure to be a hit!

Enjoy the comfort of food!

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Printable Recipe:

Creamy Turkey Wild Rice Soup

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Serves	6-8
Prep time	10 minutes
Cook time	1 hours, 25 minutes
Total time	1 hours, 35 minutes
Allergy	Milk Allergy (Dairy)
Dietary	Gluten Free
Meal type	Main Dish, Soup, Starter
Misc	Child Friendly, Freezable, Gourmet, Pre-preparable, Serve Hot
Website	Cooks Country

This soup is deep in flavor and not high in fat. It is loaded with vegetables and not a lot of fat. Uses up leftovers from Thanksgiving too. Great creamy wild rice soup with turkey or chicken.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 cup wild rice (not quick cook - or pre-cooked)
• 6 cups low-sodium chicken or turkey stock/broth
• 2 Medium carrots, chopped
• 1 cup mushrooms, chopped
• 1 rib celery, chopped
• 1 Medium leek, chopped in half-moons
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda (see reason above in steps)
• 3 cups cooked turkey (or chicken), chopped
• 2 tablespoons corn starch
• 1/2 cup half & half (I used low-fat)
• to tastekosher salt (any salt)
• to tasteblack pepper

Note

Recipe URL: https://recipesingoodtaste.com/?recipe=recipe-creamy-turkey-wild-rice-soup

Directions

Step 1		In a large pot or Dutch oven, toast wild rice in butter over medium heat.
Step 2		Sauté until rice begins to pop – around 7-minutes.
Step 3		Stir in stock/broth, carrots, mushrooms, celery, leeks, thyme, and baking soda and bring the mixture to a boil.
Step 4		Reduce heat to low and simmer covered until rice is tender – this is about an hour.
Step 5		Add turkey to the pot.
Step 6		Whisk cornstarch & half & half together until smooth.
Step 7		Slowly whisk cornstarch mixture into soup to thicken.
Step 8		Simmer until soup is slightly thickened – this is around 10-minutes.
Step 9		Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Step 10		Serve hot.

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PS: If you see mistakes (i.e., spelling errors or inconsistencies in the recipe), please tell me right away. I appreciate any help I can get!

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