Thick and Creamy Turkey Soup

One of the best things about cooking Thanksgiving dinner is the potential for creativity with the leftovers.

One of the worse things about cooking Thanksgiving dinner is not having any energy to be creative with the leftovers.

I made this soup with the leftover turkey last year, and it was so damn good I couldn’t wait to make it again this year. But when I was done cooking Thanksgiving dinner, I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

So I did the first step and then froze everything. It was pretty simple: boil the turkey carcass for a while. Then keep the broth, pulling any meat off the bones and keeping that, too. And obviously, toss the bones.

When you’re ready to actually make the soup, thaw all that broth.

Might take a while. Prep your veggies in the meantime.

Dice everything up nicely.

You’re going to sauté the veggies in some a lot of butter

I chopped the butter up a bit before plopping it in the pot.

When the veggies are soft, add in a cup of flour.

The flour combines with the butter and the moisture from the veggies to make a thick paste.

You’ll thin it out a bit by adding some of the broth.

Let it simmer for a few minutes, getting really thick, before adding a few cups of half-and-half, a cup of uncooked rice, salt, pepper, and bouillon, along with the rest of the broth and a bunch of that reserved turkey.

And that’s that. Let it simmer for a while and you’ve got yourself a thick, creamy turkey soup.

So yummy. Good thing this makes a ton, since I’m going to be eating it for a while. If you’d like to make it, too, here’s the original recipe.