As Thanksgiving approaches, here’s a tasty twist on the usual boring turkey soup. This recipe always gets rave reviews. If only getting book reviews were that easy!
Do you have an Instant Pot? They’re the absolute bomb when it comes to making stock from your Thanksgiving turkey carcass—or rotisserie chicken carcasses. Just sauté some roughly chopped onion (okay to leave the skin on), carrots (no need to peel) and celery, plus a few smashed garlic cloves, a good grinding of pepper, and a bay leaf. Throw in your turkey carcass, pulled apart to fit. Pretend it’s that obnoxious uncle you have to invite, and rip it limb from limb.
Fill with filtered water, set the Instant Pot to seal. Pressure cook on High for 30 minutes, then let pressure release naturally. Of course, you can do all that in a stock pot on your stove, but you’ll want to simmer the stock for at least three hours. Your house will smell amazing!
When it’s done, strain the stock into a fresh container, pressing down on the solids to extract all the goodies. Again, think obnoxious uncle and press hard! Now you’re ready to proceed with the recipe.
If you don’t want to make homemade stock, use the best boxed/canned stock you can find.
- Heat a large stockpot or your Instant Pot (sauté setting), add your favorite cooking fat (A few Tbs. olive oil, coconut oil, or a combination of butter and oil), then sweat 1 med. or large onion, diced, 4 large carrots, diced, 4 stalks celery, diced, until the veggies start to soften and are fragrant.Â
- Add 2-4 cloves garlic, minced and sauté for a minute or two. Then stir in 3 Tbs. all-purpose flour and one Tbs. curry powder, or more to taste. Stir for a few minutes to create a roux.
- Stir in 8-10 cups chicken broth or stock, 1 Tbs. ground turmeric for a nice golden color, grated fresh ginger (I like at least a Tbs, but suit yourself. Ginger adds a slight peppery bite), 1 tsp. dried thyme or a few sprigs of fresh, and a few bay leaves.
- If you’re using a stock pot, let the broth simmer for 30 min. before continuing.
- If you’re using the instant pot, add all the remaining ingredients except the cream (last step). This results in softer veggies than the stovetop method.
- Stir in 1 Granny Smith apple, diced (I leave the skin on), a cup of raw rice if using Instant Pot, cooked rice if using stove top. Adjust the amount of rice to your taste. Wild rice is nice here, but white rice is traditional. Add 1 cup or more of diced or shredded cooked chicken or turkey, salt and pepper to taste.
If making this on stovetop, add the apples, cooked chicken/turkey & rice, and simmer 15 min. more.
If using your Instant Pot, pressure cook the soup for 10 minutes, then do a quick release to let the steam escape. Taste to see if it needs more salt, then stir in heavy cream or coconut cream. I used about ½ cup heavy cream for the whole batch. The recipe I adapted called for a whole cup of cream. Suit yourself.
If you like, you can garnish with fresh cilantro or Italian parsely and a squeeze of fresh lime juice. Fresh chives would work nicely too.
Pro tip: Instead of using plain salt, try Better than Bouillon chicken stock concentrate, the kind that comes in a jar. It adds a wonderfully rich chicken flavor.
Bon appétit, and Happy Thanksgiving!
