This Turkey Dumpling Soup is the most amazing comfort food! Easy enough for a weeknight meal, good enough for guests!
I think some day, in my next life, I am going to make a coffee table book entitled: Things I Never Thought I Would Hear Myself Say.
It would be full of all the nonsense that comes out of my mouth on the daily. Things that really should only be said in sitcoms. Starring cartoons characters.
Things like
Well that’s what happens when you jump on the trampoline with princess shoes on.
And
Please put the light saber down before you go the the bathroom.
I might throw in a
Your little sister is not a puppy! You cannot play fetch with her!!
You know. Just for good measure.
And I would stick in all the things that other parents never thought they would hear themselves say. Because I know that you all say things too. The “If you are going to have your hands in your pants please be in your bedroom” things. Admit it.
You guys! Don’t you think I have a best seller on my hands??
In the meantime, I will keep my day job and keep making you things like this Turkey Dumpling Soup.
This soup is insanely good. Three {cough} meals in a row good.
It’s totally perfect for using up your left over turkey (and corn!!), but if you just want to make it as a regular weeknight meal through the winter . . . well . . . I’ll probably be doing the same.
Some notes about this recipe:
- Since this soup has a few moving parts to it (like things you need to be doing while different things are cooking), it’s a good idea to read the whole recipe first and then start cooking.
- When you are making the roux, the thickening agent for the soup, go slow. First combine all the flour with the butter, and then sloooooooowly add the chicken stock. It literally takes me a solid two minutes to add all four cups.
- To make sure that your dumplings are fluffy and not tough, make sure not to over cook them. Mine were done perfectly after four minutes of simmering.
- I think this would be FANTASTIC if made with turkey stock. I know there are some great recipes out there that use the left over turkey bones to make stock. I haven’t mastered it yet, but when I do I will come back and update.
- This soup should have onions in it. “I swear to not cook with onions” was part of my wedding vows, so I left them out, but you should add them.
Turkey Dumpling Soup
Ingredients
- 3 TBSPs butter
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 large carrots diced
- 2 celery stalks diced
- 2 TBSPs all purpose flour
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 1 tsp sage rub
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp salt see note
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 cups cooked turkey cubed
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 8 oz heavy cream
For Dumplings
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 2 tsps baking powder
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 TBSP butter
- 1/2 cup skim milk
Instructions
- Melt the butter over medium heat in a large stock pot.
- Add the carrots, celery, and garlic and cook until soft, about five minutes.
- Whisk in the flour until fully combined. Very very slowly add the chicken stock. Begin by adding only about a tablespoon at a time, only adding more stock once the stock you just added is combined. Towards the end you will be able to add it a little more quickly. This should take about two minutes.
- Add the sage, thyme, salt, bay leaves, and pepper and bring to a simmer. Allow to simmer for five minutes.
- While the soup is cooking, whisk together 1 cup of flour, 2 tsps of baking powder, 1 tsp of sugar, and 1/2 tsp salt. Cut in 1 TBSP cold butter. Gently mix in 1/2 cup skim milk until just combined and there are no more streaks of flour. Gently drop about a tablespoon of the dough at a time into the soup. Boil until just cooked through over medium heat. About four minutes uncovered.
- Finally, gently stir in the cooked turkey, frozen corn, and heavy cream, stirring to combine and cooking about one minute more until combined. Remove bay leaves and serve.
Notes
did you make this
Turkey Dumpling Soup
Ab says
Why did I need to go through so many Pinterest pages to get the instructions? The only thing I could get before this was the ingredients.
So often other websites take my pictures and direct the traffic to me and then pin the images on their site to Pinterest so that they get traffic and revenue from the ads off my pictures. Unfortunately, there isn’t a whole lot I can do about it as it would be almost to track all of them down.
Ashlea Tobin says
I still had some leftover Thanksgiving turkey that I wanted to use up. So I searched for this since I’ve also been craving dumplings but have always been too intimidated to make them myself. This recipe was super easy to follow. It turned out great. It was a perfect hearty soup with dumplings for this cold night. Btw, I added onions and substituted oregano for sage since the store was out. I will definitely be making this recipe again.
I’m so happy you liked it! This is one of my favorites too!
Brit says
If I wanted to skip dumplings and just make the soup do you think it’s worth it and will still come out amazing?
The flavors in this soup are so good, I think it will be fine. I would then just serve it with some crusty bread if it were me.
Linus Hollis says
When I see recipes without onions, I add the Thai herb, Cha Am, for some gingery Allium flavour without the gas or bad breath.
Melissa says
I have made this soup 4 times now, substituting chicken breast if I don’t have turkey, and it is always a hit! I add some petalled onion when I saute the carrots and celery, and I use whole milk in the dumplings, but that’s it. It is hearty and healthy and so flavorful!
I’m so glad to hear you like it Melissa! Comments like this make my day!
Amanda says
Wow thank you so much for this delicious and simple recipe! I made this soup tonight and just got done eating a bowl :) I have a tendency of altering a recipe to my preference or just to use up something before I even try making it exactly as it says to. But I made your soup according to the directions and I’m glad I did! The only difference was using whole milk instead of skim. We had leftover whole turkey that I used to make the stock. I asked my husband what kind of soup I should make and he suggested turkey dumpling; so that’s how I found your recipe. This was my first time making a dumpling soup and we love this! Also one of the rare occasions where my cooking looked just like the picture! I will be coming back to your website for more recipes for sure. Thank you!
Amanda, you officially made my Sunday. Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to come back and leave this sweet comment. I LOVE this soup, and it makes me so happy that you loved it too.
Kathy says
Can you use can biscuits for dumplings
I haven’t tried it that way, but I’m sure you can. I know a lot of dumpling soups do that. I would encourage you to try the homemade dumplings because they are so easy to make, and so so so delicious! That said, I never judge shortcuts. Life is busy!
Kevin says
Turkey has got some great healthy soups. Not surprise with this one. Great recipe.
Liz says
Love this recipe! I also added onion like you suggested and used frozen carrots instead of fresh to save me some chopping.
I’m so happy to hear you liked it, Liz! I love this recipe!
Lea says
Awesome recipe with leftover turkey stock and meat! My dumpling mix was a little dry so I added an extra splash of milk and it worked perfectly 😎
I’m so happy you liked it, Lea!