Turkey and Dumplings Soup
This hearty turkey and dumplings soup filled with turkey, vegetables, and fluffy buttermilk dumplings cooked right on top is a great way to use leftover turkey!
One of the best things about Thanksgiving is the leftovers, am I right? But even I can only eat so many turkey sandwiches before enough is enough. These turkey and dumplings are the perfect solution, turning leftovers into a completely new and different (and delicious!) meal. My family loves it! And I know yours will too.
Loaded up with carrots, potatoes, onions and turkey in a rich broth, the soup is fabulous enough on its own. But the dumplings on top are what really sends this dish to the next level. It’s cozy and satisfying, and exactly the kind of meal you’ll want on a chilly fall or winter day.
If you have turkey bones you can even use them to make a homemade broth that serves as the base for this turkey dumpling soup. But don’t worry, you can use pre-made broth or stock in this recipe too.
Table of Contents
- What are dumplings?
- Ingredients you’ll need
- How to make homemade turkey broth (optional)
- How to make turkey and dumplings soup
- FAQs
- Other cozy soup recipes
- Get this recipe
What are dumplings?
Dumplings can mean a lot of different things, but in this context it’s a simple dough that’s either rolled out and cut, or portioned with a spoon and dropped right into a simmering soup to cook.
Dumplings are soft, tender, with lots of great flavor from both the dumpling itself and the broth it’s cooked in. No need to serve bread or rolls alongside this soup, it’s built right in!
Ingredients you’ll need
- Cooked turkey— White or dark meat, whatever thanksgiving leftovers you have. (This recipe can also be made with chicken.)
- Vegetables— Onions, carrots, potatoes, garlic, and fresh thyme.
- Turkey broth— Either homemade or store-bought.
- Apple cider— The secret ingredient! It adds flavor and a hint of sweetness. (NOT apple cider vinegar, I’ve had a few readers make that mistake.)
- Buttermilk dumplings— made with flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, kosher salt and buttermilk.
How to make homemade turkey broth (optional)
This is a completely optional step, but if you have any bones leftover from your Thanksgiving turkey, this is an easy way to infuse your soup with so much rich flavor. And thankfully, making homemade broth isn’t hard at all to make!
- Prepare turkey bones. Remove any excess fat or skin, and any turkey you hope to use for the soup.
- Add to a pot with vegetables and cover with cold water. Place onions, carrots, and celery in a large pot along with turkey bones and fresh herbs. Cover everything with cold water.
- Simmer for 2 hours. Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer. Stock needs a lot of time to extract the flavor from the bones and veggies. If you are short on time you can simmer for 30-60 minutes and add 1 Tbsp bouillon paste.
- Strain the broth. Use tongs to remove large bones and veggies and then pass the broth through a fine mesh strainer.
- Use immediately or store in the fridge. You can use the prepared stock right away in this soup, or it can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 5-7 days.
How to make turkey and dumplings soup
- Cook onions, carrots and garlic. Melt butter in a large pot or dutch oven and cook veggies until softened, about 5 minutes. Add flour and cook for 1-2 minutes more.
- Add broth, apple cider, potatoes, s&p and thyme. Pour in the broth while whisking so it absorbs the flour, then add other ingredients. Simmer for about 10 minutes until the potatoes start to soften.
- Mix dumpling dough. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the buttermilk and combine just until no dry ingredients remain.
- Add turkey and spoon dumplings onto soup. Once turkey has been added, use a spoon or spring-loaded cookie scoop to evenly drop dumplings on top of the soup.
- Cover with a lid and cook till dumplings are done. Top with lid so there’s a 1-inch opening to let some steam escape. Simmer for about 10-15 minutes until dumplings appear dry on top (time will depend on size of dumplings).
FAQs
Yes, this recipe can be made with chicken and chicken broth instead of turkey.
Homemade broth can be stored in the fridge for 5-7 days, or in the freezer for several months.
You can use any high quality apple cider or apple juice in this recipe. I like to use Simply Apple juice. If you don’t have any, you can substitute for more broth. DO NOT use apple cider vinegar.
The dumplings are cooked from the bottom up, so once the tops appear dry they are cooked through and ready to eat.
Green beans, peas and corn are other vegetables you can add to this soup if you like. You can also use another herb like rosemary or sage, or a combination. I prefer fresh herbs for the best flavor (and I usually have them around at Thanksgiving time too).
You can prepare this soup and store in the pot it’s cooked in (if it’s oven proof). When ready to enjoy, warm in a 350°F oven for 30 minutes. A lot of the broth will get soaked up by the dumplings as it sits so it will be a lot less soup-like. But still tasty!
Other cozy soup recipes
Get this recipe
This recipe was originally published November 2019.
Turkey and Dumplings Soup
Ingredients
Homemade Turkey Broth (optional):
- Leftover turkey bones
- 1 small onion , quartered
- 2 carrots , chopped into large chunks
- 1 stalk celery , chopped into large chunks
- 1 small bunch of herbs like rosemary, thyme, sage and parsley
- Water , as needed
Soup:
- 2 tablespoons butter
- ½ cup chopped carrots (70 grams, 1 medium carrot)
- 1 small onion , chopped
- 1 clove garlic , minced
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 4 cups turkey or chicken broth , homemade or store-bought (1 quart, about 1 liter)
- 1 cup quality apple juice or cider (see Note) (220 grams)
- 1 ½ cups chopped potatoes (150 grams, 2-3 potatoes)
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
- 2-3 cups cooked shredded turkey (200-300 grams)
- ½ cup milk or cream (112 grams)
Dumplings:
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour (180 grams)
- ½ cup cornmeal (70 grams)
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon coarse salt
- 1 cup buttermilk (227 grams)
Instructions
To make the stock:
- Remove any excess skin and fat from the bones. Make sure to remove any turkey meat you hope to use for another purpose; any meat left on the bone will be very tough by the time the stock is done.
- Place the turkey bones in a large stock pot and add vegetables and herbs. Add enough cold water to cover all of the bones.
- Place over high heat and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 2 hours, adding more water as needed to keep the bones covered. Occasionally skim the surface of the stock with a spoon to remove any "scum" that may develop as it cooks.
- Pour stock through a fine mesh strainer. If desired, you can further strain out impurities by passing stock through a coffee filter.
- Pour into quart-sized containers and store in the fridge for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to several months. Or use right away!
To Make the Soup:
- In a large pot melt the butter over medium heat. Add the carrots, onion and garlic and stir until soft and onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Add flour and stir until vegetables are coated.
- Slowly pour in the turkey stock while whisking until it's all incorporated. Add the apple cider, potatoes, salt, pepper and thyme.
- Bring to a boil and simmer for about 10 minutes, or until potatoes are just starting to tenderize.
- Stir in the turkey and milk/cream.
To Make the Dumplings:
- While the soup is simmering, prepare the dumplings. Mix the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.
- Add the buttermilk and stir just until no streaks of dry ingredients remain, do not over mix.
- Drop the dumpling batter by 1/4 cupfuls on top of the soup. Try to evenly space them, but it doesn't need to be perfect.
- Cover the pot with the lid so that there's a 1-inch opening for steam to escape and simmer for 15 minutes until dumplings appear dry on top and are cooked all the way through.
- Serve soup immediately, store leftovers in the fridge for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Several readers have misread the recipe and used apple cider vinegar in place of apple juice or cider, do not make that mistake! I use Simply Apple juice.
- If you’re short on time while making the homemade broth, you can simmer for only 30-60 minutes and add 1 Tbsp of bouillon paste.
- This recipe can also be made with chicken instead of turkey.
- To make ahead: You can prepare this soup and store in the pot it’s cooked in (if it’s oven proof). When ready to enjoy, warm in a 350°F oven for 30 minutes. A lot of the broth will get soaked up by the dumplings as it sits so it will be a lot less soup-like. But still tasty!
Annalise, this looks SO unbelievably yummy! I seriously want to make sure I have plenty of leftover turkey so I can make this! 😀
I’m drooling over this! That broth of the dumplings looks completely amazing.
I’m with you – I love a turkey sandwich for a couple days, but I need something else afterwards!! And this is just the ticket!
This looks so comforting! Adding this to our dinner menu soon!
Hi, Could apple juice or just more broth be substituted for the apple cider?
Thanks!
Yes, either of those would fine substitutes.
The vinegar in this recipe is quite overwhelming and my cream/milk curdled when it was added. The dish would have been better without it, for sure.
Vinegar?
I did the same thing with the vinegar..oops!!
Also read that as Apple cider vinegar the first TWO times I read the recipie. I was really confused for a minute!
Brandi, I’ve tripled checked my recipe and it doesn’t call for vinegar. Maybe you’re confusing this with another recipe?
Maybe they thought it was apple cider vinegar?
Used this recipe as a start to finish off turkey. Substituted cream of chicken soup, turkey gravy, and the 1 bouillon cube I had with double the water for the stock, Plus more water to be able to cook the egg noodles I added. Substituted the fresh herbs for johnnys. Results = Best purple/pink colored (purple carrots apparently bleed tint) turkey pot pie filling I have ever made. Is also fine by itself.. Or over rice. Why did I add the flour to the carrots and onions? Thanks for the starting recipe.
So happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe! I’m glad it turned out so well with all of your modifications, and I’m sure the feedback will be helpful to other readers. The flour added to the veggies helps thicken the soup as it simmers. 🙂
I made this soup and love it. I didn’t add the cream or vinegar to the recipe and I had big reviews. I am going to be making this again today. We could not get enough of the flavours. I love how this soup thicken up the next day. It was a meal in itself. Thank you for sharing
So happy to hear you enjoyed the soup! It’s one of my faves. Thanks Cristina!
The only thing I have close to Apple anything is a little bit of applesauce. With that a dash of cinnamon would work??
You can leave out the apple juice/cider if you don’t have any. Just use more stock! 🙂
Looks yummy!! How many servings to a batch? I’m wanting to make this dish for a group of about 20.
One batch will serve about 6, but you’ll probably get away with tripling it for 20. 🙂
Just made this for dinner – use Gala apple cider. It was SO delicious! I think people need to read the recipe closer if they are using apple cider vinegar – no where in the recipe does it call for vinegar. This was a perfect meal for left-over thanksgiving turkey! Thanks for the wonderful recipe, Annalise – this one is going in my recipe box!!
Just made this for dinner – use Gala apple cider. It was SO delicious! I think people need to read the recipe closer if they are using apple cider vinegar – no where in the recipe does it call for vinegar. This was a perfect meal for left-over thanksgiving turkey! Thanks for the wonderful recipe, Annalise – this one is going in my recipe box!!
I think this is the first recipe I’ve ever read that actually calls for parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. Sounds delicious.
Ha, how did I not even notice that! Not intentional, I just happen to love all of those herbs. 🙂
While the recipe was delicious, I think it would have been better with half the apple cider vinegar it calls for.
The recipe calls for apple cider, not apple cider vinegar! 🙂
Hi! Just wondering if I would be okay to use cream intstead of buttermilk? I don’t buy it and it will just be wasted. Or maybe cashew milk? And a great big LOL to the crowd tossing vinegar into the food. That’s is hilarious.
This recipe looks so good. I am cooking a turkey today, Canadian thanksgiving weekend.
You can add some vinegar or lemon juice to milk and let it sit about 5 minutes for a great buttermilk substitute-about a tbsp per cup
Yes, this will work great as a substitute. Thanks Debbie!
You should be able to use milk (any %) just fine, but not sure about cream. And I don’t have experience baking with cashew milk. If you do sub milk for the buttermilk, leave out the baking soda. And as Debbie suggested, you can make your own buttermilk substitute with milk and an acid like vinegar or lemon juice. I hope one of these options will work for you! 🙂
The post on Pinterest says gluten free paleo. Do you have a paleo recipe for the dumplings?
Hmm, I’m hoping that’s just a pinterest mix-up as these are definitely not gf or paleo. Sorry! If you do a google search, I bet you can find one.
I’ve got this simmering right now! For others who also found this under “gluten free Paleo” (it showed up on my Yummly app)… I simply substituted GF Mama almond blend flour, with about a TBSP of chia seeds as a binder (instead of xantham gum)… whole house smells AMAZING and we are about to dig in ?
Just made this. Didn’t have any thyme so substituted basil. Also doubled it because I had A LOT of turkey leftover. Spot on!! Having troubles waiting until dinner time! Thank you!
I made this for dinner tonight and it was a HUGE hit!
My son told me about the dumplings and I am trying them tonight. I pressure canned turkey bone broth a couple of days ago, so I am skipping that step.
It’s almost done and looks and smells delicious!
How much stock should you use if you are using store bought?
You’ll need 4 cups.
The basic recipe is probably good, and though we love cornbread having it in the dumplings it was overpowering and ruined the soup for us.
This was awesome, used full left over turkey carcus (smaller pieces) for broth, followed exactly.
Great dumpling recipe
Yum! My grandma and mom always made turkey and dumplings after Thanksgiving. I love to when I cook the bird and this year I did! But I didn’t have a recipe. We always used Bisquick, so I made that change. This recipe would have made grandma proud. Really good – perfect and is now in my recipe collection.
Maureen, I’m so happy to hear you loved this recipe! Thanks for the 5-star rating!
This was sooo yummy! Perfect comfort food on a cold day. Thank you!
You’re welcome, and thanks so much for the feedback!
This was fantastic. But… might make 1 1/2 – 2 times as much soup, and cut down on the number of dumplings. The dumplings sucked up a good amount of the soup. So there wasn’t much to add with the dumplings — and had a lot of dumplings left over. (Also, I blended the veggies, so as to hide them from the kids.) Great recipe.
Thank you for sharing the recipe for turkey dumpling soup. It looks delicious and tempting. I will definitely try doing it. thank you
This is one of my favorite turkey recipes. The dumplings cook up perfect and keep well too.
It is a great dish for vitamins and warming up in the winter season. I really like the soup, it looks delicious.
Thanks for your article for sharing
The combination of turkey and dumplings makes the meal more unique and new. Another recipe that will be included in my regular meal. I appreciate your recipe.
The dinner is made more distinctive and novel by the addition of turkey and dumplings. I’ll add another another dish to my normal menu. I’m grateful for your recipe.
I made this soup and it was amazing. I had leftover gravy and turkey from Christmas dinner and substituted half of the broth as called for with the gravy that I had and boxed chicken broth. I was reluctant to add the apple cider but went for it and I absolutely recommend buying it if you don’t have any on hand. I am very picky with my soups. Highly highly recommend.
Question: What function does the apple cider serve exactly?
It adds flavor and a hint of sweetness. It’s a simple addition that helps make the broth really delicious and special.
This was a great recipe! I made it with apple juice (I didn’t have apple cider) and it was wonderful. Apple juice was an amazing “secret ingredient”! I will definitely make this again, but I will double the soup recipe — I felt there was a lot of dumpling mix in comparison. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
So happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe Eliana! Thanks for the feedback!