Homemade Turkey Barley Noodle Soup
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Homemade Turkey Noodle Soup Recipe
Updated June 2026
At a Glance
Homemade turkey noodle soup is a hearty, comforting, and budget-friendly way to use leftover turkey. Combined with vegetables, broth, and pantry staples like barley and spices, it’s a simple way to use up what you have on hand and reduce waste. It’s an especially great recipe to use up holiday leftovers and transform them into a delicious lunch or dinner.
Homemade Turkey Noodle Soup
After the holiday turkey is cooked and almost entirely devoured, you can use the turkey carcass and any leftover meat to create a delicious, warming soup. Homemade turkey stock made from turkey bones is a great, flavourful way of stretching meals – plus, it’s so much more complex than your standard commercial broths.
Of course, if you’re not interested in making your own homemade turkey stock, you can still make this turkey soup recipe using store-bought broth! Together with leftover turkey (or chicken), hearty pearl barley, fresh vegetables, and noodles, you have the ingredients for a wholesome soup with an old-fashioned taste the whole family will enjoy.
How To Make Homemade Turkey Stock
Homemade turkey stock is what takes this turkey soup to the next level. While making your stock from scratch can seem intimidating at first, it’s really quite easy! First, you’ll want to strip your turkey carcass of all the meat. Then, break down the turkey bones to fit into a large soup pot. To add even more nuance and flavour to this homemade turkey stock, we’ve also added fresh vegetables, herbs, and spices. (This is optional and you could make the stock only with the turkey carcass, but we really think this elevates the soup.)
Then, pour four litres of water into the pot and allow it to simmer. Long, low, and slow is the best way to extract all that flavour for your turkey stock. The longer it cooks, the better this soup will taste! (We have the cook time for this recipe at three to four hours, but you can leave your turkey stock to simmer overnight, just top it up with water if it reduces too much.) Using a skimmer, skim off the foam as it rises to the top, so you don’t have an oily, fatty broth. Then, you’ll have a rich, flavourful liquid to use for the rest of this homemade turkey soup recipe.
Ingredients for Turkey Soup
Turkey Stock: As we’ve already mentioned, a fresh and flavourful turkey stock is key to this turkey soup recipe. Made from your leftover holiday turkey carcass, it provides a great, economical way of repurposing leftovers. If you don’t have a turkey carcass, the carcass of a roast chicken will also work in this recipe. If you have neither of these options at your disposal, we recommend using our Farm Boy™ Organic Chicken Bone Broth or Farm Boy™ Organic Low Sodium Chicken Broth instead. Both options are full of flavour, made with simple, organic ingredients, and lower in sodium so you don’t wind up with an overly salty bowl of soup.
Turkey: The other part of this leftover-inspired recipe comes from the meat of your roast turkey. If you don’t happen to have roast turkey, rotisserie chicken or leftover roast chicken also works well. Use the meat you carved off of the carcass when you were making your stock. About two cups of turkey meat, diced, in used in this soup recipe.
Vegetables: For that homestyle taste, we also want to use a variety of fresh vegetables. Carrots and celery are the classic choices for this homemade turkey soup, but you can also add the vegetables you like best. Sweet potatoes, green beans, mushrooms, zucchini, and corn would also be delicious, nutritious, and flavourful additions.
Noodles: A classic ingredient in any turkey noodle soup recipe is egg noodles. Since egg noodles are thin, they tend to cook more quickly, which is why we don’t want to boil them separately before adding to the soup. This could make them mushy and not appetizing. Instead, we simmer the egg noodles directly in the soup to infuse them with some flavour. (As a bonus, any starch that comes off the noodles helps to thicken the soup a bit.) If you don’t have egg noodles, you can use any noodle shape you like. We prefer smaller sizes, but pasta like spaghetti can also be used if that’s all you have on hand.
Barley: Finally, for a touch of added heft and nutrition, we’ve added pearl barley to this recipe. Barley is full of fibre and vitamins and help provide some more heartiness to this soup. If you don’t have barley, you could also add wild rice for a similar vibe.
How To Store Leftover Turkey Soup
To store any leftover turkey noodle soup, you can put it in an airtight container and keep it in the fridge for up to three days. For the best reheating, place the soup in a soup pot on the stove over medium heat. (You can also use a microwave, simply heat in 30-second increments and stir.)
To freeze this soup, allow it to cool completely before transferring to a freezer-safe container. This soup will keep frozen for up to three months. To reheat from frozen, place the soup in a soup pot on the stove over medium heat until warmed through.
More Turkey Recipes from Farm Boy
Looking for more dishes featuring turkey? Check out any of the recipes below!
Holiday Turkey, Brie, and Cranberry Melt
Savoury Turkey, Mushroom, and Greens Crêpes
Turkey Kofte with Sumac Onions
Orecchiette with Turkey Sausage, Butternut Squash, and Kale
Turkey Satay with Creamy Peanut Sauce
More Soup Recipes from Farm Boy
Looking for more soup recipes? Check out any of the suggestions below!
Hearty Chickpea Soup with Basil Pesto
Watermelon and Tomato Gazpacho
Ingredients
- Turkey Stock
- 1 leftover turkey carcass
- 4 large carrots peeled and sliced
- 4 celery stalks diced
- 2 white onions quartered
- 2-3 bay leaves
- 1 tsp Farm Boy™ Organic Black Peppercorns ground
- 8 parsley sprigs
- 4 litres water
- Turkey Noodle Soup
- 2 litres turkey stock or Farm Boy™ Organic Low Sodium Chicken Broth
- 1/3 cup Farm Boy™ Pearl Barley
- 2 medium-sized carrots peeled and sliced ¼" thick (1 ½ cups)
- 2 celery stalks sliced ¼" thick (1 cup)
- 2 cups leftover cooked fresh, local turkey diced
- salt to taste
- 1 cup egg noodles
- parsley chopped, for garnish
- 1 pack Farm Boy™ Brioche Pull Apart Rolls
Directions
- For Turkey Stock: In a large pot, place turkey carcass with onions, carrots, celery, bay leaves, ground Farm Boy™ Organic Black Peppercorns, and parsley sprigs. Add 4 litres of water or as much as you need to make sure it covers carcass by at least two inches.
- Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and then turn down to simmer, partially covered, for 2-3 hours, skimming foam as it forms.
- Strain broth and discard turkey carcass and vegetables.
- For Turkey Noodle Soup: Measure 2 litres strained broth (or Farm Boy™ Organic Low Sodium Chicken Broth) and place back into stock pot. Stir in Farm Boy™ Pearl Barley and salt to taste. Bring temperature to a simmer and cook, partially covered, for 15 minutes.
- Add carrots and celery and continue to simmer, partially covered, for another 15 minutes.
- Add diced leftover turkey and egg noodles.
- Simmer until noodles are tender, about 10 minutes longer. Adjust seasoning to taste.
- Garnish with fresh parsley and serve with Farm Boy™ Brioche Pull Apart Rolls.
