Turkey Rice Soup

I think my favorite part of the Thanksgiving turkey is the leftovers.  No, not for sandwiches, but for Turkey Rice Soup.  My dad has been making this recipe as long as I can remember.  This recipe is not local or organic in the usual sense, but it is homemade and gives me the feeling of home.  It is thick and creamy and full of carbs.  When I think comfort food, this is right up there for me. 

My mom also made this soup.  I remember my first year of law school, my mom sent me back to school with a HUGE container of this soup.  My roommate and I ate this soup up until Christmas.  It is the perfect soup for a student: cheap and filling. 

The ingredients are cream soups, rice and milk added to leftover turkey.  For this recipe I open up canned soup.  I did think about making my own creamed soups but decided against it for two reasons.  First, this recipe is about making a quick leftover meal the day after Thanksgiving.  It is supposed to be quick and easy.  This is a twenty minute cooking meal.  Second, the familiar flavors of the canned soup is what I love about it.  If I were to change the recipe, I think everyone would riot in my house. 

My recipe below is based upon the amount of turkey I had leftover.  I get a lot of the leftover meat by simply pulling the meat off of the carcass.  You want the pieces to be small so this is the best way to get your meat for this soup.  I also use the wing meat, because no one in my house eats it.  You do not want the skin in this soup.  White meat and dark meat are used here.  It does not matter which use, it is all about what is left.  If you have large slices, cut them into half inch pieces.  If you have less meat leftover than the recipe calls for it is OK, just adjust the amounts on the other ingredients accordingly.  This recipe is a method, not to be made exactly. 

This recipe makes 5 quarts of soup.

Ingredients:

5 cups chopped turkey meat
2 10 3/4 oz. cans cream of mushroom soup
2 10 3/4 oz. cans cream of chicken soup
1 10 3/4 oz. can cream of celery soup
4 cups instant rice, not cooked
7 cups milk
1/4 tsp to 1/2 tsp pepper
salt to taste

Here's how:

Chop up all the meat.

Add the meat to a soup pot.  Turn the heat on low and get the turkey warmed.  Do not brown it or add any oil.

Add all of the soups and stir until incorporated.

Add the rice.  Stir.

Rice added

Add the milk and pepper and cook until the rice is soft.  This should take 20 minutes. 

Thick, creamy and ready to eat

Tips:

The soup can be made without all the milk and frozen.  This way, you will store less soup in the fridge or freezer.  When ready to eat, add the milk to get it to the correct consistency.

The soup will thicken as it sits in the fridge.  Add milk when heated to thin it out.

This soup can be frozen and stores well in there. 

The correct consistency is what you like.  If you like a thinner soup, use more milk.  If you like it thick, add less.  That is the best part of this soup, it is really flexible.

I like a lot of pepper in this recipe, so I add extra to my bowl.  I like how the pepper blends with the creamy soup.