eHealth Connection
November 2007

Healthy Recipe: Homemade Turkey Soup

Here’s a good, low-fat way to use your left-over Thanksgiving turkey. To make this popular soup lower in saturated fat, prepare it ahead of time — to cool and skim off the fat that rises to the top.

turkey soupIngredients

6 lb turkey breast
(It should have at least two cups of meat remaining to make a good, rich soup.)
2 medium onions
3 stalks of celery
1 tsp dried thyme
½ tsp dried rosemary
½ tsp dried sage
1 tsp dried basil
½ tsp dried marjoram
½ tsp dried tarragon
½ tsp salt
to taste black pepper
½ lb Italian pastina pasta

Preparation

  1. Place turkey breast in a large 6-quart pot. Cover with water, at least ¾ full.
  2. Peel onions, cut in large pieces, and add to pot. Wash celery stalks, slice, and add to pot also.
  3. Simmer covered for about 2-1/2 hours
  4. Remove carcass from pot. Divide soup into smaller, shallower containers for quick cooling in the refrigerator.
  5. After cooling, skim off fat.
  6. While soup is cooling, remove remaining meat from turkey carcass. Cut into pieces.
  7. Add turkey meat and skimmed soup back into 6-quart pot along with herbs and spices.
  8. Bring to a boil and add pastina. Continue cooking on low boil for about 20 minutes until pastina is done. Serve at once or refrigerate for later reheating.

Nutrition Information Per Serving

Yield:  About 4 quarts of soup (16 servings)
Serving Size:  1 cup
Calories:  226
Total fat:  5 g
Saturated fat:  1g
Cholesterol:  93 mg
Sodium:  217 mg

Source: National Heart Lung & Blood Institute – National Institutes of Health