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Turkey Dumpling Soup

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updated: 06/26/24

5 from 40 votes
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy

This Turkey Dumpling Soup is the most amazing comfort food! Easy enough for a weeknight meal, good enough for guests!

In a brown ceramic bowl, the Turkey Dumpling Soup has chunks of turkey, balls of dumpling, slices of carrots, and corn in a creamy broth.

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.

An overhead photo of the Turkey Dumpling Soup in a soup pot showing the creamy broth, balls of dumpling, chunks of turkey, slices of carrots, and corn.

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.

In a brown ceramic bowl, the Turkey Dumpling Soup has chunks of turkey, balls of dumpling, slices of carrots, and corn in a creamy broth.

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??

An overhead photo of the Turkey Dumpling Soup has chunks of turkey, balls of dumpling, slices of carrots, and corn in a creamy broth.

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.
5 from 40 votes

Turkey Dumpling Soup

Author: Lisa Longley
Serves: 6
(tap # to scale)
This Turkey Dumpling Soup is the most amazing comfort food!  Easy enough for a weeknight meal, good enough for guests!

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

I ended up adding a full tsp of kosher salt to the soup, but I like things a little saltier. The amount of salt you need depends greatly on the type of chicken stock you use, so it’s better to start with 1/2 tsp and then add more if you need it at the end.

did you make this

Turkey Dumpling Soup

I’d love to see what you made! Tag me @lisasimplejoy and hashtag it #simplejoyrecipes!
In a brown ceramic bowl, the Turkey Dumpling Soup has chunks of turkey, balls of dumpling, slices of carrots, and corn in a creamy broth.

Lisa is the founder of Simple Joy. Lisa, is a self taught cook and avid lover of all things food, based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. For the last 10 years Lisa has been reading cookbooks, experimenting in the kitchen, and learning everything she possibly can about cooking. The result has been the ability to create recipes, both classics and new twists, that readers fall in love with and make with ease. Lisa loves not only providing delicious and easy recipes, but also giving the why behind what we are doing in the kitchen. She gets such great joy in sharing my love for food.

Lisa has been featured in many media outlets. These outlets include Country Living, Real Simple, Today, Parade, Good Housekeeping, Buzzfeed, Delish, Elle, and many others.

Prior to becoming a food creator, Lisa was a social worker. She received her master’s in social work from the University of Milwaukee and worked in child welfare.

Lisa is the mom to four amazing kids: Gavin, Elliot, Quinn, and Piper. Gavin, Quinn, and Piper are happy, amazing kids she loves spending time with.

Her husband, Nathan, is her partner in life and in business. He is her rock in more ways than one and supports all of her crazy dreams.

Lisa and Nathan lost their second child, Elliot, when he was 8 days old. If you want to know more about Elliot, you can read it here. If you want to read more of Lisa’s experience of grief, you can read this post.

Reader Interactions

    5 from 40 votes (20 ratings without comment)

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  1. Dorothy @ Crazy for Crust says

    I would totally buy that book!!! And this soup – totally happening!

    • Maureen says

      Going to make Turkey Dumpling Soup, looks Absolutely Delicious

  2. Jon Watney says

    Woah, Lisa this looks really good I think I drooled just browsing this page! I love having Turkey for dinner (almost with everything actually) but I may have to try this one out, also your other recipes looks good enough to lick from the computer! Can not wait to try them out, thanks for the recipes! :)

    • Lisa Longley says

      Thanks so much Jon!!

  3. Hanna says

    Oh my goodnesssssss. I /just/ finished making this soup and it is so good! So creamy, the corn is a perfect touch. I abhorred dumpling soup because of a bad experience the first time I ever tried it. But I thought I would give this a try since I had turkey leftovers and my husband adores dumpling soup. Oh my oh my it’s so good. :) You changed my view on the dumpling soup. And I’m pretty sure my husband is gonna die when he comes home from work to find this waiting for him. XD

    • Lisa Longley says

      Hanna! This was the nicest comment! Thank you so much! Annnnnnd, now I want this soup again, lol.

  4. Tonia says

    Is it possible to make this soup the night before and then put in the crock pot the next day for work?

    • Lisa Longley says

      I haven’t tried this guy in the crock pot, Tonia. Because it has a roux, I’m skeptical about doing it in the crock pot.

  5. Melissa says

    I made this last night after making some homemade turkey stock! So I used my stock, I did add onions and potatoes, and only had canned corn on hand.
    Deeeeelicious!
    My husband really enjoyed his ad well, and I definitely saved this to my Pinterest board! So easy to make, I will definitely make this again, but maybe double the dumplings. <3

    • Lisa Longley says

      I’m so happy you liked it! It’s one of my favorites!

  6. Hazel says

    Unless there is a reason why it’s ask for skim milk for dumplings, can I use whole, 1/2 & 1/2, etc.? I have my turkey, turkey stock all my my recent holiday dinner. :) I will leave comment after I make it.

    • Lisa Longley says

      Gah! I’m way too late answering this! Any kind of milk should work here!

  7. Nancy says

    5 stars
    Very tasty soup. Plan to add some potatoes to what is left. I did take your suggestion and added onions.

    • Lisa Longley says

      I’m so glad you liked it!

  8. Melinda says

    5 stars
    This was super yummy! I do have a question though, the ingredient list calls for bay leaves, but it is not listed in the directions. Did I miss something?

    • Lisa Longley says

      You definitely did not miss anything, I did! Thank you for bringing this to my attention!

  9. Mary says

    I’m wondering if you could substitued stuffing rolled into balls for the dumplings?

    • Lisa Longley says

      I’m concerned that they would fall apart once you put them in the soup.

  10. Shelley says

    5 stars
    I had some leftover turkey from Christmas and did a search for leftover turkey recipes and this came up, so I decided to give it a try. The only thing I did different was I added the turkey (and more of it) and the corn before I added the dumplings so they would have ample time to heat through, and I also cooked the veggies in the broth longer as we like them more tender. This is really good, I also added more salt and onions as you suggested. Would certainly make again.

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