Homemade Turkey Stock

With being sick and having really cold weather lately all I have craved is one thing: homemade soup. Since we still had some turkey in the freezer from Thanksgiving I decided to make a homemade turkey noodle soup. I love homemade stocks and broths when possible and they are really so easy (this only has to take 30 minutes!)

I didn't have a bouillon cube for the soup (and didn't really want to use one either, I would rather get the flavors naturally from whole foods) so I made this yummy stock before I made the soup. To make a good stock, you need the meat to have the skin on and bone in. So we went to the grocery store and got about a 1.7 pound turkey thigh to make the stock with. You could use this recipe with chicken as well.

My Turkey Stock Recipe:

1.7 lb. turkey breast/thigh with skin on and bone in

1/2 onion roughly chopped

2 stalks of celery cleaned and chopped in half

2 carrots cleaned and cut in roughly half

1-1.5 Tbls. of butter *I used butter to bring out the favors since I didn't have a bouillion cube to use later in the soup recipe

8-10 cups of water

**Keep in mind how much water you use and veggies you include will be proportionate to how much meat you have or how much flavor you want

Melt the butter in your stock pot and get it hot but don't burn it. Add your turkey and brown the top and bottom. Throw in your veggies while you are browning your turkey and get them slightly browned also, no need to cook everything right now, just some browning from the butter is what you are looking for.  Add as much water that you will want to use in your soup. I originally added 8 cups of water but wish I would have added 10 cups (or more) of water. It is better to add more water now and get the flavors together then dilute it after (like I did). Boil covered for 30 minutes or simmer for approximately 2 hours; until your turkey is cooked.

Take your turkey out once it is cooked, let cool slightly, and shred/chop meat to use for soup. Throw away the skin and bone of the turkey along with the veggies in the stock and strain your stock with cheese cloth (save the liquid! this is the base for your soup). 

Now you can make your soup... I used this recipe and it was delicious. I added the thick homestyle egg noodles, like these, instead of the skinny noodles in her recipe and added extra turkey that we had shredded from Thanksgiving (in addition to the thigh we cooked for the stock). I have seen variations where you could add rice or potatoes in your soup as well that looked delicious. 

Keep it simple, it is yummy and broth-y and will make you feel better! Hope you have a healthy week!