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This Southwest Turkey Soup is just the kind of recipe we all need after Thanksgiving. Leftover turkey, beans, corn, and a simple spice blend come together effortlessly to deliver a leftover turkey soup that is a little spicy, perfectly creamy, and tastes nothing like leftovers!
While I love Thanksgiving leftovers, I can quickly become sick of eating the same thing over and over again. That's when I turn to this recipe. It transforms that leftover turkey into a hearty meal that tastes nothing like your holiday feast!
Kristen's Keys for Leftover Turkey Soup
This soup is all about taking leftover turkey and giving it new life with bold flavors and minimal fuss. Here's a few tips that will help make this recipe shine:
- Sauté the aromatics. Cooking the onions and peppers first brings out their sweetness and gives the soup a deeper, richer flavor. It's five minutes well spent.
- Build flavor strategically. Combining taco seasoning and Rotel tomatoes with the leftover turkey helps to make those leftovers taste new. It even may win over the I hate leftovers person in your family--we all have one!
- Add room temperature cream cheese at the end. Softened cream cheese will melt smoothly, giving the soup a creamy finish without curdling.
- Make in Crockpot, on the stove, or in the Instant Pot. Because the day after a big holiday looks different for everyone!
- Use leftover turkey safely. Use leftover turkey that has been cooked or frozen within 3-4 days after preparation. If it's older than 4 days, it is time to throw it away.
5-Star Reader REview
Excellent soup!!! I elected to use the stove top directions and it came together very easily with a great tex-mex flavor... Great tasting soup with not a leftover turkey flavor! Thank you! -Lynn ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
How to Make the Southwest Turkey Soup
These steps walk you through the slow cooker method. Detailed instructions for making on the stove or Instant Pot are provided in the recipe card.
Step One: Sauté Onions and Peppers
Heat a bit of oil in a skillet and sauté the diced onions and green peppers until softened and just golden, about 3-5 minutes.
👉🏻Ingredient Swap: Replace the onion, bell pepper, and one 10-ounce can of diced tomatoes with 1½ cups of prepared salsa, which includes peppers and onions already.
Step Two: Layer Ingredients
Add the sautéed veggies, turkey, tomatoes, broth, beans, corn, and seasoning. Give everything a stir.
Step Three: Slow Cook
Cook on high heat for 3-4 hours or low heat for 6-7 hours.
Step Four: Add Cream Cheese
After slow cooking the turkey soup for the time directed, add in cubed, room-temperature cream cheese and continue to slow cook for 30 minutes on low, giving time for the cream cheese to melt into the soup.
👉🏻Ensure a smooth melt. Be sure your cream cheese is at room temperature before adding to the slow cooker. Even better? Ladle ½ cup of the warm soup broth into a blender along with the cream cheese, blend, add back to the slow cooker, and heat through.
Serving Suggestions
Serve this soup just like you would your favorite tortilla soup or taco soup. Corn chips, cilantro, avocado, lime, shredded cheese, are all delicious, albeit optional, additions.If you happen to have leftover cornbread or corn casserole hanging around, consider that fate doing you a favor.
Recipe Notes and Modifications
- Enjoy leftovers within 4 days of preparing turkey. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator and enjoy within 4 days of preparing or defrosting your turkey (not preparing soup!)
- Swap turkey for chicken. Leftover rotisserie chicken works well in place of leftover roast turkey or turkey breast.
- Dairy-free: Simply omit the addition of the cream cheese.
- Beans: Use black beans, kidney beans, or pinto beans. Anything you like.
- Adjust heat. Add a minced jalapeño to the onion and pepper mixture for a kick of heat. For milder palates, be sure to use MILD Rotel tomatoes.
- Blend tomatoes for picky eaters. If chunky tomatoes are an issues, blend the diced tomatoes before adding to the soup.
More Leftover Turkey Recipes
Need more ideas for how to transform your leftovers? Be sure to check out all my Thanksgiving leftover recipes or browse a few below that highlight leftover turkey.
Southwest Leftover Turkey Soup
Video
Ingredients
- ½ tablespoon olive oil, or canola oil
- 1 medium green bell pepper, diced
- 1 small yellow onion, diced
- 4 cups low-sodium chicken stock, or turkey stock
- 2 cups cooked turkey, chopped or shredded
- 1 cup frozen corn kernels
- 2 (15-ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
- 2 (10.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chiles
- 2 tablespoons taco seasoning
- 4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
Instructions
Slow Cooker Instructions
- Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Once heated, add in the diced onion and green pepper and saute for 5 minutes, or until the onion is softened.
- Transfer the sauteed onion and peppers to a slow cooker. Stir in the stock, beans, corn, seasonings, turkey, and tomatoes. Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-7 hours.
- Remove the lid, add in cubed cream cheese, and cook on low heat for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, stir well to incorporate your cream cheese into the broth. Serve with desired toppings.
Stove Top Directions
- Heat the oil in a large stock pan over medium heat. Add the diced onions and green peppers to the heated oil and saute for about 5 minutes, or until the onion has begun to soften. Stir in the chicken stock, beans, corn, turkey, spices, and tomatoes. Bring soup to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Keep in mind you may need to add an additional cup of stock if you notice too much liquid evaporating as the soup cooks. After simmering, stir in cream cheese and heat through until creamy and well combined. Serve with desired toppings.
Instant Pot Directions
- Turn the Instant Pot to saute and add oil to heat. Once heated, add the onions and peppers and allow veggies to soften for about 3-5 minutes. Once softened, turn the Instant Pot OFF. Add in the stock and scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the inner pot. Stir in the tomatoes, beans, corn, seasonings, and turkey. Seal the Instant Pot lid and set it to cook on high pressure for 5 minutes. Once the cooking time has elapsed, allow the pressure to release naturally. Once pressure is released, remove the lid and add in cream cheese. Place the lid back on the pressure cooker for 5 minutes (just to heat through). Stir the cubed cream cheese into the soup and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This post was originally published in 2017 and updated with new tips in November 2025.
Thank you very much for this wonderful recipe! I found you by chance, searching for a turkey leftover recipe. Since I hadn’t planned on it, I made it with some modifications based on what I had on hand, namely I swapped the green bell pepper for a jalapeño and a Fresno chili pepper. Delicious.
I am so glad you found my site and enjoyed this recipe, Patricia! Thanks for sharing.
Kristen, I want to try your SW Turkey Soup but may require freezing portions. Can I substitute sour cream instead of the cream cheese for freezing?
I wouldn't suggest freezing with sour cream either. What I would suggest is to remove portions of the soup to freeze before you add either cream cheese or sour cream. Then add a reduced amount of the cream cheese to the remaining recipe. When you defrost the soup, you can add sour cream or cream cheese before serving. I hope that helps.
Hi Kristen,
I love the idea and look of this recipe and can’t wait to try it! I wonder if you think I could use plain Greek yogurt in place of, and in the same quantity as, the cream cheese?
Thanks for any thoughts!
Beth
Hi Beth! The issue with adding yogurt to the soup is that it may curdle, to prevent this, you'll need to temper the yogurt to avoid curdling. Add a small amount of warm-but-not-boiling soup to a bowl, whisk in the yogurt, then add the mixture back into the soup. Hope that helps.
That helps tremendously!!! Thanks for getting back with me and I’m off to give this a try!
This turned out great—thanks Kristen! Love this recipe as an alternative to turkey noodle soup for using up leftover turkey!
This recipe was delicious!!! Super quick and very easy! Thank you so much! I will definitely be making this one again 👍🏼
I love hearing you enjoyed Karla! Thank you for sharing!
Most delicious soup I have ever made and super easy.
I love hearing you enjoyed Jacqueline! Thanks for sharing your review.
If you've got leftover turkey, you should have a leftover turkey carcass and should make your own turkey bone broth.
That is of course a great idea Linae. You can follow my instructions for chicken stock to make turkey broth if you desire.
Excellent. I used dried great northern beans because that is all I had. I made it in an instant pot. I cooked the beans in the instant pot first then followed the instant pot instructions above for the soup. I only had one can of 10 oz can of rotel tomatoes so I add that and two 14.5 ounce cans of tomatoes with basil, garlic and oregano. I used 4 chicken bullion cubes with 3.5 cups of water for my chicken stock. I had 6oz. of cream cheese open so I just added all of that at the end. Be sure to stir after adding the cream cheese so it melts. I wanted my bowl a little more spicey so I add some Frank's hot sauce to my bowl of soup. I put shredded pepper jack cheese and diced avocado on top of my bowl of soup. Also put Asian style crunchy noodles on the top. Delicious
Hi Beverly! I am so so glad you enjoyed so much! I love topping this soup with tortilla chips, so I can see how the Asian noodles would be delicious!
Hi, This does sound like a great soup! I’m excited to try it. Have you ever made it without the green peppers? I am not a fan of green peppers in soups, salads or chili as I feel it takes over and that’s all you taste. I’m wondering if a little celery would be a good substitution? Thanks for your thoughts.
Hi there! It will be great without the pepper! I would just omit and not replace with celery. EnjoY!
Delicious flavor. Really good.
I am so glad you enjoyed Dino 🙂