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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.
This is my new favorite. Fabulous flavors. Tastes like an enchilada soup but better. Thank you fir the recipe.
Thanks for taking the time to let me know you enjoyed Jenna! I love hearing that!
This soup is fantastic! It's a great use of leftover Thanksgiving turkey with an entirely different flavor.
Thanks for sharing your review Karen! I love hearing you enjoyed!
Absolutely delicious!!!
Happy you enjoyed!
Delicious! I made minor changes mostly due to the homemade taco seasoning I had on hand. I sauteed one minced large garlic clove with the onions and peppers. My taco seasoning has no salt (I add salt if needed, and this recipe has plenty of salt in other ingredients). So I used: 1 Tbsp chili powder, 1 ¾ tsp cumin, ½ tsp smoked paprika, and ¼ tsp oregano. I doubt these changes made much difference, but I thought it might be helpful to someone watching their salt intake. The only glitch I encountered was that even after letting the cream cheese sit out on the kitchen counter for hours and cutting it into "strips" when adding to the soup, the cream cheese still did not melt completely into the soup. Being the fall, perhaps the air temperature wasn't quite warm enough! I ended up smashing the remaining chunks against the side of the instant pot. May try melting the cream cheese in the microwave next time....and there will be a next time! Thanks for a keeper recipe.
My husband and all my boys absolutely love this soup! My youngest son always is asking me to make that good southwest soup! We live in North Dakota and start making this in the fall. Have used turkey and chicken and really good with either one.
Awe, I love hearing that! Thanks so much Ellen for taking the time to share.
Thank you for a simple and tasty recipe for leftovers! I actually had leftover chicken fajitas that I wasn’t really happy with so I used that as the base for most of the ingredients here. The cream cheese was an excellent addition that really made the difference. I cut it in chunks and stirred and it melted just fine.
Thank you again. I am grateful for clever people like you to put together these wonderful recipes to help a struggling cook like me 🙂
I love hearing that you were able to repurpose something you didn't care for and turn it into a delicious dinner! Happy to inspire you!
Great use of our leftover turkey. The only change I will make the next time is more black beans. Great kick at the end of each spoonful! Went great with a grill cheese sandwich! It’s a keeper.
Glad to hear you enjoyed David! And a grilled cheese sandwich is always a great addition 🙂