Mom’s Best Turkey Vegetable Soup

I don’t know about you, but all of this snow makes me willing to do almost anything to avoid driving to the grocery store. Not to mention our heating bill is inspiring me to turn the thermostat down a few degrees and tighten up the grocery budget a bit. Come dinnertime, I’m looking for a warm, hearty, inexpensive meal I can make from the supplies in my cupboards and freezer. Enter my favorite tomato-based turkey vegetable soup recipe.

In my corner of the internet, this turkey vegetable soup is known fondly as Swistle’s Soup, a creation of Swistle (real name, Kristen), writer at Swistle and former Milk and Cookies columnist at Work It, Mom! Someone once described her as an anthropologist, which is a fabulous description of her writing. She’s also a great baker. But my favorite recipe of all of hers is this soup. It’s easy, comforting, kids like it, and it makes a ton.

The original recipe calls for onion soup mix, and while there are dairy-free onion soup mixes available, I like to make my own for cost, convenience, and quality control reasons. You could also make homemade onion soup mix with dairy-free vegetable bouillon, leave the turkey out of the soup, and add some extra vegetables and/or cannellini or navy beans for a vegan option. Enjoy, and stay warm!

Special Diet Notes & Options: Turkey Vegetable Soup

By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, egg-free, gluten-free, nut-free, peanut-free, soy-free, and all around food allergy-friendly. Just be sure to select your meat wisely, as some Italian sausage does contain allergens and additives.

For vegan and vegetarian vegetable soup, take Sarah’s recommendation to use beans rather than meat and vegetable bouillon in your dairy-free onion soup mix.

Sarah Hatfield

Mom's Best Turkey Vegetable Soup

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Adapted from the recipe for Swistle's Soup. This soup tastes even better the next day!

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Servings: 6

Course: Entree

Calories:

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x?

• 1 pound ground turkey or Italian turkey sausage
• 1 28- ounce can tomato puree
• 1 15- ounce or 2 8-ounce cans tomato sauce
• 4 cups water
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 8 ounces broccoli frozen or fresh, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 pound fresh or frozen vegetables cut into bite-sized pieces: carrots, corn, kale, spinach, green beans, etc. (This is a great use for odds and ends of leftover veggies!)
• ¼ cup homemade dairy-free onion soup mix or 1 packet dairy-free onion soup mix
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper optional or serve red pepper on the side

Method

 

1. If using Italian turkey sausage, remove the sausage casings.
2. Brown the ground turkey or the Italian turkey sausage in a large soup pot over medium heat, breaking up the meat as it cooks. Drain the meat, if desired.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir until combined.
4. Bring the soup to a boil, turn the heat down to low, cover the pot, and simmer the soup for at least half an hour, stirring occasionally.

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