Turkey and Potato Soup with Bacon

This looked so good that I bought & roasted a turkey thigh along with some big russet potatoes while I was cooking something else, then used that for the soup. Like others, I strongly recommend cooking your celery/carrot/onion mixture for a good 20 minutes in the broth before adding the potato. It really needs to get soft. And it's best to throw those vegetables in a food chopper to get them small. I also added smoked paprika to rev up the bacon taste. 

If I make this again, I might substitute a cup of milk for one of the three cups of stock. It was lacking a certain creaminess. We did add a spoonful of sour cream to each bowl, and while that was good it didn't seem like quite enough dairy.

My family enjoyed this turkey potato soup! We used leftover barbecued turkey which I shredded. We don't like cubed turkey in soup 😉 Next time I'll cook the veggies a bit longer --10-12 minutes--as I like my veggies soft in a soup. I might also add a bit more mashed potatoes too as I liked how it made the soup smooth and creamy :). I'll definitely make this soup again....yummy!

This is amazing and very flexible...I used  leftover baked sweet potatoes along with the mashed, added some mushrooms, used Pancetta and added some chopped red peppers for color. The potatoes made the soup smooth and creamy without a lot of fat.   This one is a 'keeper' and I love the additions that the other reviewers suggested.

Very pleased with this soup! I used regular bacon instead of Canadian, but I think I would add a bit more next time. Everyone in the family ate it -- which is a rarity. Added bonus: having just recently found out that two of us are allergic to gluten and dairy, I was very excited that this recipe works with our allergies without any modifications. We will be having this soup again very soon!

This soup came together fast and was hearty and delicious. I used store-bought cooked chicken strips and chopped them into bite size pieces. I didn't have fresh sage so I used 1/2 tsp poultry seasoning and probably could have added another 1/4 to 1/2 tsp for more flavor. I also used slightly more Canadian bacon than the recipe called for, and the smokiness of the bacon (Nueskes) really shown through beautifully.

Fabulous leftover soup but I would hesitate to serve leftovers to company. This soup tolerates lots of changes and is perfect to clean out the fridge. After starting according to the recipe I threw in everything that was left: mashed potatoes (plus 3 nuked small bakers), 1 serving of dressing, about a cup of cheese beans (green beans in a velveta sauce), some ham, a little turkey, and less than a cup of homemade turkey broth. Then I added a box of chicken broth and cooked according to directions. Delicious!!! Of course, now us 2 little old people will eat this soup for days, so much is left over again. I wonder if it freezes well....

Enjoyed by every member of the family....my 7 yr old son had 2 bowls. Made one minor change by keeping half of the potatoes cubed because we like our soup chunky. It was absolutely delicious. Next time I will make with chicken and egg noodles.

What a great way to use leftovers from Thanksgiving. I made some minor changes by using the leftover prepared mashed red potatoes and used an emersion blender to marry the potatoes and the broth before adding to the rest of the ingredients. I also doubled the recipe. It was easy to prepare and very tasty. My husband loved it!

This turned out great. I used regular ham and Italian seasoning (I didn't have any sage). My husband is not a big turkey fan but we had some leftovers I wanted to use up. He said he was impressed with how much "new life" this soup gave the leftover turkey. I would definitely make again.

This is a new family favourite!!! Doubled recipe and used 2 cups of cooked chicken and 4 cups of ham. Fast, easy, tasty!

I prepared this for dinner and it turned out great! Very quick and easy to put together as well as a fantastic way to use up leftovers from large Holiday meals. I did not have any potatoes on hand but had potato flakes so I used them instead. They worked great and no one realized I didn't mash the potatoes myself. The family enjoyed this recipe so much they asked for seconds and there were no leftovers. I plan on making it again with the leftover ham from Christmas, seems it would work great in this recipe.

I copied zildraw's advice and nuked 4 potatoes and mashed them up lightly. The only other change I made was to add about 1/4 cup of half and half just before serving. Very filling and tasty soup.

Not really worth the trouble.

My husband doesn't like turkey soup, but he loved this recipe. I will definitely make it again. I didn't have any carrots but had a few leftover sweet potatoes that I added. That really added a sweet taste. I also added a little cayenne pepper just because I add that to just about everything. Loved the soup.

Used Applewood bacon in place of Canadian and thyme in place of sage. Delicious!

Good basic soup flavors, nothing super fabulous, but a good sturdy recipe. Nice way to use up some leftover turkey, and an easy quick tasty soup. Using mashed potatoes would add to the calorie and fat content. I microwaved 4 medium baking potatoes and just mashed them up with a fork. I will make this again.

Best use of Thanksgiving leftovers ever! Very hearty soup. We made it with with peppered bacon.

This is an amazing and easy recipe. Day after Thanksgiving and looking to use up leftovers. Fried 2 slices of chopped bacon in place of the canadian bacon (thats what I had on hand), used about a tsp. of the bacon grease to saute the rest of the ingredients and just added about a tsp. of fresh parsley and about 1/2C corn. Also used fresh leftover turkey stock. The sage really gives this great flavor. Will definitily make this again.

I just made this for lunch for my husband and myself. Delicious for an overcast chilly day! Will definitely be a go-to recipe in my files.

This soup had a nice taste, with a different consistency. I think I would add some additional bacon, and perhaps corn as another reader suggested. I made as it was written substituting the pancetta because I had that on hand.

This recipe did not seem like enough "work" to be a great soup; however it is! We have now made it twice exactly as written. It is like thanksgiving in a bowl.

This is a wonderful recipe. I make it every year after Thanksgiving. To make it more tasty, I add some stuffing and left over corn.

The first time I made this soup I used Thanksgiving leftovers. Now I make it every time we have turkey - everyone loves it. Creamy and hearty but without cream! I didn't alter a thing.

Wonderful & easy. I used Red Potatoes and left the skins on - it added some nice texture to the soup. Served it with a Rosemary Bread I bought at Super Target Bakery. Great dinner.

This soup was nice and tasty,easy recipe, great comfort food, and I loved that it not only used my leftover turkey but mashed potatoes as well!

Pretty good. The texture of mashed potato in soup was new to me, but it was warm, hearty and a great use of leftovers that we threw into the freezer long ago. It was a little lacking on depth of flavor, so I threw in some garlic w/ the aromatics, but next time I might try shallot instead of onion or add some extra herbs like thyme or rosemary. I had to make the "mashed potatoes" from scratch, but not having to add butter & milk kept it lowfat and time-saving.

Since it was a few weeks past Thanksgiving, I used chicken instead and it turned out pretty well. I also added a little more bacon than what was listed. I will probably add a few more mashed potatoes next time to make it a bit thicker. A good, solid recipe I will make again for a weeknight meal.

My husband asked me to make this again and again it is one of the best and easiest soups I have ever made!

This soup was outstanding! Even after two days of thanksgiving leftovers, my husband raved about this soup. Terrific--my only problem is how often I'll have to make turkey to have it!

This was great! I made some small changes: we decided to add cooked rice to the soup at the end instead of adding the potatoes so it would freeze better. I'd recommend adding a little extra bacon and cooking the bacon first before adding the vegetables because I think it would add more flavor this way. I also seasoned the turkey with poultry seasoning and cooked it in a teaspoon of vegetable oil. The poultry seasoning helped add flavor to the broth. This is a great, easy weeknight recipe - I will definitely be making it on a regular basis.