This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.

Ground Turkey Soup is hearty, comforting and ready in less than 30 minutes. It’s filled with veggies like carrots and kale, rice, herbs and a flavorful broth that warms you from the inside out.

ground turkey soup with carrots, rice, kale
Save this recipe
Enter your email below & we’ll send it straight to your inbox. Plus you’ll get great new recipes from us every week!

This Ground Turkey Soup recipe is my family’s favorite soup! It’s got an amazing broth that’s really rich in flavor, the meat is juicy and the kale adds just a little crunch. If you’d like to try some more Ground Turkey Recipes, try my Cheesy Turkey Taco Pasta and Teriyaki Turkey Rice Bowl.

At just 230 calories a serving, you can feel really good about serving this ground turkey soup to your family. Plus it’s versatile – feel free to swap out the meat or the veggies for something you like better.

bowls of soup, pot of soup, slat and pepper shakers, parmesan cheese in a bowl

Ingredients for Ground Turkey Soup

  • Vegetables – Carrots, celery, onion, and kale. The first three are sauteed to soften, and the kale is added at the end so it retains a little crunch for texture.
  • Lean ground turkey – I buy the lean ground turkey, but you can buy one with a little more fat. I find that cooking the lean turkey in just a little bit of olive oil, then boiling it with the soup help to make it very moist and juicy.
  • Dried oregano
  • Minced garlic
  • Diced canned tomatoes
  • Low sodium chicken broth – I prefer low sodium so I can control the salt content.
  • Cooked white or brown rice – this is a great way to use up leftover rice you might have in your freezer. Or, don’t use the rice at all and add a small pasta instead.
  • Fresh parsley
  • Parmesan cheese (for topping, if desired)

How to Make Ground Turkey and Vegetable Soup

This ground turkey soup is rich and hearty, and is the perfect comfort food for when you’re trying to eat more on the healthy side, and it’s a great way to get my kids to eat their vegetables. Want another healthy soup option? Try my Navy Bean Soup

Saute vegetables. Saute onions, carrots, and celery in a little bit of olive oil in a large soup pot. Stir them often to avoid burning and cook just long enough to soften.

Cook the ground turkey. Stir in minced garlic and add the ground turkey. Break up the meat with a spatula as it cooks and season with salt and pepper, cooking until no longer pink. If you want, discard any grease, but I like that it adds a little extra flavor and there’s really not that much.

Add seasonings, tomatoes, and chicken broth. Add the dried oregano and cook for a few minutes before pouring in canned tomatoes with their juice and chicken broth. You could also use turkey stock if you have that available.

Simmer the soup. Bring the soup to a boil, then place the lid on the pot and turn the heat down to low; simmer until the veggies are soft.

Add the kale. Just before you’re ready to serve, stir in a bunch of chopped kale. The kale does wilt down quite a bit and very quickly, so serve it right away. I don’t like it when the kale sits too long as it tends to get a little mushy. Stir in the minced parsley as well.

collage of images to make turkey rice soup

Expert Tips and Variations

  • Feel free to omit the kale or use spinach instead. Both leafy greens do wilt quickly, so add them at the end, just before serving.
  • White or brown rice can be used, but should be cooked separately and added hot. Or use a small cut pasta like macaroni or shells, also cooked first. Potatoes would be great, too.
  • Try with Italian seasoning instead of oregano.

How to Serve

If you plan to add rice to your soup, heat it up and add a scoop to each serving bowl. I don’t recommend cooking the rice in the soup because it will make the broth starchy and thick.

This soup is a hearty meal on its own, but if you want to stretch it a little further you can serve it with a copycat Olive Garden Salad and some homemade garlic bread or sliced baguette. I like to top each bowl with some freshly shredded Parmesan cheese for an extra kick of flavor.

bowl of ground turkey soup with parmesan cheese

Storage and freezing

If you are expecting to have leftovers, I recommend storing the rice separately from the soup. Otherwise the starches release into the soup and continue thickening it as it sits.

Storage: Transfer cooled soup to an airtight container and store in the fridge for 3-4 days. Reheat in a pot on the stove or in the microwave.

Freezing: If freezing, the same storage rule applies for the rice.

More Delicious Soup Recipe You’ll Love to Try

Recipe

Turkey, Kale and Rice Soup

4.73 from 22 votes
Ground Turkey Soup is hearty, comforting and ready in less than 30 minutes. It's filled with kale, rice, herbs and a flavorful broth.
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Servings 6 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 3 medium carrots sliced into ¼ inch rounds
  • 1/2 medium onion diced (about 1 cup)
  • 3 celery stalks sliced into ¼ inch pieces
  • 1 pound lean ground turkey
  • 1 teaspoon oregano
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic about 3 cloves
  • 14 ounce can diced tomatoes drained
  • 6 cups low sodium chicken broth
  • 1 cup hot cooked white or brown rice
  • 4 cups kale packed, coarsely chopped
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
  • Optional garnish: shredded Parmesan cheese if desired
  • Salt & pepper

Instructions
 

  • In a 5-quart soup pot, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onions, carrots and celery and cook, stirring often, for about 5 minutes or until vegetables begin to brown and soften. If veggies begin to brown too quickly, turn down the heat.
  • Add ground turkey, breaking into small chunks. Season with a pinch of kosher salt and pepper. Continue to stir frequently until meat is completely cooked; about 5 minutes.
  • Add oregano and garlic and stir for about a minute. Pour in chicken broth and tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
  • Stir in kale and season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and let sit long enough the kale to kale wilt; 1-2 minutes or longer, if desired. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Stir in fresh parsley.
  • Place a small scoop of hot, cooked rice into the bottom of each serving bowl. Ladle soup over the rice and garnish with grated Parmesan, if desired.

Notes

If you are expecting to have leftovers, I recommend storing the rice separately from the soup. Otherwise the starches release into the soup and continue thickening it as it sits.
Storage: Transfer cooled soup to an airtight container and store in the fridge for 3-4 days. Reheat in a pot on the stove or in the microwave.
Freezing: If freezing, the same rule applies for the rice.

Nutrition

Calories: 230kcalCarbohydrates: 21gProtein: 26gFat: 6gSaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 42mgSodium: 245mgPotassium: 890mgFiber: 2gSugar: 4gVitamin A: 9663IUVitamin C: 63mgCalcium: 122mgIron: 3mg
Keyword turkey rice soup

Kristin Maxwell

Kristin Maxwell is the creator and main recipe developer, writer, and photographer of Yellow Bliss Road. A self-taught cook and self-appointed foodie, she specializes in easy, flavorful and approachable recipes for any home cook.

Free Email Series
5 Secrets to Dinnertime Sanity
Free email series with tested, tasted & terrific dinner recipes!

You Might Also Like

Leave a Comment

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Comments

  1. Wow!! I didn’t expect to like this so much (so healthy 🙂 It’s so flavorful! I did have to use chicken Italian sausage because I didn’t realize it was chicken sausage until I’d already chopped all the veggies, so bonus flavor there. Thank you for the great recipe!

  2. Could you use anything in place of kale? I have all the other ingredients except that. Will it be ok with out it?

    1. You can omit it and it will be fine. Or you could replace with other veggies like spinach or zucchini.

  3. Our family LOVE soup! This one was so easy and super tasty (not to mention healthy too). I followed the instructions apart from using a whole small sweet onion, and some of my favorite seasonings I keep on hand. Kinders poultry/butter blend and Trader Joe’s Green Goddess dry season and a bit of thier citrus garlic blend as well as Braggs 21 blend rather then individual spices (that one is fantastic in spoups). I used pre-made rice since I had it on hand. Thanks for the excellent inspiration, I’ll certainly make this one again soon.

  4. I made your ground turkey kale soup and just love it! I did not add rice, but added in a can on cannellini beans. It’s fast and easy. Thank you!

  5. This was great. I used 1.7lbs turkey and 4 cups broth. 2 small Compari tomatoes and 1/4 cup Rao’s marinara since I ran out of diced tomatoes.

  6. I made this soup for dinner tonight. I’ve been feeling a little under the weather and wanted soup for dinner. It turned out super delicious. My husband also loved it. I used Better Than Bullion Chicken Base instead of chicken stock, since I prefer the rich flavor of chicken base. I followed the instructions on the jar. So, for 6 cups of water, I used 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of chicken base. I also used jasmine rice. So, I really didn’t deviate from the recipe. I also topped the soup off with grated Parmesan although it was optional and added a little crushed red pepper for a little kick. This will be my new go to recipe. Thank you for this recipe Kristin.

  7. Nom! Nom! Nom! I hate when people leave reviews and change the recipe, but I am about to do that. This recipe is great as is. I made it following instructions once then changed it up a bit the second go-round. Nothing major. Added more kale, some chili flakes, extra carrots, celery and broth. And at the end I squeezed a whole lime into it. Great reviews both times. Basically, you can make this your own but it’s delicious as is. Thank you so much for sharing!!!

  8. This is our favorite soup for anytime it’s cold. We literally make this once a week once fall starts and all the way through the winter. Its hearty, filling and healthy. Definitely the best soup recipe we have!!!

  9. I love this recipe! My favorite way to add heat to this soup is by adding in some canned Sarrano peppers the same time I add in the Kale! It goes perfectly together! Yum! And thanks for the great recipe!

  10. This soup is amazing! I made a big pot of it and brought it to for lunch all week! I will be making this a lot!

    Thanks for sharing!

  11. This a a great recipe. I’ve altered as follows:
    After carving a turkey I cook down the bone broth. I save some of the turkey meat and use that instead of ground meat.. everything else is pretty much per recipe. I add Chicken broth to increase the yield.
    Delicious!

  12. My husband said this is probably one of the best meals I’ve ever made! So delicious! I used 2 cups of homemade vegetable stock (from the ends of veggies I have been saving in my freezer) and 2 cups of (low sodium) chicken stock. I used frozen Kale but only used half of the bag and it was plenty. I added a bit of red pepper flakes but not a lot. Delicious!

  13. I just made this today and it is delicious. So easy, too! I had my 7 month old in his high chair and was able to make it. It’s filling and hearty. Thanks for this!

    1. I haven’t ever used or tried that, so I can’t say how it would work in this recipe. If you try it, please come back and let us know how it turns out!

  14. OMG Kristin!!!! This looks absolutely awesome!! I just bought a huge bag of Kale at Trader Joes yesterday and have a container from a couple days before and was thinking this morning what all I will do with it. We use in smoothies, air fryed Kale chips, salads, etc and honey you just have to get into the great benefits of it! Long story short I saw this recipe and voila ……..our lazy Sunday dinner!! Thinks this will be a regular for us! So many other great recipes today. Thanks so much!