Pressure Cooker Turkey Noodle Soup

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Turkey Noodle Soup is an easy recipe that takes leftover Thanksgiving turkey and uses an Instant Pot to make a fun seasonal twist on a comfort-food favorite.

A horizontal close-up photo showing carrots, diced turkey, and celery in clear focus, with the pasta and broth less in focus in the background. A spoon is tucked under the right side of the plate, along with a sprig of parsley.

WHY YOU’LL LOVE TURKEY NOODLE SOUP

This recipe is a great way to make use of your Thanksgiving turkey carcass along with leftover turkey meat!

Turkey Noodle Soup is the perfect meal to make with leftover turkey. Most of family members don’t love the dark turkey meat, so we always have plenty leftover that I set aside for this great homemade soup.

To really take this Turkey Noodle Soup to the next level, I also save the turkey carcass to make amazing Homemade Turkey Stock to base the soup on.

(You can skip this step and still have delicious soup though, trust us!)

This recipe is part of our Instant Pot Thanksgiving Recipes series. The Instant Pot is so helpful for your Thanksgiving celebrations! Make Pressure Cooker Turkey BreastInstant Pot Bread Stuffing (Dressing), and Homemade Pumpkin Pie!

Several white bowls filled with the ingredients to make turkey noodle soup sitting on a white marble background. From left to right, is a large bowl of bow-tie pasta, a glass measuring bowl of broth, an unpeeled onion, a small white bowl of diced turkey, small bowls filled with butter, salt and pepper, and celery, and a larger bowl filled with sliced carrot circles.

INGREDIENTS YOU NEED

Turkey Noodle Soup relies on the same basic building blocks as our homemade chicken noodle soup:

  • Butter: We use unsalted butter in our recipes because we like to control the saltiness ourselves.
  • Onion: We like to dice this up finely.
  • Carrot: We like to cut these in round slivers. Sometimes we’ll half-round the very largest so they cook about the same speed.
  • Celery: Celery rounds out the flavor and provides a lovely color contrast.
  • Turkey stock: We love using homemade turkey stock with the leftover turkey carcass, but you can also buy turkey broth on Amazon or seasonally at many local grocery stores.
  • Diced turkey: You can use light meat or dark meat, or a combination of both, in this recipe.
  • Salt and pepper: We recommend using a teaspoon of salt, but you can use more or less to taste.
  • Prepared pasta: Since we like to freeze this soup in individual servings, we chose to make the pasta separate from the rest of the soup so it would reheat better later on. We often will use egg noodles, but sometimes we just use what we have on hand (like we did in these photos).
A vertical photo looking down into the cooking pot of an Instant Pot, making the mirepoix with carrots, celery, and onions.

How to Make Turkey Noodle Soup in an Instant Pot

This easy recipe will work in any brand of electric pressure cooker, including the Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi, or Power Pressure Cooker XL.

Making Turkey Noodle Soup in an Instant Pot is actually pretty easy! Just melt the butter in the cooking pot, then saute the onion, carrots, and celery until they’re soft.

Add the turkey and the turkey broth, then pressure cook at High Pressure with a 5 minute cook time, with a 5 minute natural release.

While the soup is cooking, start cooking the pasta.

Once the pressure is released, taste it and adjust the seasonings to taste. Then use a ladle to scoop the soup over the prepared egg noodles. (Adjust the noodle to broth ratio to your liking.)

A vertical shot showing with an Instant Pot and a bowl of soup out of focus in the top background and a bowl of soup in focus in the lower half of the photo. The soup features farfalle noodles in broth, with lots of carrots, celery, and diced turkey sitting on top. The bowl is sitting on a gray napkin on a dark brown wooden board.

Products we used in this recipe

The most important flavor boost is from the turkey broth. When we don’t use homemade, we like Kitchen Basics Turkey Stock.

Other than that, you’ll just need a good knife to make it easier to dice the veggies and a good ladle to make it easy to serve.

Our favorite knife for dicing vegetables is the Victorinox Fibrox Pro 5-inch Chef’s Knife. It feels like it’s sized smaller for a woman’s hands. We really like our Oxo Good Grips Ladle when we’re serving directly out of the cooking pot. 

A vertical close-up photo with two thirds of a bowl of soup visible from the left side of the frame. The soup features carrots, diced turkey, and celery in sharp focus. A spoon is tucked under the right side of the plate, sitting on top of a cloth napkin.

Frequently Asked Questions about Making Pork Carnitas

Can I substitute chicken broth?

Sure! It just won’t have as much turkey flavor, but it will absolutely taste delicious.

Can I substitute ground turkey?

Absolutely! Using ground turkey means you can have this any time of year! If you’re making this with refrigerated ground turkey, I recommend sauting the ground turkey all the way until browned and cooked through, then transfer the meat to a paper towel-lined plate. 

If you’re using turkey that has been frozen flat, in an inch-thick patty, you can pop that frozen patty in the pressure cooker and continue with the recipe it with no change to the cook time.

Can I just make this on the stovetop?

Sure, if that’s what works best for you! After sautéing the vegetables, bring the soup to a boil, cover, and simmer until the vegetables are tender about 15 minutes.

How to store leftover turkey noodle soup?

I like to keep the cooked pasta separate from the rest of the soup before I refrigerate or freeze.

To refrigerate: Store fully cooled soup in an airtight container in the fridge for up to four days.
To freeze: I like to divide the soup up into individual servings in freezer-safe ziplock bags. (I freeze the pasta and the soup in separate bags.) Thaw in the fridge overnight.

Reheat leftovers in an Instant Pot or in the microwave. 

A horizontal photo of a silver spoon scooping a bite of turkey noodle soup.

MORE Instant Pot Soup Recipes

The Instant Pot is the perfect tool for making quick soups taste like they’ve simmered on the stovetop all day. Here are a few favorites you can try:

  • Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup is one of the most popular soups on our site, made with diced chicken and instant wild rice. 
  • Perfect for Meatless Monday, this Poblano Corn Chowder is loaded with diced potatoes, veggies, and sweet corn, and given a bit of spice with a poblano pepper and a dash of hot sauce. 
  • Instant Pot 15 Bean Soup packs a lot of protein and fiber from diced ham and hearty beans, all in a rich, thick broth. 

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A vertical close-up photo with two thirds of a bowl of soup visible from the left side of the frame. The soup features carrots, diced turkey, and celery in sharp focus. A spoon is tucked under the right side of the plate, sitting on top of a cloth napkin.

Turkey Noodle Soup

Yield: 8-12 servings
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Additional Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes

This easy Turkey Noodle Soup Instant Pot recipe takes leftover Thanksgiving turkey (and the carcass if you want to make homemade broth) and uses an Instant Pot to turn them into a comfort-food favorite.

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 4 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds
  • 1 celery rib, diced
  • 6 cups turkey stock (store-bought or homemade)
  • 2 cups diced turkey
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • Fresh ground pepper
  • Egg noodles, cooked according to the package directions
  • Chopped fresh or dried parsley, for garnish if desired

Instructions

  1. Select Sauté and melt the butter in the pressure cooking pot. When butter is completely melted, add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion starts to soften—about 1 to 2 minutes. Add the carrots and celery and sauté for 5 minutes more, stirring occasionally.
  2. Add the turkey stock and the diced turkey. Lock lid in place. Select High Pressure and 5 minutes cook time. When the cook time ends, allow the pressure to release naturally for 5 minutes, then use a quick pressure release. When the valve drops, carefully remove the lid. Taste the soup and adjust the seasoning with additional salt and pepper, if needed.
  3. Scoop a serving of prepared egg noodles into individual bowls. Use a ladle to scoop your desired amount of meat, veggies, and broth into your bowls. Garnish with parsley and serve immediately.

Notes

Note that this recipe calls for prepared noodles. Make sure to start your pot of water boiling before you start the recipe and cook according to package directions.

TIP: I like to make up a big pot of soup and freeze it in individual servings in freezer zipper bags for lunches. Many soups freeze well, but soups with noodles, potatoes or rice freeze better if you freeze the noodles, potatoes or rice in a separate single serving bags and reheat them separately.

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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 183Total Fat: 6gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 46mgSodium: 587mgCarbohydrates: 15gFiber: 1gSugar: 5gProtein: 16g

Nutrition information is calculated by Nutritionix and may not always be accurate.

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