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Make a delicious homemade Turkey Stock with the carcass from your Thanksgiving turkey.
Whenever you are making dishes that call for chicken, beef or vegetable stock, it is very easy to find a pre-made option at your local supermarket. However – turkey stock is not readily available so making a stock from scratch is really the only way. Additionally, making a homemade turkey stock is also a great way to use up your turkey carcass after your Thanksgiving dinner!
Whenever we make a stock like this, we pull everything that we’ve been saving in our freezer such as chicken backs, wings, necks, etc. As long as at least half or more of your ingredients are from a turkey and not all chicken, you will get the flavor profile you are looking for in the finished turkey stock.
This turkey stock is rich and deeply flavored, and we use it as the base for several of our “after Thanksgiving” recipes including our Turkey Soup with Potato Dumplings and our Turkey Pot Pie.
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Turkey Stock
Ingredients
- 4 quarts cold water
- 6 pounds total of turkey carcass, raw turkey necks, raw turkey wings and/or any other chicken or turkey parts you have been saving in your freezer such as backs.
- 2 chicken feet, or 4 chicken wings or 1 additional turkey wing
- 1 clove of garlic, peeled and bruised
- 1 medium to large onion, peeled and cut in half
- 2–3 carrots peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces (about one cup)
- 2 celery ribs, tops and all cut into 1 inch pieces (about one cup)
- 1 leek, white part only, cleaned of sand and cut in half vertically
- 2 parsnips peeled and cut in half
- 1 knob of unpeeled ginger (about 2–3 ounces)
- 1/2 bunch fresh flat leaf parsley, tied with a string
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 sage leaves, or 1 teaspoon dry ground sage
- 6 whole black peppercorns
Instructions
- Place all ingredients into a large stock pot and slowly bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer for three hours. Skim foam that rises to the top as it cooks. Depending on the type and amount of the bones and meat you started with, you may need to simmer longer (up to four hours if needed) to intensify flavors.
- Strain the stock and discard the solids except for the meat.
- Remove skin and debone the turkey and reserve. Use for any recipe that calls for cooked turkey meat (such as our Turkey Pot Pie or Turkey & Stuffing Turnovers).
- Cool the stock completely.
- Once cooled, skim off the fat that settles on the top and if desired, save for any poultry recipe that calls for butter. (Turkey fat is full of flavor and lasts fairly long in the refrigerator and can also be frozen.)
- Use stock for any recipe that calls for turkey stock like our Turkey Soup with Potato Dumplings or our Turkey Pot Pie. Stock may also be frozen in zip lock bags for later use.
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Turkey Soup with Potato Dumplings
Thinking of making this. I am a bit of a novice “chef”. My question is: Recipe calls for 4 quarts cold water. How can it then
yield 6 quarts of stock if I’m not adding any additional liquids?
Hi Karen, this is Jack.
The meat and vegetables will give up some liquid but to be honest, I’m questioning myself here and wonder if it was a type-o. After Thanksgiving, I’ll plan on making this again and if the yield is wrong, I’ll update it. To be safe, I would plan on yielding four quarts. For someone that is a novice, you’re pretty smart to catch this.
Happy Thanksgiving and good luck,
Jack
This is delicious. I made it in the crockpot, so didn’t have to watch it carefully. We don’t use salt, and it is still full of flavor. We used it in your turkey soup. Both recipes are keepers. Thanks.
Thanks Lee!
This is a perfect turkey broth. My mainstay stock recipe has been simpler than this, yet the sage, ginger, leek, and parsnips make it richer and tastier. Thank you so much for doing what you do for us. I appreciate your hard work and unselfish sharing of the results. God bless you.
Thank you so much! Have a great holiday!
Instead of using a separate pot, I throw everything back into the roasting pan I cooked the turkey in, add the water, cover, then bake for a couple of hours at 300′ or overnight at around 200’F. That soaks the pan while cooking the turkey bones, getting every bit of goodness of baked on goodness out of it. It makes clean up a lot easier, too! Then I pour the room temperature stock into glass jars, and turn the jars upside down and put them in the fridge. The fat rises to the top, so when it comes time to use them, I can just pour out the stock and leave the solidified fat at the bottom of the jar!
Great suggestion! Thanks!
I see you are using mason jars, is it cannable,shelf stable?
Hi Kelly – We showed it in mason jars for the photos and short term storage in the refrigerator in the jars would be fine. But we would recommend that you freeze the stock in plastic zip lock bags for longer term storage rather than canning it. Thanks for visiting today!
You are able to can stock, but as it’s a low acid food it MUST be pressure canned. You can find USDA approved guidelines for canning stock here —> http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_05/stock_broth.html
Thanks for sharing this information Kimberly!
I am planning on making this Friday but I don’t see a yield, Martha. Thanks for sharing this lovely recipe!
Ah – Thank you so much Marcy! I left that out! I’ve just updated the recipe – this will make about 6 quarts!
The problem with making stock like this is that by the time it is all cooked, it is a lovely soup!!!! And the family wants to eat it the way it is!!! So sad…. 🙂
I do love the idea of using a bit of ginger. I’ll have to try that!
Thanks, tho!
Thanks Shelly! Whether you eat it as soup or added to another recipe, we hope you enjoy it! Thanks for visiting us today!
perfect!
Thanks Courtney! 🙂