Here’s another super simple and delicious idea for cooking with your leftover turkey from Thanksgiving dinner – Turkey Stracciatella Soup!
Stracciatella is a classic Italian egg-drop soup served with tiny pasta and Parmesan cheese. It is actually more traditionally served at Easter-time to begin a holiday brunch. Stracciatella means “little rags” in Italian, and the little rags are formed as the egg mixture cooks and separates in the hot soup stock! (You can use either chicken stock or turkey stock in this recipe!)
Stracciatella is a staple in many Italian homes, and my husband Jack remembers a version of this soup being served often during his childhood. The addition of turkey is not a traditional ingredient – but it’s a perfectly delicious adaptation and a great way to use up your leftover Thanksgiving turkey!
PrintTurkey Stracciatella Soup
Note: We easily found the pasta called for in this soup at our local supermarket. If you can’t find it, orzo, stars or other small pasta works fine, just adjust cooking times according to package directions. The pasta should be slightly undercooked as it cooks further in the soup.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Ingredients
- Two cups cooked acini di pepe pasta or other small pasta (see note above)
- 2 quarts chicken stock (home made is best but canned is acceptable)
- 1 pound leftover cooked turkey, white or dark or both or cooked chicken
- 3 whole eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, divided
- 2 tablespoons freshly Italian flat leaf parsley, chopped, plus more for garnish
Instructions
- Cook pasta in boiling water for ten minutes, drain but do not rinse.
- Remove three tablespoons of cold stock and place in a medium bowl. In a medium pot, bring remaining stock to a boil and reduce down to 1 ½ quarts.
- While stock is reducing and pasta is cooking, shred turkey with your fingers into bite sized shreds.
- In the bowl with cool stock, add eggs, salt and half the Parmesan along with the chopped parsley. Beat for three minutes by hand with a whip or use an electric mixer.
- Once stock has reduced, add egg mixture a little at a time while you whip stock. The eggs will separate which is what you want.
- Add cooked pasta and cooked turkey and heat and simmer for five minutes.
- Serve with remaining Parmesan cheese and chopped parsley.
You may also like:
Slow Cooker Tuscan White Bean Soup
Pappa Al Pomodoro (Bread and Tomato Soup)
I just made the turkey stracciatella soup and it was delicious. I am now waiting for my second bowl to cool off so I can have more. I had Parker house rolls left over from the holiday meal and they are the perfect accompaniment.
My only two comments, it would be nice to know the measurement of the pasta uncooked, as now I have leftover pasta to use up. Not familiar with this pasta but it is very good. My last comment would be, to reduce the stock by 1/2 quart is difficult to determine, I just boiled it until the past was done and put it together.
Thank you for sharing.
Thanks Denise! The next time we make this recipe we’ll add in the amount of dry pasta we started with.
Looks like a perfect way to use up some leftover turkey!!
I could use this for dinner tonight, since it’s SO cold! Pinned!
Thanks Taylor!