Description
A hearty turkey soup featuring tender shredded turkey breast simmered with fresh vegetables and aromatic herbs, topped with fluffy sweet potato dumplings for a comforting and flavorful meal.
Ingredients
Scale
For the turkey soup:
- 2 pounds turkey breast tenderloins
- kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 4 celery hearts, chopped
- 2 medium carrots, chopped
- 1 medium white onion, finely chopped
- 6 cloves of garlic, finely minced
- 6–8 sprigs fresh thyme
- 3 bay leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon Jamaican allspice
- 8 cups (2 quarts) turkey or chicken stock/broth
- 1 cup frozen peas
For the sweet potato dumplings:
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup fine yellow cornmeal
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 4 tablespoons salted butter, melted
- 3/4 cup whole buttermilk
- 1/4 cup mashed sweet potato or sweet potato puree
Instructions
- Season the turkey: Place the turkey tenderloins into a large bowl and season generously with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cover and let sit for 30 minutes to reach room temperature.
- Brown the turkey: Heat butter and olive oil in a large dutch oven over medium-high heat. Sear the turkey tenderloins for 3 minutes on each side until golden brown. Remove and set aside on a clean plate.
- Sauté vegetables: Add chopped celery, carrots, and onion to the pot. Stir and cook for 5 minutes until soft and tender. Add minced garlic and cook for 1 minute until fragrant.
- Add herbs and spices: Stir in fresh thyme sprigs, bay leaves, dried oregano, smoked paprika, and Jamaican allspice. Toast the spices for 1 minute while stirring continuously.
- Simmer the soup: Return the turkey tenderloins to the pot, cover with stock, and ensure the turkey is submerged. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 50 minutes.
- Shred turkey: Remove turkey from pot and shred using two forks. Return shredded turkey to the soup and stir to combine.
- Prepare dumpling dough: In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, and baking powder. Add melted butter, buttermilk, and mashed sweet potato. Stir gently until just combined and let rest for 2 minutes to activate baking powder and create fluffy texture.
- Add peas and drop dumplings: Stir frozen peas into the soup. Using a spoon or scooper, drop 2-3 tablespoon portions of dumpling dough evenly over the surface of the soup. Spoon broth over the dumplings.
- Cook dumplings: Cover the pot and simmer for 15 minutes until dumplings are cooked through and fluffy.
- Serve: Remove thyme sprigs and bay leaves. Ladle soup with dumplings into bowls and season with additional freshly ground black pepper as desired. Serve immediately and enjoy.
Notes
- Read the full blog post for additional tips and tricks to perfect the soup and dumplings.
- For a gluten-free option, substitute the all-purpose flour with a 1:1 gluten-free flour blend.
- Do not overwork the dumpling dough to keep the dumplings light and fluffy.
- Letting the turkey rest at room temperature before searing helps achieve a better sear and even cooking.
- Use fresh herbs if possible for more aromatic soup, but dried herbs can substitute if necessary.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bowl (approx. 350g)
- Calories: 350 kcal
- Sugar: 5 g
- Sodium: 600 mg
- Fat: 15 g
- Saturated Fat: 7 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 7 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 30 g
- Fiber: 4 g
- Protein: 25 g
- Cholesterol: 70 mg
