This creamy and vegetable filled Instant Pot Turkey Soup with rice is a delicious comfort food and a great recipe for using up leftover turkey. Make it with wild rice or white rice for a delicious homemade turkey soup.
This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Soup is one of my favorite things to make in my Instant Pot, because the pressure cooker makes soup so much faster than a stove top. There is no need to simmer soup for hours, instead it can be made in about half an hour, making it a quick weeknight meal.
Plus soup is great comfort food when the weather gets cooler in the fall! Instant Pot Meatball Soup and Instant Pot Potato Soup are delicious dinners, and so is this turkey soup.
Why You Will Love Instant Pot Turkey Soup
- This is a great way to use leftover turkey. Cooking a turkey almost always results in leftovers and this recipe is an excellent way to use up some of those leftovers, whether from Thanksgiving, Christmas or just a big family dinner.
- You can use frozen turkey in this recipe. So you can shred some of your Thanksgiving turkey leftovers, freeze it and make the turkey soup later when your family isn’t tired of turkey.
- This soup is thick and creamy.
- Adding rice or wild rice to the soup makes it filling so that is a hearty meal all by itself.
- Cooking the rice in the broth makes it soak up the flavor so it is extra tasty.
Ingredients
- Turkey – I usually make this soup with leftover turkey. But you can make it with raw turkey cut into cubes or frozen, cubed turkey.
- Onion, carrots, bell peppers, celery – These vegetables add flavor and nutrition to the soup. I use whatever color peppers I have on hand for the soup.
- Rice – You can use white rice, brown rice or wild rice in this soup recipe.
- Coconut milk – Coconut milk is added to the soup after pressure cooking and it is what makes the soup thick and creamy. Use full fat coconut milk from a can, because light coconut milk won’t thicken the soup much.
- Broth – If you are feeling ambitious you can use your turkey bones to make a homemade broth. Or you can just buy broth at the grocery store.
- Salt, pepper, thyme and rosemary – These spices flavor the soup.
- Oil – Olive oil is used to brown the vegetables.
Step by Step Instructions
1. Saute
Turn the Instant Pot to Saute and add the olive oil. Let it heat for a couple of minutes while you chop up the onions, carrots, celery and bell peppers.
Add the onions to the Instant Pot and stir them, cooking them for about three minutes to soften. Then stir in the carrots, bell peppers and celery and saute them for another 2 minutes.
2. Deglaze
Turn the Instant Pot off and add the broth to the pot. Stir to deglaze the bottom of the Instant Pot.
This means scraping the bottom with a wooden spoon to make sure any browned bits of vegetables are not stuck to the bottom. Then add the thyme, rosemary, salt, pepper and rice to the Instant Pot and stir.
If you are using uncooked turkey or cooked turkey that is frozen add the cubes of turkey at this time. If you are using leftover turkey that isn’t frozen don’t add it to the Instant Pot yet.
3. Pressure Cook
Put the lid on the Instant Pot and make sure the sealing ring is in place and the pressure valve is closed. Set it for Manual, High Pressure.
The time you set the Instant Pot for will depend on the type of rice you are using.
Type of Rice | Time |
White rice | 5 minutes |
Wild rice | 12 minutes |
Brown rice | 25 minutes |
Instant Pot Stainless Steel Inner Cooking Pot – 6 QuartSilicone Sealing Ring for Instant Pot Accessories, Fits 5 or 6 Quart Models, Red, Blue and Common Transparent White, Sweet and Savory Edition, Pack of 3
I haven’t ever made this soup with brown rice. But I think that the 25 minute cooking time would make the vegetables pretty mushy.
I am not a fan of mushy vegetables, which is why I’ve never tried brown rice. But if you try it let me know how it turns out!
Once the Instant Pot is done cooking let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes. Then release any remaining pressure manually.
4. Add Final Ingredients
Take the lid off the Instant Pot and stir in the coconut milk and leftover turkey. Stir everything together and then put the lid back on and let the soup sit for 5-10 minutes.
How to Serve
This is a hearty soup which has a deep, rich flavor. The soup is also full of vegetables, with hearty carrots, celery and bell peppers making it a complete meal.
If you want to serve something else with the soup a loaf of crusty bread or a green salad are excellent choices.
How to Store
If you have leftovers store the soup in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. It also freezes very well, just freeze it in plastic bags or another airtight container.
I like to freeze it in individual servings so I can take it out when I want a comforting soup for lunch!
Variations
I used coconut milk in this recipe to keep the it dairy free, but you could use cream, sour cream or yogurt if you prefer.
You would probably want to reduce the amount you are adding if using cream, sour cream or yogurt. I would suggest using half a cup of any of those in place of the sour cream.
Absolutely, this soup is delicious with chicken too.
I prefer the soup with wild rice because it gives it an earthy taste. But I don’t always have wild rice on hand and my kids like it best with white rice.
Find More Instant Pot Recipes
Instant Pot Turkey Soup with Rice
Instant Pot Turkey Soup with rice is a delicious comfort food and a great recipe for using up leftover turkey
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 carrots, sliced
- 1 bell pepper, chopped
- 2 celery stalks, sliced
- 2 cups chicken or turkey broth
- 1 can coconut milk
- 1 cup rice, uncooked, white rice, wild rice or brown rice
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- 1 teaspoon rosemary
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 2 cups turkey, diced or shredded (turkey can be cooked, uncooked or cooked & frozen)
Instructions
- Set the Instant Pot to Saute and add the olive oil. Let it heat for a couple minutes.
- Add the onions and cook for 3 minutes.
- Add the carrots, bell pepper and celery and saute for another 2 minutes. Turn off the Instant Pot.
- Stir in the broth and deglaze the Instant Pot. Stir with a wooden spoon to loosen any vegetables stuck to the bottom. Then add the rice, thyme, rosemary, salt and pepper.
- If you are using uncooked turkey or frozen cooked turkey stir it in now. If you are using leftover cooked turkey that isn't frozen don't add it yet.
- Put the lid on, lock it and put it on the Manual setting. Set the time for 5 minutes for white rice, 12 minutes for wild rice or 25 minutes for brown rice.
- When the Instant Pot is finished let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes. Then manually release the pressure. Add the coconut milk and shredded cooked turkey to the pot, and stir.
- Put the lid back on and let the soup sit for 5-10 minutes.
Notes
This is also delcious with chicken.
You can substitute 1/2 cup of cream, sour cream or yogurt for the coconut milk if you prefer.
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 414Total Fat: 28gSaturated Fat: 16gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 92mgSodium: 619mgCarbohydrates: 15gFiber: 2gSugar: 3gProtein: 27g
Nutrition facts are estimates and are calculated using white rice.
Stacie says
What can I substitute for coconut milk? I haven only used my instapot once for soup. I am still a little intimidated by it. This recipe looks really good and I love the quickness behind the instapot.
Katy says
Wild rice is not done in 12 minutes and is actually the rice you need to cook the longest. I’m trying another 6 minutes now.
Connie says
When using the rice setting, do I need to change the pressure to high? When would I need to use the high pressure setting on the rice setting? It is automatically set to low when initially pressing the rice setting. In my 1st attempt, following your recipe , the brown rice was under cooked. I just put it back on for another 12 min.
Deem says
This recipe was a hit! Everyone loved it.
I’m sure it is awesome just as printed but I was out of wild rice so I substituted Jasmine brown rice. This increased the pressure cooker time by about 15 minutes. I also used Lowery’s Seasoned Salt instead of regular salt.
I did stir in the shredded turkey at the end along with the coconut milk.
Excellent recipe. Thanks!
Jp says
My “soul” came out more like a casserole. There was no burn and the rice was fully cooked, but there was no liquid left. Lol! Still good though.
Jp says
Soup**
Tracey Osterloh says
I made this with leftover Turkey and what I had. I didn’t use bell pepper or any milk, and I used brown rice. I added more water. With the spices and vegetables, this soup had delicious fall taste. I really liked it that way and I will make it again!