How to Make Turkey Stock
Here is How to Make Turkey Stock, and also lots of ideas for using the turkey stock to make tasty turkey soup! And personally I think turning the turkey carcass into stock and then making turkey soup is one of the best traditions for Thanksgiving!
PIN How to Make Turkey Stock to try it later.
I hope this post about How to Make Turkey Stock is going to be useful when that big turkey carcass is staring you in the face! One of my favorite things about Thanksgiving is filling the house with good smells from a big roasting pan of turkey bones and veggies simmering on the stove. And turkey soup is a Thanksgiving tradition in many families, and personally I believe homemade turkey stock will take turkey soup to a whole new level.
I’ve been making stock from my leftover turkey for years and years and years! But I’m not a stock purist; I think a little Penzeys Turkey Soup Base is such a good way to bump up the flavor. I’ve been using that for many years, both for turkey gravy and turkey stock (and Penzeys has never paid me to mention it, just in case anyone is wondering.)
But if you didn’t order that in time for Thanksgiving there are other good brands of turkey soup base. And this post also shares more tricks to making turkey stock taste good. If you do end up with a turkey carcass, I hope you have fun making turkey stock!
What ingredients do you need?
(This is only a list of ingredients; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe with ingredient amounts.)
- turkey scraps, skin, and bones from the turkey carcass
- onion
- celery
- carrots
- water
- turkey soup base, probably optional but I always use Penzey’s Turkey Soup Base (affiliate link) or Better than Bouillon Turkey Base (affiliate link)
- dried thyme, preferably Ground Thyme (affiliate link)
- Dried Sage (affiliate link)
One reason I love making Turkey Stock:
I love using turkey stock for the flavor boost it gives to turkey soup. But another thing I love (especially in these days of rising grocery costs) is that the stock is made from turkey parts that might just be thrown away! And if you save veggie scraps in the freezer you can save money that way too!
Is Turkey Stock Gluten-Free:
I always use either Penzey’s Turkey Soup Base (affiliate link) or Better than Bouillon Turkey Base (affiliate link), but I do want to caution that after researching it a bit I can’t confirm that either of those are completely gluten-free. (I’d love to hear about it in the comments if anyone has more information.) Be sure to use a turkey base that’s gluten-free if that’s needed in your household.
How do you store turkey stock?
Homemade turkey stock will stay good in the fridge for at least a week if you’re going to use it to make soup. The turkey stock can be frozen for months and months, and it’s great to pull out of the freezer to make soup during the winter!
How to Make Turkey Stock:
(This is only a summary of the steps for the recipe; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)
- Start with turkey scraps, including things like skin and bones.
- Don’t add turkey “giblets” which often come packed inside the turkey.
- Add a generous amount of onion, celery, and carrots.
- I leave the vegetables in fairly big pieces so they’re easier to scoop out.
- Put the turkey scraps and bones, carrots, celery, and onion into a soup pot, add some thyme and sage and a bit of Penzey’s Turkey Soup Base (affiliate link) and cover with water.
- If you don’t have Penzeys Turkey Soup Base, another brand I’ve used is Better than Bouillon Turkey Base (affiliate link), which is sold in many grocery stores.
- If you have a big roasting pan you cooked your turkey in, simmer the stock right in the pan.
- Let the stock simmer and reduce all day, until the flavor is as concentrated as you’d like it.
- Then strain the turkey stock and put it into containers for the freezer, and you can enjoy turkey soup all winter long!
Favorite Soups to make with Turkey Stock:
Low-Carb Turkey Soup with Zucchini might be my favorite turkey soup, and this can be made with zucchini noodles or chopped pieces of zucchini.
Slow Cooker Turkey Soup (with Spinach and Lemon) is an extra flavorful soup, and this can be low-carb if you follow tips to switch out the orzo for cauliflower rice!
Turkey Soup with Kale, Mushrooms, and Butternut Squash is a great fall soup to make with ground turkey, but the recipe has tips for using leftover turkey if you have some!
More Soups to make with Turkey Stock:
- Turkey, Sweet Potato, and Black Bean Soup
- Turkey Mushroom Soup with Zucchini
- Turkey Kale Sweet Potato Soup (Slow Cooker)
- Coconut-Lime Turkey and Rice Soup)
- Chicken (or Turkey) Barley Soup
Weekend Food Prep:
This recipe has been added to a category called Weekend Food Prep where you’ll find recipes you can prep or cook on the weekend and eat during the week! And turning the turkey bones, meat, and vegetables into turkey stock and making turkey soup has to be the ultimate Weekend Food Prep idea!
How to Make Turkey Stock
Here are all my tips for How to Make Turkey Stock, and creating stock from turkey bones that might get thrown away is one of my favorite Thanksgiving traditions!
Ingredients
- turkey scraps, bones, and skin from the turkey carcass (not giblets)
- onion
- celery
- carrots
- water to cover turkey and vegetables
- turkey soup base, preferably Penzeys Turkey Soup Base
- dried thyme (preferably ground thyme)
- dried sage (rubbed sage)
Instructions
- Start with as many turkey scraps as you can possibly save from the turkey, including things like skin and bones that you might otherwise throw away.
- Don’t add turkey “giblets” which often come packed inside the turkey.
- Along with the turkey scraps and bones, be sure to include a generous amount of onion, celery, and carrots. This is a good place to use things like the celery ends or leaves that get cut off.
- I leave the vegetables in fairly big pieces so they’re easier to scoop out at the end.
- Put the turkey scraps and bones, carrots, celery, and onion into a large soup pot, add some thyme and sage and a bit of Penzey’s Turkey Soup Base (affiliate link) and cover with water.
- If you don’t have Penzeys Turkey Soup Base, another brand I’ve used is Better than Bouillon Turkey Base, which is sold in many grocery stores.
- If you have a big roasting pan that you cooked your turkey in, simmer the stock right in the pan, which will let all those browned bits of turkey and skin get cooked off and they’ll add flavor to your stock.
- Let the stock simmer and reduce all day, until the flavor is as concentrated as you’d like it.
- Then strain the Turkey Stock and put it into containers for the freezer and you can enjoy turkey soup all winter long!
Notes
Penzey’s Turkey Soup Base is the brand I have used for about 30 years now, but there are other brands if you want to just get it at the grocery store.
In a recipe like this where you can't always have specific amounts of the ingredients, it's impossible to calculate nutritonal information. But turkey stock will be really low in carbs.
Tip about How to Make Turkey Stock were perfected by Kalyn over many years of enjoying this Thanksgiving tradition!
Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
The tips and recipe for How to Make Turkey Stock are suitable for low-carb, keto, or low-glycemic diets, as well as for the original South Beach Diet.
Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Turkey Recipes to find ideas for using the turkey stock. Use the Diet Type Index to find recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.
Historical Notes for this Recipe:
My tips for making turkey stock were first posted in 2008 and I had been making it for probably at least 30 years at that point! The recipe for Turkey Stock was last updated with more information in 2025.
42 Comments on “How to Make Turkey Stock”
I would just make turkey bone broth from organic/pastured turkey bones, with all the organic veggies but without the Penzeys.
Obviously you are free to make it any way you prefer.
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Thanks for many a great dinner! I freeze my stock in muffin tins then store in ziplock bags. My size muffin tin gives me perfect 1/4 cup portions of stock
Susan, my pleasure. I love that idea of freezing stock so you know how much each portion is.
Emily, great idea to use the carrots. Glad you liked the post.
This is a fabulous post, thank you! I just made stock with Thanksgiving leftovers, including about a pound of cooked carrots. I'm not sure how much they added to the flavor, but I thought I'd try to get everything out of them before I threw them out!
The vegetables and the meat are both pretty flavorless after they've been cooked for hours in the stock, but you could use the vegetables in your compost pile if you have one.
Just curious to know, do you keep the vegetables after draining the stock and put them back in, or do you get rid of them? Seems like a waste to get rid of them.
I want those friends who give you turkey carcasses!
I made turkey stock for the first time this year. I used 3 turkey carcasses (2 friends were nice enough to bring me theirs), stuffed them all in my biggest stock pot, and simmered them with veggies, garlic cloves, and fresh/frozen herbs for an entire day. After that I just plop the whole pot (covered) into an insulated cooler full of ice on the kitchen floor (putting it in the fridge would just heat the fridge). The next day I skimmed the fat off the top and bagged it up to freeze. I got 8 quart freezer bags out of it. I plan to use it for noodle soup and matzo ball soup since my last batch of chicken stock only lasted half the winter.
Thanks a bunch, I almost threw that turkey carcass away. Now its in my pot and I am on a mission to get some homemade stock. On the menu tonight is Turkey Pot Pie courtesy of allrecipes.com, featuring my left over Christmas bird and my homemade stock. Thanks again.
Thank you. I was referring to after you cool the stock and then skim the fat off it. I like to add vegetables and noodles to make a good soup but wasn't sure whether the vegetables could be reused.
Not completely sure I understand the question, but I'm talking about adding vegetables to the stock here. The veggies get thrown away, but they add a lot of flavor to the stock liquid. This is a good way to use vegetable scraps (I save them in the freezer.)
You say to use large chunks of vegetables – my question is, do you use them when you make the soup, or start with fresh vegetables?
~M, I do think you're right that it's main the liver that's strongly flavored, but in writing a post about this I'm not sure how to explain to people who've never made stock (or possibly never seen giblets) what parts are good and which aren't, so it seemed best to say to leave them out.
That's so interesting that you toss the giblets…the only one I've ever heard to keep out is the liver. Our turkey stock (made with the remaining giblets and carcass) is so tasty this year! Happy holidays!
i love making homemade stock! I typically throw in the leftover carcasses, whatever scraps I have; 2-3 onions cut in half, a few bay leaves, celery, carrots, whole peppercorns,garlic clove(s),sliced lengthwise, and parsley. I like to bring it to a boil for about ten minutes and then I simmer for as long as I can. I then strain the stock and return it to the stove and power boil it for 10-20 minutes. I put the pot in the sink and surround it with ice and cold water for a quick cool down. I ladle it into freezer containers and enjoy! Homemade stock makes such a difference when making any dish. Good luck!
Mary, certain parts of the giblets are really strong flavored, so depending on exactly what is in the giblet pack, it may make the flavor a bit off.
D'oh! I already put my giblets, plus the water I was simmering them in into the stock pot. Why should I not use the giblets/neck?? Did I just ruin the whole thing? I haven't put the whole kit n kabooble on the stove yet. I was going to do that tomorrow. Should I try to find the giblets and neck and remove? Please explain! Thank you very much! 🙂
Hope you enjoy the stock. I'm making some turkey at my stock right now too!
This article was very helpful, in spite of being a few years old. I will bookmark it and use again. My turkey stock is simmering away on the stove right now. I'm not sure about how important it is to skim the foam, but I guess I'll see how much I get!
I added rosemary because I have some left in the garden that hasn't been kissed by frostbite yet. I also added some of the roasted onions that were in the turkey when it was roasting. It smells great already! Thanks again.
Ben, that's not a problem. When you reheat the stock it will liquefy again. Isn't it fun to make stock?
Hi Kalyn,
I'm a first time turkey stock maker! I used your recipe to make stock out of a holiday turkey we received for the Christmas…with a slight modification. I put it in the crock pot for about 24 hours or so. Everything seems fine, however I put the stock in the fridge to get the fat to congeal, and the whole thing turned to a jelly-is this okay?
Thanks for the recipe!
-Ben
Jessica, you can definitely use raw turkey parts to make stock. I do think the roasting adds some flavor, but probably not significantly better. I make chicken stock with raw chicken all the time.
I just got a 17# turkey from my farmers market and I'm not even hosting Tgiving. So I cut it up and am freezing the pieces-parts. My question is about using a FRESH turkey back for stock. What happens when you use fresh turkey? Is the resulting stock appreciably different? Or should I roast it ahead of time. I was thinking to skip this, since the whole point is that I'm not cooking any turkey right now.
~M, I would probably make the turkey stock, and then add the mushrooms to the soup, but I think you could do it either way. I've never made stock with mushrooms and I'm not sure how they would react with the long cooking.
I love stock – beef, chicken, turkey, it's all good. The richer/more gelatinous the better.
Someone suggested to me to add mushrooms (but no grains or dairy so unlike your turkey-rice-mushroom version) to turkey stock/soup to add a savory meatiness since turkey is so lean…basically, not to make turkey soup/stock like chicken soup/stock. Since you're the stock queen (hehe), I thought I'd ask for your opinions. Would you add it to the stock-making part or the post strained part (when you add fresh carrots, onions, celery, etc. too)? Thanks for your input!
Thanks Jeanne. I think I’m addicted to making stock. Makes the house smell great.
CCK, love that idea of roasting turkey wings and using them to make stock. Thanks for sharing.
That is such a great explanation of how to produce wonderful turkey stock, Kaylyn!
When I am not roasting a whole turkey, I am able to buy a package of fresh turkey wings at my local market. I roast them with veggie and then make broth using your method. As you say, it is wonderful to have in the freezer.
Great tips, Kalyn. People think making stock is this difficult and mystical activity but it couldn’t be easier, and nothing tastes better in soups than home-made stock…
Peter, I agree, turkey soup is great!
Tammy, good tip about the onion skins. I’ll try that for sure. Thanks!
I’m a turkey stock fan! Great directions, I bet your post-Thanksgiving day soup is awesome. For color I simmer onion skins with the rest of the veggies. Turns everything a lovely dark brown.
I just enjoyed a soup from saved turkey (yum). A valuable lesson here, thanks for sharing.
Susy, you’re brilliant! I love the idea of roasting the bones. I’ve done that with beef stock, but not turkey, but I bet it makes a difference.
I always make stock!!! Sometimes I roast the leftover bones in the oven until they’re brown to make a richer stock.
Too late now to roast all the bones because just turned off my 20 quart pot of stock that’s been cooking all night! Do you just put the pile of wings, legs and carcass on a pan and cook a couple more hours in low oven or what?? Let me know. Thx
Hi Merilee,
I have roasted the bones quite often for beef stock (to remove some of the fat, that runs out on the baking sheet.) I haven’t tried roasting the turkey carcass, but I agree it would probably make a richer stock if you had time for that step. If you use a roasting pan, I’d just take out all the meet and roast the bones in that pan at 300F or so for a few hours. Happy Thanksgiving!
Jesse, if you’re roasting turkey you MUST make turkey stock. It’s delish.
Bee, you’re always so thoughtful. Spreading nice greetings around the web! Thanks, and Happy Thanksgiving to you too. We have a lot to be thankful for, don’t we!
Lydia, in my family I’m famous for it. Even before I say anything someone will say “Don’t throw away the turkey carcass, Kalyn will want it.”
I agree — turkey stock is a very happy by-product of the whole turkey roasting tradition. I always make stock on the day after Thanksgiving.
happy thanksgiving, dear kalyn.
YUM! Would you believe I’ve never HAD turkey stock before?? I’ve always stuck with chicken or pork… wow, a whole new animal for me to tinker around with! Thank you!