A classic use for Thanksgiving left-overs — low-sodium turkey soup

I always hate throwing away my turkey skeleton after Thanksgiving because I would think about using it for soup. This year, I took the extra effort and made the soup, low-sodium of course.

I started with a recipe I found online, but then generally winged it, adding what I needed to give it flavor in the absence of salt.

I had two boxes of low-sodium chicken broth (see photos here) in my fridge, having opened them to use for basting my turkey on Thanksgiving. What was left went into a soup pot after I had sauteed some celery and onion bits. I was lucky enough to get those already cut at a local supermarket that was selling big boxes of celery and onions for only a dollar after Thanksgiving. They were packaged for making stuffing.

Next, I added water, about the same volume as the stock. And then came some carrots and all the bones and scraps I’d saved from the turkey. I boiled all that for about three hours to infuse it with the turkey flavor. I then passed it through strainer. This gave me me turkey stock.

The stock went back into a big pot and I added turkey we had saved, along with more celery, onions and carrots. All the while, I was seasoning with Mrs. Dash salt-free seasoning and a mixture of salt-free spices (see my photos).

I cooked down this mixture for about two-three hours more and had my soup. It was tasty without a lot of salt. I did have potassium salt handy but didn’t use it. That can impact your potassium levels, so I try to avoid it.

The secret to my approach — keep adding herbs as the stock and soup cooks until it has some taste to it and you don’t notice the absence of salt.