Instant Pot Turkey and Wild Rice Soup

Food is the only way I know how to make someone feel better.

Stressed at work? A square of chocolate is all you need. Feeling nauseous? There’s nothing better than warm toast soaked in butter. After a bad breakup, I’ll bring Chinese takeout and a bottle of Champagne to your rescue.

And if you have a cold, whether it’s symptomatic of a virus or the frigid temperatures outside, I will show up with this turkey soup.

My entire household got the flu a few weeks ago and I felt powerless to help them.

I couldn’t get too close, I had to wash my hands after touching everything, I was busy showering twice a day.

I needed a better way to help my parents than avoiding their germs at all costs, so I pulled a scarf over my nose, slipped on a pair of gloves, and went to battle in the kitchen.

I had a package of ground turkey in the fridge, plenty of carrots, celery, onion, and a quart of homemade chicken stock in the freezer. If you have water, you don’t even need the stock.*

This recipe would also be great with leftover turkey or chicken, shredded and added into the broth at the end. If you don’t have wild rice, you can use white rice or brown rice instead.

The great thing about turkey soup is that it’s made from very few, very cheap, very accessible ingredients, but morphs into a healing elixir so magical that a wellness guru would sell it as the next big thing.

Heck, I’ll sell it as the next big thing. After one sip, my feverish mother closed her eyes, sighed, and smiled into the steaming bowl like it had whispered something kind into her ear.

Even as someone in perfectly good health, I enjoyed the comforting, full-bodied broth speckled with flakes of fresh parsley and spicy red pepper.

I enjoyed the browned, savory ground turkey soaked in the golden broth with aromatic vegetables.

A few (a lot of) fat orbes of smashed garlic add additional flavor and healing prowess to the soup, while a heap of cooked wild rice adds more texture and chew.

Served with a slice of thick, toasted bread shimmering with olive oil, turkey soup is the healthy answer to whatever ails you- whether that’s a nasty cold or weeknight hanger.

Affection can come as a kind word, a gift, or a generous favor. The affection I give comes savory or sweet, crunchy or chewy, crisp or tender.

Grab a spoon, and let me show you how much I care.

*If you don’t have homemade stock, use water. Bon Appetit has a great guide on swapping out stock here.

Print Recipe

Instant Pot Turkey and Wild Rice Soup

(4 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Serves: 5

Prep Time: 10 – Cooking Time: 35

An easy weeknight soup with the comforting flavors of turkey, garlic, a bit of spice, and a lot of healing powers. The healthy answer to a cold or flu.

Ingredients

• Extra virgin olive oil
• 1 pound ground turkey
• Kosher salt
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1 celery stalk, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• Freshly ground black pepper
• ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup uncooked wild rice
• 4 cups homemade turkey or chicken stock (or water, see note below)
• 1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley
• Juice of 1 lemon

Instructions

1

In a pressure cooker (or large heavy pot if using stovetop), heat about 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the ground turkey and smush it into large pieces using the back of a wooden spoon. Don’t touch it for a good 3 minutes, or until one side is mahogany brown. Season it with 1 teaspoon kosher salt and break it into smaller pieces until cooked through, about 5 minutes more. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

2

Add another tablespoon of olive oil to the pot, then add the onions, carrots, celery, garlic, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper and the red pepper flakes and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are soft, 5-7 minutes.

3

Stir in the wild rice and toast it in the vegetables and spices until it starts to smell faintly nutty and the rice kernels look slightly translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the stock and bring to a simmer. Cook on high pressure 15 minutes, then manually release the steam.

4

Add the turkey back to the pot and use the simmer function to cook everything together 3 minutes more, stirring occasionally.

5

Turn off the pressure cooker and stir in the parsley and lemon juice. Taste and adjust the seasoning, you may need to add more salt depending on how salty your broth is. Serve to the sickest member of your household and watch them immediately improve.

Nutrition

• 347 Calories

Notes

Try a subtly sweet, off-dry Riesling from Germany to balance the spicy heat of this soup. The big dose of parsley calls for a wine with some green character, like a Sauvignon Blanc from the Loire Valley. Or, go for a Pinot Gris- its bright acidity and citrus notes will pair well with the salty, lemony flavors in this soup.