Smoked Turkey Broth
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Put those leftover smoked turkey bones and carcass to good use with this easy, homemade smoked turkey broth. This broth is rich and savoury and adds the perfect hint of smoke to soups and gravies.
You’ve done it! You’ve cooked a damn good smoked turkey and now you’re looking at the carcass thinking… Can I make broth out of this?
I’m here to tell you that YES! You can make broth out of your smoked turkey, and it’s damned good too!
This recipe is dedicated to using our leftovers.
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Tips + Tricks
No. 1 –> Normally, on turkey broth you’d leave the skin on as the skin is full of flavour, but for this recipe, I remove as much of the skin from the bones and leftover meat as I could. I want a HINT of smoke in my turkey broth, and to avoid a too salty flavour profile.
No. 2 –> A long simmer is what really makes this broth better. The longer the better, As written this recipe has a quick boil and 2 hour simmer, but if you want to stretch that out to 3 or 4 hours, do it!!
No. 3 –> If you need a really really good smoked turkey recipe, I’ve got you covered. Check out my smoked turkey recipe!
Ingredients
- smoked turkey carcass
- yellow onions
- carrots
- celery
- whole black peppercorns
- bay leaves
- savoury
- dehydrated minced garlic
How to make
- Find a large stockpot, this is a large recipe, you can see from the photos that I should have grabbed my tall stockpot! If you don’t have a tall stockpot, simply split the broth up between two large pots.
- Quarter the onions, chop the ends off the carrots and celery then coarsely chop them.
- Add the vegetables to your stockpot, if you’re using two, simply divide as required.
- Spread the turkey out on your cutting board, and peel off any remaining skin. Add the turkey to the stockpot and fill with water until the turkey is covered.
- Add the peppercorn, bay leaves, savoury, and minced garlic to the pot. Give it a quick stir.
- Cover the stockpot and bring to a boil. Once you hear it boiling, reduce to a simmer and simmer covered for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, leaving uncovered for the last 30 minutes.
- Cool the broth for around 30 minutes before straining it for immediate use or pour it into storage containers for later use.
Make ahead
This smoked turkey broth is the perfect make-ahead recipe! This broth will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for a couple of months.
I like to store my turkey broth in mason jars in the fridge until I’m ready to use them.
Alternatively, you can freeze the broth by filling freezer ziplock bags and removing all the air, then lay the bags flat on a baking sheet. Place the baking sheet in the freezer until the broth is completely frozen. This gives you flat, frozen little smoked turkey broth bags that store nicely in the freezer for later use.
Is it broth or is it stock?
This recipe as written is a broth.
The major difference between the two is that broth refers to meat and bones simmered with a mirepoix vegetable base. While bones are generally roasted and then simmered for much longer to pull out the collagen and result in a deeper flavour that stock is known for.
Stock’s deeper flavour lends itself to meat based dishes, while the more delicate flavour of broth is suited to soups and adding flavour to side dishes.
Both broth and stock are valuable tools in the kitchen, but since we’re going into soup season, this smoked turkey broth is the tool I’m using!
Love wood fired flavour?
Check out some of my smoked recipes!
Recommended Tools
Vegetable Cleaver: I love my veggie cleaver and I use it whenever possible, especially when chopping hard veggies. It’s got weight behind it that I find really comfortable when chopping.
Stockpot: I have, and use a lot, just not during these photos, a large aluminum stockpot that I grabbed from a restaurant supply store. It’s heavy walled and huge. It’s perfect for broth making!
Bag holder: The little bag holder seen in the photos above is a super-convenient little tool whenever you need to hold open a bag and fill it with anything and only two hands just aren’t cutting it!
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📖 Printable Recipe
Smoked Turkey Broth
Ingredients
- 1 smoked turkey carcass
- 4 yellow onions
- 6 large carrots
- 6 celery stalks
- 1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
- 1 tablespoon savoury
- 1 tablespoon minced dehydrated garlic
- 10 bay leaves
Instructions
- Quarter 4 yellow onions, chop the ends off 6 large carrots and 6 celery stalks then coarsely chop them.
- Add the vegetables to your stockpot.
- Spread 1 smoked turkey carcass out on your cutting board, and peel off any remaining skin. Add the turkey to the stockpot and fill with water until the turkey bones are covered.
- Add 1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns, 10 bay leaves, 1 tablespoon savoury, and 1 tablespoon minced dehydrated garlic to the pot. Give it a quick stir.
- Cover the stockpot and bring to a boil. Once the broth starts to boil, reduce to a simmer and simmer covered for 1 1/2 – 2 hours, leaving uncovered for the last 30 minutes.
- Cool the broth for around 30 minutes before straining it into storage containers.
Notes
make ahead?
This smoked turkey broth is the perfect make-ahead recipe! This broth will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for a couple of months. I like to store my turkey broth in mason jars in the fridge until I’m ready to use them. Alternatively, you can freeze the broth by filling freezer ziplock bags and removing all the air, then lay the bags flat on a baking sheet. Place the baking sheet in the freezer until the broth is completely frozen. This gives you flat, frozen little smoked turkey broth bags that store nicely in the freezer for later use.Recommended Equipment + Ingredients
Nutrition
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Hi Ally! I much appreciate your post – there is not a lot out there for making broth with a smoked turkey that discusses the skin on or off. I see you recommend off for smoke flavor considerations but want to ask what your knowledge is / experience if leaving it on? Is it just too much smoke flavor or does it make the flavor a little weird? I have a frozen carcass and some meat (with skin) from Thanksgiving and want to make a good-sized pot and will be supplementing the end product with turkey bouillon so I want to make sure my boiling ingredient list is good to go. Maybe this is a weird query but I am asking I had a bad experience once trying to make stock with smoked fish when I included the skin. Thanks for your thoughts!!
I haven’t made it with the skin on, because I’ve always found the smoke flavor to be sufficient without, and I’ve always been leary of overdoing it on the smoke! You could easily add all your carcass and whatever to the pot, then remove the skin from the pot once it’s thawed. Sorry, I don’t have better advice!
This is the tastiest broth ever! I used the carcass of my smoked turkey and it came out beautifully, so golden and flavorful! Thank you for the recipe.