This Hearty Ground Turkey Soup with Vegetables is comfort in a bowl. It’s quick, easy, AIP, paleo, gluten free, Whole30 adaptable and can be made on the stovetop or in a slow cooker or Instant Pot!
Can you make vegetable soup with ground turkey? You betcha! While many folks think of turkey soup as predominantly made with turkey carcass, ground turkey soup is a lot quicker and super yum. Plus, easy ground turkey recipes like this are perfect for weeknight meals.
Recipe Highlights:
- AIP/paleo
- Gluten Free
- Dairy Free
- Whole30 compliant – with the elimination of the pasta
- Coconut-free
- Vegetable packed! This turkey vegetable soup contains spinach, fennel, carrots, celery and more!
- Make in the Instant Pot, on the stove or in the slow cooker or crockpot!
This delicious soup has vibrant flavors of an Italian ground turkey soup with the fresh fennel, thyme and basil, the dried oregano and rosemary and the nomato sauce, which is used in lieu of tomato sauce to keep this soup nightshade free! I love the addition of pasta in this soup, but you can substitute it with grain-free orzo, or even white-fleshed sweet potatoes! You can also omit it altogether and serve with some grain-free AIP sourdough bread or these delicious AIP grain-free biscuits.
Here’s what you need for this Turkey Vegetable Soup:
- mirepoix – onions, celery and carrots. I don’t start soups without this base!
- fennel – fresh fennel adds a wonderful depth of flavor to this soup. While fennel seeds are not compliant with the elimination stage of the autoimmune protocol, the bulbs themselves are and they’re SO good
- garlic
- fresh basil and thyme and dried oregano and rosemary – if all you have are dried herbs on hand, those work too
- nomato sauce – to keep this recipe nightshade free, this nomato sauce is a wonderful replacement for tomato sauce. Don’t have any on hand? Sub with 1/4 cup coconut aminos.
- sodium free chicken broth or stock – ensure ingredients are AIP compliant.
- spinach – lots and lots of spinach goes into this soup. Feel free to substitute with another leafy green like kale or chard
- AIP-compliant pasta – I recommend this grain-free cassava pasta (optional but super yummy!)
Here’s how to make this Hearty Ground Turkey Soup with Vegetables and Pasta
- To a large stockpot, slow cooker or Instant pot, add olive oil and heat on medium heat or on sauté function.
- Add onions, celery, carrot and garlic and sauté until the onions turn translucent.
- Next, add thinly sliced fennel and continue stirring until the fennel begins to cook down.
- Add ground turkey to the pot along with sea salt, thyme, oregano and rosemary and cook until turkey is no longer pink.
- Finally, add nomato sauce, chicken broth, water and fresh basil and allow to come to a boil.
- Reduce heat to low-medium and cook 25-30 minutes. Add spinach and stir until wilted.
- If using pasta, return soup to a boil. Add pasta and cook until pasta is al dente. Taste for salt and adjust as necessary.
Can I make this ground turkey soup in the Instant Pot or Slow Cooker?
InstantPot method: Follow Steps 1- 5. Next, put the lid on and set the valve to seal. Set the Instant Pot to high pressure for 12 minutes. When done, let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes. Next, flip the valve to quick release the remaining steam. Add spinach and stir until it wilts into the soup. If using pasta, return Instant Pot to sauté function and bring the soup to a boil. Add pasta and cook until al dente. Taste for salt and adjust as necessary. Serve immediately.
Slow cooker method: Follow steps 1-5. Next, cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours. Once done, add spinach and stir until it wilts into the soup. If using pasta, return slow cooker to sauté function and bring soup to a boil. Add pasta and cook until al dente. Taste for salt and adjust as necessary. Serve immediately.
How do I store this soup?
This soup freezes well – without the pasta! Grain-free pasta tends to get pretty soggy so I recommend only adding as much pasta to the soup as you intend to eat in one serving. Alternatively, you can cook the pasta separately and add to each serving of soup!
Can I replace the ground turkey with another protein?
Ground turkey can easily be swapped out for ground chicken in this soup. Ground pork or beef would also work, but I haven’t tried these variations myself!
If you loved this Hearty Ground Turkey Soup with Vegetables and Pasta, I would appreciate it if you would give the recipe a rating and review. Snap a picture of the finished product and share it with me on Instagram by tagging @healmedelicious and using the hashtag #healmedelicious.
Here are some other easy ground chicken and ground turkey recipes you might enjoy:
- Turkey and Kale Soup
- Pumpkin and Chicken Soup
- Turkey Burgers
- Chicken Meatballs in Mushroom Cream Sauce
- Gluten Free Orange Chicken
- Chicken Nuggets
Hearty Ground Turkey Soup with Vegetables (AIP, paleo, GF)
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
This quick and easy Hearty Ground Turkey Soup with Vegetables is divine. It’s AIP, paleo and gluten free and can be made stovetop or in the Instant Pot or crockpot.
Ingredients
- 2 TBSP olive oil
- 1 large yellow onion, sliced
- 1 cup celery, diced
- 1 cup carrots, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, sliced
- 1 large bulb fennel, thinly sliced
- 1 lb ground turkey
- 1.5 tsp sea salt (plus more to taste)
- 2 tsp fresh or dried thyme
- 1 tsp dried rosemary
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 cup nomato sauce
- 1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
- 3 cups sodium free chicken bone broth or stock
- 2 cups water
- 4–6 cups spinach or kale
- 4 oz grain-free AIP pasta*
Instructions
- To a large stockpot, slow cooker or Instant Pot, add olive oil and heat on medium heat or on sauté function.
- Add onions, celery, carrot and garlic and sauté until the onions turn translucent.
- Next, add thinly sliced fennel and continue stirring until the fennel begins to cook down.
- Add ground turkey to the pot along with sea salt, thyme, oregano and rosemary and cook until turkey is no longer pink.
- Finally, add nomato sauce, chicken broth, water and fresh basil and allow to come to a boil.
- Reduce heat to low-medium and cook 25-30 minutes. Add spinach and stir until wilted.
- If using pasta, return soup to a boil. Add pasta and cook until pasta is al dente. Taste for salt and adjust as necessary.
InstantPot method: Follow Steps 1- 5. Next, put the lid on and set the valve to seal. Set the Instant Pot to high pressure for 12 minutes. When done, let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes. Next, flip the valve to quick release the remaining steam. Add spinach and stir until it wilts into the soup. If using pasta, return Instant Pot to sauté function and bring the soup to a boil. Add pasta and cook until al dente. Taste for salt and adjust as necessary. Serve immediately.
Slow cooker method: Follow steps 1-5. Next, cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours. Once done, add spinach and stir until it wilts into the soup. If using pasta, return slow cooker to sauté function and bring soup to a boil. Add pasta and cook until al dente. Taste for salt and adjust as necessary. Serve immediately.
Notes
*This soup freezes well – without the pasta! Grain-free pasta tends to get pretty soggy, so if you don’t intend to eat all 4 portions at once, I recommend only adding as much pasta to the soup as you intend to eat in one serving. Alternatively, you can cook the pasta separately and add to each serving of soup!
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Category: Soups
- Method: Stovetop, Instant Pot, Slow Cooker
- Cuisine: Italian
Keywords: aip, paleo, soup, whole30, ground turkey recipes, ground turkey soup, italian soup, fennel, spinach, vegetable soup
I took my left over turkey from the holidays and made your creation. Because my instapot was busy making turkey broth, i did this over the stove. The title is correct 🤪. It’s very hearty and filling. I poured an extra large bowel for myself and ending up putting some of it in the freeze for later days. I’ve really enjoyed making this soup and I appreciate you’re willing to share the creations.
★★★★★
Hi Jenny, we’re so glad you liked it. Thank you so much for leaving a review!
this soup is excitingly bright and light and still filing! I don’t often cook with fennel but really appreciated the combination with fresh basil. when I saw this recipe go up on the blog last week, I used it as an excuse to defrost a turkey from my meat CSA and to roast it in advance of a massive snowstorm. I made stock(s) with the neck/organs & carcass while snowed in and used them in this recipe along with leg / thigh meat and other turkey leftovers, so great! I’m excited to return to this recipe with ground turkey another time! thank you, Nicole!
★★★★★