Homemade Turkey Stock (2024)

This homemade turkey stock is one of our favorite ways to repurpose Thanksgiving leftovers! This easy stock is perfect for soups, sauces, and more. Ready in just a few hours and freezer friendly.

'Tis the season for homemade turkey stock! This easy technique helps you get as much flavor and usefulness as possible out of your leftover Thanksgiving turkey (it also makes your house smell freaking amazing).

Making your own stock also lets you control the flavor - and, most importantly, the salt content - of your stock. Use this rich, flavorful elixir anywhere you would use chicken broth: It's great in soups, stews, pastas, sauces, and beyond! (PS - Don't forget to check out our full Thanksgiving leftovers recipe collection!)

Note: This recipe focuses on using the leftovers after Thanksgiving. If you want to make turkey stock before the holiday (so you can use it in recipes like gravy or pumpernickel stuffing), you can roast a few turkey legs and wings on their own (check out our roasted turkey breast recipe for some guidance on roasting small cuts of turkey!) Pick off any meat you'd like to use or save, and proceed normally with the bones and drippings.

Ingredients

Scroll to the recipe card below for a full ingredients list with exact quantities.

Homemade stock is simple andveryforgiving: It's the kind of thing that you can make a little bit differently every time. That said, we find it's useful to start with a solid base recipe and a few key ingredients.

• Turkey bones are the MVP here! In these photos, we used the bones and drippings leftover from a herb roasted turkey breast, plus two roasted turkey legs. Any cut or remnants of cooked turkey will work! For a full pot of stock, aim for about 1 ½ pounds of turkey bones and pieces. If you cooked an especially large turkey, you can split the bones into 2 or even 3 batches of turkey stock.
• Carrots and Celery give this stock a deep, umami-forward flavor. No need to peel the carrots or remove the celery leaves - just throw it all in the pot!
• Onion brings balance to this recipe, and its papery skin gives us a rich color.
• Fresh herbs round out the flavors here: We used thyme, fresh bay leaves, and parsley, but you can use rosemary, sage, or chives for a different flavor twist.
• Black peppercorns lend some depth to this stock. If you don't have any on hand, just leave them out!
• A small pinch of kosher salt helps the flavors pop. Keep the salt pretty minimal: Remember that the stock's flavor will intensify as it cooks down, and you'll likely add more salt whenever you stir this stock into a soup or sauce, so you don't need much!

Note:There's plenty of flavor to be extracted from the papery skins of onions! Peel off the very outermost layer of the skin (especially if it's dirty!) but leave the rest of the skins intact when you make any broth or stock.

Step by Step Instructions

Sauté the Veggies

Heat a bit of butter in a large stock pot over medium-high heat, then add your veggies(Image 1, above)and cook for a few minutes until they begin to brown(Image 2).

Pro Tip: Try to get a good, dark sear on the surface of these ingredients! Browning the veggies develops a ton of flavor and makes our stock richer and more interesting. But if you're short on time, you can skip this step! You'll lose a little bit of the depth of flavor you get from browning everything up, but the stock will still taste great.

Build the Stock

When you have a nice sear on the veggies, add the turkey bones and your extra flavor enhancers (we used parsley, thyme, bay leaves, and black peppercorns), along with a very small pinch of kosher salt (Image 3, above). Fill the pot with cool water (4) and stir everything together.

Pro Tip: Be sure to scrape up any browned bits at the bottom of the pan as you add the water - that's where a ton of flavor lives!

Simmer the Stock

Stir everything together (Image 5, above), then bring the broth to a low simmer. Cook for 3-4 hours, until the veggies are soft and the stock is a vibrant color (6).

Pro Tip: If you notice any scum or foam along the top of the stock as it cooks, use a large spoon to skim it off and discard it. Removing these impurities as you go will give you a cleaner, clearer stock.

Strain out the Solids

Turn off the heat and let your stock cool, uncovered, for 15-30 minutes or so to make it easier to handle. Then, it's time to strain!

We like to start by using a large spider or slotted spoon to pull out the largest chunks from the stock (Image 7, below). Discard or compost these solids.

Once you've removed the big pieces, place a fine mesh strainer or colander over a very large bowl. Carefully pour the broth through the strainer and into the bowl (8)to remove any last solid pieces. Depending on the size of your bowl, you may need to do this in batches!

Compost or discard the solid pieces once they're strained out (9). You'll be left with a big bowl of deep, rich turkey stock (10)!

Storage and Freezing

Use a large ladle to transfer stock to storage containers. We like usingplastic deli containersfor our homemade stock: They're tall, sturdy, and expand easily in the freezer without cracking.

Let the stock cool, then pop the lids on and transfer it to the fridge. Store turkey stock in thefridge for up to a week, orfreeze it for up to a year. Defrost frozen stock overnight in the fridge when you're ready to use it.

Food Safety Notes

Per the USDA, all perishable foods (including this turkey stock!) should be moved to the refrigerator within 2 hours of cooking. This "Two-Hour Rule" ensures food doesn't linger too long in the temperature "danger zone" (between 40-140° F) where bad bacteria can thrive.

Ideally, we want our turkey stock to cool down to room temperature before we transfer it to the fridge (if we put hot items directly into the refrigerator, it can increase the overall fridge temperature, which can ALSO cause food safety issues). But because this recipe makes a BIG batch of very hot stock, it doesn't always cool as quickly as we'd like. That's where these food safety tips come in!

3 Tips for Safely Cooling and Storing Turkey Stock

1. Use small, shallow, or not-quite-full containers. Smaller amounts of turkey stock will cool off more quickly on the counter. Use small or shallow containers, or fill larger containers only partially full (once the stock has cooled, you can condense it into fewer containers!)
2. Set a timer on your phone. When the stock is done cooking and you turn off the heat, set a timer for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Strain the stock normally and divide it into storage containers, then let it cool until the timer sounds. When alarm goes off, check on the stock: If it's at room temperature, it's good to cover and put in the fridge! If the stock is still quite warm, put it in an ice bath for 15-30 minutes before transferring it to the fridge (see the next tip).
3. Place containers in an ice bath. If your stock is still hot as you approach the end of your 2-hour window, carefully place the stock containers in a large, tall dish (we use a cake pan or lasagna dish). Fill the space around them with ice cubes, then pour in a bit of cold water until it reaches the top of the pan. Let the stock sit in this ice bath until the end of your 2-hour food safety window, or until it's cool enough to refrigerate (whichever comes first). If the stock is especially hot, you may need to replace the ice water every 10 minutes to keep it nice and cold.

How to Use Turkey Stock

You can swap turkey stock anywhere you'd normally use chicken stock, veggie stock, or parmesan broth. Some of our favorite ways to use it:

• Use homemade stock in a good, cheesy risotto recipe (try it in oursummer risotto,butternut squash risotto, orred wine mushroom risotto!)
• As the base forBrothy Weeknight Butter Beans(it's also great in ourpesto beans!)
• All the soups! This stock is delicious in soup and stew recipes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Recipes That Use Turkey Stock

Not sure how to use your magical homemade turkey stock? Swap it for the chicken or vegetable broth in any of these recipes (check out our soup recipes)!

Did you make this recipe? Leave a comment and star rating below to let us know how it turned out!

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📖 Recipe

This recipe was originally published in 2012. It was updated in 2023 with additional photos and notes.

A quick note about the nutrition facts above: We use an online calculator to generate approximate nutrition information for our recipes. Because the functions of these calculators are limited, we aren't able to account for REMOVING the solid vegetables and turkey pieces from this stock once it's cooked. As a result, the nutrition info above includes the nutritional value of the solid turkey and veggies that flavor our stock, and likely shows much higher numbers than what this strained stock actually contains. Without a professional lab test, this is the most accurate info we can provide: Please keep that in mind if you rely on nutrition information to make calculations about your meals!