Table of Contents
  1. Why I Love This Slow Cooker Turkey Soup Recipe
  2. More Soup Recipes
  3. Watch How to Make This Recipe
  4. Have I Convinced You to Make This Recipe?
  5. Slow Cooker Turkey, Sweet Potato & Kale Soup Recipe

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What could be better than making an entire soup right in the slow cooker? This slow cooker turkey soup with sweet potato and kale is pretty much a set-it-and-forget-it kind of soup, complete with a cranberry sauce to wake it all up! Perfect for the holidays!

Kaleb Wyse standing in front of light gray background with black t-shirt.

Why I Love This Slow Cooker Turkey Soup Recipe

A meal can be daunting when planning a party, especially one around the holidays. Often, I overthink a menu and try to make it overly impressive and memorable. The more I entertain, the more I realize good food, no matter how complicated, is memorable. Guests will never forget a fun evening with good, homemade food.

To keep my stress level under control this season, I’m switching up my Christmas party and making a slow cooker soup! What could be easier than dumping the ingredients together, turning it on, and walking away? This turkey soup has festive, smoky flavors, cozy sweet potatoes, and bright pops of kale!

Top down view of turkey soup sitting in slow cooker with kale and sweet potatoes and ladle resting against side all on white countertop surface
Close up top down view of turkey soup with kale and sweet potatoes and topped with a red cranberry sauce all in white bowl
Close up view of red cranberry sauce with cinnamon stick all in white bowl sitting on off-white pot holder on white countertop

More Soup Recipes

Watch How to Make This Recipe

YouTube video

Have I Convinced You to Make This Recipe?

I hope you make this recipe and put some food on your table. Leave a comment and share a star rating so you can let others know how much you love this recipe. This helps show others that this is a recipe they, too, can make, enjoy, and love!

White bowl filled with turkey and kale soup with spoon sitting in broth all on wood surface with extra bowl of soup to the side

Slow Cooker Turkey, Sweet Potato & Kale Soup

4.43 from 21 votes
What could be better than making an entire soup right in the slow cooker? This slow cooker turkey, sweet potato, and kale soup is pretty much a set it and forget it kind of soup, complete with a cranberry sauce to wake it all up! Perfect for the holidays!
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 6 hours
Total Time 6 hours 20 minutes
Servings 8 servings

Ingredients

For the soup

  • 1 cup diced onion
  • 1 cup chopped celery
  • 1 cup chopped carrots
  • 2 jalapeños diced
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 1 ½ tsp kosher salt
  • 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 lb sweet potatoes
  • 1 ½ – 2 lb boneless turkey breast
  • 1 ham hock
  • 1 sprigs fresh sage
  • 1 sprig fresh rosemary
  • 2 sprigs fresh thyme
  • 6 cups turkey/chicken/vegetable stock
  • 4 cups chopped lacinato kale

For the cranberry sauce

  • 8 oz fresh (or frozen) cranberries
  • 1 tbsp orange zest
  • 1 tbsp lime zest
  • ½ cup fresh orange juice
  • cup honey
  • 1 jalapeño seeded and diced
  • 1 cinnamon stick

Instructions
 

For the soup

  • In a 7-quart slow cooker, layer the onion, celery, carrots, jalapeños, and garlic.
    1 cup diced onion, 1 cup chopped celery, 1 cup chopped carrots, 2 jalapeños, 3 cloves garlic
  • Add the salt and pepper.
    1 ½ tsp kosher salt, 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
  • Scrub and dry the sweet potatoes. Chop into ½-inch to 1-inch sized pieces and add to the cooker.
    2 lb sweet potatoes
  • Place the turkey breast and ham hock on top and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
    1 ½ tsp kosher salt, 1 ½ – 2 lb boneless turkey breast, 1 ham hock, 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
  • Using kitchen twine, bundle the sage, rosemary, and thyme. Nestle into the cooker.
    1 sprigs fresh sage, 1 sprig fresh rosemary, 2 sprigs fresh thyme
  • Pour in the stock. If it does not come up to the meat, add water as needed.
    6 cups turkey/chicken/vegetable stock
  • Cook on high 4-6 hours. If cooking longer, make sure to add the sweet potatoes midway through cooking to retain texture.
  • While the soup is cooking, prepare the cranberry sauce (see instructions below).
  • Once cooked, remove the meat (including the ham hock) from the cooker and set aside.
  • Remove stems from kale and roughly chop. Add to the soup and stir, allowing the kale to wilt slightly. Shred or cube the turkey. Add the prepared meat back to the soup and let everything warm through.
    4 cups chopped lacinato kale

For the cranberry sauce

  • In a small saucepan, bring the cranberries, orange zest, lime zest, orange juice, honey, jalapeño, and cinnamon to a boil.
    8 oz fresh (or frozen) cranberries, 1 tbsp orange zest, 1 tbsp lime zest, ½ cup fresh orange juice, ⅓ cup honey, 1 jalapeño, 1 cinnamon stick
  • Turn down to a simmer and continue to stir, ensuring the sauce isn't sticking. Simmer until thickened and the cranberries have begun to burst, 15-20 minutes.
  • Keep warm until serving.

Nutrition

Serving: 1servingCalories: 461kcal
Course Soup
Cuisine American
Difficulty Intermediate
Method Slow Cooker

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Kaleb

Kaleb Wyse is a New York Times bestselling author behind the popular Wyse Guide website. Living on his fourth-generation Iowa farm, he loves sharing recipes and gardening tips that come from traditions that feel comfortably familiar. His down-to-earth style makes sustainable living and farm life feel like home!

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4.43 from 21 votes (15 ratings without comment)

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10 Comments

  1. Can’t wait to try this! I’ll be veganizing it by using vegetable broth, a can of white beans in place of the turkey and a little bit of liquid smoke in place of the ham hock. Sounds delish! Thanks for sharing it.

  2. 5 stars
    thanks for the recipe – it was spectacular with some of the turkey stock leftover from Thanksgiving. It’s going into the permanent rotation. I’m going to have to double the five stars for the mystical 10 Star rating!!

  3. 5 stars
    This is a delicious, hearty and healthy soup! I definitely will make this one again especially after a holiday with turkey and ham bone leftovers.

  4. 5 stars
    Absolutley delicious soup. I wouldn’t have thought of these combinations, but my family loved it. I added spinach instead of kale as we don’t care for kale. Everything was blended just perfectly in this recipe and shames my traditional chicken soup. This was excellent, especially adding the smoked ham hock for extra flavor. You’re an excellent cook Kaleb! Thank you for a new favorite soup recipe! Oh yeah, used chicken – which didn’t hurt the flavor at all. I doubled the recipe and will do this again and again.

  5. 5 stars
    I love the way he does his presentations I love his decorating I love his cooking and I love the gardening I just get so inspired by him
    My daughters all love him and we do too I just wish that he Half is regular show on TV! He’s perfect for HGTV
    Thank you for everything you do for all the people that watch you we enjoy you so much❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

  6. 5 stars
    Delicious combination of flavors! I added a giant bay leaf to my bouquet garni, and used an immersion blender on the veg before I added the kale and the meat back to the pot. SO GOOD!