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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!
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!
More Soup Recipes
- Sausage lentil soup
- Curry butternut squash soup
- Vegetarian chili
- Sausage meatball kale soup
- Roasted tomato soup
- Slow cooker cauliflower curry soup
- Chipotle squash soup
Watch How to Make This Recipe
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Slow Cooker Turkey, Sweet Potato & Kale Soup
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
- ⅓ 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.
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.
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!!
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.
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.
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I want to make this. What side dish would you suggest that might go with this. Salad?
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!
Wahoo glad you loved the soup as much as I do!
Just made this soup it was sooo good my family loved it!
The perfect soup for the cold season! It feels like a holiday meal in a bowl. I love it