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This yummy and nourishing turkey curry soup meal-in-a-jar is chock full of turkey leftovers or fresh turkey meat, chicken broth or turkey broth, and some herbs and spices along with some fresh vegetables creates the best soup to have on hand!  It’s a versatile, easy recipe and can be used in many ways, one being just to dump, heat, and eat as a hearty bowl of soup.  Other ways are to add wild rice and use it as a casserole, thicken and use as a pot pie filling, add homemade egg noodles, and so much more. This hearty soup is one your family will enjoy any time of year and the flavor the yellow curry powder with turkey is one of my very favorites.

Canning Low Acid Foods

When you want to preserve and make low acid foods shelf stable, you will need a pressure canner.  Low acid foods are those with a pH greater than 4.6; some examples are meat, vegetables, and beans.  Yes, I do acknowledge and support those that choose to water bathe everything, but my choice and recommendation is to pressure can.  When water bathing low acid foods, there is spoilage that comes along with it, and losing jars of hard work I’ve done makes my heart hurt.  

When the jars are only heated to the temperature of boiling water, you have to rely on length of time of processing to heat your food rather than temperature alone, and this occasionally will bring about spoiling and failed seals due to food rotting and bad fermentation.  Pressure canning not only is usually quicker, it does guarantee your food reaches high temperatures of 240 degrees F, or higher, to stop the botulinum spore from surviving and making the botulinum toxin since the pH level is habitable for botulism.  IF you choose to water bath low acid foods, you should always be properly heating (meaning boiling, uncovered for 10+ minutes according to your altitude) prior to consuming.  Old canning books will also tell you this.

A Quick Word on Pressure Canning and Elevation

Most canning books will have tables that show how to adjust weight or time for your elevation.  With pressure canning, you will adjust weight.  The NCHFP provides times and weights for canning meats & make your own soups like this one for both weighted-gauge pressure canners and dial gauge canners.  Know which one you have!  All-American canners are weighted-gauge canners.  A pressure canner that ONLY has a gauge and no weight is known as a dial gauge canner.  They are a touch difficult to operate but if you have one and are comfortable with it and live at an elevation above 1000 ft, it allows you to fine tune your weights instead of immediately jumping to 15 pounds of pressure.  

You can find your elevation easily by searching in Google or your preferred search engine “elevation of xxxxx (zip code).”  Then, if you’re forgetful like me, write it down somewhere or tattoo it on your arm.  Here’s a link to the NCHFP for choice soup canning guidelines here.  I choose to process mine for meat times instead of the soup times because of the meat content and the fact they’re over 1/2 full of solid food.  I would encourage you to do some independent research and understand these guidelines fully!

Equipment You Will Probably Need

• pressure canner
• canning jars, lids, and bands
• jar lifter
• ladle
• clean towels

Ingredients

• cooked OR raw turkey breast (leftover Thanksgiving turkey works great!)
• carrots
• celery
• onion
• yellow curry powder
• salt
• black pepper
• turkey or chicken stock or broth

Let’s get to canning!

THIS CANNING RECIPE IS PER QUART JAR.  

This allows you to adjust and make as many or as few jars as you want.  If you would prefer pints of this soup, simply halve the amount of ingredients given.  Canning times for both jar sizes are provided in the recipe below.

Step 1: Prep Jars for Canning

Decide how many jars and what size jars you will use for this recipe.  Wash your jars, lids, and bands in hot, soapy water.  Place on a clean towel.

Step 2:  Prep Ingredients

PER QUART JAR you will need:

• 1 1/2 cups cooked & shredded turkey breast/meat, OR 1 1/2 cups cubed, raw turkey breast.  Layer into jars.  I got by the measurement landmark given on the jars and fill to the 1 1/2 cup hash on the jar.
• Scrub and peel 2 carrots and slice thinly.  You can also dice or shred.  Do what you prefer here.
• Wash and finely dice 1 stalk of celery.
• Peel and chop 1/2 an onion.
• 1-50092384 cloves of garlic are delicious if you prefer.  Mince fresh garlic or use the already minced jarlic.

Step 3: Layer Ingredients into Jars

Layer turkey, carrots, celery, chopped onion, and minced garlic into jar, keeping under 1″ headspace.  Tap to settle the ingredients in the jar but they do not need to be packed tight.

Step 4:  Heat the broth

Per quart jar, heat about 2 cups of chicken or turkey broth over medium-high heat.  Using fresh, homemade turkey stock elevates this soup and gives it so much flavor.  If you’re using leftover Thanksgiving turkey, definitely use that turkey carcass to make some stock.  Bring to a boil.

Step 5:  Add seasonings to each jar

While the broth heats, to each quart jar add:

• 3 tsp curry powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

Step 6: Ladle broth into jars

Using a canning funnel, ladle hot chicken or turkey broth into jars to 1-inch headspace.  De-bubble if needed and add more liquid needed to maintain headspace.

Step 7: Add Lids and Bands

Wipe the rim of each jar with a vinegar soaked cloth.  Since we are working with meat and broth here, there is fat, and if fat gets between the lid and the rim of the jar, a failed seal after canning is pretty likely.  I mitigate this by using vinegar to clean the rims of the jars.  Use the “pinch and turn” method by holding your cloth with your thumb and pointing finger, pinching the jar rim, and spinning the jar two full rotations while pinching to thoroughly clean it.

Add a clean, new canning lid and secure with a band according to the lid manufacturer’s tightening instructions.

Step 8:  Pressure Can

Place the rack in your pressure canner so jars are not directly touching the bottom, and add your jars.  The All-American 921 will hold 7 quarts and the Nesco will hold 4.

Know your elevation; the weight and times I give in recipes are for elevations under 1000ft.  Please refer to the section above titled “Pressure Canning and Elevation.”

Pressure can at 10lbs pressure for 90 minutes for quart jars or 75 minutes for pint jars.

​Once processing time is complete, shut off heat and allow pressure canner to completely depressurize.

​Step 9:  Cool jars

​Remove jars from canner and set aside to cool for 12 to 18 hours.  Any jars that did not seal within this time can be reprocessed, placed in the fridge to eat soon, or frozen for later.

After the cooling period, remove bands, test seals, wash jars in soapy water, label, and store in a cool area away from direct sunlight and extreme temperatures.

Shelf life: til you eat it. Aim to rotate and use your canned goods within 18 months to 2 years for best nutritional value, but don’t throw them out if they’re older.  If the seal is good, they’re good.  Canned meat also will have a bit of that farty smell that your chicken and turkey have when you pull them out of the fridge; it’s not rotten.  If you meat is rotten, you will know it and it will gag a maggot.

Recipe Notes

• leftover chicken can be subbed for turkey in this recipe
• you can use any fresh herbs you would prefer to add to this.  Be sure and research and make sure they can well; herbs like sage get pretty nasty when canned.  Conversely, add the fresh herbs upon opening for best flavor.
• If you do not have chicken or turkey stock or broth, you can use vegetable broth or vegetable stock with great success.
• If you want to keep this like a more traditional curry, add coconut milk after opening and when heating.  I normally just use a splash of goat milk because that’s what I have on hand and it’s good enough for us!

This recipe is the tastiest way to preserve any leftover turkey into a wonderful leftover turkey soup recipe with healthy ingredients and tons of rich flavor.  I hope you guys love this one because it’s hands down in my top 5 favorite canning soup recipes!

​Happy Canning!

Leftover Turkey Curry Soup Pressure Canning Recipe

This is a PER QUART JAR recipe!

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Servings: 1 quart

Author: Ruby – Red Feather Farm

Equipment

• Pressure Canner
• Pint or Quart Canning Jars
• jar lifter
• clean towels
• Lids and bands
• ladle
• jar funnel

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups raw, cubed turkey breast OR cooked & shredded turkey meat
• 2 carrots peeled & sliced
• 1 celery stalk diced
• 1/2 onion dliced
• 3 tsp yellow curry powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 2 cups turkey or chicken broth

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Instructions

• Decide how many jars and what size jars you will use for this recipe.  Wash your jars, lids, and bands in hot, soapy water.  Place on a clean towel.
• Into each prepared quart jar, layer in cubed, raw turkey or cooked turkey to about 1.5 cup mark on the jar.
• Layer in remaining ingredients keeping below 1" headspace.
• Bring turkey broth to a boil. Ladle turkey broth over top jars to 1" headspace. De-bubble and add more broth if needed to maintain headspace.
• Wipe rims and add lids and bands.
• Process at your elevations recommended weight for meat for 75 minutes pints or 90 minutes quarts.
• After processing time and pressure canner is depressurized, remove jars and allow to cool 18-24 hours before testing seals, washing, labeling, and storing.

Notes

How I serve: make a roux with 3Tbs melted butter and 3Tbs flour. Cook til golden. Add in 1 cup of coconut milk (I use goat milk), whisking to incorporate. Once bubble and thick, strain liquid contents of jar into milk mixture and whisk to combine. Add turkey & veggies, stirring to heat through and simmer til thickness of your liking, about 10 minutes.