Instant Pot Southwestern Turkey Soup - A Great Leftover Turkey Recipe (2024)

Instant Pot Southwestern Turkey Soup is one of my favorite recipes to use leftover turkey from Thanksgiving or Christmas.

As much as I love a classic Thanksgiving meal, there are times when I need to eat something completely different the day or two after the holiday.

Of course I love to eat a cold turkey sandwich the next day. But when we have a ton of turkey left over, I try to figure out some different ways to use it so that it seems like we are eating something new and refreshing.

We will make Turkey Tetrazzini, Turkey Lentil Chili, and even Turkey Noodle Casserole. But this soup has become a huge hit in our family.

The best way that I can describe this recipe is a Tex-Mex soup filled with black beans, corn, tomatoes, green chiles, and of course turkey!

And if you don’t like turkey, or you don’t have any leftovers, you can certainly use leftover chicken in this recipe. In fact, we have bought a cooked rotisserie chicken at the grocery just so we could make this soup!

Instant Pot Southwestern Turkey Soup Recipe

The first thing that you want to do is to turn your Instant Pot on the SAUTE mode. We made this in our 6 quart Instant Pot Duo. However, we have also made half of this recipe in our 3 quart mini as well.

Once the display on the front reads HOT, add the oil, diced green pepper and onions. Saute until they start to become tender, which is approximately around 5 minutes.

Then pour the chicken stock into the pot and deglaze the bottom of the pan. If there are any stuck bits to the bottom, be sure to remove them with a wooden spatula so that you don’t get the BURN notice.

Next, add in the chopped turkey, corn, drained black beans, taco seasoning, and 2 full cans of Rotel. If you can’t find the specific brand of Rotel at your grocery store, just look for cans of diced tomatoes that have green chiles mixed with them.

No Rotel, No Problem

Or you could substitute two cans of fire roasted tomatoes, and one 7 ounce can of diced green chiles. Always remember that basic substitutions are always okay.

Because this is Southwestern Turkey Soup recipe contains a lot of thin liquid, it is okay to stir the tomatoes into the other ingredients before pressure cooking. However, for thicker soups such as Chili Soup, always place the tomatoes on top of the other ingredients. And do not stir.

Press Manual or Pressure Cook depending on the model that you have. Then select HIGH pressure and cook for 5 minutes.

Pressure Build Up and Pressure Release

With all pressure cooker recipes, it will take time for the pot to come to pressure. And because all pressure cookers are different, the amount of time that it will take will vary.

For our 6 quart Instant Pot, it took our Southwestern Turkey Soup 18 minutes for the pot to come to pressure.

Then after the cook time is up, allow for 10 minutes of Natural Pressure Release. This is necessary so that the soup has time to settle a bit before the valve is moved to the VENTING position.

See Also

Authentic Chili Con Carne with Beans Recipe

If you released the pressure right after the cooking, it is likely that the liquid would spew out of the holes in the valve. And nobody has time for a mess like that!

After the 10 minutes of natural pressure release is up, slowly move the valve to the venting position to release the remaining pressure. If the liquid starts to come out, move it back to the sealing position and start over again.

Once the pin drops, carefully remove the lid and stir in the cream cheese. Keep the Southwestern Turkey Soup warm until ready to serve.

Refrigerate or freeze any leftovers. Enjpy!

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