Ground Turkey Soup with Beans & Spinach (20 minutes!)
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Healthy ground turkey soup recipe comes together in 20 minutes or less, it is packed full of protein, vegetables, and most importantly, flavor! Your whole family will love it.
I love to give you ideas to make weeknight meals a breeze. My two biggest tips are these:
- Plan ahead (try making Pepperoni Pizza Lasagna Rolls)
- Have a stocked pantry — this recipe depends on it.
I make this healthy soup recipe using all ingredients I keep regularly stocked in my pantry.
Here’s what I keep in my stocked pantry/fridge/freezer to make recipes like these:
- Diced tomatoes
- Grated Parmesan Cheese
- Canned beans — this recipe uses great Northern but I typically keep black beans and chickpeas stocked as well.
- Chicken broth/stock
- Ground turkey
- Spinach. I always have spinach. Always. If I don’t, I’m headed to the store.
- Onions. A must have for so many recipes.
- Garlic. Duh.
- Spices — this recipe uses oregano, red pepper flakes and basil.
- Olive oil. I always have a bottle of it in my pantry.
Other staples in my pantry are a variety of grains, pasta, bacon, carrots, celery, a variety of vinegars, and some fruit and vegetables in the freezer. But you don’t need any of those for this particular healthy soup recipe.
Of course, everyone is different and you might not keep your pantry stocked just like mine. You might not like ground turkey. Ground beef is fine, or try this recipe with Italian sausage, it’s phenomenal!). Maybe you don’t have baby spinach — try a different green in this soup such as kale or chard.
About this Ground Turkey Soup
The really important thing here is that this recipe can be prepared in 20 minutes. I make this soup A LOT on weeks where I slip behind on my meal planning. Or maybe I have something planned and I just don’t have the time and energy to prepare it. Or it might just not sound good on that particular night.
No problem! Out come those pantry staples to save the day. Healthy, easy, and no trips to the grocery store required. I’m pretty sure that’s as good as it gets. Plus it can warm you up on a chilly day. Hot soup is always a good thing.
How to Make this Soup
To make this recipe, heat up your soup pot with some olive oil. To that, add ground turkey, onions, garlic, red pepper flakes, and some black pepper.
Cook until the onions are translucent and the ground turkey is fully cooked.
Throw in beans, herbs, tomatoes — stir to combine.
Then PILE on the spinach. You can do this in batches if need be, but if you have a big pan, it will probably fit. Cover for a couple of minutes to let the spinach wilt.
You might have to stir it a couple of times to help it along.
Add chicken stock and bring the soup up to a boil to make sure it is good and hot.
Once the soup is hot, remove it from heat and sprinkle in the grated Parmesan cheese. This is what makes it really, really good. If you’re not a cheese-lover, don’t worry, your soup will still taste great!
There ya have it! A healthy soup recipe ready in 20 minutes that’s good for you, is ready in less than 30 minutes, and doesn’t come from a can.
Soup’s on!
Looking for more hearty soup recipes? Try:
- Homemade vegetable soup, packed with lots and lots of garden veggies
- Easy Hamburger Soup Recipe
- Lentil Soup Recipe with Pasta
- Red Lentil Soup Recipe — one of my most popular recipes!
- Instant Pot Minestrone Soup Recipe
- Crockpot Pumpkin Soup (5 Ingredients!)
- Vegetarian Lasagna Soup (VIDEO)
- Creamy Chicken Enchilada Soup with Noodles
- Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup — Instant Pot and stovetop directions.
Interested in a weekly meal plan (it’s free!) that includes this ground turkey soup? Take a look at my Meal Plan #9. You’ll find a wholesome recipe for each weekday plus a categorized grocery list. Let me do the planning for you this week!
We’ll be adding a new meal plan weekly. If you’re interested, browse all of our meal plans.
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @rachelcooksblog on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound extra lean ground turkey
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes
- ¼ teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- 1 can (14.5 ounce) diced tomatoes, undrained
- 1 can (15.8 ounce) great northern beans, rinsed and drained
- 8 ounces baby spinach
- 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for garnish
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Brown the turkey with the onions, garlic, red pepper flakes, and black pepper until the turkey is cooked through and the onions are translucent (about 7 minutes).
- Add oregano, basil, tomatoes (with liquid), and beans. Stir to combine.
- Reduce heat to medium-low, add spinach and cover for about 2 minutes or until spinach is wilted. Stir to combine.
- Add broth, stir, and increase heat to medium. Continue to cook until heated through, about 5 minutes.
- Remove from heat, stir in Parmesan and serve.
Notes
- Ground beef, sausage, or ground chicken can be substituted for the ground turkey.
- Any tender green can be substituted for the spinach, such as baby kale or escarole.
Nutrition Information
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
Christina T says
Is there a conversion for Instant Pot?
Rachel Gurk says
There is not, but you’d just want to saute the ground turkey and onions until turkey is cooked and onions are translucent. Add the garlic and cook for another minute or so. After that it really just needs to warm up – I’d add the other ingredients (except spinach and parmesan) and maybe do high pressure for 5 minutes? Stir in the spinach at the end until it wilts. Then, add the parmesan. Let me know if you give it a try!
Seara says
Just made this, I’m impressed how tasty this dish is, and love how little time this took to make! definitely helping me soothe my cold on this chilly fall day!
Rachel Gurk says
So glad you enjoyed it! It’s always one of my go-tos.
Randolph W Mccumber says
Great
Rachel Gurk says
So glad you liked it!
Patti says
I haven’t made it yet, will in a couple hours. I just wanted to share a tip I found with another ground Turkey soup with barley and mushrooms, that has spinach in it. I now add the spinach in the bowls when I am serving it, otherwise it gets so cooked down and a little bit unappealing. I don’t freeze it with the spinach either, just do the same thing when I warm it up, put the spinach in the bottom of the bowl, then pour the hot soup over it. This way people can decide how much spinach they want, for me, it’s half a bowl, lol!
Rachel Gurk says
That’s a great idea!
Nat says
Yesss, this turned out so good, and as everyone has been saying, it’s so versatile! I only had 5 oz of spinach, but had some carrots and zucchini that were dangerously close to being sacrificed to the composter. So I threw those extra veggies in, used a whole box of broth (4 cups), and just let it simmer a little longer (until veggies were soft). This is my new go-to for the end-of-week fridge purge.
Rachel Gurk says
I’m so glad you liked it! It is a great way to clean out the fridge. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!