This Low Carb turkey tofu soup starts with a homemade, MSG-free broth and swaps tofu in for the noodles, so a bowl comes in around 3 grams of net carb. The slow cooker builds the broth overnight from leftover turkey, and the soup itself takes minutes. It is the warm, brothy bowl you want without the pasta or rice.
Although most broths and stocks sold in the stores are low in carbs, they tend to have hidden added ingredients like MSG. To avoid the additives and use up some of those turkey leftovers, why not make your own broth. Yesterday I decided to use my slow cooker to make stock by filling it with onion, carrots, celery, bay leaves, spices, and the wings from a turkey. In my family there is always plenty of dark meat left from the turkey, and that is the perfect meat for stock. Once you have the stock made, simply add it to your meals to make a nice sauce or your own soup. Today I am sharing one of my favorite soups, my Turkey Tofu Soup.
Tofu in place of the noodles
What makes this soup work on a Low Carb plan is the swap that replaces the starch instead of missing it. Sliced tofu gives you something soft and satisfying to spoon up where pasta or rice would go, for almost no carbs, and it drinks in the turkey broth as it heats. That keeps the whole bowl around 3 grams of net carb while still eating like a real noodle soup. The carrots and onion flavor the broth and then come out, so most of their carbs stay behind in the pot.
Make the broth, stock the freezer
The broth is the real prize here, and it costs you nothing but leftovers. After a holiday bird, the picked-over carcass, wings, and dark meat make the richest stock, free of the MSG and additives in the boxed kind. It keeps about 4 days in the fridge or several months frozen, so portion it into 2-cup containers and a bowl of soup is one thaw away. It is the same trick behind a good tomato bisque, and leftover turkey is just as at home in a cobb salad. Keep an eye out for more Low Carb lunch recipes to use that broth in.
Sources:
USDA FoodData Central, nutrient reference for turkey, tofu, and soup vegetables
Sugarfreechic test kitchen, homemade low-carb turkey broth notes
