Turkey, Sweet Potato, and Black Bean Soup

Turkey, Sweet Potato, and Black Bean Soup is a great use for leftover turkey, but you can also make this tasty soup with chicken. And I’ve adjusted this recipe to use more turkey and fewer beans and sweet potatoes for a lower-carb version.

PIN Turkey Sweet Potato Soup to try it later!

This delicious and easy Turkey, Sweet Potato, and Black Bean Soup is a lovely way to use leftover leftover turkey if you end up with some! One of my favorite traditions the day after Thanksgiving is simmering the turkey carcass in a roasting pan with water, onions, carrots, celery, and a bit of Better than Bouillon Turkey Base (affiliate link). It fills up the house with the good smells and pretty soon you have homemade Turkey Stock.

And you can turn that turkey stock into this amazing soup, or make the soup with canned turkey or chicken broth if that’s what works for you. This soup that has  turkey, black beans, and lime is one of my favorite soups to make after Thanksgiving. And I’m indulging my love of sweet potatoes here as well. This recipe is pretty flexible, but don’t leave out the touch of fresh lime juice added at the very end. Lime and sweet potatoes are what make this soup so delicious!

And soup with sweet potatoes and black beans may sound like a splurge for people who are watching carbs. But I’ve updated this favorite soup to have more turkey and slightly less sweet potato and beans. That will make it a bit lower in carbs; check the nutritional info and see what you think. (Here’s the printer-friendly recipe for the original version for anyone who was a fan!)

What ingredients do you need?

(This is only a list of ingredients; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe with ingredient amounts.)

• onion
• celery
• olive oil
• sweet potato
• Dried Oregano or use Mexican Oregano if you have it (affiliate links) 
• ground cumin (affiliate link)
• ground Chili Powder (affiliate link)
• Dried Sage (affiliate link)
• homemade turkey stock (or canned turkey or chicken broth)
• can of black beans
• diced leftover turkey (or chicken)
• canned diced green chiles (affiliate link)
• fresh-squeezed lime juice; I used my fresh-frozen lime juice
• fresh ground black pepper to taste

Can the Turkey Sweet Potato Soup recipe be made with chicken?

Any soup recipe that uses leftover turkey can also be made with cooked diced chicken!

What did I do to make the Turkey Sweet Potato Soup lower in carbs?

I love this soup so much, but the original recipe was more of a carb splurge than I wanted these days with both beans and sweet potatoes. To make a lower-carb version of the soup, I just used fewer sweet potatoes and beans and more turkey. And I also added a little more turkey stock to make sure it’s still eight servings.

How many carbs in this Turkey, Sweet Potato, and Black Bean Soup?

This tasty soup has 25 net carbs per serving with 29 grams of protein.

Want Low-Carb Turkey Soups?

Check out Low-Carb Turkey Soup Recipes to see the lowest-carb turkey soup recipes on my blog.

How to make Turkey, Sweet Potato, and Black Bean Soup:

(This is only a summary of the steps for the recipe; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)

1. You can make the soup using chicken broth from a can, but I highly recommend making turkey stock if you have a turkey carcass. Here is how to make homemade Turkey Stock, and it will make your house smell great while it cooks.
2. Start by cooking the onions and celery a few minutes in the bottom of the soup pot. 
3. Then add diced sweet potatoes, spices, and turkey stock and simmer about 40 minutes. 
4. Add black beans and liquid and simmer about 15 minutes more.
5. Then add the diced turkey and green chiles and simmer another 15 minutes. 
6. Stir in the lime juice, simmer a few minutes more, and serve hot. 
7. This Turkey Sweet Potato Soup is good with cheese and sour cream to sprinkle on at the table if you like the sound of that!

Make it for a Carb-Conscious Meal:

I’d love this soup served with one of these low-carb breads or muffins:

• Low-Carb Olive Bread
• Low-Carb High Fiber Savory Muffins
• Savory Almond Flour Bread

Weekend Food Prep:

This recipe for Turkey, Sweet Potato, and Black Bean Soup has been added to a category called Weekend Food Prep  to help you find recipes you can prep or cook on the weekend and eat during the week!

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4.6 Stars (32 Reviews)

Yield: 8 servings

Turkey, Sweet Potato, and Black Bean Soup

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour 20 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 35 minutes

Turkey, Sweet Potato, and Black Bean Soup is a great use for leftover turkey, or make it with leftover turkey if you prefer. I've adjusted this recipe so it's a bit lower in carbs!

Ingredients

Toggle ingredient group

• 1 cup diced onion
• 1 cup diced celery
• 1 T olive oil
• 2 cups diced sweet potato, cut in pieces about 1/2 inch (see notes)
• 2 tsp. dried oregano (see notes)
• 2 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 tsp. ground chile powder 
• 1/2 tsp. dried sage
• 6 cups turkey stock (see notes)
• one 15 oz. can black beans
• 4 cups diced leftover turkey (see notes)
• 4 oz. can diced green chiles
• 1/4 cup fresh squeezed lime juice (I used my fresh-frozen lime juice)
• salt, fresh ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Heat olive oil in heavy soup pot, add onions and celery and saute about 5 minutes.
2. Add sweet potatoes, oregano, cumin, chile powder, sage, and turkey stock, lower heat to a simmer, and cook about 40 minutes, stirring a few times.
3. Add black beans, rinsing out the can with a small amount of water and adding all bean liquid. Simmer soup 15 minutes more.
4. Add diced turkey and green chiles and simmer about 15 minutes more.
5. Stir in fresh lime juice, season with salt and pepper as desired, and cook 5 minutes more.
6. Serve Turkey Sweet Potato Soup hot, with additional fresh lime to squeeze into soup if desired.

Notes

These are orange sweet potatoes, which are often called Yams or Sweet Yams in U.S. stores.

I used Mexican oregano, but either kind will work.

You can use chicken stock or broth for this soup if you don't have turkey stock.

I'd use 3-4 cups leftover turkey, depending on how thick you prefer the finished soup to be.

This would be great with sour cream, chopped cilantro, or grated cheese. You could even add crushed corn chips for family members who aren’t watching their carbs.

Recipe created by Kalyn.

Nutrition Information

Yield

8

Serving Size

1
Amount Per Serving Calories 327Total Fat 9gSaturated Fat 2gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 6gCholesterol 79mgSodium 635mgCarbohydrates 31gFiber 6gSugar 9gProtein 29g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.

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Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
Sweet potatoes and black beans are both considered to be “good carbs” for the original South Beach Diet, meaning they are digested slowly. That means this Turkey, Sweet Potato, and Black Bean Soup would be suitable for phase 2 or 3 on South Beach. I’ve adjusted this recipe so it’s lower in carbs but this soup still has 25 net carbs. You choose whether that’s too much of a splurge if you’re following a stricter low-carb plan.

Find More Recipes Like This One:
Check out Soup Recipes for more tasty soups! Use the Diet Type Index to find recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.

Historical Notes for this Recipe:
This recipe for Turkey Sweet Potato Soup was first posted in 2007! It was updated in 2021 with recipe tweaks to make it a lower-carb soup with more turkey and less sweet potato and beans. The recipe was last updated with more information in 2026.