Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I hope it was wonderful, that you overate and were surrounded by loved ones (even if they’re annoying.) And I hope you had help with the dishes. Now I’m gonna help with leftovers! And while I called this post 12 Days of Turkey, no worries! That’s because I started back in 2011 with a dozen Leftover Turkey Recipes…now there are over 50!

While all these ideas work with your Leftover Turkey Recipes, they’ll also work with leftover chicken, too. Both are interchangeable in almost any recipe. You’ll want to pin, save, and share this post!

Turkey Ramen – and thanks to my son’s lovely girlfriend for hand modeling! Thanks, Tweetie!

If you’re like me, family & friends (and let’s not forget all their dogs!) are the best part of any holiday, but the food, and of course, Leftover Turkeyis a close second.

Leveraging those Thanksgiving leftovers into more great meals is one the most frugal things you can do. If you have a freezer (and you should) pick up more turkeys at rock-bottom prices during the Thanksgiving or Christmas sales; it’s one of the cheapest proteins you’ll find.

If you’re a planner, have a few recipes in mind for your leftovers and shop for them when you shop for your turkey dinner. Then you know you’ll use the leftovers. If you had ham, see my 12 Days of Ham post.

Let’s talk about Leftover Turkey Safety

Remember the two-hour window for leaving food out at room temperature. Break the turkey down and refrigerate it as soon as possible. I find it’s always hectic, messy, and everyone is probably tired after a big feast and wanting to chill and socialize.

Treat that turkey right and you’ll never have any doubt about food safety when using it for leftover turkey recipes.

As For the Turkey, Break it Down:

Big old turkeys don’t fare well in the fridge: turkeys are hard to wrap and it’s hard to find room. If you’ve accomplished both, the turkey gets pulled out, nibbled from, rewrapped (probably poorly), and shoved back in to dry and shrivel.

Sometimes by the time someone deals with it, it’s to take it out, & dump it in the trash, and that’s a shame.

Take the time to break that turkey down right away, and at the very least slice off the breast meat and wrap or put it in Ziplocs for sandwiches or casseroles and do the same with the legs & thighs.

Plan Ahead for Making Leftover Turkey Recipes:

If you plan ahead and know what you want to make with your leftovers, pick up any needed items for those recipes when you shop for the holiday feast. This way, you’ll be ready to go.

Waste can come from good intentions but a lack of follow-through. After the holiday it can be hard to find time or energy to run to the store to pick up this or that item to make something with that leftover turkey.

Making Soup:

If you’re making turkey soup, think about getting it started while you’re doing the cleanup and avoid having to have a big old carcass sitting in the fridge. At the least, after removing most of the usable meat, wrap the carcass well; if possible, break it into pieces to make it easier to store.

To make the soup easier, prep all the soup ingredients ahead of the holiday while you’re doing so much prep anyway. They’ll take less room in the fridge than whole vegetables, too, so bonus for that.

• Carrots, onions, and celery can all be diced ahead and stored in a large Ziploc waiting to go.
• A smart move is to have a bag ready to save a lot of the potential waste from all the Thanksgiving preparations. Celery tops, onion skins, carrot peelings, etc. Those are fabulous for stock. It’s all flavor!

Deal with the Turkey Leftovers Promptly:

After a couple of days in the fridge, the turkey can dry and taste gamey. Assess what you have in the way of leftovers (after your feast or the next day) and portion out nice slices for sandwiches and smaller bits for recipes, label, and stash back in the fridge or freezer.

Cooked turkey won’t last long in the freezer; maybe a few weeks before it starts to become dry. Consider using some stock with the turkey when freezing. Either way, the freezer will buy you some time, especially if reheated with gravy, sauce, or in a casserole.

No Brainer Leftover Turkey Recipes:

You probably already have a couple of favorite recipes and go-to meals. There are sandwiches and maybe soup. Maybe a turkey, mashed potato, and stuffing casserole. Or turkey and gravy over bread or even better, the famous Open Faced Turkey Sandwich.

If your turkey has gotten dry, heat it gently in broth or simmer it until it’s tender in barbecue sauce thinned with a little water for pulled turkey. Your turkey can be gently cooked with spices and a little broth/stock for other pulled-type recipes, too. Recipes like shredded turkey used for tacos or burritos or maybe those shredded arepas, are below.

Leftover Turkey Recipes

Here are a few recipes (ok, it’s many recipes) we love that use those turkey leftovers; I hope you’ll find a recipe or two that you and your family will love, too.

Chicken and Turkey leftovers can be used interchangeably, so don’t sweat it if you see the word “chicken” on some of these recipe titles. Just sub in your cooked turkey instead. The same goes if the recipe is originally for another protein or vegetarian. If it’s here, it’s just as good with poultry.

Some recipes below call for cooking the poultry from a raw state but for the recipes I’ve chosen, it’s easy enough to substitute in cooked turkey (or chicken) instead. As a general rule, in those recipes, toss leftover turkey in at the end of the recipe, to just warm through. A rule of thumb: one pound of raw poultry is about 3 cups cooked, sliced, shredded or cubed.

appetizers

soups

chilis & chowders

casseroles

cold sandwiches, fillings & salads

hot sandwiches

other dishes

helpful links

A final word! I hope your holiday was fabulous and you’ve found some inspiration here. 

I’d love to hear from you, and love it if you’d comment, below, with your favorite way to use leftover turkey! I’m always looking for more ideas.

Thanks for visiting and sharing!

Mollie