If you don't just want to use your leftover Thanksgiving turkey to make plain old sandwiches then check out these 8 options to transform your turkey into a whole new meal including soups, Asian, and Mexican dishes. From now on you will be excited about leftover turkey!
The great thing about cooking a giant bird is that you have plenty of leftovers. I love to let my creativity run while with those leftovers to make completely different meals with them.
If you can't stomach eating another turkey sandwich, check out these 8 tasty recipe options. I will provide you with the link to each one right at the start here, so you can go check then out immediately or keep on reading to get some more info on each one first.
- Leftover Turkey Orzo Soup
- Leftover Turkey Ramen Soup
- Mini Shepherd's Pies with Leftovers
- Turkey Sliders with Cranberry BBQ Sauce
- Cast Iron Brussels Sprouts with Leftover Smoked Turkey
- Leftover Smoked Turkey Chili
- Leftover Smoked Turkey Pasta Salad
- Leftover Turkey Fajitas
Soups
Soup is a great way to go in the days after Thanksgiving. Most likely where you live it's entering the colder time of year. If you saved the bones from your Thanksgiving meal, which you totally need to do, then you will have what need to make stock for the soup.
You can find instructions on how to make your own turkey stock in my instructions for the Turkey Orzo soup.
One way to go on the cheap is to use a cheap package of ramen and forgo the flavor packet and just use your own homemade stock. My oldest loves making a fried egg to serve on top. I love to give it a more Asian flavor by adding some toasted sesame oil and using baby bok choy. I add carrots that I just peel in strips with a vegetable peeler and then add to the hot broth, they cook very fast that way.
Check out my Leftover Turkey Ramen post for more.
Giada's Recipes
Many years ago I use to do a lot of reviews of different recipes that I saw on Food Network. One year I was watching an episode of one of Giada's shows and saw her do Turkey Sliders with Cranberry BBQ Sauce and Shepard's Pie with Leftover Turkey. Yes, the sliders are technically a sandwich, but it's more than just throwing the meat between two slices of bread.
What I loved about these two recipes is that they made use of not just leftover turkey but also leftover cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, and unused veggies. They have remained some of my favorite leftover turkey recipes for many years.
Smoked Turkey
Last year, I picked up one of those Kirkland Smoked Turkey from Costco to review for the blog. I came up with several recipes that used the smoked turkey that would really benefit for having that smoked flavor. Any of these recipes could also be made with just regular turkey too. You could even have smoked salt to them if you wanted that smoky flavor.
- Cast Iron Brussels Sprouts with Leftover Smoked Turkey
- Leftover Smoked Turkey Chili
- Leftover Smoked Turkey Pasta Salad
Mexican
One of my favorite things to do with leftover turkey is take the meal a complete different direction than I did with the Thanksgiving. That's why I love to go Mexican with my leftovers. Bell peppers, guacamole, tortilla, and tortilla chips aren't food items that we associate with the Thanksgiving meal. So using the leftover meat to make my Leftover Turkey Fajitas is a real fun way to go in that completely different direction. And unlike the Thanksgiving meal it comes together super fast so you can get back to overspending on Amazon deals!
How to Freeze Leftover Turkey
What if all these meals sound amazing but you really don't want to cook them right away. No problem at all. Just freeze those leftovers. Try to portion the amount out that you will need for the recipe.
Learn the best way to freeze leftover turkey so that it doesn't end up freeze burnt.
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