While you may be in the throes of holiday cooking right now (carry on, carry on!), come Friday, you may be looking for some ways to use up that leftover turkey.
I’ve waxed poetic about my love for leftover, juicy turkey sandwiched inside a tender roll and smothered in spicy mustard. But I realize you may not want to dedicate ten pounds of leftover turkey to this fate. So in case your plans are not my plans, here are the top ten ways (sans my very favorite I just outlined above) to use up those turkey leftovers. The beauty of turkey leftovers is that they can easily translate into a perfect substitute for recipes that call for cooked, shredded chicken. I’ve used cooked turkey in each scenario below and let me tell you, it almost makes sacrificing the turkey/mustard/roll sandwich worth it. Almost.
#10 BBQ {Turkey} Salad with Cilantro-Lime Dressing – that’s right, sub in the ol’ turkey leftovers for the cooked chicken and you have yourself a delicious salad dinner.
#9 Turkey Pot Pie Crumble – omit the steps for cooking the chicken and instead, stir in your leftover, diced turkey into the sauce with the vegetables. Proceed with the recipe…and enjoy!
#8 Turkey Pillows with Creamy Parmesan Sauce – so easily interchangeable between turkey and chicken and no one will ever know the difference.
#7 Hawaiian Haystacks – one of my favorite ways to use up those turkey leftovers…quick, flavorful and plain yummy.
#6 Turkey Corn Chowder – one of my husband’s favorite soups of all-time, simply change out the cooked chicken for cooked turkey and woila! A reinvented and equally delish soup.
#5 Wrap it up THREE ways – leftover turkey makes a star appearance in each of these three wraps in place of the cooked chicken: Crispy Turkey Wraps, Southwest Turkey Wraps and Oven Baked Turkey Chimichangas.
#4 Southwestern Turkey Barley Chili – perhaps one of my favorite (healthy!) soups, omit adding the chicken at the beginning of simmering and instead, stir in the leftover turkey with the corn and beans. Then send some my way, pretty please.
#3 White Bean Chicken/Turkey Chili – comforting, quick and simply tasty.
#2 Cheesy Broccoli and Rice Casserole – stir in 2-3 cups leftover, chopped turkey in the step with the cheese and broccoli and your life may never be the same. Mmm, mmm, good.
#1 BBQ Turkey Quesadillas – simple, delicious and just plain awesome.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! I’ll see you next week with a whole slew of new, delicious, mouth-watering recipes...
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Thanks Mel for the inspiration to use up the leftover turkey. Have a happy Thanksgiving!
Looking forward to load and loads of extra turkey. Yumm-o! Happy Thanksgiving!
Last year I made your enchiladas with leftover turkey. YUM!
MMMM! I’m going to check some of these out!
wow, what a wonderful selection of recipes, thanks – you have such a great collection!
Wow so many turkey recipes! Sighs* I’m Canadian and we already celebrated Thanksgiving in October, so no turkey for me this weekend.
Happy Thansgiving Mel! I am so thankful for so much. One thing I am very thankful for is you and so is my husband! It has inspired me to cook! Thank you!
Wow! What a selection. Happy Thanksgiving. We don’t celebrate it here in Australia but I sure wish we did.
Wow, this is an amazing array! We spent Thanksgiving with friends so I don’t have any turkey leftovers but there’s always rotisserie chicken………………
Thanks!
How do you make the turkey pillows with cooked turkey?
Hi Martha – simply sub in cooked turkey for the chicken (omitting the very first step in the recipe to cook the chicken). It should be about 3-ish cups of cooked turkey for the chicken called for in the recipe. Then proceed with the recipe, mixing the turkey with the cream cheese and other spices. Hope that helps!
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