13 Scrumptious Leftover Turkey Recipes & Concepts: From Soups to Enchiladas

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Thanksgiving is a time to say thank you to family, friends, and most importantly, the food.

But when the guests are gone and the table is cleared, many households can be faced with large quantities of turkey and some side dishes that have yet to be eaten.

Fortunately, there are tons of delicious recipes to use up your leftover turkey, from the infamous Friends sandwich to amazing spring rolls.

1. Turkey quesadilla

Tierraal Diggins’ recipe is for an amazing Mexican intake for any leftover turkey.

Start with tortillas, Thanksgiving turkey, grated cheese, in addition to the seasonings, salt, Cajun seasoning, and black pepper.

Next, add a generous amount of these ingredients to half a tortilla, fold over, and place in a hot, dry pan.

Then cook for a few minutes on each side, being careful not to burn them before serving, if the cheese has visibly melted.

2. Moisturizer sandwich

One of the most iconic scenes from Friends shows Ross obsessing over Monica’s Thanksgiving leftover sandwich with gravy bread in the middle.

Jamie Milne has now gone to TikTok to recreate one of the most famous bread-based snacks on TV.

After toasting two slices of bread, spread herb butter on a slice of bread that lies at the bottom, followed by mashed potatoes and leftover turkey.

Next, soak a third toasted bread slice in sauce and place on top. Then add the cranberry sauce, filling and spinach.

Finally, spread more herb butter on the top slice of bread and add to the sandwich, before cutting and serving.

3. Turkey Shepherd’s Pie

Crista Santos swears by this leftover Thanksgiving comfort food, especially when eaten on a cold night.

She places a generous amount of leftover vegetables and diced meat in a foil cake base and adds enough sauce to generously cover the ingredients.

Next, place any leftover filling on top before spreading cold mashed potatoes and heating in an oven at 350 ° F (180 ° C).

4. Turkey spring rolls with cranberry and peanut sauce

Chef Brenda describes this innovative twist on the Thanksgiving leftovers canon as “filling food”.

For the sauce, mix peanut butter, chilli and garlic seasoning, hoisin sauce, fish sauce and a generous spoonful of cranberry to taste.

Now pile a bunch of different Thanksgiving turkey scraps, as well as scrambled eggs and spinach, on a platter.

Sheets of rice paper should then be soaked briefly in warm water and placed on a plate before you start piecing the spring rolls together, with Chef Brenda arranging all of the ingredients vertically, close to the top.

5. Turkey enchiladas

Alexa’s method of reusing leftover lunch is as easy to make as it is supposedly healthy.

To start, soak an onion, garlic, and a jalapeño or two in a pan before adding three cups of shredded turkey meat.

Next, mix a can of rinsed and drained black beans, two cups of Monterey Jack cheese, and a little lime juice in a bowl.

Once all the ingredients are combined and mixed, they fill eight tortillas, which are rolled up and packed in a baking dish, soaked in enchilada sauce, topped with additional cheese and baked.

6. Turkey salad

Brittany suggests this method to create a slightly easier way of using leftover birds that she often enjoys for lunch.

In a bowl, she adds turkey, red onions, celery, dried cranberries, and a generous dollop of mayonnaise.

Then lemon juice, salt and pepper, mustard and chopped almonds are added to the mixture, which should then simply be stirred well.

She suggests this can be served in a sandwich, on a bed of lettuce, or even with crackers.

7. Cheesy turkey croquettes

Shay Spence recommends chopping up leftover turkey and mixing it with potatoes.

Then he sets up a “breading station” in which a bowl with beaten egg, another with flour and a third of seasoned breadcrumbs are offered.

Now take a handful of potato and turkey mixture, place in the middle with a piece of cheese, dust with flour, dip in the egg and finally the breadcrumbs.

These balls should then be placed in the refrigerator before they can be fried in a saucepan of neutral oil.

8. Turkey pot cake

Liz Capi recommends using any leftover turkey from November 25th to make a healthy dinner the next day.

She starts by making a spiral sauce with a stick of butter before adding sliced ​​celery, carrots, and onions.

Next, add half a cup of flour, three cups of chicken broth, bring to a boil, then add half a cup of peas, corn, spices, and turkey scraps.

Once this mixture has cooled, spoon it into an egg-lined pie pan and add a batter lid, sliced ​​open slightly to allow air to escape, and bake for 30 minutes.

9. Turkey Pho

Christy Nguyễn believes this recipe prevents food from being wasted on Thanksgiving.

She begins by chopping up all of the meat from the bones and placing it in a saucepan filled with about 1 liter of water to make a broth.

Add an onion, a piece of ginger, sugar, star anise and basic chicken soup powder.

Fresh pho noodles only need to be soaked in hot water for 15 seconds before going limp, and these should be drained and placed in a bowl before adding turkey and the finished soup.

Finally, add chopped spring onions, coriander, bean sprouts and a dash of lime before serving.

10. Filipino Turkey Soup

This Filipino recipe is a clever way to use up leftover turkey.

Melt a piece of butter and add onion and garlic, then sauce for about three minutes before adding carrots and celery.

Season with salt and pepper before adding turkey broth, which you can make yourself by boiling the bird’s bones for about an hour.

Skim off any foam, then add the meat and a pinch of chicken stock.

Cook some macaroni in a separate saucepan so that the noodles don’t soak up too much soup.

Then add the macaroni, a can of condensed milk, a little cabbage and season with fish sauce.

11. Creamy wild rice and turkey soup

This recipe promises to prepare a well-balanced meal in a single saucepan to save on excessive washing up later.

Start with a wide variety of fresh, seasonal vegetables, with the chef taking this opportunity to include onions, carrots, celery and mushrooms.

After softening, wild rice is added to the pot and then some high quality chicken broth.

Turkey leftovers are stirred in when the rice is almost done, then add some cream and fresh spinach before serving.

12. Yorkshire wrap

This recipe by Grace Keen is a uniquely British take on what to do with turkey loads.

Start by putting a good glue of olive oil in a bowl and letting it warm up in an oven at 200 ° C.

While heating, mix 230 g of flour, three eggs, a teaspoon of baking powder, a little salt and pepper and then gradually stir in 300 ml of milk.

Once this batter is nice and smooth, add it to the bowl of hot oil and bake for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Cut the resulting Yorkshire pudding in half and add any Thanksgiving scraps of your choice.

13. Thanksgiving leftover eggs Benedict

Shay Spence describes his dish as “the best thing to do with Thanksgiving leftovers”.

The cook begins by pressing cold leftovers together so well that they can be cut out into patties.

Then put this in a pan lined with sizzling butter and shortly afterwards place a few slices of turkey next to it.

Once the paries and meat are caramelized, remove them from the pan, add more butter, and fry some eggs.

After cooking, place some turkey on the patty, top with an egg, then add some leftover sauce and serve.

A homemade turkey thanksgiving dinner with mashed potatoes, stuffing, and corn
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