13 Ways To Use Leftover Turkey After Thanksgiving

After you awaken from your Thanksgiving Day food coma, the odds are you are ready to tackle your holiday leftovers. While a second or third plate during a Thanksgiving feast is delicious and standard practice, these same flavors can get old after a while. If you find yourself with several pounds of turkey leftovers, you will want to think of unique and exotic ways to use it up, so you aren’t sick of it within a day or two.

Some classic ways to use your leftover turkey from Thanksgiving include various turkey sandwiches, turkey soup, turkey stock, and turkey pot pie. If you want to add some international flavor to your leftovers, make a curry, enchiladas, egg rolls, or even nachos with your turkey leftovers. You can even make fall classics like shepherd’s pie, biscuits and gravy, and cobb salad using this leftover holiday poultry.

If you hosted Thanksgiving and have a fridge full of leftovers, including pounds of turkey, then you are probably wondering what you can do with it all. While it is acceptable to freeze holiday leftovers, you should also try to incorporate turkey into your meal prep and dinner menus for the days to come. Below is a list of 13 delicious ways to use your leftover turkey, so it always tastes different and you never get sick of it.

13 Delicious Ways To Use Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey

1. Various Turkey Sandwiches

The classic way to use leftover turkey meat, and a favorite method for many, is the turkey sandwich. There are all sorts of ways you can make a turkey sandwich. Many people opt to add mayonnaise, cranberry sauce, and even some stuffing and gravy.

Get creative with your leftover turkey sandwich. Opt to make a panini or grilled sandwich, and add some leftover cheese if you had a cheese board to kick off your holiday feast. The more flavorful you make your sandwich, the less likely you are to tire of the taste of turkey.

2. Turkey Stock

You might be focused on using up your leftover turkey meat from your Thanksgiving feast, but you shouldn’t let your turkey carcass go to waste. Instead of tossing the remains of your turkey in the trash, consider making a delicious turkey stock. 

You can make more than one gallon of delicious turkey stock using water, turkey bones, herbs, and vegetables like onions, celery, and carrots. Use some to make a soup or stew and freeze the rest in containers. Pull out a container of this homemade stock whenever you want to make a delicious soup in the fall or winter.

3. Turkey Chili

One hearty way to use up your Thanksgiving turkey while creating a classic fall dish is to make turkey chili. Chili usually incorporates ground beef, but the cardinal rule of chili is that there are no rules.

Follow your favorite chili recipe, but instead of using ground meat, add the same amount of cooked turkey. It will have the same delicious chili flavor, it won’t taste like Thanksgiving, and it will even have less fat than most beef chili.

4. Turkey Egg Rolls

If you want to make a dish with your leftover turkey that tastes as far away from Thanksgiving as possible, then try rolling turkey egg rolls. Egg rolls are fairly easy to make, especially if you can find egg roll wrappers.

You can usually find wrappers in most grocery stores, and any Asian grocery store. You can add ingredients like carrots, corn, and cabbage (all of which you may have left over from the holiday), and roll them up. Fry them in cooking oil, and remove when they are golden brown. Turkey egg rolls are a great appetizer, even for those who say they are sick of eating turkey.

5. Cobb Or Chopped Salad With Turkey

After a day or two of feasting, your body deserves a salad. Luckily, several classic salads pair perfectly with turkey. While you can add cooked turkey to nearly any type of salad, it tastes particularly delicious in both cobb and chopped salads.

Use white meat turkey, and either shred or cube it before incorporating it into one of these salads. This is a great way to get greens and protein into your diet after a day or two of overeating.

6. Biscuits And Gravy With Turkey

Fall cuisine is all about wholesome country cooking. While some of these recipes aren’t the healthiest, they are delicious. One classic fall country recipe is biscuits and gravy. While this meal traditionally uses sausage gravy, you can use mushroom gravy and add leftover turkey.

This makes this indulgent dish slightly healthier and is a great meal to have as breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

7. Turkey Empanadas

If you want to test your international baking skills, consider giving turkey empanadas a try. To make empanadas, you first need to make dough. Next, mix turkey with whatever other ingredients you’d like, including corn, and cheese. Just avoid adding too much moisture, as this can affect the way your empanadas cooks.

8. Turkey Curry

If you want to transform your turkey leftovers into a flavorful international meal, then make a tasty Indian or Thai curry with your turkey. A spicy and flavorful curry gravy with vegetables like sweet potatoes and carrots served with rice is a tasty and exotic meal.

The coconut and spice will completely change the flavor of the turkey. This is a great meal to make if you have a lot of leftover turkey, and want to cook it in ways that keep your palette interested.

9. Turkey Pot Pie

Another classic way to use turkey leftovers from Thanksgiving is to make a pot pie. Turkey pot pie involves a lot of ingredients you probably have leftover from Thanksgiving, including vegetables like corn, peas, potatoes, and carrots. You can add whatever you’d like to your pot pie. You can be fancy and make your crust from scratch, or buy a ready-made pie crust to keep things simple.

10. Vegetable And Turkey Enchiladas

If you cook for a family, or like to do weekly meal prep in bulk, then you are probably a big fan of a casserole. While you can make many types of casseroles with Thanksgiving leftovers, consider trying something zesty and international like enchiladas.

Enchiladas or enchilada casserole is quite simple to make, as it just involves rolling or layering tortillas with meat, cheese, sauce, and whatever other ingredients you’d like to add. Simply choose your favorite enchilada recipe and use shredded turkey instead of shredded chicken. 

11. Shepard's Pie With Turkey

Another casserole you can make with turkey and other Thanksgiving leftovers is turkey shepherd's pie. What’s great about this dish is it’s easy, feeds lots of people, and you probably have all the ingredients sitting in your fridge. 

A shepherd's pie requires corn and mashed potatoes, two Thanksgiving staples. Fold in some cheese, gravy, and other flavors to make this dish moist and more flavorful.

12. Turkey Noodle Soup

Fall and winter is all about soup. After Thanksgiving, one of the most popular dishes to make with turkey leftovers is turkey noodle soup. You can eat the soup fresh with some leftover bread from Thanksgiving. 

Once you’ve had your fill, simply freeze the soup in an airtight container, and thaw it out on a cold winter day.

13. Nachos With Turkey

If you are looking for a tasty appetizer or game-day snack to enjoy on the weekend after Thanksgiving, then you’re in luck. Use some of your leftover turkey as a protein topping on a big plate of nachos. Simply add all your favorite nachos toppings, like cheese, beans, tomatoes, and jalapenos, and then add turkey instead of a more classic meat like chicken or steak.

Nachos are always a hit, and they make a great one-pan meal for the family, or a group of friends relaxing in front of the television.

Summing Up Ways To Use Your Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey 

If you have a ton of leftover turkey after Thanksgiving and are worried about getting sick of eating turkey before it runs out, then mix things up. Create delicious and exotic meals with your leftover turkey, like enchiladas, nachos, egg rolls, or curry. You can also opt for one of the many classic Thanksgiving leftovers including turkey noodle soup, pot pie, or various turkey sandwiches. Don’t waste your turkey carcass either. Instead, make turkey stock that you can freeze and use as you need.

Related Guides:

• How Long Can A Thawed Turkey Stay In The Fridge?
• 11 Turkey Alternatives For Your Thanksgiving Feast
• Tips For Packaging And Storing Holiday Leftovers