Recipes for Leftover Turkey
Yucatan-Style Turkey and Vegetable Soup: Brimming with turkey, zucchini, carrots, and tomatoes, and enlivened with Latin flavors including chipotle peppers, cilantro, lime, and a sprinkle of queso fresco, this soup makes a complete meal-in-a-bowl. Queso fresco is a mild Mexican cheese with a crumbly texture similar to that of feta or farmer's cheese. Look for it at Hispanic food markets or larger supermarkets.
Turkey and Sweet Potato Chowder: This soup, thickened with sweet potato, can be prepped ahead. Peel and cut up the potatoes, turkey, and parsley the day before. Refrigerate the potatoes, covered, in water, and the turkey and parsley separately in airtight containers.
Turkey Vegetable Soup: This soup is topped with a homemade pistou, a basil-based, garlic-infused condiment similar to pesto. Use pistou in other ways: Stir it into pasta, spoon it over vegetables, or serve it on top of a baked potato.
Creamy Turkey Vegetable Soup: Starting with refrigerated Alfredo sauce means you don't have to make cheese sauce from scratch.
Turkey Noodle Soup: The tangy flavor of lemon lends a delightfully brisk lift to a classic turkey noodle soup. It's a perfect way to use leftover cooked turkey or chicken that is tucked away in your freezer.
Turkey Rice Soup: Marsala or sherry adds a special flavor to this nutritious and easy-to-prepare turkey, rice, and vegetable soup.
Curried Chicken Salad with Jicama: Use a purchased deli-roasted chicken or the poultry from last night's dinner as the basis for a chilled salad. Crunchy jicama and celery add a little snap to complement the juicy grapes. If desired, heat up the proceedings by stirring a minced red serrano chili pepper into the salad mixture before chilling.
Mediterranean Chicken Salad: This satisfying blend of chicken, olives, walnuts, artichokes, and fresh spinach boasts a pronounced Mediterranean flavor. It's a well-rounded meal when served with warm pita rounds and a robust white wine.
Chicken, Pear, and Blue Cheese Salad: With just four ingredients, this recipe of chicken, pears, and blue cheese is perfect for a making a meal at the last minute.
Scoop-It-Up Chicken Salad: Mini taco shells scoop up chicken salad spiked with salsa and cheddar cheese. It's a dish no one of any age can resist.
Lime-Ginger Chicken Salad: Ginger and lime add a twist to this refreshing salad. A yogurt-based dressing serves as a healthier alternative to mayonnaise in this tangy and quick-to-prepare dish.
Roasted Potato and Turkey Salad: A mustard-garlic dressing tops this potato and turkey salad.
Turkey and Fruit Pasta Salad: Savor this refreshing honey-dressed salad in the summertime when nectarines are at their peak.
Chicken Pad Thai: This is Thailand's most famous noodle dish. Whether they're called bahn pho (in Vietnamese) or sen-mee (in Thai), rice stick noodles are still rice stick noodles. Don't soak the noodles too long or they'll break when cooked.
Nacho Turkey Casserole: If you enjoy nachos with all the fixings, you'll love this no-fuss casserole. Prep in 15 minutes, bake for 30 minutes!
Tex-Mex Chicken and Rice Casserole Rice appears twice -- as long grain and a vermicelli mix -- in this crowd pleaser. The supportive cast of ingredients, including chili peppers, chili powder, and cumin, contribute to the Tex-Mex flavor.
24-Hour Chicken Fiesta Salad: Layers of greens, turkey, tomatoes, jicama, cheese, and beans topped with tortilla chips and served with a chili dressing make a texturally interesting Mexican-inspired salad -- and a lovely presentation when put in a large glass bowl to show it off. Chilling the salad for up to 24 hours allows the flavors to blend. Layer the ingredients one evening and have a ready-to-serve meal the next. For less heat, use shredded Monterey Jack cheese without the jalapeno.
Turkey and Chili Pepper Stir-Fry: Peppers add a bit of heat to this turkey and bok choy dish. Anaheim peppers are larger in size and milder in flavor than jalapeno peppers.
Turkey and Pasta with Peanut Sauce: For this Thai-style dish, there's no stir-frying to do or complicated sauces to compose. Just heat, mix, and serve.
Tortilla Turkey Stacks: Stack up a great dinner. Start with a crisp brown tortilla base and top with layers of refried beans, zesty chicken-salsa mixture, lettuce, tomato, and Monterey Jack cheese.
Sweet Pepper, Corn, and Turkey Pizza: Colorful vegetables, cheese, turkey, and a creamy Parmesan white pizza sauce top this golden cornmeal crust.
Turkey Manicotti with Chive Cream Sauce: A simple cream cheese sauce makes these pasta shells filled with turkey and broccoli elegant enough for company.
Salsa subs for pizza sauce in this Tex-Mex-seasoned pizza that's loaded with cooked chicken, green olives, almonds, and raisins. The sweet dried fruit, spicy salsa, and salty olives make this an out-of-the-ordinary pizza-style appetizer.
Thai garlic-chili sauce is what makes this great 4-ingredient appetizer so special. It adds a great hot and sweet note to the dish.
Chicken-Filled Crepe Purse: Flat crepes take on an added dimension when turned into small, chicken-filled packets called "purses."
Turkey and Chutney Spread: Spread this spunky mixture of turkey, chutney, and fresh ginger on lavosh or flatbread, and pretend you're dining at a Scandinavian smorgasbord.
Turkey-Mushroom Baked Potatoes: Turkey, mushroom sauce, and Gruyere cheese make up this creamy mixture served over baked potatoes.
Cobb Salad Hoagies: A Cobb salad is a classic for a reason: fabulous flavor. Put its creamy avocado, crisp bacon, tomatoes, blue cheese, lettuce, hard-cooked eggs, and chicken on a roll and have it to go.
Quick Turkey Sandwich: This healthy sandwich has flavorful surprises in the form of a yogurt-horseradish-mustard spread, sweet yellow peppers, and pea pods.
Turkey and Chutney Sandwiches: Chutney, an East Indian relish often made of mangoes, tamarinds, raisins, and spices, is traditionally served alongside curries or meats.
Italian Turkey Sandwiches: Dried tomatoes and herbs create a flavorful topper for this turkey sandwich.
Parmesan-Turkey Sandwiches: Keep the ingredients on hand for this hearty sandwich, and you'll be prepared for the next time you need a casual dinner in a hurry.
Gobbler Sandwich: Roma tomatoes, romaine lettuce, and shredded cheddar crown this comfort-food turkey sandwich made with Italian flatbread.
Hot Turkey Sub Sandwiches: Pair these hefty sandwiches with bowls of tomato soup.
Smoked Turkey Muffuletta: Work voodoo magic on a N'awlins favorite -- a meaty two-fisted sandwich piled high with everything but fat.
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