Favorite Turkey Leftover Recipes

Every year I see dozens of recipes for leftover turkey from thanksgiving. But I have to be honest, some of them just don’t look appetizing to me and they have a bazillion steps. Who wants a complicated recipe to make with leftovers after you just spent the day before cooking all the goods? Not me! I love simple and easy recipes to use with leftovers and fear not I’m sharing a few of our favorites.

I love eating soup all year round and whenever we have chicken leftover I usually make up some kind of soup to warm our souls. Same goes for leftover turkey. My favorite noodle soup is my great-grandmother’s chicken noodle soup with liver dumplings. It’s a recipe she was taught by her mother with she was young and it traveled with them from Czechoslovakia. It’s a favorite at our house and whenever I share this recipe everyone cringes at the thought of liver, but it was used because they just didn’t waste anything. It’s mixed with flour, egg and garlic salt (which totally cuts the taste) and it’s my favorite part of the soup. Recently, while my sister visited I made her chicken noodle soup, but because I didn’t have liver in the freezer I created my own dumplings without it. They turned out delicious, but they go better with turkey noodle soup. Here’s a little twist on my great-grandmothers chicken soup.....turkey noodle soup, along with a couple more leftover favorites.

Turkey Noodle Soup with Dumplings

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup white wine

1/2 onions, chopped

2 carrots, sliced

2 celery stalks, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

4 cups chicken stock

3/4 cup dried egg noodles

1 cup or more leftover turkey, chopped

*dumpling recipe follows*

In a pot, heat olive oil and saute onions, carrots, celery and garlic for about 4 minutes. Delgaze pot with wine, scrape the bottom of the pot to remove any brown pieces. Add chicken stock and bring to a boil. Add dumplings, then egg noodles and cook until al dente, about 6 minutes. Add leftover turkey to heat through and serve.

Dumplings 

5 tablespoons flour

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

1/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning

1/4 teaspoon italian seasoning

1 egg

Mix ingredients in a small bowl until it forms a paste. Use two spoons and drop small clumps into simmering soup. Let them cook for a few minutes, they will rise to the top when done. 

TBLT with Pesto

Another favorite turkey leftover recipe comes from our sweet friends in Maryland. When we lived there neither of us had family close so we always spent Thanksgiving together. We would do all the best cooking Thursday and then hang out together on Friday after shopping and eat all over again. Phil always made the best leftover Turkey BLT sandwiches and it’s a staple every Black Friday! It’s so easy...just make your typical fixings for BLT (bacon, lettuce & tomato) and add leftover turkey. Mike and I love adding a couple slices of avocado and instead of mayonnaise we add pesto. So simple and oh so good!

BBQ Turkey Pizza 

I always keep Naan bread on hand in the freezer for quick personal pizzas. Using leftover turkey in place of chicken makes for good and easy pizzas for the family. We start by sprinkling a small amount of monterey jack cheese on the naan bread, add our turkey, sliced onions (for me), pickled banana pepper slices. Then drizzle our favorite BBQ sauce over the top and finish with a generous sprinkle of cheese. Pop them in the oven at 450 degree F for about 8 minutes.