Leftover Turkey Recipes

What can I make with leftover turkey?

• Turkey noodle soup

  Simmer stock, vegetables and noodles, then stir the turkey in at the last minute. Try Leftover Turkey Noodle Soup.

• Skillet turkey pot pie

  A creamy turkey filling under a sheet of puff pastry, baked in one pan. Try Skillet Leftover Turkey Pot Pie.

• Crispy turkey hash

  Turkey and cooked potatoes fried hard until the edges crisp, with an egg on top. Try Crispy Leftover Turkey Hash.

• Turkey and cranberry melt

  Turkey, cranberry sauce and cheese pressed between buttered bread. Try Leftover Turkey and Cranberry Melt.

• Turkey chilli

  Use the cooked turkey in place of mince and warm it through at the end. Try Leftover Turkey Chilli.

Got more than turkey to use up? Find recipes with what you have.

How to decide what to make with your leftover turkey

The right dish depends on the state the turkey is in, not on the recipe you feel like cooking. Find yours below.

Sliced breast

Keep it cold for sandwiches, or build a melt with cranberry sauce and cheese. Breast meat is lean and punishes a second cook.

Dark meat and scraps

Thighs and pulled scraps hold moisture better, so they are what you want in chilli, a pot pie filling or a hash.

You also have leftover potatoes or gravy

Turkey plus cooked potatoes is a hash with an egg on top. Turkey plus gravy is a skillet pot pie with a pastry lid — no new sauce needed.

The carcass

Roast the bones for 20 minutes before simmering. That stock is the base for the turkey noodle soup that gets you through the rest of the week.

How long does cooked turkey keep, and how to store it

Carve it off the bone before refrigerating

A whole bird cools far too slowly. Strip the meat, store it shallow and covered, and start the stock with the bones the same evening.

Three to four days in the fridge

Same window as any cooked poultry. Freeze anything you will not finish by then rather than pushing your luck on day five.

Freeze with gravy or stock

A little liquid in the bag is what stops frozen turkey coming back dry and fibrous.

The best way to reheat leftover turkey

Warm it in liquid

Gravy, stock or a sauce, over low heat, just until hot. Turkey is leaner than chicken and goes from fine to sawdust quickly.

Or crisp it hard and fast

The other good option is the opposite extreme: high heat, a few minutes, browned edges, as in a hash.

Mistakes worth avoiding with leftover turkey

• Reheating whole slices in the microwave without gravy.
• Simmering turkey in soup for more than a minute or two.
• Storing the bird whole overnight to carve tomorrow.