Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey Recipes

Leftover turkey is a versatile and coveted ingredient to cook with. Turkey goes with so many different fall and winter dishes, so it’s fun and easy to use up all that bird in your fridge with some leftover recipes. If you don’t get to using all of your leftover turkey, it freezes wonderfully!

Transform Your Turkey Leftovers to the Next Level

Thanksgiving is the gift that keeps on giving. You start with an incredible meal full of juicy meat, rich gravy, and a million side dishes. And then the next day you find your fridge still full of all those things! 

Sometimes the leftovers can be daunting, and that’s especially true with the turkey. But never fear, our list of these leftover turkey recipes will keep your leftovers in use.

Cooking with leftover holiday turkey is one of my favorite traditions each year. I get a lot of satisfaction from cooking a whole bird, and then finding a bunch of different ways to use up the meat. It’s pretty cool that a few hours of roasting a turkey can get you celebratory meal on Thursday night, a moist sandwich on Friday, and comforting soup on Saturday. How fun is that?

Does It Matter How the Turkey Was Prepared?

We all know that deep fried turkeys have become the latest food trend. And everybody loves a good barbecued turkey. But does your method of cooking the Thanksgiving turkey matter when using leftovers?

For the most part, no. As long as the turkey is cooked, you can use it for any of these recipes. Roasted, fried, or barbecued, turkey is always delicious, and works in all of these dishes. That said, a barbecued turkey obviously has a more smoky flavor than other preparations, so take that into account when making any of these recipes.

Can You Use Chicken Instead of Turkey?

Yes! If you roasted a chicken instead of a turkey for Thanksgiving, or if you just have some leftover chicken in your fridge, you can absolutely use it. Chicken and turkey are interchangeable in all of these recipes (though don’t go to Kentucky and tell anyone that you made a chicken hot brown!). I would not, however, use leftover goose meat for these recipes.

How to Store

You can store leftover turkey in the fridge for up to 4 days. There are two different ways for storing leftover turkey. If you have the fridge space, you can simply cover the turkey in plastic wrap, and place it in the fridge like that. Just make sure you thoroughly cover the bird, so that no air can get in.

If you have less space in your fridge, you can break down the turkey, and get all the meat off the bones. Then store the meat in an airtight container or bag in the fridge.

You can also store leftover turkey in the freezer for up to 3 months, in an airtight plastic bag.