Use these best leftover turkey recipes to turn your Thanksgiving turkey into a delicious dinner after the holiday is over. Whether you want a turkey soup or casserole that still tastes like the seasonal flavors or you want something completely different, these easy recipes are sure to work perfectly for you.
Once Thanksgiving is over, you probably have a big platter of leftover turkey meat to use and are wondering how on earth you'll ever eat it all up.
The best leftover turkey recipes use not only the main dish but also help you use up leftover potatoes, leftover cranberry sauce, and leftover Thanksgiving breads and veggies.
But when you're ready to move on to something different, there are so many delicious recipes that call for turkey meat that don't taste like Thanksgiving, too.
Can't decide from this amazing list? I strongly recommend you at least freeze the turkey meat now so you can pull it out for an easy dinner prep later!
Just be sure to check how much each recipe calls for and freeze the turkey in smaller portions so you don't have to thaw the entire container all at once.
Jump to:
- Start with the Best Turkey
- Leftover Turkey Sandwiches
- Open Face Turkey Sandwiches
- Grilled Turkey Reuben Sandwiches
- Turkey Brie Sandwich
- Cranberry Turkey Salad with Jalapeños
- Turkey Parm Sliders
- BBQ Turkey Sliders
- Leftover Turkey Soups
- Turkey Wild Rice Soup
- Turkey Chili
- Instant Pot Turkey Soup
- Spicy Caribbean Turkey Soup
- Turkey Pot Pie Soup
- Leftover Turkey Dinner Ideas
- Turkey Wild Rice Casserole
- Turkey Pot Pie
- Dutch Oven Turkey and Dumplings
- Crispy Wild Rice Salad
- Buffalo Turkey Salad
- Turkey Taco Pasta Skillet
- Baked Cheese Tortellini Skillet
- Creamy Pesto Casserole
- Turkey Enchiladas
- Turkey Tetrazzini (No Mushrooms!)
- Barbeque Turkey Pizza
- Spinach Alfredo Turkey Pizza
- Pepper Jack Turkey Quiche
- Leftover Turkey Appetizers
- Turkey Taquitos
- Buffalo Turkey Dip
- Oriental Layer Dip
- More Thanksgiving Ideas
- 💬 Comments
Start with the Best Turkey
In order to even have any leftover turkey meat, you need to plan a large enough bird for your holiday meal.
Even though we usually have just 5 at our holiday table, we usually cook a giant herb butter turkey just so we have tons of leftovers.
We love turkey so much, we even cook this slowcooker boneless turkey breast at other times of the year. It's so delicious, we just might make it for our Thanksgiving bird instead!
Leftover Turkey Sandwiches
My husband would tell you that a leftover turkey sandwich is the entire point of cooking a huge whole herb butter turkey for the holiday.
He loves using leftover turkey to build sandwiches for days. It's part of the reason we love making our easier slowcooker boneless turkey breast periodically, too.
I, on the other hand, appreciate a variety of sandwich flavors to use my turkey!
Open Face Turkey Sandwiches
My family would tell you that the only acceptable way to use leftover turkey meat is to turn it into these open face turkey sandwiches with fresh Italian bread and leftover gravy.
I suspect they enjoy this more than the Thanksgiving dinner itself!
Grilled Turkey Reuben Sandwiches
I usually use deli turkey meat to make these grilled turkey reubens but thicker slices of leftover Thanksgiving turkey would make them extra delicious.
Turkey Brie Sandwich
My turkey brie sandwich recipe has slices of fresh apple and peppery arugula. I love it with red pepper jelly and Dijon mustard but you could easily use leftover cranberry sauce instead.
Cranberry Turkey Salad with Jalapeños
Use leftover turkey instead of shredded chicken to make this festive spin on cranberry chicken salad with jalapeños. This recipe is inspired by Chicken Salad Chick!
Turkey Parm Sliders
Turn your leftover turkey into a fun party appetizer or movie night snack! Layer slices of the turkey meat with tomato sauce and provolone in my bite sized chicken parm sliders recipe.
BBQ Turkey Sliders
You could pair a batch of these BBQ chicken sliders, made with chunks of turkey instead of the chicken, with leftover sweet potato casserole or sweet potato mash with pineapple.
Leftover Turkey Soups
One of the easiest ways to use leftover turkey is to toss it into a homemade soup that usually calls for chicken since the flavors are so similar.
Turkey soup is a fantastic strategy if you don't have a ton of leftover turkey meat to use but don't want to let any of it go to waste.
Turkey Wild Rice Soup
Use chunks of leftover turkey meat to make my easy Instant Pot chicken and rice soup with wild rice and fresh vegetables.
Turkey Chili
Use chunks of leftover turkey to make a tomato-based turkey chili with no beans. My kids like to call this "taco soup" because we pair it with shredded cheese and tortilla chips for dunking.
Instant Pot Turkey Soup
Our favorite Instant Pot ground turkey soup calls for ground turkey meat, but you could just build the soup base and use chunks of leftover turkey meat instead.
The tomato based broth and fresh vegetables are a refreshingly different flavor after the rich dishes from Thanksgiving.
Spicy Caribbean Turkey Soup
Really want to mix up the flavors with something different? My Caribbean chicken soup would be delicious with leftover turkey meat.
BONUS: If you've got leftover buttermilk cornbread from Thanksgiving, you'll use that i this recipe, too.
Turkey Pot Pie Soup
Use my budget-friendly version of Ina's chicken pot pie soup with chunks of leftover turkey.
This is great if you happen to have a spare leek on hand after Thanksgiving, but I have an easy substitution if you don't.
Leftover Turkey Dinner Ideas
If you want to get a whole new dinner out of your leftover turkey meat, you could consider a turkey casserole, a turkey pasta recipe, or even a turkey salad on a bed of greens.
The ideas are nearly endless. If you can't choose right now, I suggest you just freeze the turkey meat and then you've got it handy for one of these easy recipes sometime down the road.
Turkey Wild Rice Casserole
If you want to turn your leftover turkey into a ready-to-bake casserole for your freezer, my chicken wild rice casserole actually has similar flavors to your Thanksgiving dinner and would be a great place to swap the turkey for the chicken.
Turkey Pot Pie
This lighter chicken pot pie recipe doesn't have a crust, we always just serve it with homemade buttermilk biscuits on the side or a baked pan of refrigerated biscuits for dunking.
If you've got any leftover Thanksgiving breads, you can just use those instead!
Dutch Oven Turkey and Dumplings
Needing some more cozy comfort food? Use leftover turkey instead of chicken to make my easy Dutch oven chicken and dumplings recipe.
The good news is, you'll probably have leftover onions, carrots, and celery to use up in this recipe already on hand!
Crispy Wild Rice Salad
My easy crispy rice salad is a great dinner idea that combines leftover turkey, leftover wild rice pilaf, and leftover roasted carrots!
Buffalo Turkey Salad
Want something a little more . . . green? There are a lot of starches on the Thanksgiving table, a crisp green buffalo turkey salad might be just what you need.
Turkey Taco Pasta Skillet
Use the leftover turkey meat broken into chunks for this savory taco pasta skillet that tastes even better than Hamburger Helper.
Baked Cheese Tortellini Skillet
Another tomato-based pasta dish, this baked cheese tortellini skillet would be even more delicious with tender chunks of leftover turkey in the mix.
Creamy Pesto Casserole
You could freeze chunks of turkey for using in this creamy pesto casserole with crispy bread crumbs on top closer to your next family holiday.
Turkey Enchiladas
My quick prep chicken enchiladas recipe uses a rotisserie chicken, leftover turkey meat is the perfect substitution!
Turkey Tetrazzini (No Mushrooms!)
My freezer-friendly chicken tetrazzini casserole is a great pick if you want to turn the leftover turkey into a ready-to-eat dinner for later.
Barbeque Turkey Pizza
Use chunks of leftover turkey to build my BBQ chicken pizza with red onions, cilantro, and your favorite barbecue sauce.
Spinach Alfredo Turkey Pizza
Got some baby spinach hanging around after the holiday, too? Pair it with the leftover turkey meat for this easy spinach alfredo pizza.
Pepper Jack Turkey Quiche
This pepper jack turkey quiche was made just for your leftover turkey! It is one of my favorite easy quiche variations.
Leftover Turkey Appetizers
If you're hosting company all Thanksgiving weekend long, it doesn't hurt to have a few easy turkey appetizers up your sleeve for friends coming over to watch the football game or enjoy a Christmas movie together.
From turkey dips and spread to turkey flatbreads and more, here are a few of my favorites.
Turkey Taquitos
I use ground turkey to build our baked turkey taquitos but leftover turkey meat would work just perfectly and save you a bit of time in the prep.
These easy taquitos can also be frozen if you want to make a batch for later.
Buffalo Turkey Dip
Turn the leftover turkey into a fun football party appetizer with my easy buffalo chicken dip recipe.
Love these flavors? You could also make my buffalo chicken flatbread with turkey, too.
Oriental Layer Dip
This Oriental chicken layer dip has a tangy sweet and sour sauce, leftover turkey would fit right in with the sweet carrots and green onions.
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