Leftover Turkey Recipes and Ideas

Our favorite part of turkey is the leftovers. We always cook too much on purpose because we love the recipes with the leftovers. We are sure everyone has there favorites; we just hope that we can add some new ideas to your turkey leftovers possibilites.

You start with a perfectly cooked turkey. We think fresh and organic is the best, simply roasted with olive oil, salt and pepper and stuffed with an onion to help with the gravy flavors. After the main meal, slice what you want for sandwiches; then take the remainder and cover it with water and simmer on low a good while: until the meat falls off the bone. Separate the meat and broth discarding the rest. Chill the meat and broth. After it chills, defat and you have the basis for all of the ideas below.

My husband's absolute favorite turkey leftover is turkey pot pie. Other ideas are turkey noodle soup, turkey rice soup, turkey hash, turkey gumbo, turkey and dumplings, turkey divan, turkey pozole, turkey fricassee, turkey tetrazzini and turkey vegetable soup. What is turkey hash, you ask? It is one of the comfort foods from my childhood, served by my mother and my grandma. You take lots of the shredded turkey, with an equal amount of broth. Thicken with a roux (several T butter, melted, add flour and whisk until browned and add to the meat and broth, off heat whisking to remove any lumps) or for a fat free version, put 1/4 cup flour in a jar, add 3/4 cup hot water. Put lid on jar and shake well until well combined. Add to meat and broth. Cook until thickened. Season with salt and pepper. My favorite way to serve is over toast. It's like a soul warming turkey and gravy to die for. I think some people call it open faced hot turkey sandwich. You can also serve it over noodles, mashed potatoes or rice.

Did you know about a common breakfast in China called Congee (or jook). It is a porridge of broth and rice, cooked until the rice pretty much falls apart. It is served with condiments (chopped scallions, meat, whatever) and dim sum. When in Hong Kong, we found this to be the most comforting breakfast we have ever eaten. We had the Chinese breakfast every morning even though we had a choice of American Style or Chinese. It just seems so right to me. So below, we are going to give you our version of congee, made with turkey and turkey stock. You can try it for lunch or as an appetizer for dinner; however, we would highly recommend you try it for breakfast on a cold winter day. We think you will love it.

To make congee, use raw rice, not leftover rice. You should use about 1 cup rice to 3 quarts liquid. It should be the consistency of a thin porridge. Bring liquid to a simmer. Add rice. Simmer 30 minutes, uncovered. Cover and simmer several hours. This will serve 6-8 and can be frozen and reheated.

If we ger enough requests, we'll post more turkey recipes. If not, you'll get another original.

Eat well.

About the author:

Peggy Bloodworth left a high-tech sales VP job entertaining clients around the world to start a personal chef & catering business in RTP, NC. More party ideas, recipes, menus and pictures can be found on her website swank website. She maintains a large garden & vineyard. Menus are well researched, recipes mostly original & ingredients fresh, organic and mainly from her garden.