Leftover Turkey Recipes: Soups, Stews and Casseroles

Leftover turkey recipes are perfect for those of you who find yourselves with a lot of turkey left after Thanksgiving or Christmas. After all you just spend good money on that turkey so you are going to want to keep it and use it up, rather then throw half of it away. So let's explore what you can do with all that leftover turkey.

First everybody's favorite thing is turkey sandwiches. In fact, at my house we normally eat two meals after Thanksgiving with turkey sandwiches, chips and fruit. If you have more then just turkey leftovers you can use some of it on the sandwich. For instance, stuffing, jellied cranberries, yams, and gravy all go really well on a sandwich.

Of course, if you are anything like me or my family then you can't use up the whole turkey eating just sandwiches, so what else do we do with it? Simple I have a few more leftover turkey recipes to finish off that old bird of yours.

I will normally pull off all the meat I can off the bird and then make a turkey casserole with some. It's really very quick and easy. Just cut the turkey pieces in about ½" cubes and put it in a mixing bowl. Then add 1 can of cream of chicken or mushroom soup and ½ c sour cream. Then put a 16 oz bag of frozen vegetables and mix. Pour in a pan and cook for 30-40 minutes on 350. Once done serve over potatoes, rice or noodles.

Now that we have used up most of the meat it is time to make a soup out of it. For those of you who might feel intimidated about making a soup from completely scratch then don't worry this leftover turkey recipe is very easy to do and it's really hard to screw up.

Take the turkey and break it into pieces; this is normally fairly easy. Then place in your crock pot with 2 carrots, half an onion, a potato and 2 stalks of celery. Then add some salt, pepper, parsley, a little oregano, and 2 bay leaves. Let this sit on low heat for at least 12 hours and up to 36. Now you have a perfect turkey stock that will make a great soup.

Next you will pull everything out of the crock pot but leave all the liquid. Discard the vegetables and place the turkey on a platter. Pull all the meat you can off the turkey, normally you can find some on the underside. Cut the meat up to bite size pieces and put back in the soup. Add 2-3 Tbsp of flour to thicken the liquid. When you are about 5-6 hours from eating add cut-up carrots and potatoes. Let that cook on low. About 2 hours from eating add some cut up celery and either ½-1c of noodles or rice. Then when the noodles or rice are soft serve. This leftover turkey recipe goes great with breadsticks, rolls, salad, or sandwiches.