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After the holiday, transform your leftover Thanksgiving turkey into this Leftover Turkey Salad made with the yummy fall flavors of fresh apple and pecans.
This recipe is very similar to a traditional Waldorf Salad but is a complete meal!
In a little over a week from now, you’re gonna have leftover turkey. Its almost a given. When I host any meal, I always produce more than enough food for everyone. I would rather have leftovers than run out of food while my table is full of a bunch of hungry people. Thanksgiving leftovers are usually my favorite! Not only do I like to recreate that wonderful Thanksgiving meal over and over again, but I love to make other delicious meals like turkey and wild rice soup as well as this turkey salad.
I added a few ingredients that are perfect for a fall recipe including fresh apple and pecans. You can definitely moisten everything up with mayo, but I prefer to use greek yogurt (or even a combo of yogurt and mayo) because its healthier but also gives it a nice zip. The apple with the celery give the turkey salad a fantastic crunch. You can totally enjoy this stuff in a sandwich but I prefer to have it with crackers for a perfect little lunch. Enjoy!
Leftover Turkey Salad
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 cups cooked turkey chopped
- 3 green onions with the whites and start of the greens sliced
- 2 stalks celery chopped
- 2 sprigs parsley stems removed, diced
- 1 small apple chopped (skin on, honey crisp recommended)
- 1/4 cup raw pecans
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme if using dried, reduce amount by half
- 1 cup greek yogurt or mayonnaise or a combination of both
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients except the yogurt/mayonnaise in large bowl and stir to combine.
- Add yogurt and/or mayonnaise and mix well.
- Season with salt and pepper, if desired.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
My turkey salad contains chopped toasted walnuts, sliced green grapes, diced celery and leaves (lots), minced shallots, lemon zest and juice, Kewpie mayonnaise, sumac and za’atar. I fill lettuce leaves and roll them up so bread is unnecessary, although it’s terrific on a seedy rye or whole wheat bread, too. Sometimes I change the spices around by using dried tarragon and celery seeds, in which case I use dried cranberries instead of grapes and orange zest and juice instead of lemon.
Super idea with the left over turkey! I also add pecans and dried cranberries. It just gives the salad a little sweet zing.
Are there pecans in this? I see them in the picture and in the description but not in the list of ingredients.
Doh! You are right. I added them to the ingredient list. So sorry about that! The nuts could be considered optional, but I definitely like the crunch.
I thought this was a great and easy recipe. One thing my wife and I didn’t care for was the thyme. Next time I make this we are leaving the thyme out. I also added some white and red grapes cut in half and about a tablespoon of celery seed. We will make this again.
What constitutes a serving size?
A little over a cup of turkey salad
This looks like a perfect way to use leftover turkey! I love that it has apples, I bet they add a yummy sweetness and crunch.