Leftover Turkey Salad with Cranberries

Delicious, easy leftover turkey salad made with cranberry sauce and mayo. This is the BEST use for leftover turkey, hands down! It's also gluten free and done in 10 minutes, huge win. Make this soon, and if you have even more turkey, turn it into turkey pot pie!!

YUM YUM YUM. 

I've said it a gazillion times, but turkey is definitely not my favorite part of Thanksgiving. Appetizers and casseroles and wine are. Clearly. 

I think that's because turkey can be underwhelming, or dry, and it DEFINITELY doesn't hold up as well in terms of leftovers like, say, some kind of buttery cheesy casserole does. Leftover turkey can be chewy and tough and just bland, but I'm NOT here to celebrate food waste, ever. So we had to do something wonderful with leftover turkey. 

Mayonnaise, obviously was the answer. This turkey salad is so different from roast turkey from Thanksgiving day, and the addition of cranberries livens up the flavor for such a fun different twist. This would be so yummy for a brunch, or on crackers/with greens for lunch or a snack. Plus: it's pink!

Uses for Thanksgiving Leftovers

The leftovers we use here are turkey and cranberry sauce. If you hate cranberries or don't have them you can skip them; the result will be different but more like a traditional southern chicken salad (not a bad thing).

Sidebar, if you have lots of extra cranberries, use them to make a cranberry pie!

Turkey Recipes for Thanksgiving

In case you need inspiration for your turkey, here are my three favorite ways to make it! I also make drunken cranberry sauce; that's what's in these pictures.

Ingredients and Method

THEN, we combine the turkey and cranberry sauce with just a leetle bit of sour cream and mayo, and flavor comes from onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and chives. 

Mix everything up, taste it + add more salt if you'd like, and done! 

I LOVE this. It's the perfect easy leftover turkey recipe, first. I also really like tangy things in general, and the cranberry sauce and lemon juice add so much zip that cuts through the fat of the mayo and sour cream.

The result tastes mainly like a chicken salad that you've had a thousand times but with some extra brightness and tis the season, bitches, from the cranberries and turkey. 

Give the turkey skin to your dogs, enjoy this fun season, and waste not/want not. 

Enjoy!

Recipe

Leftover Turkey Salad with Cranberries

Lindsay Howerton-Hastings

Use up Thanksgiving turkey and cranberry sauce in an unexpected way, perfect for lunches or happy hours for the whole long weekend. This takes 10 minutes and has so much holiday flavor. A perfect leftover turkey recipe!

5 from 10 ratings

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Course Main Dish

Cuisine American

Equipment

• ▢
  Measuring Cups And Spoons
• ▢
  Glass Mixing Bowl
• ▢
  Chef Knife

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• ▢ 1 ½ cups shredded cooked turkey
• ▢ ⅛ cup sour cream
• ▢ ⅛ cup mayonnaise
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon onion powder
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon salt
• ▢ ground pepper
• ▢ 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• ▢ 2 tablespoons cranberry sauce
• ▢ 2 tablespoons chopped chives

Instructions

 

• Combine the turkey with the rest of the ingredients. Taste, and adjust the seasonings to your preference. If the mixture seems dry, add a few small spoonfuls of mayo and/or sour cream.
• Serve with bread, crackers, or over salad greens. Enjoy!

Notes

I love this with any turkey, dark meat or white meat. This is EXTRA delicious, though, with leftover smoked turkey breast.

If you are vegetarian but love cranberries, try a veg version by swapping the turkey for lightly smushed drained canned chicken peas.

This keeps in the fridge for 3-5 days.

Tried this recipe?Let me know how it was!