Leftover Turkey Curry. How to make a delicious, yet healthy turkey curry from your Thanksgiving or Christmas turkey leftovers. Ideal for an easy to prep one pot dinner and tastes amazing.
Table of Contents
Leftover Turkey Curry
One of my favourite days of the year for grocery shopping is Boxing Day. I look forward to it from when the nights start to draw in during October, right through until Christmas.
It is my bargain hunting grocery shopping morning.
I will head out in the car with Dominic and we will head to our local supermarkets and look for reduced price produce.
Its always a guarantee as people have not bought the regular food because of Christmas and haven’t bought every bit of seasonal produce and the supermarkets want it gone fast.
On one Boxing Day I managed to get 5 Christmas turkeys for the price of 1 small one. Another year it was lots of chicken breast and another time it was chicken thighs.
I will then fill a trolley and often pay about 25€ for a trolley full to bursting with meat.
It then gets stored in the freezer for when we need it.
Whenever there is a discounted turkey, what I will do is see how many meals I can make out of it. That was when back in 2015 that I had an idea of a leftover turkey curry to make with my bargain turkeys.
Since then it has become a tradition in the Milner house to make as many yummy leftover turkey recipes as we can.
Why Leftover Turkey Curry?
Have ever watched the opening scenes of Bridget Jones’s Diary? Bridget Jones is just about to meet Mark Darcy for the first time and heading to her mum’s annual turkey curry buffet.
You watch it and you realise that if you have family and friends over during the holidays, or want an easy festive meal, that it doesn’t get any better than leftover turkey curry.
You load it into your slow cooker and then let the slow cooker do the hard work. Then come back later to perfectly cooked, warm and comforting leftover turkey curry.
Leftover Turkey & Vegetable Curry
Whether you are making leftover xmas turkey curry or leftover thanksgiving turkey curry, they are best cooked with vegetables.
That is because just leftover turkey on its own is not going to make a big curry.
But add in lots of vegetables and make your leftover turkey curry with chickpeas and you have a big filling hearty turkey curry.
When I make my creamy turkey curry, I will include whatever vegetables I have in. This might be courgette, onion, carrots, celery, cauliflower or maybe some potatoes.
How To Thicken Your Curry?
I have written a post about how to thicken curry, soups and stews and found myself in that exact situation when I was making leftover turkey curry in my Ninja Foodi Slow Cooker.
I was loading in the ingredients – the seasonings, the coconut milk, and the tinned tomatoes. Then realised that the coconut milk I was using was rubbish. It was way too thin, and I had this turkey curry sauce that was like water.
In fact, I think water would be thicker!
What did I do? I steamed a small amount of carrots and seasoned them in my curry ingredients. Blended them and loaded them into the sauce, mixed it and I had a thick curry sauce.
Carrots, potatoes, butternut squash and red lentils are FANTASTIC for thickening your watery turkey curry.
How To Make Leftover Turkey Curry?
Making leftover turkey curry is so easy. I make it straight after we have roasted the turkey that way it is prepped and ready to go for later.
- Load seasonings into the slow cooker.
- Add tomatoes and coconut milk.
- Add leftover turkey and vegetables.
- Stir + slow cook + serve.
There is a little more to it than that, but those are the simple basics!
How Long Does Leftover Turkey Curry Last?
Chef Dom Says: If the turkey is cooked on the same day that you made the curry it will last 3 days. The general rule with cooked meat is that it has a 3 day shelf life. For example, if you cooked turkey curry on the 3rd day, then you will need to eat it on that day.
Can You Freeze Leftover Turkey Curry?
Yes, you can. But note that leftover cooked turkey can only be reheated once. This means that if you are making a turkey curry for the freezer, mix ingredients together and freeze.
Then use that one time that it has been reheated to cook it from defrosted once removed from the freezer.
More Leftover Turkey Recipes
I LOVE to buy turkey in bulk at a cheap price and then use it for leftover turkey recipes. We have done a LOT more turkey recipes than just our creamy turkey curry.
Below are some more leftover turkey recipes for you to try next:
Slow Cooker Leftover Turkey Curry
Ingredients
Kitchen Gadgets:
Leftover Turkey Curry Ingredients:
- 300 g Leftover Turkey
- 400 ml Tinned Tomatoes
- 400 ml Coconut Milk
- 400 g Drained Chickpeas
- 1 Medium White Onion
- 2 Tbsp Greek Yoghurt
- 1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 400 g Mixed Vegetables
- 2 Tsp Ginger Puree
- 1 Tbsp Garam Masala
- 2 Tsp Garlic Puree
- 1 Tsp Turmeric
- 1 Tbsp Cumin
- Salt & Pepper
Instructions
- I always start by sauteing an onion in the slow cooker. Because I am using my Ninja Foodi I can do this directly in the pot. Once the onion has been sautéed with some extra virgin olive oil, cancel the sauté, and add in the seasonings. Mix in the coconut milk and tinned tomatoes.
- Add in diced or shredded turkey, along with chickpeas, yoghurt, and any vegetables you are including. Mix well.
- Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on low for 4 hours. Serve and enjoy.
Notes
Nutrition
Can’t make it now? Then pin it for later!
Join The RecipeThis.com Community:
Facebook Group | Pinterest | Twitter | YouTube
Plus, don’t forget to subscribe below to join our email newsletter with updates of our latest recipes, latest freebies, our cooking stories, plus much more:
I am a sucker for any thing to do with leftover food recipes nd this curry did not disappoint, it was delicious and the other half even wanted seconds, so if he is happy then so am i thank you!
Sounds delicious and in need of a practice before the big day, i like to be organized, and this was gorgeous and cannot wait to try it with my leftover turkey now.