Creamy Leftover Turkey Stew
Convert Thanksgiving leftovers into a cohesive turkey stew that focuses on preserving moisture and enhancing flavors with other leftover ingredients like fresh herbs and buttery potatoes.
Are you struggling with dry, flavorless turkey leftovers? Are you feeling uninspired by the repetitive use of holiday leftovers, which leads to food waste and lackluster meals? I totally get it. That’s exactly how I felt year after year until I discovered this irresistible stew that cuts down on food waste and makes you look forward to the leftovers more than the Thanksgiving meal itself.
Creamy Leftover Turkey Stew will delight your taste buds and become your new “go-to” recipe for leftover Thanksgiving turkey meat. You will tackle the post-holiday leftover dilemma with a recipe that you will use year after year.
Paired with some great dinner rolls, this stew will be hoovered up by all. Say goodbye to dry turkey leftovers sitting in your fridge! This recipe is super simple and easy to follow. It’s amazing how chicken broth, fresh herbs, and cream can give dry, leftover turkey brand new life!
Creamy Leftover Turkey Stew tastes better than Thanksgiving dinner.
Somehow, every fall, we end up with not one, not two, but THREE frozen turkeys in my freezer around Thanksgiving time. Do I cook all of them at the same time? Hekkin’ no way! I can’t stand dry turkey, and we could never eat that much at once.
However I know my family loves Creamy Leftover Turkey Stew sooooo much that having extra frozen turkeys in the freezer isn’t a problem at all. I make this stew all winter long. It’s that good. We all look forward to this stew just as much if not more than the Thanksgiving meal itself.
What to make with leftover Turkey Breast?
Cooked turkey breast will last in the refrigerator for 3 days. If you have brined your turkey, it will last longer, about 4-5 days, as the salt helps to inhibit bacteria growth. Cooked Turkey properly stored in a freezer will last up to 6 months. Be sure to press as much air out of the freezer bags as possible to avoid freezer-burn from forming on the meat.
Best practice is to shred the turkey meat first before freezing. It will thaw out more quickly. I throw big chunks of meat into my KitchenAid stand mixer with the paddle attachment and it shreds meat like a pro kitchen appliance should!
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If the budget won’t allow for a Le Creuset just yet, I recommend this 7 Quart enamel-coated Tramontina dutch oven for starters; it does the job nicely for this recipe.
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- KitchenAid Gourmet meat tenderizer mallet– I use this on all boneless chicken breast meat I buy at the store, they are just way too thick to cook evenly without being pounded.
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Once you’ve added the broth, add cream, potatoes, and freshly chopped herbs (if possible, but subbing in dried is ok too). Cook covered, for about 10 minutes, then add in thinly sliced carrots. Cook for another 5-8 minutes until the carrots are soft and remove from heat. Season to taste, stir in your shredded leftover turkey and some fresh parsley, and get ready to chow down on some Creamy Leftover Turkey Stew goodness!
This hearty, creamy stew is so savory and delicious, you’ll wonder where this recipe for leftover turkey has been all your life! I hope you and your family thoroughly enjoy it.
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Creamy Leftover Turkey Stew
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 8–10 Servings 1x
Description
You’ll enjoy this creamy leftover turkey stew more than the turkey dinner! Fresh herbs, veggies, potatoes, cream and chicken broth resurrect dry leftover turkey into something truly amazing.
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Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 small onion diced
- 2 celery stalks, diced
- 1/4 cup flour
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 and 1/2 cups half and half
- 3 russet potatoes, peeled and diced
- 3 carrots, peeled and diced
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
- 4 cups shredded leftover turkey meat
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a large Dutch oven, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add onion and celery and season with a pinch of salt. Saute for about 2 minutes, stirring often.
- Sprinkle the flour over the onion and celery and cook for about one minute, stirring constantly.
- Pour in the broth, half and half, potatoes, carrots, sage, thyme, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce the heat to medium-low. Simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the carrots and potatoes are soft.
- Stir in the shredded turkey and remove from heat. Add minced parsley and season with additional salt and pepper to taste. Serve.
Notes
Doubling or tripling instructions: (I highly recommend doubling this recipe, especially if you have a lot of leftovers.)
Cook the onion and celery (in the butter) in a 12-inch deep-sided skillet so the onion can properly brown. While that’s cooking, fill a large stock pot with the chicken broth, half and half, fresh herbs, potatoes and carrots, and set over medium-high heat. After cooking the flour into the onion and celery, empty it into the stock pot and whisk it in. Bring to a boil, cover, and follow the rest of the recipe as written.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Calories: 310
- Sugar: 3.1 g
- Sodium: 785 mg
- Fat: 12.5 g
- Saturated Fat: 6.5 g
- Carbohydrates: 22.1 g
- Fiber: 3.2 g
- Protein: 26.5 g
- Cholesterol: 77 mg
I cannot wait to make this soup. Even though it is the end of April, I still want soup for lunch. I have turkey in the freezer and everything to make this. Thanks for sharing. It looks delicious.
Hi Debbie!
This soup is absolutely delicious and definitely a fav with my own family. I keep frozen turkey handy so I can make it often. You won’t regret it :0) Thanks for the comment!
Just finished this stew and it was delicious! Didn’t follow the recipe to a tee as I had a larger quantity of stock already made, and didn’t have any thyme so I used a mix of sage and herbs de Provence instead. Even my 8 year old wanted seconds! Will keep this one in my back pocket for the next turkey dinner 😉
That is fabulous Sarah! It’s wonderful to hear about your experience and that you had success with the herb substitution. My kids hoover up this stew too. Thanks for the feedback!
Does this freeze well?
I don’t think this stew will freeze well. Potatoes have a habit of turning to mush when reheated from frozen. Also the cream will likely separate upon reheating as well. You may get decent results if you cook up a batch specifically to freeze; in this case leave out the cream and undercook the vegetables and potatoes (maybe cook them for just 5-7 minutes??). Stir cream in after you’ve reheated the stew. I’ve never tried this myself and would love to hear about the results if you do. Thanks for the great question Robin!
I made this in the instant pot tonight and it was a huge hit, Thank you!!
Yay Christine, that is awesome! First time I’ve heard of anyone trying this recipe in an instant pot. I have got to get one of those things…
Thanks for sharing, I love it :0)
I was wondering if I could cook this in the slow cooker? Would it dry out the turkey? Thanks!
Hi Kristina! You could totally cook this in a slow cooker- but I would recommend you stir in the half and half and turkey after it’s done cooking. The half and half may scorch, and yes the leftover cooked turkey meat can get tough if cooked to long. That’s why it’s stirred in at the end just to warm up. Hope that helps!
I love this soup! It is very flavourful and something about it reminds me of when I was younger and my mom made Chicken on the bun for dinner… it is so creamy. We have a large family and it was eaten up by everyone even the two year olds. Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe!! (I followed it exactly except had to use dried herbs instead of fresh and did cut up all the ingredients very small…)
Hi Amanda!
This is one of my family’s all-time favorite recipes and I always end up making several batches between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I’m glad you liked it so much!
Made this for the first time last night – and this was HANDS DOWN, the BEST turkey stew I have ever had in my life! The whole family loved it! This recipe is definitely a keeper:) Thank you!
I’m going to make this tomorrow as it is just what I was looking for. Sounds perfect!
Tried this after Canadian thanksgiving. Adjusted the veggies to ones I had in the house, great recipe!
Thank you Debora! Enjoy some Canadian maple syrup for me :0)
Thank you so much for this recipe! I just made this after our Canadian Thanksgiving. I included chopped garlic and the leftover gravy.
Also, I didn’t have enough carrots so I threw in some parsnips.
Absolutely delicious!
This soup was delicious! Perfect for leftover turkey!
Yes, this is a really good recipe even though I skipped the half n half and added peas. It’s scrumptious.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Marilyn! Thank you ;0)
Luckily I had all the ingredients, except for half & half, so I used heavy cream instead. Then, I followed the directions and in 40 mins and wala! I had one of the most delicious meals ever made by me and my whole family loved it, though I did double the recipe. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
Wow thank you so much Elena, I am so glad your whole family loved it :0) That makes my day!
This is the best turkey stew I’ve ever had, and it has taken up a permanent place in my ‘favourite recipe’ binder. I make it exactly as it’s written (except I use whichever potato I have on hand and it’s perfect every time.
I’ve frozen it, and yeah, there’s a bit of separation with the cream, but mostly it holds together well still (the flour and other ingredients probably help with that). When I freeze, I use a firmer potato than russet, and they don’t crumble as much when thawed (though they still will a bit). If you’re looking for perfection. don’t freeze it. But if you’re looking for different recipes to use up pounds and pounds of leftover turkey and don’t care if it’s a bit imperfect after thawing, this is still a great recipe to use.
Wow Caroline! Thank you so much for the feedback, and for sharing how you freeze this delicous stew. Switching out the Russets for say Yukon golds or even red potatoes is exactly what to do when freezing cooked potatoes. Less starch is those will equal less mushiness when thawed. I’m so glad you love it!
Delicious! Didn’t have fresh herbs but used dried 1/2 the amount in the recipe. Added some fresh mushrooms and a cup of frozen thawed peas. Will make again.
Thanks for sharing Wendy! Glad you loved it. Mushrooms sounds like a fantastic addition :0)