TURKEY SALAD | The Best Use of Turkey Leftovers!

Friends, if you have any leftover turkey from the holidays, this turkey salad is a must-make recipe. It's so incredibly easy to make with just a handful of ingredients that you likely already have on hand. And honestly, it takes less than 15 minutes to whip up. It really breathes new life into those turkey leftovers in the most delicious way possible. And if you love my classic chicken salad or tuna salad recipes, you are sure to love this turkey salad recipe as well. So let me show you how to make it. Some of you may have made my whole turkey recipe for Thanksgiving and perhaps cooked a larger turkey than needed and have leftovers from that. Or maybe you made my roast turkey breast for a healthy weeknight meal and want to turn some uneaten portion into this delicious salad. Honestly, either of those recipes work and you could also just use store-bought cooked turkey from the deli section in a pinch. As always, there is no judgment from me on how you get this cooked turkey. But once you have some cooked turkey, dice it up into small bite-sized pieces. I usually enjoy this recipe as a salad straight out of a bowl so can keep my pieces about this big. But if you do plan on serving this up in sandwich bread for a turkey salad sandwich, I do recommend chopping the pieces just a bit smaller as the salad will then be easier to spread. You'll need about four cups of diced meat for this turkey salad. So once you've got that measured, you can set it aside. And if you still have leftovers after this recipe, I have several more recipes on my website for turkey leftovers, including a casserole and a breakfast hash, and I'll link those below in the description box for you. In terms of the veggies for this salad, you'll need two ribs of celery and you can just slice those lengthwise a couple of times and then slice across for a small dice. I always seem to have leftover celery this time of year after using a few ribs in a variety of my different soup recipes like chicken soup, cabbage soup, or lentil soup, and those always surge this time of year. Plus, I also just love to munch on celery sticks with almond butter. It's one of my go-to snacks. Next, you'll need three green onions and you'll slice up both the green and white portions. I like using green onions as it adds more green color to the salad, but red onion and even shallots work as well. And then for herbs, you'll need about two tablespoons of roughly chopped parsley and one tablespoon of roughly chopped dill. But again, feel free to use this salad as a fridge clean-out salad, so if you happen to have other tender herbs like tarragon or cilantro, you can swap those in as well. And then I'll just quickly juice one lemon for the dressing. I can also tell that I have a super juicy lemon today, and while an average-sized lemon is about three tablespoons of juice, I may measure this one out so it's not overly lemony or runny. But you guys, that's it in terms of prep. It's just about 10 to 15 minutes of dicing things up, then combining it all together. So add the four cups of diced turkey to a large mixing bowl. Then add one cup of mayonnaise, one tablespoon of Dijon mustard for some extra flavor in the dressing, half a cup of roughly chopped pecans, though you could swap in your favorite nuts, half a cup of dried cranberries, and I use unsweetened, and then the sliced green onions, celery, chopped parsley, dill, and lemon juice. And it's a good thing I did measure this one as I did have more than the three tablespoons needed for this recipe. And then you can add salt and pepper to your liking. Grab a big spoon and stir that all together until it's nice and creamy and all of the bits and bobs in the salad are coated in the dressing. Now, if you're enjoying this on your own, you can serve up a portion in a bowl and just dig in with a fork, which is what I do 99% of the time. But if you're serving this up for family who may still be lingering around after the holidays, you can transfer it to a prettier bowl and then top with a few extra chopped nuts, some chopped herbs, and a little more cracked black pepper for what I call extra presentation points. I should also add that this is just an awesome meal prep salad that's really durable and will last for up to five days in the fridge. So similar to my chicken salad recipe, you can enjoy this multiple days in a row for healthy lunches or dinners. I am excited to dig into this. I love meaty salads. It's the perfect combination of hearty and creamy and crunchy and crisp and sweet and bright from the lemon juice. It just all melds together so perfectly. This is definitely a better way to use up your leftover turkey than just slicing it into a sandwich. This has so much more flavor. And I was just thinking, because you guys know I like high-protein salad recipes, what other salads I'm missing or I haven't made yet? I know I've got a chicken salad, a tuna salad, a salmon salad, a shrimp salad, a crab salad, an egg salad. I'm trying to think of what else there might be. So if I'm missing something, let me know. Otherwise, new recipes are just about getting creative with a different combination of ingredients and those same proteins. But I do love a good high-protein salad with a lot of veggies. I hope you guys enjoyed today's video. And if you did, make sure to give it a thumbs up. And if you do have any other creative, tasty combinations of high-protein and veggies, let me know in the comments below because I am always looking for new ideas.