Turkey Salad
Take your Thanksgiving turkey leftovers to the next level with the best ever Turkey Salad! With just 5 ingredients, this simple sandwich spread is going make you look forward to the leftovers!
Why You’ll Love This Easy Turkey Salad Recipe
- If you have leftover turkey or chicken, this leftover turkey salad is a delicious recipe made with simple ingredients that you probably have on hand.
- If your family is reluctant to eat the dark meat turkey, turn it into the best leftover turkey salad and they will never guess that it’s dark meat!
- This delicious turkey salad is a five minute recipe that turns out every time and makes a light lunch or tasty snack.
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Ingredients for Easy Turkey Salad
- Cooked Turkey or Chicken
- Sweet Pickle Relish
- Miracle Whip or Mayonnaise (We always use Miracle Whip for this)
- Celery Salt
- Granulated Garlic or Garlic Powder, optional
Step By Step Directions for Easy Turkey Salad
- Leftover turkey, both white and dark meat goes into the bowl of a food processor.
- Add sweet pickle relish and mayo or my guys love Miracle Whip.
- Add celery salt & black pepper.
- Cover and pulse until turkey is chopped fine and all is combined.
Storage
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. These deli food containers are my favorite and so handy for holiday leftovers!
Do you Have to Use a Food Processor?
A food processor makes the best leftover turkey salad, grinding it into a great texture, similar to tuna salad. If you don’t have a food processor, dice the turkey meat with a knife and combine the ingredients in a large bowl.
How to Serve Turkey Salad
- Turkey Salad Sandwiches are easy to make with sandwich bread, additional miracle whip or mayo, red onion and lettuce.
- Turkey salad is also delicious served with your favorite crackers.
- Make lettuce wraps for a low-carb option.
Leftover Turkey Recipes
Turkey can be easily substituted for any chicken recipe. Soups and casseroles are always a favorite for any leftover turkey.
- Smoked Turkey Sliders is a great recipe with cranberry sauce on toasted slider buns.
- Smoked Turkey Sandwiches with Cajun Mayo and crisp lettuce leaf on bread slices is another favorite.
- Smoked Turkey and Dumplings is the ultimate leftover turkey soup. It is so comforting and delicious.
- Turkey Tetrazzini from She Wears Many Hats is a great casserole for your meal plans.
Thanksgiving dinner is epic in our family and we enjoy the Thanksgiving turkey leftovers just as much as we do the actual dinner. We have been rotating between our Easy Smoked Turkey and Cajun Smoked Turkey for our holiday dinners. If you are just serving a few people, try our Smoked Turkey Breast.
Dark Meat Turkey VS White Meat Turkey
We always seem to end up with more dark meat leftover and just a little white meat and this turkey salad is the best way to get the kids to eat it all. It is great to have on hand, keeps well and tastes even better the next day.
Of course you don’t have to wait for leftover Thanksgiving turkey to make this delicious recipe. We pick up a few turkeys for the freezer so we can cook them any time of year. You can also make this using chicken breast or a rotisserie chicken.
If you need a new recipe to use up leftover turkey or chicken, it just doesn’t get any easier than this flavorful Turkey Salad. If you look forward to the Thanksgiving leftovers just as much as we do, you will love this homemade turkey salad for sandwiches.
If you love this recipe as much as we do, please leave a comment and a five star review. Help us share on Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook!
Turkey Salad
Ingredients
- 4 cups cooked turkey white and dark meat
- 1 cup pickle relish
- 1/2 cup mayo or Miracle Whip
- 1 teaspoon celery salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Leftover turkey, both white and dark meat goes into the bowl of a food processor.
- Add sweet pickle relish and mayo or my guys love Miracle Whip.
- Add celery salt & black pepper.
- Cover and pulse until turkey is chopped fine and all is combined.
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
- Makes delicious sandwiches or serve with your favorite crackers!
Grill turkey sandwich with outer bread buttered like grilled cheese sandwich. It’s really good!
Sorry, but I think you should look for another
Recipe for Turkey Salad. I had to add another 1/2
Cup of mayo. Finally, I added 1$1/2 cups of black grapes
But still was only passable
Hi Ann,
This recipe is much different than a typical chicken salad that has fruit and nuts in it. I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy it.
~ Milisa
I’m glad somebody finally has a recipe that doesn’t include all that other stuff. This is similar to my tuna salad and I love it.
I made this slightly dry. I’m going to make it into patties and dip in almond flour and then fry kind of like salmon patties. With a side of my leftover cranberry sauce, of course. Thanks! This inspired me 🙂
Hi Belinda,
I bet that will be fantastic! We love salmon patties and I’ve made them with chicken before so I know the turkey will be good too.
~ Milisa
Hi there Where can I find the recipe for the cranberry sauce
Cranberry Orange Relish
Finely chop 4 cups cranberries and one large orange 1/2 of the peel and all of the pulp in food chopper. Stir in two cups of sugar. Cover; refrigerate at least three hours. Makes 3 1/2 cups.
Reallhy good! Of course everyone likes to put their spin on it,that’sthe beauty of shared recipes. I bet a leftover rottiserie chicken would work good also.
Hi Alan,
It would work with any cooked chicken or turkey. Thanks for stopping by.
~ Milisa
It’s a great salad but I added a bit of yellow mustard and that just made it fantastic!
Hi Jennifer,
Great addition, I’ll have to try that next time.
~ Milisa
I make a whole turkey for this recipe and I love it it is my favorite turkey sandwich but for my own preference I add chopped green onions and I separate about a half of that for myself and I add diced jalapeño peppers I do add more mayo than that because it taste to dry for me Thank you for the recipe. I like to roll it up in leaf lettuce and eat it that way
Hi Ted,
That sounds so delicious. I will have to try adding jalapenos, my guys would love it!
~ Milisa
Can I freeze some of it
Thank you connie
Hi Connie,
I think it’s best made fresh. I will often freeze the chopped up turkey and thaw it in the refrigerator and then make the turkey salad when we are ready to serve it.
~ Milisa
Thanks for this recipe. I freeze small bags of leftover turkey and this is perfect when I want a simple turkey salad for crackers or sandwiches. There are times I don’t want my salad loaded with celery, nuts & other things. The cranberry sauce is a great touch!
I’m glad somebody finally has a recipe that doesn’t include all that other stuff. This is similar to my tuna salad and I love it.
Hi Johnny,
I am glad you enjoy it. My family doesn’t like all of that other stuff either!
~ Milisa