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15 Minute Leftover Turkey Curry

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Ready in just 15 minutes, this Leftover Turkey Curry recipe is a great way to use up leftover turkey from Christmas or Thanksgiving. Not only does it use leftover turkey, but you can add any leftover vegetables to it too. A really simple curry dish, that is packed with flavour, and uses ingredients you most likely have in your cupboard right now. You can easily use leftover chicken, or cook some chicken/turkey fresh for this dish too.

Leftover Turkey Curry with rice in a round white dish

Leftover Turkey Curry

By the time it gets to about the 27th December, I am ready to scream if I see yet another leftover turkey sandwich. But, we hate wasting anything, so we are always looking for new ways to use leftovers. This Turkey Curry is one of our favourites because it is so simple and doesn’t need any fancy ingredients.

Why should you try it?

✔ An easy way to use Christmas leftovers

✔ Just 259 calories for a big bowl

✔ Uses ingredients you probably already have

✔ Ready in under 15 minutes

✔ It has a green veggie boost

Easy Turkey Curry

The best thing about this curry is how easy it is. You just throw what ever you have leftover in a pan with some shredded turkey, spices, tomato and a little coconut milk and it is ready in just 15 minutes.

The perfect quick and easy meal after Christmas, when you have probably spent far too much time in the kitchen. It’s a great meal for feeding a crowd too, if you still have hungry guests staying over.

What To Do With Leftover Turkey?

Well, apart from this recipe of course, we have a few other ideas for you. Another easy recipe is our Christmas Pasta Bake, which makes use of leftovers from the cheeseboard too.

We love throwing the leftover turkey and vegetables in to a quesadilla with some BBQ sauce and mixture of leftover cheeses for an easy late night dinner after a festive party.

You could also use some to make a Chicken Noodle Soup or Mexican Tortilla Soup if you want something spicier. It works well in our Creamy Chicken Pasta Bake too.

Make sure you have the carcass and make your own homemade stock with it. This can be frozen and then used to make some healthy soups in the new year.

Turkey curry and rice with spinach and vegetables

Leftover Turkey Curry Ingredients

This recipe is so easy to adapt, that you never have to cook it the same way twice. Use this as the basic recipe, then feel free to adapt it.

  • Shredded turkey – we use this as our main leftovers recipe and use the majority of our leftover turkey in it. We shred ours, but you could chop it in to chunks. Only got chicken? Use that instead. You can use this recipe with out leftovers too, just cook some chunks of chicken or turkey breast fresh.
  • Vegetables – After an indulgent festive season, we like to pack as many vegetables in to this as possible. A base of onion, mushrooms and peppers work, and we like courgette and/or aubergine too. We sometimes throw in leftover roasted vegetables from Christmas day too. Just before serving, we had a couple of handfuls of spinach to give it a green boost too.
  • Spices – The spices is the most important part of a curry, but we wanted to keep it simple with just a couple of tablespoons of curry powder. But you could use a tikka or korma powder or even you favourite curry paste.
  • Sauce – This is a tomato based curry, with just a tin of chopped tomatoes. We wanted to make it a little bit creamy, so we added half a tin of coconut milk which also adds loads of flavour. But you could leave it out or swap it for double cream, which you might have leftover from Christmas anyway.
  • Mango Chutney – If you haven’t tried mango chutney in a curry before, then you are seriously missing out. It adds so much flavour, with very little effort. So always have some in your fridge for a quick flavour boost to your favourite homemade curry.

What To Serve Leftover Turkey With

This is a pretty healthy curry, so we don’t tend to go overboard with sides and keep them light. We love a brown rice and quinoa mix with this curry and then some mini popadoms and mango chutney. It has mango chutney in the actual curry (it’s our not so secret ingredient for most of our homemade curries), but you can never have too much, right?

Why not try serving some naan bread with it or our Easy Homemade Flatbread.

Turkey curry and rice in a bowl next to a blue towel

Extra Tips:

  • You don’t have to wait until you have leftovers to make this. Simply fry some chunks of chicken or turkey breast first, and then follow the rest of the instructions for this recipe.
  • Add some extra flavour with a couple of spoonfuls of mango chutney. This is optional though.
  • You can use any cooked vegetables you have leftover in this recipe, or cook some fresh. We added some spinach in at the end, however you could use kale.
  • You can leave the coconut milk out of this recipe (however replace it with a little stock) or use cream instead.

How To Make Leftover Turkey Curry – Step by Step:

One: Shred the turkey.

15 Minute Leftover Turkey Curry step 1

Two: Chop your vegetables.

15 Minute Leftover Turkey Curry step 2

Three: Cook the vegetables in the oil for 3-4 minutes until softened.

15 Minute Leftover Turkey Curry step 3

Four: Add the garlic and curry powder. Stir and cook for a further 2 minutes.

15 Minute Leftover Turkey Curry step 4

Five: Add the tomatoes, coconut milk and mango chutney. Stir and simmer for 7 minutes.

15 Minute Leftover Turkey Curry step 5

Six: Add the spinach and continue cooking until it has wilted.

15 Minute Leftover Turkey Curry step 6

Why not try some of our other curry recipes:

Lamb Keema
Easy Mushroom Curry
10 Minute Chickpea Curry
Easy Three Bean Curry
Tomato and Garlic Chicken Curry

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Leftover Turkey Curry

15 Minute Leftover Turkey Curry featured 300x300 1

Ready in just 15 minutes, this Leftover Turkey Curry is a great way to use up leftovers from Christmas or Thanksgiving. Quick, simple and delicious.

  • 1 tbsp olive oli
  • 1 onion (thinly sliced)
  • 1 red pepper (diced)
  • 1 courgette (diced)
  • 6 mushrooms (sliced)
  • 300 g leftover turkey (shredded)
  • 3 garlic cloves (crushed)
  • 2 tbsp curry powder
  • 400 g chopped tomatoes
  • 200 ml light coconut milk
  • 2 tbsp mango chutney
  1. Shred the turkey.
  2. Chop your vegetables.
  3. Cook the vegetables in the oil for 3-4 minutes.
  4. Add the garlic and curry powder. Stir and cook for a further 2 minutes.
  5. Add the tomatoes, coconut milk and mango chutney. Stir and simmer for 7 minutes.
  6. Add the spinach and continue cooking until it has wilted.
  • You don’t have to wait until you have leftovers to make this. Simply fry some chunks of chicken or turkey breast first, and then follow the rest of the instructions for this recipe.
  • Add some extra flavour with a couple of spoonfuls of mango chutney. This is optional though.
  • You can use any cooked vegetables you have leftover in this recipe, or cook some fresh. We added some spinach in at the end, however you could use kale.
  • You can leave the coconut milk out of this recipe (however replace it with a little stock) or use cream instead.

 

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