This is an easy recipe for leftover turkey salad. It’s a healthy way to use up leftover turkey and create a tasty meal or snack. I use lettuce to turn these into leftover turkey wraps, which adds extra flavour and makes it even healthier. A perfect boxing day salad after a Christmas day feast.
After Christmas or thanksgiving, we have so many leftovers and are normally eating them for days! At Christmas, I really want something healthy and fresh after the feast of Christmas day. These leftover turkey wraps are quick and so easy to make. They are so fresh and filled with herbs and lots of earthy flavours.
Why you’ll love this recipe
- This Leftover Turkey Salad recipe is great for when you’re asking ‘what to do with leftover turkey’ and you can have a fresh and healthy meal on boxing day.
- It can be easily tailor-made to include your favourite boxing day salad items.
- If you like spicy food then add some fresh chillies to your leftover turkey lettuce wraps.
- Leftover turkey wraps are the quicked meal to make. The longest part is chopping everything up.
JUMP TO
Ingredients
How to Make
Top Tips
Substitutions and Variations
Making Ahead Options
Other Recipes You Might Like
Recipe
Top Questions for Leftover Turkey Salad
How can I make healthy turkey wraps for lunch on Boxing Day?
How long is turkey salad good in the fridge?
What goes well with leftover turkey?
How many calories are in a turkey salad?
Want to make this leftover turkey recipe even more special?
How long can you keep turkey salad in the refrigerator?
Turkey Wrap Ingredients
Scroll down to the recipe card for the full list of ingredients.
Leftover Turkey
We always overestimate how much food we will need on Christmas day, and I am sure my family is not the only one. I hate wasting food so having a quick and healthy recipe to use up my leftover meat and salad is perfect. Just be sure that your turkey has been properly prepared and is still fresh.
Sweet Chilli
What makes this recipe so wonderful is the sweet chilli dipping sauce, it has a strong, slightly spicy flavour and pairs so well with the leftover roast turkey for the healthy salad wrap. I use sweet chilli in so many recipes because it’s just that good – try my sweet chilli sausage rolls here.
How to make Leftover Turkey Salad – step by step
Making the dipping sauce
Add the fish sauce to a small dipping bowl.
Mix in the sweet chilli sauce.
Add in the sugar and lime juice and give it a really good stir.
Assembling the leftover turkey salad wraps
I lay out the lettuce leaves first so they can dry and it also makes them easier to stack. I like laying them out in a star shape – why not it’s a Christmas food treat.
Layer up all your favourite ingredients and dip them into the dipping sauce. You can use as much or little as you like. Add fresh chillies ad herbs if you want even more flavour.
Top Tips for Leftover Turkey Salad
- All types of servings of leftover turkey work. Just make sure you remove it from the bone.
- You can make the sauce ahead of time or at the moment you need it.
- The leftover turkey salad wraps can be made ahead too. Just don’t dip them in the sauce yet.
Serving Suggestions for Leftover Turkey Salad
Make the leftover turkey salad wraps part of a sharing table of all your tasty leftovers. You could include freshly cooked bread, fresh fruit and other cold cuts.
Wrap them up in a lunch box and take them on a Boxing Day walk. Perfect to enjoy whilst seeing little ones playing with their new toys, and a great way to reduce your food waste.
Add extra hot sauce to your wraps to make them even fierier for a cold day. I especially enjoy Sriracha hot sauce; it’s made of a few different peppers and adds a wonderful kick without sacrificing flavour.
If you have fresh herbs, adding mint or coriander/cilantro adds an even more gorgeous flavour.
If you have any leftover cranberry sauce then try adding a little to the turkey lettuce wraps. It will add a tart fruitiness to the finished meal.
Equipment
This list contains affiliate links
Storing / Making ahead of time options
Once you have made this leftover turkey salad you can store it in the fridge or enjoy it straight away. The cold turkey salad will last for about 2 days in the fridge.
If you are making them ahead of time leave the dipping sauce separately.
Leftover turkey can be frozen if you are not planning to use it straight away. Just be sure that it is fully defrosted before you plan to make the leftover turkey salad.
Substitutions and variations
You can easily replace the turkey with leftover chicken, beef, goose or even pork. This recipe is signed to help you use up your leftovers, so you can adapt it to use what you have left on the fridge. I always have pigs in blankets left after the Christmas dinner so you could even add one of these to each turkey salad wrap.
Make it vegan by adding nut roast, falafel or tofu. Use up your Christmas day/ thanksgiving leftovers.
FAQs
How can I make healthy turkey wraps for lunch on Boxing Day?
The best way to make healthy turkey wraps for lunch on Boxing Day is to use up leftover turkey slices, add lots of healthy salad and vegetables and wrap the whole thing in a lettuce leaf. I chose to use lettuce leaves to wrap up the turkey pieces to try and avoid bread but also to make it even healthier. It’s always a good way to make gluten-free turkey wraps.
How long is turkey salad good in the fridge?
Cooked turkey can easily last 3 days in the fridge if kept covered preferably in an air-tight container. If you are worried it’s been in the fridge too long it is better to be safe and throw it away. When it starts to go off it will smell off and become slightly greasy.
What goes well with leftover turkey?
The best thing to go with leftover turkey have to be the super healthy leftover turkey salad or a leftover turkey wrap. Both offer a great healthy way to use up leftovers. Scroll down for the recipe.
How many calories are in a turkey salad?
There are approximately 153 calories in this turkey salad recipe per serving.
Want to make this leftover turkey recipe even more special?
To make this leftover turkey recipe even more special try adding a tablespoon of cranberry sauce to the dipping sauce. I promise you it’s worth it. The cranberry sauce is so delicious and works very well in this recipe.
How long can you keep turkey salad in the refrigerator?
Turkey salad can last 2 to 3 days but for the best freshest salad enjoy on the day you make it. The lettuce will start to wilt and go soft. Leftover turkey lettuce wraps will still be edible but tastes better with a bit of crunch.
Other Recipes you might like for Boxing Day
Pin this Leftover Turkey Salad recipe to enjoy later
Pin me for later or follow me @sewwhiteblog on Pinterest for my latest recipes and to discover my others.
Recipe
Leftover Turkey Salad Wraps
Ingredients
- 2 pack little gem lettuce
- 100 grams cherry tomatoes
- 1 cucumber
- 1 chilli
- 1 carrot
- 1 handful fresh mint (optional)
- 1 handful coriander / cilantro (optional)
- 200 g leftover turkey
Dipping Sauce
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons sweet chilli sauce
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1 lime
- seasame seeds (optional)
Instructions
Dipping Sauce
- Mix all the 2 tablespoons of fish sauce, 2 tablespoons of sweet chilli sauce, 1 teaspoon granulated sugar juice of 1 lime together until the sugar has dissolved and leave for later. I prefer to leave it at room temperature if I'm serving it soon but it can be left in the fridge for 2-3 days.
Making the leftover turkey salad wraps
- Chop up the leftover turkey into strips or bite-size pieces.
- Peel the leaves off the lettuce. Wash and dry them. Place them on a plate.
- Chop up the remaining ingredients and place on a chopping board.
- Start assembling the leftover turkey wraps. Add the turkey and the other ingredients on to the lettuce.
- Serve and enjoy dipping it into the dipping sauce.
Notes
Nutrition
Please note that the nutrition information provided above is approximate and meant as a guideline only.
I like the freshness of these turkey wraps, lovely dipping sauce and great idea to serve them in a lettuce leaf.
I think after a big few days of roast the freshness of these is exactly why I love them! I’m glad you like them x
Love this recipe – I always make turkey wraps, something a bit lighter goes down a treat after all that heavy food! Thanks for posting.
Thank you so much Jo x Have a merry Christmas
These are lovely! Perfect for a lighter lunch after all the festive excess!
I completely agree! Still hungry but the idea of more roasts seems too much.
Such a light and fresh way to make the most of turkey leftovers.
I completely agree. Great after many days of roasts.
Looks delicious and were delicious too
Thank you Peggy. I’m so glad you enjoyed them.