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Perhaps you find yourself a few days past Thanksgiving with turkey still in the fridge. Maybe you have already eaten several meals of leftovers from sandwiches to turkey soup. But the turkey remains. Do not fear. There are solutions lurking in those jars and bottles that fill your pantry ready to rescue you with new ideas for turkey leftovers, and you may even use up a few of those jars in the process.
A few weeks ago I spent some time with my friends and their new baby. As a food gift, the grandparents had cooked up a pre-Thanksgiving turkey for the new family to snack on during that first week of parenting. My arrival was timed to help in a similar way: keep them company and cook up some new things with the turkey.
What I discovered in the process is this family has a thing for sauces, a definite help when trying to re-imagine leftovers. Yellow curry, peanut satay, jerk spice of every shape and form, and some sort of stir fry sauce called “General Tso's” all lined the shelves.
The husband pleaded, “Please, please find a way to help us use these sauces with the turkey.” I was up to the task.
What I found along the way is turkey has an affinity with a surprising number of sauces. Chicken can get drowned out by overly sweet Chinese-style stir fry sauces, but turkey dark meat, with its rich gaminess, is perfect. A quick reheat in work with some fresh vegetables like snow peas, onions, and sliced carrots and lunch is served.
For a simple dinner one night peanut satay was the sauce of choice. I was thinking of Southern dishes where peanuts and peanut butter so often appear. This may have been a store bought satay sauce, definitely not of the American South, but it did the trick. I found some spinach in the freezer that I cooked up with some onions and a bit of goat cheese in the refrigerator for a lighter take on creamed spinach. Those ingredients were not necessarily meant to go together, what with Thai peanut satay sauce on turkey with goat cheese standing in for cream in creamed spinach, but it all worked deliciously well.
My favorite combination, one I have used many times before with leftover turkey, is curry. Hard-to-use meat from the drumsticks and all those bits that stick to the bones of the carcass are perfect for simmering in a rich sauce of coconut milk and spices. Since what my friends had on hand was a bottle of yellow curry sauce, I went for a combination of diced potatoes and frozen greens with onion and garlic, all scrounged up from the depths of the refrigerator.
Cooking turkey so many different ways over a period of three days was a great lesson for post Thanksgiving. Whether suffering from cooking, shopping, or just turkey fatigue, using the turkey as an excuse to work through all the boldly flavored sauces already in your house is a great way to avoid all of the above. Just find a bottle of sauce, mix in a little imagination, and that turkey can transform into something new every day. You might even slim down that collection of condiments in the process.
©2026 CDKitchen, Inc. No reproduction or distribution of any portion of this article is allowed without express permission from CDKitchen, Inc.
To share this article with others, you may link to this page:
https://www.cdkitchen.com/cooking-experts/amy-powell/1208-saucy-turkey-leftovers/
A Sauce a Day Keeps Turkey Fatigue Away
A few weeks ago I spent some time with my friends and their new baby. As a food gift, the grandparents had cooked up a pre-Thanksgiving turkey for the new family to snack on during that first week of parenting. My arrival was timed to help in a similar way: keep them company and cook up some new things with the turkey.
What I discovered in the process is this family has a thing for sauces, a definite help when trying to re-imagine leftovers. Yellow curry, peanut satay, jerk spice of every shape and form, and some sort of stir fry sauce called “General Tso's” all lined the shelves.
The husband pleaded, “Please, please find a way to help us use these sauces with the turkey.” I was up to the task.
What I found along the way is turkey has an affinity with a surprising number of sauces. Chicken can get drowned out by overly sweet Chinese-style stir fry sauces, but turkey dark meat, with its rich gaminess, is perfect. A quick reheat in work with some fresh vegetables like snow peas, onions, and sliced carrots and lunch is served.
For a simple dinner one night peanut satay was the sauce of choice. I was thinking of Southern dishes where peanuts and peanut butter so often appear. This may have been a store bought satay sauce, definitely not of the American South, but it did the trick. I found some spinach in the freezer that I cooked up with some onions and a bit of goat cheese in the refrigerator for a lighter take on creamed spinach. Those ingredients were not necessarily meant to go together, what with Thai peanut satay sauce on turkey with goat cheese standing in for cream in creamed spinach, but it all worked deliciously well.
My favorite combination, one I have used many times before with leftover turkey, is curry. Hard-to-use meat from the drumsticks and all those bits that stick to the bones of the carcass are perfect for simmering in a rich sauce of coconut milk and spices. Since what my friends had on hand was a bottle of yellow curry sauce, I went for a combination of diced potatoes and frozen greens with onion and garlic, all scrounged up from the depths of the refrigerator.
Cooking turkey so many different ways over a period of three days was a great lesson for post Thanksgiving. Whether suffering from cooking, shopping, or just turkey fatigue, using the turkey as an excuse to work through all the boldly flavored sauces already in your house is a great way to avoid all of the above. Just find a bottle of sauce, mix in a little imagination, and that turkey can transform into something new every day. You might even slim down that collection of condiments in the process.
Yellow Curry Turkey with Potatoes and Greens
Made with coconut milk, Idaho potato, vegetable oil, salt and pepper, onion, garlic, frozen greens, water or chicken stock, yellow curry sauce
Made with coconut milk, Idaho potato, vegetable oil, salt and pepper, onion, garlic, frozen greens, water or chicken stock, yellow curry sauce
Serves/Makes: 4
- 1 large Idaho potato
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- salt and pepper
- 1 medium onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 8 ounces frozen greens like spinach or kale
- 1 cup water or chicken stock
- 1 cup yellow curry sauce
- OR
- 1 cup coconut milk, MIXED WITH
- 2 tablespoons yellow curry paste
- 1 1/2 cup shredded turkey meat
Peel potato and cut into a small dice. Heat oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add potatoes and cook for about five minutes until browned slightly. Season with salt and pepper.
Meanwhile, thinly slice onion and mince garlic. Add onion to the potatoes and cook for about three minutes until slices start to wilt. Add garlic and cook for another 1-2 minutes until garlic softens (add more oil if pan is too dry at this point).
Stir in frozen greens with 1/2 the water or chicken stock. Stir for a couple of minutes until they defrost.
Add curry sauce and shredded turkey. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Let simmer for 10 minutes until sauce thickens, turkey is heated through, and potatoes are fully cooked.
If sauce is getting too dry at any point, add in remaining water or chicken stock. Season with additional salt and pepper if desired. Serve with rice.
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©2026 CDKitchen, Inc. No reproduction or distribution of any portion of this article is allowed without express permission from CDKitchen, Inc.
To share this article with others, you may link to this page:
https://www.cdkitchen.com/cooking-experts/amy-powell/1208-saucy-turkey-leftovers/