Having to cook a huge Thanksgiving dinner leaves me with a copious amount of leftovers. I have no problem with this because it means quick meals for the next few days. My family, on the other hand, express their displeasure. “Leftovers, again? When are we going to have something different?” I discovered the best way to deal with these comments, other than telling them to eat the leftovers and be happy, is to sneakily transform the leftovers into different meals. One of my favorite twists is making a Turkey Salad. I can use the leftover celery, cranberries and turkey in the fridge, plus I have a tasty filling for lunchbox sandwiches. I found this Gluten Free Cranberry Turkey Salad recipe on the Hellman’s website, but, because I can never leave recipes exactly the way they are, changed some of the ingredients around.
Here’s what you need to make it, along with three cups shredded leftover chicken or turkey.
To begin chop up the apples, onions and celery. I recommend using a food processor. It’s quicker, and I am all about quick and easy. Chop up the cranberries and add sugar to taste. Mix all these ingredients together.
Mix the shredded chicken, salt and pepper to taste and the cheese together in a large bowl.
Mix all the ingredients together and stir in the Hellmann’s Real mayonaise (made with cage free eggs, oil and vinegar!). The salad is gluten free and can be made into gluten free sandwiches just by using a loaf of gluten free bread. Or, if you don’t have to worry about gluten, it tastes really good served on pumpernickel bread.
- 3 cups shredded chicken or turkey
- 2 apples, diced (I used Jonathon, but any type will do)
- 1 cup thinly sliced celery
- 1 cup cranberries, chopped
- 1/2 cup sugar (to mix with cranberries–or to taste)
- 1 cup onion, diced
- 1 cup Hellman’s Real Mayonnaise
- 1 cup shredded cheese (I used cheddar, but use whatever you have on hand)
- salt and pepper to taste
- Mix shredded chicken, cheese and salt and pepper to taste. In a separate bowl mix apples, celery, and onion together until well mixed. Mix together cranberries and sugar until desired sweetness is reached. Add this to the apple mixture. Stir the apple mixture into the chicken mixture. Stir in mayo until well mixed. Serve plain or in sandwiches.
What are your favorite ideas for using Thanksgiving leftovers? Visit the Hellman’s REAL Mayonnaise website for delicious recipes and ideas to help with your Thanksgiving leftovers. Remember, the key to great recipes is having pairing that complement each other and bring out the flavors!
I received a gift card from Hellman’s and ModernMom to purchase the items needed to make this recipe. All opinions are my own.
This looks so yummy! Seems like a great lunch choice. I’ll have to try it with my kids!
It looks amazing! I have some chicken I could make this with!
that sounds amazing. Too bad I didn’t cook a turkey to enjoy a leftover sandwich today
I would totally try this, sounds like I may like it. I wonder if my kid would like it. Looks like something I could trick them into thinking was tuna fish 😉
Looks amazing! It is a different variation then what I used to eat. Will need to try it.
YUM! I have some leftover turkey this year so I will have to try this!
This looks delicious. What a great way to use up leftovers.
Yum! This looks like a great way to use up all of the Turkey Leftovers!
That looks awesome. Great tasty twist.
I haven’t even started on the big meal yet and we are talking leftovers already? LOL Not. Ready. Not Ready! 🙂
Wow what a step up from the normal turkey salad. I love it, this looks super delicious! Yum
This looks delicious! I’m always looking for a new way to use our left over turkey. I mean, how many sandwiches can a girl eat?
We have so much leftover turkey that we need new ways to eat it. This turkey salad recipe sounds perfect for lunches with our abundance of meat!
Thanks for sharing this awesome recipe! I’m always looking for new ways to use our leftover turkey.