Leftover Turkey in gravy is the best and easiest way to use up leftover Roast Turkey meat. All you need are some leftover Dinner Rolls to soak up that sauce.
The mushroom gravy makes the turkey meat so tender and juicy all over again and it’s especially good served over Creamy Mashed Potatoes.
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What to do with Leftover Turkey:
We love Thanksgiving leftovers and it is impressive how much turkey meat you can rescue from your Juicy Roast Turkey even after you think there’s nothing left. We plucked away at my Mom’s turkey last year and got about 8 cups of turkey meat (this was after about 12 people ate it).
I made a big batch of this turkey in gravy for my sister’s house for lunch and everyone loved it! It was a big win across the board and they went on and on about how great the turkey gravy tasted over leftover Mashed Potatoes. Best of all, it never tastes like leftovers.
Ingredients for Leftover Turkey in Gravy:
The ingredients are so simple – mostly pantry staples: chicken broth, mushrooms, butter, onion, and flour.
- Mushrooms: Use white or brown mushrooms. Mushrooms add great flavor but if you aren’t a mushroom fan, you can skip the mushrooms.
- For gluten-free: substitute with a “cup-for-cup” GF flour
To Get the Most Turkey Meat: Focus on the underside of the turkey – this is usually the side that sits in all the turkey juices and much of it is dark meat which is so tender and tasty.
Can I Substitute with Chicken?
You can still make this recipe long-after Thanksgiving is over by using chicken. This is a great way to re-purpose leftover Rotisserie Chicken and you can use both white and dark meat.
Can I use Leftover Gravy?
If you were lucky enough to have leftover Turkey Gravy from your Thanksgiving dinner, here’s a secret trick – just combine the leftover gravy with the shredded turkey and it will be scrumptious!
What can I do with the Turkey Carcass?
If you want to make the most use out of your leftover turkey, be sure to keep the turkey carcass for an incredible turkey Bone Broth. It’s the same process using turkey bones instead of chicken and results in a rich broth to use in Turkey Noodle Soup.
How to Make Turkey Leftovers in Gravy:
1. Heat a large pan over medium heat with 2 Tbsp olive oil. Saute diced onions until golden (4-5 min). Add mushrooms saute until soft and golden (5-7 min), stirring often. Remove mushrooms and onions from the pan.
2. In the same hot pan, melt 4 Tbsp unsalted butter, then whisk in 3 Tbsp flour, whisking constantly until roux is golden brown (1 1/2 to 2 min), then whisk in 2 cups chicken broth. Bring to a simmer and season to taste (about 1/2 tsp sea salt and a pinch of pepper).
3. Add mushrooms/onions back to the pan. Stir in turkey and heat until turkey is just heated through. Garnish with finely chopped parsley if desired.
This is one of those recipes that makes us wish we had more turkey leftovers. This recipe can be even juicier and more flavorful than fresh turkey.
Leftover Turkey Recipes You’ll Love:
Whether you have leftover turkey breast or leftover dark meat, these turkey leftover recipes are our favorite ways to enjoy that turkey meat without tasting like leftovers.
- Turkey Noodle Soup – an easy twist on the classic
- Chicken Tetrazzini – make it Turkey Tetrazzini
- Pot Pie – make a savory Turkey Pot Pie
- Chicken Avocado Salad (sub with turkey)
- (Turkey) Bacon Avocado Sandwich
- White Sauce Lasagna – use turkey instead of chicken
Leftover Turkey in Gravy Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 lb mushrooms, sliced
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 4 Tbsp unsalted Butter
- 3 Tbsp all-purpose flour, gluten free flour works well too
- 1 1/2 to 2 cups chicken broth, (low sodium)
- 4-6 Cups leftover turkey meat, torn into bite-sized pieces
- 1/2 tsp sea salt , or to taste
- 1/8 tsp ground black pepper, or to taste
- 1 Tbsp Parsley to garnish, optional
Instructions
- Heat a large non-stick pan over medium heat. Add 2 Tbsp olive oil and diced onions and sauté until soft and golden (4-5 minutes, stirring frequently). Add mushrooms to the pan and sauté until soft and golden (5-7 min, stirring frequently). Remove mushrooms and onions from pan.
- In the same hot pan (no need to wash it), add 4 Tbsp unsalted butter. Once melted, whisk in 3 Tbsp flour. Cook, whisking continually until roux is a golden brown (1 1/2 to 2 min) then whisk in 2 cups chicken broth. Bring to a simmer and season to taste (I added 1/2 tsp sea salt and a pinch of black pepper).
- Add add mushrooms/onions back to the pan. Stir in turkey and heat until turkey is just heated through. Garnish with finely chopped parsley if desired.
Nutrition Per Serving
I’d love to hear your creative ideas for leftover turkey. Let me know about your favorite Thanksgiving leftover recipes in a comment below.
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
I never thought about doing something like this with turkey…but I will! I make a similar dish with Sirloin Tip steak or Top Sirloin steak, whichever I can find. Two differences, I flour and season the beef, while I start wilting the onions and mushrooms and one additional ingredient…chopped green pepper, in olive oil then I drop the meat in the pan to brown and half cook. I take the meat and most of the veggies out, add flour and make a gravy and season it, then put everything back into finish cooking in the gravy. I usually put it over medium egg noodles or white rice…mashed potatoes work well also! Yummy!
Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Jan! I’m glad you enjoyed this recipe!
Hey Natasha, I’ve been reading your blog and watching your videos for about a month now. This recipe sounded like something my wife and I would enjoy so I read it. As I read it dawned on me that at its heart it is a variation of a dish my mother made in the fifties and she claimed it was “depression food.” It was “creamed beef on toast or potatoes.” Never-the-less we tried it for lunch and it was great over leftover dressing and mashed potatoes! Thanks for the suggestion! My question is: when making turkey bone broth do you add scraps from all the onions, carrots and celery you use? How do you save them for use a week or two later? Thanks again!
Hi Lee, if I am not going to be making the bone broth within 3 days of saving the bones, I would put them in a Ziploc bag and freeze them for later then you can make broth with a frozen carcass. I don’t usually re-use the veggies from the roasted turkey since they might turn to mush – I start with fresh vegetables for making stock just like we do with our Chicken broth.
It looks so tasteful to see how much food will be used to eat. I wish I had such a dish in India to to eat.. thanku for sharing very nice recipe ….
You’re welcome! I hope you get to try making some of our recipes soon!
I googled leftover turkey and mushrooms as I had both on hand. Your recipe came up. Glad it did. I sliced my leftover turkey breast and used vegetable broth. It was excellent. My family is looking forward to having another turkey so I can use this recipe again. Thank you
Yay, fantastic! So great to hear that you found and tried this recipe. I’m glad you did and I’m happy that you liked it.
Great recipe and easy to make. I added left over venison to the mix and it turned out fabulous
Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
Looks wonderful. Natasha, do you think that this would work with leftover smoked pork shoulder/butt? If so, would you make any modifications to the ingredients or technique? We’ve got lots of leftover smoked pork right now!
Hi Virginia, I haven’t tested that but I think it could work. If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe.
Great and so easy. Used gluten free flour and ghee and it was good…even my kids liked it!
That is awesome and good to know that it’s great using gluten-free flour too! Thanks for sharing and for your wonderful review.
Made as described with shredded chicken. Added thyme and rosemary, as suggested, to the gravy. Served over wild rice. Fabulous!
Love it, thanks for sharing that with us!
Good recipe – thanks for sharing it! My experience was that the ‘gravy’ part is good, but needed more flavor and depth. Butter + flour + chicken stock + salt n pepper are good, but against all the other ingredients (none of which have strong flavors), something needs to add.
So: a small fistful of fresh rosemary! Fresh Thyme too. Then, let it simmer after adding chicken stock for a few minutes, and with all of the other ingredients, when they’re added!
Thank you so much for sharing that with me Bryan!
Had some leftover turkey in the freezer and wanted to use it up. Also had all the other ingredients. Made exactly as written, and what a great recipe! Great comfort food, would be a wonderful dish to share with a sick friend, easy on the tummy.
I’m so glad you enjoyed that Diane!
Thanks for giving this recipe a try and for sharing your great feedback, Diane. I hope you love every recipe that you try!
I smoked my turkey wrapped in brown sugar coated bacon from Fred Meyer. Even added the bacon to this recipe and it turned out amazing. The brown sugar bacon definitely added an awesome flavor. (About 4 strips of bacon chopped up)
That is awesome to hear, Jesse. Thank you so much for sharing and for your excellent feedback!
Great, cause we have left over of roasted turkey and I will try it in creamy mushroom sauce one of these days ..Thanks Natasha for your yummy recipes
I’m your avid fan from Philippines.
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us Cora.
It’s quarantine time, and I had some turkey and mushrooms I needed to use. I found this recipe on Pinterest, and I am so impressed. This was so good! Thank you
You are so welcome, Jaye! Thanks for trying out this recipe and sharing your feedback with us.
We had some turkey legs that we had thawed — threw them in the electric pressure cooker and used them for the meat . . . .(I’d been wondering what I was going to do with those!) I made this according to the recipe with the following exceptions:
1) I only had 8 oz of baby bella mushrooms.
2) I substituted 1/2 cup of the chicken broth with white wine and used chicken broth for the other 1.5 cups. YUM!
3) I threw in a pinch of dried thyme.
I’m sure the recipe is delicious as written — I just like to play with things a bit. We served this over baked potatoes and it was fabulous!
That does sound fabulous! Thank you for sharing those substitutions with us! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe, Michele!
This is the BEST turkey gravy recipe!!! I never knew you can make such delicious gravy with that left over turkey until I tried this! Absolutely delicious!!! I made it without mushrooms cuz I didn’t have them on hand and I also saved left over turkey juices and used that instead of chicken broth, it turned out soooo good!!! And the main thing about this is that my kids, who never liked any meat gravy, absolutely loved it and even asked for seconds!!! So this recipe will definitely be made again
Natasha, thank you so much for all your wonderful recipes, they never fail!
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite, Luda!
Thank you! Just tried this recipe without the mushrooms (my son doesn’t like mushrooms). End result was delicious! What a great quick, easy, & yummy recipe! Can’t wait to do it again but next time with mushrooms!
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing your great review!
One of the best uses we have ever found for the leftover turkey. For Christmas dinner I cooked a 23lb turkey, so we had a LOT left over. We had over a dozen people coming over that evening, so I tried your recipe – but doubled everything and used 12 cups of cut up turkey meat. It filled an entire steam tray and was part of our dinner buffet, a real hit! We will be making it again in the future. Thanks
That’s just awesome! Thank you so much for sharing that with me!
I just defrosted Thanksgiving turkey leftovers. This recipe was so easy and was a big hit! I followed it verbatim and it turned out great! So glad to clear out my freezer too! Thank you for this recipe!
That’s just awesome!! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review, Stephanie!
Made this after Thanksgiving Wow! It’s was good!! Try it, u would be impressent, it tastes just like the inside of a chiken pie. 🙊 I also made mashpotatos and stuffing for side. 🙈
I’m so happy you loved the recipe! It’s our go-to for leftover turkey and chicken! Try it with rotisserie chicken – it’s so easy and good!
I just made this turkey dish. Turned out really good. I did end up adding leftover turkey gravy, about a little over a cup (recipe from this website) and about a cup of milk as this sauce turned out too thick. I basically adjusted this to my liking. ( I like my sauces creamy.) This is a great recipe for using up leftover turkey and gravy from Thanksgiving. Yum!
Thank you for sharing that with us, Mariya!