If you are having weekend company for Thanksgiving this year instead of cooking a whole new meal, reinvent your leftover turkey into turkey salad. There are lots of delicious turkey salad recipes all with unique flavors that your guests will love.
Turkey salad tips
Use white & dark meat
You typically only use white meat in chicken or turkey salads, but there is no reason to leave out the tasty dark meat. Dark meat will add a more luscious texture along with some additional nutrition benefits (like added iron). White meat does have less saturated fat however, but as far as flavor goes, the dark meat will add another dimension to your turkey salad. So if you are trying to watch your saturated fat intake, use about 3/4 white meat and 1/4 dark meat.
Add fruit & nuts
Mixing fruit into turkey salad mix will make for a slightly sweet recipe. Fruit like cranberries (both fresh and dried), red grapes, raisins, pomegranate seeds, cherries, orange chunks, or apples chunks will give your salad some texture as well as some additional flavor. Try adding all different kinds of fall fruits to see which you like the best, just be sure to dice the fruit into bite-size cubes to make it easy to mix and eat. You can also add some nuts like almonds, walnuts, macadamia nuts, hazelnuts, pecans, or any of your favorite nut for extra crunch.
Forget the sandwich
Everyone immediately goes for a sandwich when turkey salad is on the menu, but there are other ways to enjoy turkey salad. For example, you can stuff it into large hollowed out tomatoes, serve it in puff pastry or biscuits, or serve it with melon. You can of course use it for a sandwich, but try using different breads or wraps instead of the same old white bread. Or for something totally different, make a hot turkey salad casserole in the oven and serve it with pita wedges or croissants.
Go global
A great way to give turkey salad some extra zest is to add an ethnic flair to it. You can make a quick Thai turkey salad with ginger, soy sauce, and peanuts or a Greek inspired turkey salad mixed with olives, feta, and mint served on pita. Have fun with the preparation for something more interesting than regular old turkey salad with mayonnaise.
Go mayo free
If you love turkey salad but don’t want to load up on mayonnaise you can substitute yogurt, salad dressing, sour cream, mustard, or even oil and vinegar. Depending on the other flavors in the salad, pair the dressing to enhance the additional flavors.
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