Gluten-Free Recipes for Leftover Turkey

After figuring out my meal plan for 2020 Thanksgiving, I like to think about ideas and gluten-free recipes for using that leftover turkey meat. I’ve listed lots of them below.
At the bottom is a feature recipe for Chipotle Curry Chicken Salad. It is one of our favorite gluten-free recipes for leftover turkey. And it’s super simple so there isn’t any cooking involved. Just nomming.
We use an apple, celery, toasted pecan, cried cranberries, leftover turkey, and Sir Kensington’s Chipotle Mayo with a touch of curry powder. It’s so good!
This year we ordered a smoked turkey, so those leftovers have a different texture than roasted turkey. And that would work better in some of the recipes (especially salads, chicken salads, and casseroles).
If you have a leftovers from a lovely roasted turkey, then those will be better in the pasta dishes, casseroles and soups. Recipes where the smoke flavor won’t really work. And you want a texture more like roasted chicken. Does that make sense?

Substitute Leftover Turkey for Other Meats in These Recipes
Okay so here is the round-up of some of our favorite gluten-free recipes that would easily work with pre-cooked turkey (i.e Thanksgiving leftovers). The obvious starting with chicken salads. And just adding turkey to some of our favorite salads with homemade vinaigrettes.
Salad & Chicken Salads
- Chipotle Curry Chicken Salad
- Mango Chutney Chicken Salads
- Carnitas Burrito Bowls
- Leftover Pork Tenderloin Salad
- Southwestern Salad
- Salad Nicoise
- Kale Salads
- Caesar Salad with Homemade Mayo Dressing

Another great use for leftover turkey are in recipes that call for cooked chicken. Love a clean eating gluten-free casserole or pasta dish.
Casseroles & Pasta
- Clean Eating Chicken Noodle Casserole
- King Ranch Casserole
- Clean Eating White Chicken Enchilada Casserole
- Mom’s Favorite Summer Pasta Salad
- Spicy Jalapeno Chicken Spaghetti

Who doesn’t love chicken and dumplings? I really love the way the dumplings turned out in the gluten-free recipe. And since you have leftovers, you can skip the step of cooking the chicken and roasting the vegetables. Just make it like you would the chicken soup, but cook the veggies in the Dutch oven before adding the rest of the ingredients.
Soups
- Chicken & Dumplings
- Red Lentil and Wild Rice Soup
- Enchilada Soup
- Chicken Tortilla Soup
- Chicken Andouille Sausage Gumbo

How easy would it be to take leftover roasted turkey and toss it in BBQ sauce to make either tacos or pizza. For the tacos we use a pre-cut slaw and spice it up with a little rice vinegar, honey and celery seed. So simple and full of yumminess. The less work the better. 🙂
Tacos and Pizza
Featured Recipe

Chipotle Curry Smoked Turkey Salad
An easy, gluten-free, and dairy free no-cook recipe for leftover Thanksgiving turkey using a few simple ingredients.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup diced cold cooked leftover turkey meat
- 1/2 cup chopped toasted pecans
- 1/2 cup diced organic celery
- 1 cup diced Granny Smith apple
- 1/2 cup GF dried cranberries
- 1/2 cup Sir Kensington’s chipotle mayonnaise
- 1/2 tsp curry powder
- salt & freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
Toast the pecans in a small saucepan over medium-low heat.
- Wash the celery and apple. Then cut up into bite size pieces.
- Add the curry powder to the chipotle mayo and mix together.
Dice leftover turkey meat and mix with all the other ingredients. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Serve with lettuce or potato chips!