Leftover Turkey Goulash

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Cozy, filling, and hearty, this turkey goulash made with leftover cooked turkey is a great way to use up your leftover bird from Thanksgiving! Leftover turkey is combined with egg noodles, canned tomatoes, spices, and vegetables for a complete meal that tastes delicious with flavors that stray from the typical day-after Thanksgiving leftovers.

This recipe is inspired by my leftover turkey stroganoff recipe also available on my site. For a light veggie side try my pear and rocket salad along with this warming fall dish. You can’t go wrong pairing serving up this hot stove top casserole to your family!

This turkey goulash is great to use up turkey from Thanksgiving leftovers, but you can also use ground turkey to make it anytime of the year. Perfect to feed a large crowd with inexpensive ingredients, this dish comes together without using lots of different cooking vessels.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

It’s a great way to use up leftovers
It’s delicious and comforting
You can easily modify the ingredients
It feeds a large crowd
Kids love it!

How to Make This Recipe

Boil the pasta according to package instructions and set aside.

Gently fry the onion, garlic, celery and green pepper.

Add the mushrooms and fry for another 5 minutes.

Added the cooked, shredded turkey.

Pour in chopped tomatoes and herbs.

Simmer for 10 minutes.

Add cooked pasta and let everything heat through for 5 minutes. Serve immediately with parmesan. Enjoy!

Top Tip

If you’re using leftover meat for this recipe, avoid having leftovers as reheating the meat again and again can increase your chances of food poisoning.

What to Serve With Your Turkey Goulash

This filling turkey goulash dish is great on its own, but it can also be served after a delicious appetizer, along with a lighter side, or finished with a sweet treat.

Starters

Leek and onion soup – one of my favorite healthy recipes, nothing says first course like a delicious and easy soup! This leek and onion soup is vegan and packed with flavors from the aromatics, making it a light first course.
Curried butternut squash soup – another warming soup recipe, this curried butternut squash soup is delicious anytime, but especially good in the colder months.
Navy Bean Soup – with only a few ingredients, navy bean soup is a perfect starter for this turkey goulash recipe. You can quickly throw together this simple soup in less than an hour!

Sides

Pumpkin and feta salad – giving fall flavor vibes, this healthy pumpkin and feta salad is perfect with the flavors of turkey goulash and egg noodles. Roasted pumpkin along with feta, red onions, and walnuts meld together for a tasty side.
Caramelized brussel sprouts – this caramelized brussel sprout dish is sweet and a little tangy, with a light crunch from salty pistachios.
Honey roast parsnips -for more veggies, try these roasted honey roast parsnips as a side for your goulash.

Desserts

Rhubarb and pear crumble – this crowd pleasing recipe uses only a few ingredients to create a delicious dessert that is great for early fall.
Chocolate courgette cake – chocolatey and perfectly moist from the addition of courgette, this cake is a chocolate lovers dream and a lovely last course.
Filo pastry mince meat pies – this typical holiday dessert is a unique flavor that is festive enough to get you in the Christmas spirit after Thanksgiving has passed.

Popular Substitutions For This Recipe

Turkey

Trade leftover turkey for ground turkey if you aren’t using leftovers. If you choose to make this recipe with ground turkey, you can either cook the raw turkey on its own, or add the ground turkey to the pan and brown turkey it along side the onions, garlic, and other vegetables with a generous amount of salt and pepper.

Tomatoes

Replace chopped tomatoes with tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, or tomato paste. Keep in mind that tomato sauce will thin out the recipe a bit and change the texture, but cooking the tomato sauce a bit longer will thicken it and make it less loose.

If using tomato paste instead of tomato sauce, you may want to add some some chicken or turkey broth to deglaze the pan and make up for the lack of liquid that you would get with tomato sauce, chopped, or diced tomatoes.

Oil

Use vegetable oil instead of olive oil in this recipe. Vegetable oil is neutral and won’t affect the taste of this not so classic goulash.

Garlic

Substitute fresh garlic cloves with jarred minced garlic in a pinch

Variations to This Recipe

Kick up the flavors in this turkey goulash with more than oregano, thyme, salt and pepper by adding different spices like paprika, cumin, garam masala, or Italian seasoning. Spices like garam masala, paprika, cumin, and Italian seasoning will give this dish a unique spin and make it your own.
To make this dish more like a classic goulash dish, add sour cream for some added tanginess. Sour cream is added towards the end of cooking time when the heat is off to avoid curdling.
Add fresh or frozen spinach to this recipe for extra greens

Top Tip

Cook pasta to al dente initially so that it doesn’t get too soft once added to the goulash

How Do I Store Leftovers?

Store goulash in an airtight container for up to four days in the refrigerator. I don’t recommend storing goulash made from turkey leftover from Thanksgiving as reheating it multiple times can increase the risk of food poisoning. Instead, if you want leftovers, use fresh ground turkey.

Can This Recipe be Scaled?

Yes, scale this recipe up by multiplying the ingredients two or three times for a bigger crowd.

Can I Freeze This Recipe?

Yes, you can freeze this recipe. I don’t recommend freezing this recipe with turkey that is leftover, only if you have made it with fresh ground turkey.

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