Got leftover roast turkey? Make these easy peasy Leftover Turkey Tacos! Such a delicious and fun way to use up leftover turkey… and it only takes 20 minutes. (No leftover turkey, no problem – you can make these with fresh turkey or chicken.)
Got leftover turkey? Make tacos!
If you’ve been following me for a while, you know I have A LOT of leftover turkey recipes – and that I believe passionately that there is so much more you can do with leftover roast turkey than turkey sandwiches!
On this site, you’ll find recipes for:
- Leftover Turkey Risotto
- Leftover Turkey Curry
- Leftover Turkey and Lentil Soup
- Leftover Turkey Chilli Con Carne
- Leftover Turkey Thai Green Curry
- And more!
But one recipe that has been missing, until now, is my recipe for Leftover Turkey Tacos… But it is hands down one of my favourites – not just because I LOVE Mexican food, but also because they are so quick and simple to make – just 20 minutes hands on time – if you go down the easy peasy route!
No leftover roast turkey?
No problem! I have included instructions in the recipe card for how to make these delicious tacos with fresh turkey too.
Alternatively you can make these easy peasy tacos with chicken instead.
How to make Leftover Turkey Tacos
Making tacos with leftover roast turkey is so easy!
All you need to do is fry onions and garlic, then add chilli powder, cumin, paprika, oregano, salt and pepper. Next, add tomato puree and water, and bring to the boil.
Add the shredded turkey and stir until the turkey is well coated in the sauce. Simmer until the turkey is piping hot all the way through.
Serve warmed tortillas, the turkey filling and all you favourite toppings on the table for everyone to help themselves and make up their own tacos!
(Full recipe given in the recipe card below.)
Go the easy peasy or ‘fancy’ route – you choose!
With these turkey tacos, you have 3 options…
Option 1: The easy peasy route
If you want a really easy, low stress leftover turkey meal that can be ready in just 20 minutes, then use shop-bought tortillas, salsa and guacamole etc.
Option 2: The ‘fancy’ route
Alternatively, if you want to go down the ‘fancy’ route – perhaps for a party or family gathering, then you could make your own corn tortillas from scratch and serve homemade salsa, homemade guacamole, homemade refried beans etc.
Option 3: Mix and match!
Alternatively, you could mix and match – with some elements shop bought and some elements homemade.
Want more leftover turkey inspo?
No problem! Here are 5 more delicious recipes for your roast turkey leftovers…
- Leftover Turkey Biryani
- Leftover Turkey Macaroni Cheese
- Leftover Turkey Paella
- Leftover Turkey Fried Rice
- Leftover Turkey Fajitas
Leftover Turkey Biryani
What to drink with Turkey Tacos
My favourite wine pairing for turkey tacos (and chicken tacos for that matter!) is a gutsy, fruity Sauvignon Blanc from somewhere like Chile, South Africa or New Zealand. Other good white options include a bright sunshine filled Chardonnay from somewhere like Chile or Australia, or a South African Chenin Blanc.
If you prefer red, then I recommend going for something like a fruity Chilean Merlot or Carmenère, a Primitivo from Italy or a Zinfandel from the USA.
What to do with leftovers?
If you have leftovers, I recommend putting everything (turkey mixture, guacamole, salsa, refried beans etc.) in the fridge separately in lidded containers.
If you have used leftover cooked turkey, then I do not recommend reheating the leftover turkey mixture, since it is not good food hygiene practice to reheat meat more than once.
However, if you have used fresh turkey, the turkey mixture will keep in the fridge for up to 2 days. And it will be totally fine to reheat it too, so long as you adhere to good food hygiene practice for turkey.
To reheat, simply pop the turkey mixture in a saucepan with a pan with a splash of water and heat until the turkey is piping hot all the way through. (Or you can reheat the turkey mixture in the microwave, if you prefer.)
Alternatively, you can eat the turkey mixture and tortillas cold as a wrap, with any leftover guacamole, salsa, sour cream etc. It makes for a very delicious packed lunch!
Can you freeze Turkey Tacos?
That depends on whether you used fresh turkey or leftover cooked turkey.
If you used fresh turkey then yes, you can absolutely freeze the turkey mixture. Place it in a lidded container in the freezer, where it will keep for up to 1 month.
Defrost overnight in the fridge and reheat as above.
However, if you used leftover cooked turkey, then no, this recipe is not suitable for freezing.
If you like this recipe…
…you might also like:
- Leftover Turkey Fajitas
- Leftover Turkey Chilli Con Carne
- Easy Beef Birria Tacos
- Chicken Tinga Tacos
- 10 Easy Ideas for your Turkey Leftovers
Leftover Turkey Chilli Con Carne
Leftover Turkey Tacos
Ingredients
Tacos
- 16 soft corn tortillas (12cm / 5inch diameter - See Note 1)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium onion sliced
- 2 cloves garlic (See Note 2)
- 1 teaspoon cumin (See Note 2)
- 2 teaspoons mild chilli powder (See Note 2)
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika (See Note 2)
- 1 teaspoon oregano (See Note 2)
- Salt and pepper (See Note 2)
- 3 tablespoons tomato puree
- 200 ml water
- 500 g cooked turkey shredded (see Note 3)
Instructions
- Start by preparing all your toppings. (You can obviously skip this step if you are using shop-bought salsa and guacamole, pre-grated cheese etc.) Refrigerate if necessary.
- Either make or warm up your tortillas. (See Note 4.)
- Place 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large frying pan together with the sliced onion. Fry the onions over a medium heat until softened and just starting to go brown.
- Turn the heat right down to low and add the garlic, chilli powder, cumin, paprika, oregano, salt and pepper. Fry for a further 1 minute. Add a splash of water if it starts to get too dry.
- Turn the heat up high, then add the tomato puree and water, and bring to the boil.
- Add the shredded turkey and stir until the turkey is well coated in the sauce.
- Turn down and simmer for 5 minutes, or until the turkey is piping hot all the way through.
- Serve the tortillas, turkey filling and all the toppings on the table for everyone to help themselves and make up their own tacos.
Notes
- You can either make your own corn tacos OR buy them. If buying them, I recommend these ones from MexTrade as they are made just like homemade corn tortillas. Alternatively you can buy regular-size or taco-size tortillas from the supermarket – either wheat or flour. I have suggested 16 tortillas for 4 people, but obviously this will depend on appetite and other accompaniments – do make/buy more if you think you will need more than 4 tortillas per person! (Oh and of course, if you prefer, you could use hard taco shells – I don’t personally like them, but if you do – go for it!)
- Personally, I prefer the flavour of making up my own taco seasoning, but if you want to make this recipe even easier, you could sub everything in the ingredients list from the garlic to the salt and pepper for your favourite ready-made taco or fajita seasoning.
- If you don’t have any leftover cooked turkey, you could use pre-cooked chicken. If you do this, follow the recipe exactly as written. Alternatively you could simply cut some fresh turkey (or chicken) into strips and pan-fry in a hot frying pan for about 3 minutes, before removing to a plate and continuing with the recipe. Add the pan-fried turkey back into the pan when the recipe says to add in the shredded turkey.
- If you are making your corn tortillas from scratch, use THIS RECIPE. If you are reheating shop-bought tortillas (corn or wheat), you can either briefly pan fry each tortilla individually, placing each one in a tortillada after it has been fried on both sides to stay warm. Or you can place the tortillas in 2 little tin foil parcels (8 tortillas in each) and place both parcels into an oven pre-heated to 140C / 120C fan / gas mark 1 / 275F for 10 minutes. Serve the tortillas on the table in the foil parcel to stay warm.
- Timings for this recipe are just for the preparation/cooking of the turkey filling itself, since obviously timings for everything else will vary wildly depending on whether you use homemade or shop-bought tortillas and toppings.
- Suitable for freezing.
- Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.
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