Want something different to do with your turkey leftovers this year? How about making this Mexican Style Rice Salad? This gorgeous warm salad is full of delicious Tex-Mex flavours and is great for using up small amounts of leftover turkey or chicken.
A great way to use up leftover turkey
This delicious Warm Mexican Style Rice Salad – inspired by the flavours of Chilli Con Carne and Guacamole, is a great way to use up leftover roast turkey. And it is very quick and simple to make – just 15 minutes total time and, best of all, only one pan!
If you don’t have any roast turkey leftovers, this would work equally as well with leftover cooked chicken or some cooked prawns – or leave out the meat altogether and this would make a delicious vegetarian and vegan friendly meal.
A great recipe for buffets and potlucks
This Mexican Style Rice Salad is also naturally gluten free and dairy free, making this a great choice for serving at a Boxing Day or New Year’s Day buffet or potluck, where there might be a variety of different dietary requirements to cater for.
It can be served warm or cold
I’ve made this a warm salad as I much prefer warm food at this time of the year, but this salad tastes equally great cold. Just leave it too cool to room temperature, then put it in the fridge for a couple of hours to get properly cold.
Alternatively, if you are in a hurry, cool the rice under cold water and drain thoroughly, then add in all the other ingredients without cooking them first – it will taste slightly different, but still delicious!
To make it milder or more spicy…
I have suggested using fresh red chillies and extra spring onions for garnish, but feel free to miss that off if you don’t want the bother, or are catering for those who don’t like hot food.
Alternatively, if you want to increase the heat in this dish, add half a fresh red chilli to the frying pan with the spring onions for a fiery kick!
Serving suggestions
For me this Mexican-style Turkey Rice Salad is a complete meal in itself, but if you are feeling the need for something extra you could serve this with bread, tortillas or a green salad.
It would also be really delicious with a big scoop of homemade guacamole on the side.
Wine-wise, this warm rice salad would go brilliantly with a glass of Chilean Sauvignon Blanc.
More leftover turkey recipes…
For more great ways to use up leftover roast turkey check out my roundup of 10 Easy Ideas for your Turkey leftovers.
Warm Mexican Style Rice Salad with Leftover Turkey
Ingredients
- 200 g rice (white, brown or wild)
- 4 spring onions sliced
- 1 red pepper
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 200 g leftover cooked turkey or chicken roughly chopped or shredded
- 1 teaspoon mild chilli powder
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Juice of 1 lime
- 400 g tin kidney beans drained
- 150 g cherry tomatoes chopped into quarters
- 1 avocado diced
- Sliced fresh red chilli and extra spring onions for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- First, cook your rice according to the packet instructions or your personal preferences.
- While the rice is cooking slice your spring onions, dice your red pepper and finely chop or crush the garlic.
- Drizzle the olive oil into a large frying pan or wok and stir-fry the spring onions, peppers and garlic for about two minutes over a medium heat. Add the turkey pieces and fry for another 3 minutes until the turkey is piping hot all the way through.
- Add the chilli powder, salt and pepper, plus the juice of 1 lime and stir together. Tip in the kidney beans and cook for another 3 minutes until the kidney beans are warmed through. Add in the chopped tomatoes and avocado and mix everything together. Allow the tomatoes and avocados to cook for a further 2 minutes.
- Add the cooked rice, stir everything together and serve scattered with sliced fresh chilli and spring onions, if you want.
Notes
Pin Warm Mexican Style Rice Salad with Leftover Turkey for later
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Charlotte Oates says
Ooh I love Mexican flavours so this sounds delicious and such a lovely original way to use up Christmas leftovers.
I tend to choose soup or a jacket potato over salad in winter as it feels so much more warming. A warm salad would be lovely.
Eb Gargano says
I’m really getting into warm salads at the moment. I’m a huge fan of Mexican flavours and I wanted to recreate them in salad form and then I was musing over what to do for a turkey leftovers post and this salad seemed to put itself together in my head! Thanks for commenting 🙂 Eb x
Alexis Nicolaie says
Eb – I came looking for the recipe after seeing it on Twitter. I’ve devising ways to save some of the turkey meat on Xmas day for this. It looks simply glorious! #brilliantblogposts
Eb Gargano says
Thanks, Alexis! And think how your stomach will thank you for leaving enough room for pudding on Christmas Day! 😉 Or, if you don’t have any leftovers you could always “create” some, using some chopped up turkey breast fillets (I have a pack in my freezer for just this sort of thing) – just fry them for a bit longer before moving on to step 4 – or you could use chicken instead! Let me know what you think if you make it. 🙂
Sarah (@tamingtwins) says
Such a great combo of flavours I bet, all with bits and bobs you’d have in the fridge. A really colourful looking dish too. Thanks for sharing. (Not literally sadly – haha!)
Eb Gargano says
Ah, I will be so happy when they figure out how we can actually share our food via the internet…imagine how exciting that would make food blogging! (and I already think it’s pretty exciting!) Thanks for your kind comments – it’s some real classic food combinations put together in a different way, really 🙂
Kirsty Hijacked By Twins says
I love using leftovers and revamping them into a completely new meal. This dish would go down so well here! Again thank you for sharing with #CookBlogShare x
Eb Gargano says
It’s great isn’t it? I do love a leftovers challenge!! Thanks for hosting! Eb x
Corina Blum says
I’m definitely craving turkey now with all your turkey recipes today Eb! This one looks so fresh and so tasty. Exactly the kind of recipe I love! Thanks for sharing with #CookOnceEatTwice x
Cliona Keane says
This is going on my ‘post-Christmas dinner must make’ list! We always get a turkey that is way too big for us and leftovers are an essential part of the post-Christmas hype. This is ideal for staying on the healthy side too!
Eb Gargano says
Yay – so pleased you like the recipe, Cliona – and yes, you are so right, this meal is pretty healthy – you could make it even healthier by using brown rice and serving with a big green salad. Eb x
jacqui says
What a great recipe for left over Turkey. James my eldest loves Mexican food so he will be happy if I make this for sure. Thank you for linking up to #CookBlogShare
Eb Gargano says
Thanks, Jacqui! I must say I’m a big fan of Mexican food too – such fab flavours and they go so well with turkey. Eb x
Cat | Curly's Cooking says
I love Mexican flavours and this is a new and exciting way to use up leftover Turkey. My family always used to have cold turkey on Boxing Day which I can’t stand so I would much prefer to have this!
Eb Gargano says
Thanks Cat. No, I’m not a big fan of cold turkey either. Especially not in the depths of winter! Hence all the turkey leftovers recipes – haha!! Eb x
Michelle Frank | Flipped-Out Food says
Give me all the leftovers recipes! This sounds really delicious and quite different from the usual “leftover turkey” recipes. I’ve been on a Mexican food kick lately as well, so this is going straight to the top of my list!
Eb Gargano says
Yay! So pleased you like it. I’m a big fan of leftovers and Mexican food too, so putting them together just seemed like the best of ALL the worlds!! Eb x