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Leftover Turkey Tacos Hero
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Leftover Turkey Tacos

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.)
Course Leftovers, Main Course
Cuisine Fusion, Mexican, Tex-Mex
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Servings 4 people
Calories 411kcal
Author Eb Gargano

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)

Toppings - any or all of the following:

  • Finely diced white onion
  • Finely chopped fresh coriander (AKA cilantro)
  • Lime quarters
  • Grated cheese e.g. mozzarella or cheddar
  • Homemade salsa – e.g. THIS ONE
  • Homemade guacamole – e.g. THIS ONE
Metric - US Customary

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

  1. 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!)
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. Suitable for freezing.
  7. Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.

Nutrition

Calories: 411kcal | Carbohydrates: 52g | Protein: 34g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 68mg | Sodium: 330mg | Potassium: 652mg | Fiber: 8g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 893IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 133mg | Iron: 3mg