Leftover Turkey Pot Pie

Recipe video above. Leftover turkey is quite dry, given it's a lean meat. So smothering it in a creamy sauce for a Turkey Pot Pie is the ideal way to repurpose perfectly good leftovers! This is like a cross between Chicken Pot Pie and Cheesy Garlic Bread. While the filling is delicious, that buttery garlicky cheesy topping steals the show. I just love how it gets soaked with the creamy white sauce!!Use whatever veggies you want. And of course, chicken is a straight up simple substitute for turkey if that's what you have.

Recipe by Nagi | RecipeTin Eats on November 25, 2020

Prep time: PT15M

Cook time: PT40M

Total time: PT55M

Rating

5 stars (39 reviews)

Keywords

leftover turkey pot pie, leftover turkey recipe, turkey recipe

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
150g / 5 oz mushrooms (, sliced 1/2cm / 1/5" thick)
50g / 4 tbsp butter
1 onion (, finely chopped (brown, white, yellow))
2 garlic cloves (, minced)
1 carrot (, peeled, chopped into 1cm/ 1/3" pieces)
4 tbsp flour ((plain/all purpose))
2 1/2 cups milk ((any fat % fine))
4 cups (600g) cooked chopped turkey or chicken
1 1/2 cups frozen peas
1 tsp chicken or vegetable stock powder ((or 1 cube. I use Vegeta powder))
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
50g / 4 tbsp salted butter
2 garlic cloves (, minced using garlic press)
5 packed cups bread chunks ~2.5cm/1" cubes ((Note 1))
2 tbsp parmesan cheese (, grated (optional))
1 cup mozzarella or other melting cheese, shredded or sliced ((or enough slices to cover most of top))

Cuisine

American
Western

Steps

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (all oven types)
Topping: Stir together melted butter and garlic. Place bread chunks in a bowl, drizzle over butter, toss. Set aside.
Brown mushrooms: Heat oil in an oven-proof skillet over high heat. (Note 3) Add mushrooms and cook until browned - about 4 minutes. Remove.
Sauté garlic & onion: Lower heat to medium high. Melt butter in same skillet. Add onion and garlic, cook for 2 minutes.
Add carrot then cook for 1 minute.
Add flour, cook for 1 minute. You'll have a pasty mix. Don't worry if it looks dry (depends how sweaty your onions get).
Make roux: While stirring, add half the milk and mix quickly to dissolve the paste into the liquid (this happens quite quickly). Add remaining liquid and stir. Add stock powder, salt and pepper, stir.
Thicken sauce: Cook for 2 - 3 minutes, stirring regularly. It should start steaming and bubbling a bit, and the sauce will thicken. Thickness test: coat back of wooden spoon, you should be able to draw a line across it (see video, Note 3)
Add turkey, peas and mushrooms, and mix into sauce.
Top with bread, spread to cover surface. Grate over parmesan if using, top with melting cheese.
Bake: Bake for 12 - 15 minutes or until the cheese gets some brown spots. Tent foil over so it doesn't stick to the cheese, then bake for a further 10 minutes.
Serve: Sprinkle with additional parmesan if desired, then serve!

Nutitrion

Serving Size: 359 g
Calories: 589 kcal
Carbohydrates: 42.6 g
Protein: 38.6 g
Fat: 29.3 g
Saturated Fat: 15.2 g
Cholesterol: 123 mg
Sodium: 729 mg
Sugar: 9.2 g

Reviews

Katie on 2026-02-07 (5 stars):
This is such a great recipe! Made it with day of baked sourdough sandwich bread and it was perfect. Great use of leftover Turkey!
Kathy on 2025-04-06 (5 stars):
I've made this 4 or 5 times and everybody LOVES it. I know people get annoyed when someone makes changes in a recipe and the comments how good or bad they think a recipe is but.... One time I made this and I didn't have enough milk on hand, so I added a can of cream of mushroom soup. I think it made it even better, so that's the only change I made. It does make it thicker, but we love it. I've also used cream of chicken....works great too.
Ron on 2024-02-04 (5 stars):
It was good, easy to make an healthy.....Thank you :)
Ted K on 2024-01-07 (5 stars):
Wow! This was really delicious. I make it with left over chicken. This will definitely be one of my go-to recipes. Thank you so much for sharing.
Dave Foster on 2023-12-28 (5 stars):
Wow, just wow. Nagi's recipes have helped me improve my cooking enormously and this one is no exception. Easy to prepare, beyond tasty. I had the family complaining how filling it was but they all lined up for seconds.
Ron on 2023-11-28 (5 stars):
Ahhhh....oh yeah a REAL good one..... Will do again...an again.... An I'm sure a Dozer hit.....:) Thank you....:)
Maria on 2022-12-29 (5 stars):
Easy, tasty way to use up leftover turkey. I added corn kernels to the filling but needed to cook the carrots a tad longer as they were still firm. Would definitely make this again.
gale on 2022-12-26 (5 stars):
Oh, I forgot to mention I put aside some leftover turkey from Thanksgiving into my freezer just to be able to make this again today. It's that good.
Gale on 2022-12-26 (5 stars):
I have to say I skipped the cheese and used my leftover homemade dressing instead of garlic bread but this idea was absolutely fabulous. I made extra dressing this year for Thanksgiving and saved some of my homemade turkey stock and am making again for Christmas dinner for me and my husband. Can't wait. It's cooking right now and smells devine. Thanks for all your recipes and Happy Holidays to you.
Vicky on 2022-11-28 (5 stars):
I saw this recipe before Thanksgiving and followed the directions up to the topping, which I substituted with my sage dressing, baby swiss and mozzarella this afternoon using all my leftovers. The mushroom saute really shines through. This will be a regular in our home. Thank you so much for sharing. Can't wait for my cookbook in Feb.!!
Janine on 2022-11-27 (5 stars):
This recipe was so good and so perfect when you are just not feeling those day 2 Turkey leftovers! I had some pretty random leftovers and included broccoli, cauliflower, celery, and green bean casserole in addition to the mushrooms, garlic, carrots, and onions. No peas!
Xara on 2022-11-26 (5 stars):
In case you're wondering how good this recipe is.... I will have fourteen people over tomorrow for a two-days-late Thanksgiving dinner. I have severe bone-on-bone arthritis in one knee, and sciatica in my other leg. Today I had to make stuffing, sweet potatoes, and rolls for tomorrow. (Not having a dishwasher, I also needed to do all the resulting dishes.) Normally that would have been more than enough time on my feet for one day. But I saw this recipe this morning, and realized that I had everything needed on hand to make it for dinner tonight. And it sounded SO good. It was absolutely delicious, definitely worth the extra time on my feet. One more great recipe from Nagi!
Deanne on 2022-10-18 (5 stars):
Just made this with some leftover roast chicken and it was delicious! Looking forward to having the leftovers tonight. Will be adding this to our growing list of 'family favorites' from your website! The garlic / butter - soaked bread topping is the best!
Joanne on 2022-09-17 (5 stars):
I made this with fresh turkey fillets. I poached them first them made the recipe as instructed. Delicious