Healthy Leftover Turkey Enchiladas
Use your Thanksgiving leftover turkey to make these delicious healthy turkey enchiladas! The perfect flavor-packed recipe to turn your Thanksgiving leftovers into a healthy meal!
For more about this recipe, including swaps and substitution ideas, head to ( or google “Hungry Hobby Healthy Enchiladas”
Ingredients
* 1 white onion diced/finely chopped
* 1 red bell pepper diced/finely chopped
* 1 green bell pepper diced/finely chopped
* 2 tbsp olive oil or avocado oil
* 2 cloves minced garlic or 1T garlic powder
* 3 cups Turkey meat
* 2 cups red enchilada sauce
* 6 whole-grain tortillas use GF if needed
* 8 ounces shredded Mexican Blend (2 ounces plus 6 ounces divided)
* 1/2 cup salsa
* 4 green onions chopped
Recipe: Leftover ThanksgivingTurkey Enchiladas & Vegetable Bake
Thanksgiving is almost here, and that means Thanksgiving leftovers! And before you start cooking that annual leftover turkey gumbo, consider these two recipes to give a kick to your post-Thanksgiving celebrations.
Enchiladas recipe:
Vegetable Bake Recipe:
Honey Lime Leftover Turkey Enchiladas
Ingredients:
3 cups cooked turkey, shredded
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup lime juice
1 Tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
8-10 flour tortillas
4 cups shredded Monterrey jack cheese or Mexican blend
1 cup enchilada sauce, divided
1 cup salsa
1 cup Mexican cream (you can substitute heavy cream)
Directions:
Mix the honey, lime juice, chili powder, and garlic powder. Place your cooked turkey in a plastic storage bag and pour in the marinade making sure all of the turkey pieces are saturated. Let the turkey marinate in the refrigerator for a minimum of 30 minutes or up to 24 hours.
When you are ready to cook, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Spray a 9x13 baking dish with a non-stick cooking spray to make cleanup later a snap. Pour 1/2 cup of the enchilada sauce into the bottom of the dish and spread out.
Drain the turkey mixture and reserve any remaining marinade. Mix the turkey with 3 cups of the shredded cheese.
Put a heaping 1/2-cup of the turkey mixture down the center of each tortilla and roll up as tightly as you can. Place the rolled tortillas in your baking dish seam side down. Repeat for the rest of the tortillas. You should be able to fit 8 enchiladas in the dish.
Mix the other half of the enchilada sauce with the salsa, crema and any leftover marinade.
Pour this mixture over the enchiladas and top with 1 cup shredded cheese.
Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes, or until the mixture is bubbling and the cheese has melted.
Red Sauce Enchiladas Recipe (homemade!)
I love enchiladas! My boyfriend and I have been making turkey enchiladas after Thanksgiving for the past few years and I honestly enjoy them more than the Thanksgiving meal itself. We make our sauce from scratch and add cream cheese to it - total game changer. Since it's usually just me and him on Thanksgiving, we always have a lot of leftover turkey, so we make a lot of enchiladas...20, to be exact. This recipe can be scaled down, of course.
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Makes 20. About 750 calories per enchilada
Cook time: 1-2 hours (if you tackle each component one at a time, it will take longer. We multitask and cook all the components simultaneously.)
Difficulty level: Moderate
Step 1: Boil the potatoes
Peel and chop 5 medium-sized russet potatoes into cubes, drop them into a pot of cold, salted water, and bring to a boil. Boil until tender and drain.
Step 2: Make the chili sauce
In a large pot on medium-low, heat up:
-1 cup oil
Once the oil is warm, add:
-1/2 cup chili powder*
*If you love spicy food, use this whole amount. Be careful if you grind your chili powder yourself - it's much hotter than the pre-ground stuff. If you are a spice-wimp, use half the amount of chili powder, or substitute some (or all) of the chili powder with mild paprika. This is the great thing about making your own sauce - you can control the spice levels, and it doesn't have metallic notes in the background.
Stir to incorporate the chili into the oil, then add:
-1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Stir, cooking the flour into the oil to make a roux. Cook for a couple minutes, making sure there's no bits of raw flour, then add in the following order:
-3 TBS ground cumin
-2 tsp onion powder
-4 TBS minced garlic
-1/2 tsp salt
-1 30oz can of tomato sauce (just generic, no added flavors)
-4 cups water or broth
Add the liquid slowly, whisking vigorously. The sauce should thicken immediately. Don't add more liquid until the lumps are stirred out. Once all the liquid is added, simmer for 10 minutes.
Add:
-24 oz full fat cream cheese
Stir the cream cheese in, breaking it up with your spoon, until it's mostly dissolved, but chunks remain (this is how we like it). If you'd rather have a smooth sauce, chop the cream cheese before adding and incorporate with a whisk.
Step 3: The filling
In a very large skillet on medium heat, add:
-1 TBS oil
-2 chopped onions
-pinch of salt
Sautee until the onions are translucent, then add:
-8 cloves chopped garlic
-6 giant chopped jalapenos (seeds removed)
-2 tsp cumin
-2 tsp chili powder
Sautee until fragrant (about a minute), then add:
-2 pre-cooked turkey breasts (from a 12 pound bird)
-2 cans sliced black olives (juice drained)
Stir to incorporate, then add the potatoes.
Have ready:
-4-6 cups freshly grated cheddar cheese
-1 can sliced black olives
-20 flour tortillas (for fresh applications, I always make my own tortillas, but for enchiladas, I go ahead and use store-bought.)
-a few casserole dishes
Step 4: Assembly
Line your casserole dish with a very thin layer of sauce.
Spoon about half to 3/4 of a cup of filling into a tortilla, add a spoonful of sauce and a handful of cheese. Fold the bottom sides in, then close up the sides, making a tight pouch. Set the pouch seam-side down into the casserole dish. Repeat until the casserole dish is tightly filled with enchiladas - all on the bottom. Cover the enchiladas with a thin layer of sauce, cheese, and olives. Repeat until all the ingredients are used up and your casserole dishes are full. If you run out of casserole dishes, pie plates, bread pans, etc., make nice substitutes.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for a half hour or until the sauce is bubbly, the cheese is all gooey, and the bits of exposed tortilla are crisp (incidentally, that's my favorite part.)
Serve with whole milk yogurt or sour cream, chopped scallions, cilantro, lime, or just plain with a big glass of milk.