Turkey Salad Recipe (for Sandwiches)
Best Leftover Turkey Salad Sandwich Recipe – Use precooked turkey to make a deliciously creamy salad with crunchy celery and sweet grapes. Perfect for hearty sandwiches, wraps, or to load onto fresh greens!
Why We Love This Turkey Salad Recipe
Classic mayo-based salads are always a big hit for lunches, potlucks, and make-ahead meal plans. Recipes like Epic Tuna Salad, Crab Salad (Seafood Salad), Greek Pasta Salad, Southern Chicken Berry Salad, and Southern Chicken Salad are quick and easy to whip up with simple components and often include using leftover ingredients… Great taste and less waste. What’s not to love?
One of the best ways to use up your Thanksgiving leftovers is to make this deliciously creamy, crunchy, perky Turkey Salad Recipe! It’s a fantastic recipe for turkey salad sandwiches, or to just dollop on top of a fresh green salad.
Best of all, you don’t have to wait until Thanksgiving to make this no-cook dish. Any time of year you decide to roast a smaller turkey or smoke a turkey breast, you can make fabulous turkey salad on demand.
Ingredients You Need
- Turkey meat – cooked and shredded (freshly-cooked or turkey leftovers)
- Mayonnaise – can use low-fat if you like
- Celery – diced
- Grapes – halved, or small whole grapes
- Scallions – chopped, or diced red onion
- Dijon mustard – adds a tangy taste to balance the sweetness
- Honey – or agave
- Fresh dill – chopped, or dried dill
- Salt and pepper – to taste
How to Make Turkey Salad
Set out a large bowl.
Shred the cooked (and cooled) turkey meat and place it in the bowl. (This is a time to use up leftover turkey from the holidays!)
Add the mayonnaise, diced celery, scallions, Dijon mustard, honey, and dill.
Then add grapes and any other add-ins for flavor. (Keep reading for some tasty suggestions!)
Stir well to mix the dressing and thoroughly coat the turkey pieces in the dressing. Then taste and salt and pepper as needed.
Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. This turkey salad can be made up to 5 days in advance.
Get the Complete (Printable) Leftover Turkey Salad Recipe + VIDEO Below. Enjoy!
Optional Add-Ins
- Sliced almonds or chopped pecans – great for extra crunch
- Dried cherries – dried cranberries, or other dried chopped fruit
- Pickle relish – or chopped sweet pickles
- Diced apples – in place of or in addition to grapes
Serving Suggestions
I love to use this recipe to make big, two-hands needed turkey salad sandwiches. There is enough goodness going on here to simply load up a generous helping between two pieces of bread or onto a croissant. Or fancy it up and include fresh lettuce, tomato, onion, sprouts, or other sammie toppings you like best.
For this turkey salad sandwich recipe, you can use Soft Whole Wheat Bread, Low Carb Cloud Bread, or Cottage Cheese Bread!
You can make healthy turkey wraps with your choice of tortilla; we usually like healthy(ish) whole wheat or spinach tortillas. Or make some homemade tortillas! The creamy salad is also delish to enjoy with a serving of crackers as a light lunch or satisfying snack.
Keep things low carb with lettuce wraps, or just add a spoonful on top of fresh greens for a turkey salad – well, salad!
The salad is great for lunch prepping! Distribute portions among snack box containers, including crackers, fresh veggies, or other dippers.
Frequently Asked Questions
There are SO many great uses for cooked turkey! This salad is one of our favorite leftover turkey recipes. Also definitely try Turkey Chili, Turkey Chile Relleno Pasta, Skillet Turkey Pot Pie, and Turkey Soup with Poblano Peppers.
Feel free to swap mayo with whole-fat or low-fat plain Greek yogurt. This will give the salad a slightly tangier taste, so you might want to add a bit more honey to taste.
Yes, this is one of the best GF-friendly leftover turkey recipes!
Use leftover turkey cooked within a day or so of making this recipe. Store the salad in an airtight container and keep it in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Looking for More Easy Salad Recipes? Be Sure to Try:
- Buffalo Chicken Salad
- Tuna Pasta Salad with Olives and Capers
- Sun Dried Tomato Chicken Pasta Salad
- Avocado Chicken Salad (with Corn)
- Cool and Creamy Grape Salad
Check the printable recipe card below for the prep time, cook time, total time, and nutrition information. Make sure to share this recipe on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest!
Best Turkey Salad Recipe + VIDEO
Video
Ingredients
- 4 cups cooked shredded turkey meat
- ¾ cup mayonnaise
- ¾ cup diced celery
- ¾ cup grapes halved (optional)
- ¼ cup chopped scallions or diced onion
- 1 ½ tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon fresh chopped dill or 1 tsp dried dill
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Set out a large mixing bowl. Shred the cooked turkey meat and place it in the bowl. Add in the mayonnaise, diced celery, grapes, scallions, Dijon mustard, honey, and dill.
- Toss well to mix the dressing and fully coat the turkey pieces in the dressing. Then taste and salt and pepper as needed.
- Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Thank you for sharing your recipe. I made this with left over Thanksgiving turkey. It turned out wonderful. The dijon mustard gave it that extra something that put it over the top. I will use dijon from now on when I make turkey (or chicken) salad. I omitted the dill because of a family allergy and I omitted the honey because of a diabetic issue but it still received rave reviews from family and friends :)
So simple, easy and delicious. A new favorite.
This turkey salad is my new go-to recipe! It turned out so well when I used it for wraps. So rich and incredibly delicious!
This turkey salad recipe looks absolutely amazing! I’m definitely going to add this recipe to my collection and give it a try soon. Thank you for sharing such a delicious and nutritious recipe with us!
This turkey salad was the best, so simple to make and tasted great.
I made this and put it on some rye bread, and it was the BEST sandwich that I have had in a long while! thank you so much for sharing this amazing reicpe!