There is only ONE leftover Thanksgiving turkey recipe you need. TURKEY TACOS!
YOU NEED: cut up turkey & picante sauce, corn tortillas and taco toppings.
It is the main reason why I had no problem cooking Thanksgiving dinner with just my little family from the get go. This is excluding not having a family gathering since they didn’t live in the same state. 😉 Even so, I’d make my own dinner just so I could prepare the leftovers. 😉
If you’re wanting to watch the video on making turkey tacos, it’s on YouTube!
First, I make sure I buy a large turkey. 😉 Yep, I buy a large turkey for a family that doesn’t eat as much as an average family. 👌🏼 It’s all about the leftovers. 🙌🏼
I cut all my white meat and some of the dark meat into small chunks. My family doesn’t love dark meat, so I use some and donate the rest to a family.
Next, bag up into quart size baggies. I usually fill 3-4 bags and place in my freezer. Oh and of course put some in a container to use right away. 🥰
NOW FOR TURKEY TACOS!!
Place your cut up turkey and a half to whole jar of picante sauce in a pan. I usually do half unless it seems to dry. Heat up for a couple minutes by placing the lid on, stirring occasionally.
Soften corn tortillas, doesn’t matter white or yellow corn tortillas, you can use flour I just prefer corn. I will often do flour with left over turkey meat! To soften tortillas, place 8-10 tortillas in a tortilla warmer in the microwave for 30 seconds. If not soft, heat up some more but not too long.
Scoop about 2 spoonfuls of taco mixture into the first corn tortilla.
My mom, who is the master creator of this recipe 🤤, prepares her tacos differently than I prepare them now. She had a deep fryer, but I just use a pan with hot canola oil, so that’s probably why. I’ll share both methods.
My mom filled all her tacos and used two toothpicks to keep tacos closed. (Soften them in microwave first!) I tried using toothpicks to keep mine closed, but for whatever reason I gave up trying to figure out, my tortillas kept breaking apart. 😞
She then put them in her deep fryer.
Other way to fry them if you don’t have a deep fryer is using a pan. I place an inch and a half or so of oil in the pan. Heat it up on low-medium. I don’t use toothpicks on mine because they were ruined 😞. I carefully place a taco in the oil and hold down the top and sides with my tongs. When it is ready to flip over, I then put my next taco in and hold that one down with the tongs.
I repeat this process till I make all my tacos. I’m pretty skilled so I can make 3 tacos at a time in my pan. 😏
When a taco is done frying, I place them on a paper towel on a plate… to help take that lovely extra grease away. 🤣
Fill tacos with lettuce, cheese and sour cream. Those are my fave to add, but guacamole would be good too.
WATCH THE YOUTUBE VIDEO TO SEE HOW I MAKE MINE!
Hope your Thanksgiving festivities went great and you get to enjoy some amazing tacos!
I use my frozen turkey meat for the next few months to enjoy this frequently.
