If you’re suffering from the leftover turkey blues, then my Southwest Turkey Salad wrap is going to perk you right up. Let’s whip up some new flavors that you’ve never had with turkey before and get rid of those turkey leftovers with ease. Everything about this recipe screams fresh, and I just know you’re going to love it.
This recipe is: Low Carb, Keto, Gluten Free, Dairy Free and Paleo.
Table of Contents
9 Reasons to Make Turkey Salad:
- It’s a great way to use up leftover turkey from Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner
- A completely new take on turkey salad
- Delicious Southwestern flavors that just sing with freshness
- Amazingly low carb and keto friendly
- The entire family will love this turkey salad recipe
- Lettuce wraps are a delicious way to enjoy this recipe
- Great for meal prep and planning… it stores really well in the fridge.
- Simple to make in under 5 minutes.
- Easy to modify the recipe and make it your own!
Is this recipe for turkey salad low carb?
Yes, this turkey salad recipe is almost a ZERO-carb recipe… coming in at just .6g net carbs per serving. I’ve created this recipe with ingredients that are low-carb and keto-friendly, so enjoy this one straight from the bowl, wrapped in lettuce, or piled high on a keto hamburger bun!
Turkey Salad Ingredient List
4 cups turkey, cooked and diced
⅔ cup mayonnaise
½ cup celery, diced
½ cup green pepper, diced
¼ cup pine nuts, toasted (optional)
¼ cup black olives, diced
2 tablespoons chipotle hot sauce
2 tablespoons cilantro, minced
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper, ground
Ingredient Substitutions
- Green pepper: the green pepper provides the contrast and brightness without the sweetness of orange or red peppers, but feel free to use whatever color pepper you want. You could also use poblano peppers in the same ratio.
- Pine nuts: swap these out for pepitas, slivered almonds or even chopped walnuts.
- Chipotle hot sauce: if you want to make it more spicy, use a habanero hot sauce or a ghost pepper hot sauce. For less spice, opt for a green jalapeno sauce. If you want to keep the smoked flavor to the dish, add in ½ teaspoon smoked paprika.
Additional Ingredients
- Fresh vegetables: using bibb or baby romaine lettuce, you can create the lettuce wraps easily. Then add in some thin slices of fresh tomato and a few cilantro leaves as a super tasty garnish.
- Bacon bits: You can either mix in ¼ cups of my delicious bacon bits recipe or use them as a topping on the lettuce wrap. Either way, it’s delicious.
- Picked red onion: The freshness of a little pickled red onion in any Southwestern recipe is almost unparalleled. This homemade pickled red onion recipe takes less than 5 minutes to make and will add a ton of flavor as a topping.
- Pickled jalapenos: making your own pickled jalapenos takes less time than you might imagine. These would be great chopped up and added into the turkey salad mixture or used as a topping on the lettuce wrap.
- Cheddar cheese: as shown in the pictures, a bit of shredded cheddar cheese goes a long way to make these lettuce wraps incredibly tasty.
- Sour cream: a dollop of sour cream on each of the turkey salad lettuce wraps brings a nice zing and creaminess.
NOTE: These ingredients are not part of the original recipe- use them to enhance or customize the recipe to your liking.
Cooking Tools
To make this turkey salad recipe, you will need the following kitchen tools:
NOTE: These links will take you to the exact tools I use or very high-quality ones!
How to make this easy Turkey Salad Recipe: the Complete Cooking Guide
This is my best turkey salad recipe yet, and I want to share it with you in easy-to-follow steps. Gather up the appropriate ingredients and let’s get started making this recipe together.
Cooking Methods:
- No-cook
- 30 minutes or less
Preparation Steps:
- Dice and measure out all of the ingredients.
- Transfer everything into a large mixing bowl.
- Stir gently with a silicone spatula until everything is well-coated and resembles a flavorful turkey salad.
- Taste the salad and adjust the seasonings to suit your liking.
- Serve in a turkey salad sandwich or a lettuce wrap!
Step 1: In a large mixing bowl, add the diced ingredients.
Step 2: Add a generous amount of mayonnaise on top of the ingredients in the bowl.
Step 3: Pour in the hot sauce for a little kick. Stir until well combined.
Step 4: Add freshly chopped cilantro. This adds a pop of color and fresh flavor to the dish.
Step 5: To assemble, place a few pieces of lettuce in taco holders or on a plate and spoon the Southwest Turkey Salad mixture into each lettuce cup.
Step 6: Finish the lettuce wraps by adding additional toppings, like shredded cheese, extra olives, and a sprinkle of cilantro for presentation and flavor.
💡 My Pro Tip
This recipe can easily be modified to use cubed rotisserie chicken, shredded chicken, leftover chicken breasts, pulled pork, or even grilled pork chops. We just need light-tasting meat that is either cubed or shredded. Simply swap the turkey for any of the ingredients that I’ve listed, and you’ll have a truly delicious Southwestern-style cold salad on your hands. It’s perfect for just about any time of the year.
⏲️ Time-Saving Tips
- Make sure you use leftover turkey. I’ve not included instructions on how to cook the turkey breast, as the idea here is to use up the leftovers. I have a wonderfully easy recipe to show you how to cook a delicious roasted turkey breast.
- Make the turkey salad ahead of time. This recipe is stored beautifully in the refrigerator, so you can make it up to 5 days in advance and serve it when you’re ready.
- Double the recipe. If you have enough leftover turkey and a large crowd to feed (we always have guests around the holidays!), double the recipe and watch it disappear!
Make This For Turkey Salad Sandwiches:
- Keto Hamburger Buns: if you want a turkey salad sandwich, feel free to make some of these delicious keto hamburger buns. They taste superb together.
Storage
This is a perfect recipe for turkey salad sandwiches, turkey salad wraps or turkey salad lettuce wraps. To ensure that this easy turkey salad recipe lasts long enough, let’s check out how to store it properly.
Storing Leftover Turkey Salad:
- The easiest way to ensure a longer shelf life is to make sure that the turkey salad is stored immediately after making it in an airtight container and then put on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. This is the coldest spot in most refrigerators and will prolong the shelf life. I have stored this for 5 days without any issues. On day 6, the liquid begins to pool in the container. The same happens on the seventh day. Just drain off the liquid, and if it needs to be refreshed a bit, add some more mayonnaise. After day seven, the turkey salad should be discarded.
Freezing Tips:
- As with any mayonnaise based salad recipe, I do not recommend freezing.
Recipe Conclusion
Every year I always have leftover turkey immediately following both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Typically, my family doesn’t want to just heat up the leftovers and often times everything seems to get a little dated in the refrigerator.
Enter this recipe for turkey salad. Everyone loves how fresh the turkey salad tastes in the lettuce wraps. There are smiles all around the table. The best part? All of my leftover turkey is gone in one recipe. It’s just that easy.
I hope you enjoy this turkey salad recipe as much as we do. And remember, it can be made with leftover rotisserie chicken, leftover chicken breasts, leftover roasted chicken and even leftover pulled pork!
As always, write any questions or suggestions in the comments. You can also find us on Facebook or Instagram.
Other Cold Salad Recipes To Try:
These delicious, high-protein salad recipes you can make easily at home. Take a look today and make them tomorrow:
- Delicious Shrimp Salad: Fresh and delightfully different, I add my shrimp salad to lettuce wraps just like in this turkey salad recipe.
- The Best Egg Salad: I rarely call anything "the best," but this recipe is the highest-performing recipe on my site, and I stand by calling it the best egg salad recipe too.
- Curried Egg Salad: Looking for something different than a traditional egg salad recipe? Give my curried egg salad a try, and you'll never look back.
- Rotisserie Chicken Salad: If you've got some leftover rotisserie chicken, making this chicken salad recipe is easier than you might imagine!
- Low Carb Tuna Salad: This is one of the most popular recipes on this website! It is an amazing recipe for tuna salad.
FAQs
Absolutely. Turkey salad can be even more delicious than chicken or egg salad if you love turkey. The easiest way to make turkey salad is to start with leftover turkey.
Turkey salad will be at its peak freshness within the first five days of being refrigerated in an airtight container. After that, any excess liquids may need to be drained off and refreshed with mayonnaise. All turkey salad should be discarded after seven days of refrigeration.
Yes. Adding cranberries is a great way to use any leftover cranberries or cranberry sauce depending on the turkey salad recipe. Add sparingly to the turkey salad mixture, taste, and adjust.
Southwest Turkey Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 cups turkey cooked and diced
- ⅔ cup mayonnaise link
- ½ cup celery diced
- ½ cup green pepper diced
- ¼ cup pine nuts toasted optional
- ¼ cup black olives diced
- 2 tablespoons chipotle hot sauce
- 2 tablespoons cilantro minced
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper ground
Instructions
- Dice and measure out all of the ingredients.
- Transfer everything into a large mixing bowl.
- Stir gently with a silicone spatula until everything is well-coated and resembles a flavorful turkey salad.
- Taste the salad and adjust the seasonings to suit your liking.
Notes
Nutrition
“This website provides approximate nutrition data and information for convenience and as a courtesy only.”
4 Responses
Perfect! Now I know exactly what I’ll do with my leftovers!
Hi Mark:
I've been making roasted turkey breasts recently because my family has been asking for this recipe- I just know you're going to love it.
Take care and have a great day in the kitchen-
Scott
My husband and I made this yesterday with all the leftover turkey from Thanksgiving. We used flour tortillas instead of lettuce cups because we are not strict on low carb. The actual turkey salad was wonderful.
Hi Tracey:
I'm glad that you made it work out with the tortillas... sounds like a delicious way to use your leftover turkey! Hope that you had a fantastic Thanksgiving! Thanks for writing and have a great day in the ktichen-
Scott