Pasta bake is a fantastic way to use up leftover Christmas turkey. Leftover Turkey Pasta Bake is cheap, easy to make and super tasty. It’s also a great way to use leftover veggies and even cheese.
Using up leftovers is like my thing. I love coming up with new family dinner recipes to use leftover meat and veg.
It’s a great way to save money and avoid waste, but it’s also a good way to try new things without having to spend money on lots of ingredients.
Leftover Turkey is a festive staple. Most of us spend the week between Christmas and New Year eating turkey sandwiches and turkey curry.
I like to do more with my leftover turkey meat. This Easy Leftover Turkey Pasta Bake is an awesome way to make the most of your leftover turkey.
It’s super tasty, filling and also a great way to use extra veg like broccoli as well as turkey.
Ingredients for Leftover Turkey Pasta Bake
- Red Onion
- Garlic
- Bacon – Or swap with leftover ham if you’ve got any. Turkey and bacon pasta bake is yummy, but if you prefer you can skip this entirely.
- Leeks
- White Wine – Something dry. You can swap this for chicken stock if you prefer, but wine gives it a great flavour.
- Crème Fraiche. I use 50% less fat. I use a lot, so prefer the lower fat option. Because it’s 50% less fat instead of fat-free, it doesn’t curdle like fat-free yoghurt would. I would still recommend removing the pan from the heat before stirring it in.
- Tarragon
- Dijon Mustard
- Peas – I use frozen peas, you can add leftover vegetables too.
- Pasta – I use rigatoni or something similar. You want ridges for the sauce to stick to, instead of smooth pasta. When I make pasta bake I pre-cook pasta to half the time it states on the package, which is about 5 minutes.
- Leftover Turkey – You can use legs, thighs or breast meat. Use whatever you’ve got left for your leftover turkey pasta bake.
- Cheese – I keep things simple with a nice mature cheddar and some parmesan. You could use red Leicester, double Gloucester or mozzarella, or a combination of whatever you’ve got. You could even sprinkle over some blue cheese if you’ve got it. Christmas always means lots of cheese in our house, so experiment with whatever you’ve got in.
Bulking Out Turkey Pasta Bake
500g of leftover turkey is ideal, but if you’ve got less, that’s ok. Use what you’ve got.
Adding bacon bulks it out and adds flavour. You can also add ham, turkey and ham pasta bake is amazing. You can also add any leftover veggies that you might have, such as broccoli, or sprouts.
Baking Leftover Turkey Pasta Bake
This Cheesy Turkey Pasta Bake is so simple, you really don’t need anything special or any special skills to make it.
I bake this Turkey Pasta Bake Recipe in a large cast-iron dish. It’s flameproof and ovenproof, so you can fry everything on the hob and then just transfer it to the oven to bake without having to swap pans.
If you don’t have anything suitable for the hob and the oven, use a large frying pan and then transfer to an ovenproof dish to bake.
Other Leftover Turkey Recipes
If you want more ways to use up leftover turkey you might want to try:
- Egg Fried Rice with Leftover Turkey Thighs
- Leftover Turkey Risotto
- Turkey Stroganoff
- Leftover Turkey Ragu
- Classic Turkey Curry
- Leftover Turkey Flatbread Pizzas
- Leftover Turkey Pasta with Cranberry Sauce
- Leftover Turkey and Mushroom Pie
Leftover Turkey Pasta Bake
Ingredients
- Cooking Spray (or a splash of oil)
- 1 Red Onion (Finely Diced)
- 1 Clove Garlic (Crushed)
- 2 Leeks (Sliced)
- 300 g Unsmoked Bacon (Chopped into 1-2cm pieces)
- 500 g Cooked Turkey (Or as much as you’ve got, chopped into chunks)
- 200 ml White Wine
- 300 g Half Fat Crème Fraiche
- 1 Teaspoon Tarragon
- 1 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard
- 150 g Frozen Peas
- 250 g Pasta (Something like Rigatoni)
- 20 g Parmesan (Grated)
- 60 g Cheddar Cheese (Grated)
Instructions
- Cook the pasta to the package instructions, but for half of the time, usually around 5 minutes, drain and set to one side.
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (fan assisted).
- Heat the oil in a large flameproof, ovenproof dish over medium heat on the hob
- Fry the onions and garlic for 3 minutes, stirring often, until soft.
- Add the bacon and leeks and fry for 5 minutes, stirring often.
- Add the cooked turkey and pour in the wine.
- Stir and simmer for 3 minutes, stirring often.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the crème Fraiche, tarragon, mustard and peas.
- Return to the heat and bring to a simmer, stirring often.
- Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Remove from the heat.
- Stir through the pasta.
- Sprinkle on the parmesan and cheddar.
- Bake uncovered in the oven for 30 minutes until the cheese is melted and browned.
Notes
- I use rigatoni because the sauce sticks in the ridges, instead of running off.
- Add leftover veg with the peas if you have some.
- Swap bacon for ham if you have leftovers.
- If you don’t have a dish that’s suitable for on the hob and in the oven, start in a large frying pan, before transferring to an ovenproof dish to bake.
Any nutritional information is given as a general guide only and may not be accurate. The information is provided using an online calculator and is specific to my ingredients. Please make your own calculations if you want precise information.
