Turkey Tacos w/Cranberry Salsa (Thanksgiving Leftovers)

Turkey tacos are a delicious twist to taco Tuesday, especially when you use Thanksgiving leftovers to make them!

Not sure what to make with your Thanksgiving leftovers? Try this quick and easy recipe for turkey tacos with cranberry salsa.

When it comes to food, for the most part, I’m a purist. Aside of my obsession with all things bacon, I usually stick to traditional dishes for holidays like Thanksgiving. The Thanksgiving leftovers have specific duties. For example, pumpkin pie for breakfast the next morning. Turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce sandwiches for lunch – CHECK!

This year, I woke up on the day after Thanksgiving with a craving for Mexican food. So, I set my mind into motion, digging through the fridge to take inventory of the leftovers on hand.

Using cooked turkey, cranberry sauce, celery from my relish tray, and some shredded lettuce, my turkey tacos were in motion.

There were flour tortillas and a can of black beans in my pantry. I pulled a cup of corn niblets out of the freezer to thaw, too. Jazzing up the cranberry sauce with jalapeno became cranberry salsa.

After making the salsa, I chopped up cooked turkey, roma tomatoes, and an avocado. I drained and rinsed the black beans, warmed up my tortillas in a skillet, and assembled the yummi turkey tacos.  To take them over the top with goodness, use a bit of shredded cheese and/or sour cream.  Personally, I like the taste of cranberry salsa so much, I skipped those extra toppings. Which also avoids unnecessary fat and calorie consumption. Plenty of those were consumed on Thursday!

I served the turkey tacos with Spanish rice, but that’s just the purist in me at work again.  If you want, these can be served with any leftover stuffing you have on hand.

No matter which way you eat them, I hope that you enjoy the turkey tacos!

Another great dinner recipe that uses leftover turkey, is Turkey Pumpkin Pasta. The recipe calls for ground turkey, but I’ve made it with pieces of cooked turkey and it’s just as delicious!

Turkey Tacos with Cranberry Salsa

ground turkey tacos topped with cranberry salsa. A great way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. Use shredded leftover Thanksgiving turkey for a great leftovers meal, too!

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Course: Main Dish

Cuisine: Mexican

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Servings: 8 tacos

Calories: 350kcal

Ingredients

For the TACOS

• 8 corn or flour tortillas
• 1 tbsp Butter , or avocado oil
• 4 cups cooked turkey, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 15 oz black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup frozen corn niblets, thawed and drained
• 2 cups lettuce, preferably iceberg, shredded
• 2 avocados, peeled and sliced

OPTIONAL TOPPINGS:

• shredded cheese
• Sour cream

For the CRANBERRY SALSA

• 1/2 cup cranberry sauce
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves
• 1 lime, zested and juiced
• 1 jalapeno, seeded and coarsely chopped CAUTION! Be careful not to touch or rub your eyes when handling jalapeno peppers. They can burn your eyes!
• 1/2 white onion , coarsely chopped and microwaved for 1 minute to soften
• 1/4 cup diced red bell pepper
• 1/4 cup diced green bell pepper
• 1/2 cup Mexican-flavored canned tomatoes, drained and chopped
• salt and black pepper, to taste

Instructions

• Heat the oil in a large frying pan (preferably cast iron) on medium high heat.
• Unless you are using freshly made homemade tortillas, you will need to soften them first.
• Working one or two at a time, fry it in the hot pan for a few seconds on both sides. NOTE: Most commercially made tortillas will bubble up a little when cooked like this.
• Fill the warm tortillas with turkey, lettuce, black beans, corn, avocado, and other toppings, as desired. Top with cranberry salsa and enjoy!

To make the CRANBERRY SALSA

• Place the cranberry sauce, cilantro, lime zest, lime juice, jalapeno pepper, onion, red and green peppers, tomatoes, salt, and pepper in a food processor and pulse until blended, but still chunky.

Nutrition

Serving: 1taco | Calories: 350kcal | Carbohydrates: 43g | Protein: 19g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 39mg | Sodium: 94mg | Potassium: 747mg | Fiber: 11g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 9.5% | Vitamin C: 28.6% | Calcium: 5.9% | Iron: 14.4%