Leftover Turkey Pie

Indulge in our comforting turkey pie recipe, a culinary creation that transforms leftover turkey into a family Boxing Day tradition.

I hope that everyone who celebrates Christmas had a spectacular one this year! 

• This December we celebrated our youngest’s birthday on the 21st with a big group dinner out.
• Next we celebrated with a pre-Christmas smorgasbord on the 23rd (as our daughter had to leave Christmas Eve for work in the Caribbean).
• After all that excitement we were happy to have a relaxing Christmas Eve, enjoying homemade Tourtiere. 
• On Christmas Day we enjoyed a big turkey dinner with all the “fixins” with our boys. What could be better? 

We followed up with a relaxing Boxing Day – eating leftovers, and recycling all of our packages and wrapping paper. One of my Boxing Day traditions is making turkey pie and turkey soup from the leftover turkey. 

Boxing Day

Boxing Day, celebrated on December 26th, is a traditional holiday observed in Canada and other countries in the British Commonwealth. One theory of it’s history, is that the day originated in medieval England when the wealthy would give “boxes” of food, or other essentials to their servants and those in need on the day after Christmas.

These days, Boxing Day is known as a post-Christmas shopping sale extravaganza. At the nearest Factory Outlet mall to our home, the major highway ramps had to be shut down because the traffic was so backed up that people were parking on the roadsides and walking to the mall. 

I am just plain happy to stay home and miss all that fun. Boxing Day at our house is all about relaxing, and “boxing” up those leftovers into turkey pie.

What to Do With Turkey Leftovers?

We enjoy eating leftover turkey and all the side dishes for a day or two after Christmas – but it’s nice to pack up some cooked turkey pieces into a delicious pie – to freeze and enjoy later. Turkey pie is a comforting and nostalgic dish. The rich, tender turkey meat, when combined with savory gravy and nestled within a flaky pie crust, blends a mixture of textures and flavours.

After our leftover feast, we had one turkey leg, two wings and some pieces of white meat leftover. My husband kindly cubed about 3 cups of cooked meat. We chopped up some vegetables to make a sofrito, added some broth and a bit of gravy – and threw it in a pie shell! 

This is a throw it together recipe. I have included a printable recipe card and instructions – BUT please make this with whatever you like. All measurements are approximate, because we make it with what we have!

How to Make Leftover Turkey Pie

• Cube about 3 cups of cooked leftover turkey

• Dice two stalks of celery, one large carrot and about 1/2 onion.
• Saute until softened – like a nice sofrito. 
• We had about 1/2 cup of chopped green onion leftover from something – and put that in too – but this is optional as green onion has a stronger flavour! I meant to use some mushrooms – and I forgot! My fridge is full of mushrooms.

• Add the turkey to the vegetables and stir in about two cups of broth. (Broth from the turkey – or chicken or vegetable broth)
• Simmer on stovetop

• Chop two potatoes into cubes and boil them until just softened.
• Drain and add to the meat and vegetable mixture.
• You could substitute leftover mashed potatoes or even rutabaga if you like!

• Use one pastry for a top and bottom pie crust. I always use my mother and grandmother’s pie crust recipe (link here), but you can use any pie crust recipe or a premade crust.
• Press the bottom shell into a 9 inch ceramic pie plate – pierce the bottom with a fork.

• Add two sprigs of fresh thyme and let the meat and vegetable mixture simmer for about 1/2 hour to reduce somewhat.
• Do you have leftover turkey gravy? If so, awesome. It will add lots of turkey flavour to your pie! Add leftover gravy (about one cup). 

• Ladle a little bit of liquid from the mixture into a bowl and whisk with 2 tablespoons of flour – and then return it to the mixture.
• Pour the whole mixture into prepared pie shell. (We could have made two thinner pies – but I wanted to make one deep dish!) 

The mixture was already well seasoned with the spices, salt and pepper that we had used on our Christmas dinner. Using the leftover gravy also added flavour. If you are preparing this and feel that your mixture could use some more flavour – please season with salt and pepper, thyme and sage!

• Roll out upper pie shell and place it over the top. 
• Crimp edges and pierce top with airholes.

Bake the pie in a preheated 425 degree F oven for 15 minutes, and then reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F – and continue baking for another 30 minutes until the pie is lightly browned.

We made our Boxing Day Turkey Pie fairly quickly with teamwork. As it baked we cleaned up more wrapping paper and enjoyed the comforting smell of the pie wafting through the house. We set the pie out to cool on the counter and left to walk the dog. I thought I would freeze it for a future meal. When we got home from the park, the pie was half gone!

I’m so glad the boys enjoyed the turkey pie – that’s what it’s there for afterall. Do you have a favourite turkey leftover tradition?

Happy Holidays to you – and I am looking forward to 2024! Hope you are too. 

Below is a printable recipe card from RecipesGenerator. Please give it a try!

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