Easy Leftover Turkey and Noodles Recipe | Thanksgiving Leftover Casserole

Thanksgiving meals are filled with delicious traditional and new holiday recipes. But our eyes are always bigger than our stomachs; we cook too much food. Luckily, some recipes utilize holiday leftovers. We just need an easy leftover turkey and noodles recipe, one for crockpots, so it’s even easier.

Instead of eating Thanksgiving sandwiches daily, use that leftover Thanksgiving turkey to make the best leftover turkey and noodles recipe. What do you enjoy at your Thanksgiving dinner?

Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, or maybe some dinner rolls. We all have our holiday traditions and maybe even some family recipes. Those recipes are the perfect way to enjoy holiday dinners, but the recipes always make too much food.

The side dishes can quickly be narrowed down to feed those in attendance. We can’t really help it with the turkey; we have to guesstimate how much is enough for everyone. We make that guess based on what others have experienced.

People suggest using 1.5 pounds per person attending. Hearing that, do you think you could eat 1.5 pounds of turkey plus a nice helping of the rest of the dishes? The answer is most likely no, not after eating Thanksgiving appetizers, drinking, and Thanksgiving side dishes.

We are left with Thanksgiving leftovers that are too damn good to throw away. Instead, we store the leftover turkey in an airtight container and pull from it to make open-faced sandwiches all week.

These sandwiches utilize every dish we had on Thanksgiving and are delicious. But they get old quickly, and turkey won’t last forever in the fridge; we need another recipe for turkey leftovers.

That is when we turn to the easy leftover turkey and noodles recipe or the best way to use leftovers. You can utilize a couple of your leftovers in this recipe. And each one will be revitalized as it cooks with the rest of the ingredients.

This is not a casserole per se, but it is much like a leftover Thanksgiving casserole recipe. Think of it as a comforting casserole filled with fond memories of family Thanksgiving together.

Easy Leftover Turkey and Noodles Recipe Ingredients

• Frozen Leftover Turkey: This recipe utilizes a crockpot. We don’t want to overcook turkey; we all know what will happen if we do. The turkey should be frozen before being placed in the crockpot so that it won’t overcook.
• Cream of Mushroom Soup: The mushroom soup will add flavor and moisture to the turkey, helping to keep it tender and juicy like dark meat. The end result is a creamy turkey casserole the whole family will love.

• Splash of Milk: Milk is not only an excellent way to add liquid to the dish. Milk is used in recipes to add thickness to the liquid. It is an easy way to get a creamy sauce in the ultimate leftover Thanksgiving dish. 
• Frozen Vegetables: Here is where we can get a bit creative. Frozen veggies are an easy choice because of the crockpot. We can also freeze our leftover green bean casserole dishes to add to the mix instead. 

• Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Black Pepper, Poultry Seasoning: The turkey has been seasoned, so why season it again? The original seasoning won’t be as flavorful as it was initially. We need fresh seasoning to bring out the flavors of the ingredients. Great recipes require fresh seasonings.
• Uncooked Pasta: Leftover turkey recipes require a carb to bring them together. Turkey sandwiches are outplayed; instead, we want a delicious leftover turkey casserole recipe. Pasta is the only carb that can make this easy turkey casserole work.

• Chicken Stock: Chicken stock or chicken broth will both work here. Of course, the last thing we consider adding to turkey is stock from a rotisserie chicken. However, we need the extra liquid, and the turkey juices have surely been turned into gravy already. Unfortunately, leftover gravy won’t work for this purpose. We need something the noodles can absorb.
• Shredded Cheddar: We use white cheddar in the recipe pictures. However, any cheese you like will work great. You can use cheddar cheese of any color, or maybe try mozzarella or parmesan.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

The Thanksgiving meal was good, but we are finished with it by November 26.  Adding noodles gives the turkey a whole new look, texture, and flavor. It is almost like you made it with raw turkey, not leftovers, as if it were intentionally made.

Plus, the noodles add a good carb to the dish. What makes this easy leftover turkey and noodle recipe a family favorite? This easy recipe is a winner thanks to how it uses leftovers from a costly meal that we worked all day to make.

It is also a dump-and-go crockpot recipe. Cooking simply doesn’t get easier than dumping ingredients into a crockpot, turning it on, and closing the lid. The cook time might be a bit longer than we’d like, but that’s why we start the recipe in the morning and enjoy it for dinner.

We can also make substitutions to turn this recipe into something of our own creation.

Easy Leftover Turkey and Noodles Substitutions

The classic way to make a leftover turkey casserole dish is to use stuffing. You can easily replace the noodles in this dish for stuffing, essentially swapping out the carbs. Of course, you must have enough leftover stuffing to make this work.

The recipe calls for 2 cups of pasta for a unique Thanksgiving casserole recipe. You will need a bit more stuffing to make this work. The goal is to have the carbs absorb enough moisture so that the sauce is thick and not watery.

Start by adding 3 cups of stuffing and mixing it well. We can also get creative with the veggies we add to the mix since the prep time is so low. We can add things like frozen peas, leftover green beans, broccoli, or any leftover veggies we have from Thanksgiving.

The most important thing to remember is that they should be frozen when you dump them in a crockpot.

How to Make Thanksgiving Crockpot Casserole

Toss the frozen turkey, wet ingredients, and seasoning into the crockpot.

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

An hour before serving, add in the frozen vegetables, uncooked pasta, and chicken broth. Stir, cover, and continue to cook.

Top it off with shredded cheddar cheese, and then serve and enjoy!

More Recipes to Try

Best College Dorm Instant Pot Recipes | Crockpots help make casseroles easier to cook. But Instant Pots help people short on time and in smaller spaces. 

Easy Chicken and Rice Crockpot Recipes | Turkey isn’t the only meat you can cook in your crockpot.

Easy Crock Pot Mac and Cheese Recipes | Mac and cheese is always a good idea. No matter the time of year or the age of the consumer.

25 Easy Crockpot Pantry Meals | Comparable to leftover recipes, pantry recipes allow you to be a little lazy with planning dinner. 

Instant Pot Quotes for Instant Laughs | There’s nothing wrong with serving up dinner with a side of laughs.