Skip to Content

Creamy Hot Turkey Sandwich with Leftovers

Creamy Hot Turkey Sandwiches are delicious comfort food. Our Open Faced Turkey Sandwich transforms leftover turkey into a meal everyone will love in only 3 steps.

Top down photo of crusty bread topped with creamed turkey filling on a gray plate. A fork sits next to the sandwich.

Hot Turkey Sandwiches have a creamy tender filling that is more flavorful than when it was first cooked.

It’s one of our favorite ways to repurpose leftover turkey and has been known to save a dry turkey dinner.

This filling can be made with minimal leftovers or several. We’ll show you how!

Top down photo of crusty bread topped with creamed turkey filling on a gray plate. A fork sits next to the sandwich. A bowl of the filling sits in the background.

HOW LONG IS LEFTOVER TURKEY GOOD FOR?

According to USDA, refrigerate leftovers within two hours. Keep hot food hot and cold food cold until then. They have a lot of handling tips that are very helpful as well.

It’s important to use your leftover turkey as soon as possible. Most leftovers can be kept for three to four days in the fridge.

If you have more food than you plan to eat within four days, freeze within two hours after it’s cooked.

Ingredients

This list of ingredients makes the creamy filling from scratch.

  • Turkey – You can use this recipe all year long with chicken too.
  • Broth – We often make turkey stock for my homemade Turkey Dressing Recipe. You can use canned chicken broth too.
  • Cream – We love the richness that cream brings to creamed-based fillings.
  • Butter – You can use salted or unsalted. We don’t use butter substitutes but that is our preference.
  • Flour – All-purpose flour is used as a thickener for our Hot Turkey Sandwich filling.
  • Seasoning – Salt and pepper.
    • You can use herbs such as sage and oregano too.
Top down photo of crusty bread topped with creamed turkey filling on a gray plate. A fork sits next to the sandwich. A bowl of the filling sits in the background.

Variations

~Add your turkey to leftover gravy if you’re lucky enough to have some.

~You can also add turkey to cream of chicken soup for a quick meal.

~Add chopped vegetables to the filling. Saute them separately and add them to the filling when you add the turkey. We love the crunch and flavor added celery and onion add.

~Add a dollop of leftover cranberries to the top of the open faced Turkey Sandwich for a sweet and savory contrast.

How to make it – 3 simple steps

Blue bowl filled with creamy hot turkey filling for hot turkey sandwiches.
  1. Melt the butter in a large skillet. Add the flour and whisk until smooth.
  2. Whisk in the broth into the flour mixture and when it comes up to a simmer add the cream. Cook until the sauce begins to thicken.
  3. Stir in the turkey and season with salt and pepper. Heat through.

I’ve included a short video in the recipe card to show you the thickness of the filling. We didn’t want it as thick as gravy but thick enough to be creamy.

Serving options for open faced turkey sandwiches

You have a lot of options here. We like using crusty bread such as our Overnight Sourdough Bread. We’ll toast it with a slather of butter. It makes our Hot Turkey Sandwich an experience and not a meal using leftovers.

However, if you have leftover rolls or biscuits such as these Black Pepper Biscuits or delicious One-hour Dinner Rolls, you can use them too. Sweetened rolls such as the Hawaiian rolls make a great sweet and savory combination.

Skip the bread and serve this over your leftover mashed potatoes or dressing!

How to reheat and store

Turkey filling can easily be reheated on the stove or in the microwave.

Immediately refrigerate any leftovers and use them within 4 days from the day they were initially cooked.

Turkey filling can be frozen in an airtight container for 3 months.

Pin it!

Crusty bread topped with creamy turkey filling on a gray plate.

What to serve with Hot Turkey sandwiches

In our humble opinion, this is a meal in itself. Follow it up with a piece of leftover pumpkin pie! Here’s a few more ideas.

You don’t have to serve your turkey sandwich open-faced. We do so we can load on the filling!

You can put this filling between two pieces of bread and cover it with leftover turkey gravy.

More delicious recipes for Thanksgiving Leftovers

O.k., I’ll say it. I like Thanksgiving turkey leftovers probably more than the carved bird on Thanksgiving.

Especially when they’re creamy flavorful comfort food like our Hot Turkey Sandwich with leftovers.

3/4 angle photo of crusty bread topped with creamed turkey filling on a gray plate. A fork sits next to the sandwich. A bowl of the filling sits in the background.
Top down photo of crusty bread topped with creamed turkey filling on a gray plate. A fork sits next to the sandwich.

Hot Turkey Sandwich

Author: Julie Menghini
Creamy Hot Turkey Sandwiches are pure delicious comfort food. Our Open Faced Turkey Sandwich quickly transforms leftover turkey into a meal everyone will love.
4.45 from 9 votes
Prep Time 15 minutes
15 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Course Main Course, Sandwich
Cuisine American
Keyword: Leftovers, Turkey Sandwich
Servings: 6

Ingredients
 
 

  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • cup turkey broth Chicken stock can be substituted
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp ground pepper
  • 1/2 cup cream
  • cups turkey shredded, diced or chopped

Instructions
 

  • In a large saucepan, melt the butter and whisk in the flour. Continue whisking until smooth.
  • Whisk in the broth into the flour mixture. When blended whisk in the cream. Season with salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Add the turkey.
  • Serve over bread, potatoes, or dressing.

Video

mv

Notes

The nutritional calculations do not include bread.
 

Nutrition

Calories: 308kcalCarbohydrates: 5gProtein: 14gFat: 26gSaturated Fat: 15gCholesterol: 110mgSodium: 616mgPotassium: 192mgFiber: 1gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 797IUVitamin C: 4mgCalcium: 27mgIron: 1mg

Nutritional Disclaimer

This recipe was calculated using the exact brands and measurements I used to make this recipe. If you are following a strict diet please note changing anything will cause the nutritional info to change. My calculations are intended as a guide only.

Tried this recipe?Let me know how it was!
Two photo collage for Pinterest. Top photo is a gray plate with an open-faced turkey sandwich. The bottom photo is a bowl of the hot turkey filling.
4.45 from 9 votes (6 ratings without comment)
Recipe Rating




Cindy

Friday 8th of December 2023

can you make this in the crockpot?

Julie Menghini

Saturday 9th of December 2023

Absolutely, Cindy. You'll still want to thicken the cream before adding everything to the crockpot. For super easy recipe, you can combine the turkey with cream of chicken soup with 1/2 can of cream or milk and put it in the crockpot.

dan England

Monday 20th of November 2023

Thank you. Is cream Heavy Whipping Cream or Half and Half cream?

Julie Menghini

Monday 20th of November 2023

Hi Dan! Heavy Cream or Heavy Whipping Cream is the same thing. Half and Half cream is half the cream of the others. Either of these creams or even milk will work in this recipe.

MICHAELA KENKEL

Wednesday 25th of November 2020

My word! These were delicious! Best leftover recipe EVER!

Julie Menghini

Wednesday 25th of November 2020

Thank you, Michaela!

Nikki Lee

Sunday 22nd of November 2020

I look forward to leftovers every year! These creamy sandwiches are perfect!

Julie Menghini

Sunday 22nd of November 2020

Thank you, Nikki!

Deb Clark

Friday 20th of November 2020

YUM!! I think leftovers are the best part of Thanksgiving just because of recipes like this! Bring on the turkey - I love these creamy sandwiches!

Julie Menghini

Sunday 22nd of November 2020

I totally agree! Thank you!

As Seen On