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Put your leftover turkey (or chicken!) to work in this easy Turkey à la King recipe. It’s comfort food at its finest: tender chunks of roasted turkey, peas, carrots, celery, all simmered in a white wine cream sauce.
Ingredient notes:
- White wine: Choose a light-bodied dry white (such as sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio) that you enjoy drinking. Use more broth instead of the wine, if you prefer.
- Chicken broth: Make your own chicken broth or use store-bought. Or substitute turkey broth, if you have it.
- Turkey: Leftover roasted turkey or substitute cooked chicken.
Step-by-step instructions:
- In a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat, heat olive oil until shimmering. Stir in onion, carrots, and celery and sauté for several minutes until softened.
- Stir in the flour and cook for about a minute. Pour in the wine and cook until the mixture thickens. Use a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan (this adds lots of flavor to the dish).
- Pour in the chicken broth and the cream. Cook for 5 minutes, until the sauce is very thick. Stir in the turkey, peas, and lemon juice. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring frequently, until turkey is heated through, about 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove the pan from the heat and garnish with chopped parsley. Serve immediately.
Recipe tips and variations:
- Slow cooker: In a 3-quart slow cooker, stir together cream, wine, chicken broth, flour, and 1 teaspoon salt until smooth. Stir in turkey, celery, carrots and onion. Cover and cook on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours or LOW for 7 to 8 hours. Stir in peas and lemon juice, then cook 30 minutes longer or until heated through. Garnish with parsley.
- Make ahead: The recipe comes together in almost no time, but if you need to make it ahead of time, add the peas when you reheat the dish, to keep them bright.
- Freezing: The cream sauce freezes well. Let the recipe cool, then portion, label, and date. Before reheating, let the dish thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
Serve with:
- Homemade biscuits (shown above)
- Mashed potatoes
- Buttered noodles
- Baked Rice
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Turkey à la King
Put your leftover turkey (or chicken!) to work in this easy Turkey à la King recipe. It's comfort food at its finest: tender chunks of roasted turkey, peas, carrots, celery, all simmered in a white wine cream sauce.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 1 carrot peeled and finely chopped
- 1 celery rib finely chopped
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup dry white wine (see note 1)
- 1 1/2 cups chicken broth (see note 2)
- 2 cups cooked turkey cut into 1-inch pieces (see note 3)
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup frozen peas
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice from 1 lemon
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley minced, for garnish (optional)
- Biscuits for serving
Instructions
- In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat oil until shimmering. Add onion, carrot, and celery and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
- Stir in flour and cook 1 minute. Add wine and cook until thickened, scraping up any browned bits, about 1 minute. Stir in the broth and cream. Cook until the sauce is very thick, about 5 minutes.
- Stir in turkey, peas, and lemon juice. Reduce heat to simmer and cook, stirring frequently, until turkey is heated through, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, season to taste with salt and pepper, and garnish with parsley if desired. Serve on toasted bread or biscuits.
Notes
- White wine: Choose a light-bodied dry white (such as sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio) that you enjoy drinking. Use more broth instead of the wine, if you prefer.
- Chicken broth: Make your own chicken broth or use store-bought. Or substitute turkey broth, if you have it.
- Turkey: Leftover roasted turkey or substitute cooked chicken.
- Slow cooker: In a 3-quart slow cooker, stir together cream, wine, chicken broth, flour, and 1 teaspoon salt until smooth. Stir in turkey, celery, carrots and onion. Cover and cook on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours or LOW for 7 to 8 hours. Stir in peas and lemon juice, then cook 30 minutes longer or until heated through. Garnish with parsley.
- Make ahead: The recipe comes together in almost no time, but if you need to make it ahead of time, add the peas when you reheat the dish, to keep them bright.
- Freezing: The cream sauce freezes well. Let the recipe cool, then portion, label, and date. Before reheating, let the dish thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
Nutrition
Calories: 403kcalCarbohydrates: 14gProtein: 23gFat: 26gSaturated Fat: 12gCholesterol: 137mgSodium: 435mgPotassium: 463mgFiber: 2gSugar: 4gVitamin A: 3583IUVitamin C: 22mgCalcium: 69mgIron: 2mg
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Meggan Hill is the Executive Chef and CEO of Culinary Hill, a popular digital publication in the food space. She loves to combine her Midwestern food memories with her culinary school education to create her own delicious take on modern family fare. Millions of readers visit Culinary Hill each month for meticulously-tested recipes as well as skills and tricks for ingredient prep, cooking ahead, menu planning, and entertaining. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the iCUE Culinary Arts program at College of the Canyons.
Using the cream substitute add way too much liquid, from the butter, to make this thick. More flour is needed if using milk substitute. There are much better versions of basically turkey and veggies in a bechamel sauce.
Hi Yolanda, I’m so sorry the substitute didn’t work out for you! Thank you for the feedback, I’m adding it to my list to test. I’m so sorry again – Meggan
I tried this recipe with leftover turkey.It was so tasty! I agree about not putting more wine for liquid too. My husband really liked it! I will be making this again.
This was so good