Butter Turkey Curry
If you like butter chicken then you will LOVE Butter Turkey Curry. It's the best way to use your Thanksgiving (or Christmas) turkey dinner leftovers!
Put your hand up if you LOVE butter chicken! I thought you might. That's why I made us butter turkey curry.
It is going to be a staple Thanksgiving leftovers recipe.
The sauce is almost the exact same as the one in my Easy Butter Chicken recipe. When something is this good, it's best not to mess with it too much.
Why you're going to love butter turkey curry:
- The most delicious, creamy butter chicken sauce.
- So good you'll want to eat it by the spoonful. At your kitchen counter.
- This is not a Thanksgiving leftovers recipe that leaves you feeling like you're eating leftovers. It's a leftovers recipe for people who don't like leftovers.
- The bigger pieces of pulled turkey make this so much better than a ground turkey curry.
- It's a healthy, gluten-free, and paleo dinner recipe.
What do you normally do with all your Thanksgiving or Christmas leftovers? I always try to save enough turkey for at least one sandwich with lots of mayo, salt, and pepper, and if I've got some in the fridge, arugula.
The turkey bones I make into stock. As we're cleaning up from dinner, I put the bones in the crockpot, fill it with water, and turn it on. When I wake up in the morning, the turkey stock is ready.
The rest of the leftovers I try to make into something else. These are a few of my favorite Thanksgiving leftover recipes:
- Blue Cheese and Roasted Brussels Sprouts Pizza
- Cheesy Leftover Mashed Potato Cakes
- Leftover Turkey Carnitas with JalapeƱo Pineapple Salsa
This turkey curry is joining the list of favorites.
How do you make leftover turkey curry?
Armed with some leftover turkey, a few pantry staples, and about 30 minutes, you can easily make this turkey curry.
- Cook the onion until it is well browned.
- Add some garlic, ginger, and spices then some tomatoes and water.
- Simmer simmer simmer then blend.
- Make it creamy with some almond butter and coconut milk or yogurt and sweeten the sauce just a touch.
- Stir your leftover turkey into the sauce then dig in!
It's a super easy way to up your leftover turkey game.
Leftover Turkey Recipes:
- Healthy Creamy Turkey Mushroom Soup
- BBQ Turkey Pizza with Pineapple Salsa
- Crockpot Leftover Turkey Bolognese
- Thai Coconut Turkey Soup
- Easy Homemade Turkey Soup
Butter Turkey Curry Recipe
If you love this recipe as much as we do, let us know with a 5-star rating!
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil
- 2 yellow onions, roughly chopped
- 3 tablespoons chopped ginger
- 6 cloves garlic, crushed
- 28 ounce can of crushed or diced tomatoes
- 1 lb cooked turkey, shredded
- Ā¼ cup cream, yogurt, or coconut milk
- 2 tablespoons almond butter
- 2-4 tablespoons coconut sugar
- Sea salt, to taste
The Spices
- tablespoon garam masala
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- Ā¼ to 1 teaspoon chili powder, depending on how spicy you like your curry
- seeds from 4 cardamom pods
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and let it cook until it is well browned, about 10 minutes. While the onion is cooking, place all the spices into a small bowl.2 tablespoons cooking oil, 2 yellow onions, tablespoon garam masala, 1 teaspoon ground turmeric, 1 teaspoon ground coriander, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, Ā¼ to 1 teaspoon chili powder, seeds from 4 cardamom pods
- Add the ginger, garlic, and spices to the pot and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and a half cup of water to the pot and scrape the bottom of the pot to remove any stuck on bits. Let the pot simmer, partially covered to reduce splatters, for 15 minutes.3 tablespoons chopped ginger, 6 cloves garlic, 28 ounce can of crushed or diced tomatoes
- Carefully transfer to a blender and blend on high until smooth. Return the curry to the pot, add turkey, cream (or yogurt or coconut milk),Ā almond butter, and sugar and heat through. Season to taste with sea salt.1 lb cooked turkey, Ā¼ cup cream, yogurt, or coconut milk, 2 tablespoons almond butter, 2-4 tablespoons coconut sugar
Notes
Pair with steamed basmati rice or cauliflower rice
Hi there. Did you use green or black cardamom, or does it matter?
We use green cardamom. It’s smaller and has a slightly stronger flavor. š
I didn’t have garam masala, so I just used yellow curry powder. I’m also not one to measure ingredients, so it wasn’t exact…but this combination of ingredients is so yummy!
This curry is really deliciousĀ
my family loved itĀ
cooking it again tonight , easy to follow
Thankyou xxx
This is really good and easy to make. Just making again!
I didn’t have almond butter so used ground almonds and butter! also added a little heavy cream. Lovely recipe this is now firmly in my Christmas leftover favourites.
This was such a delicious way to use up leftover turkey. Such a moreish flavour, i will definitely be making again. I didn’t have almond butter so used ground almonds and coconut cream instead of coconut milk. I also topped it with lots of fresh coriander and a squeeze of lime to freshen it up a bit. Can’t wait til next years leftovers.
Really enjoyed this ….. delicious. Ā I added a full can of coconut milk, 3 table spoons of sugar and balanced the sweetness with a good sprinkle of salt. Ā Yum.Ā
I doubled the measurements as I had a kilo of leftover turkey! I added red lentils, butternut squash and spinach and subbed sugar with mango chutney. Winner Winner Turkey dinner x
What would you recommend if you donāt have any almond butter at home? Ā
The almond butter adds richness to the dish without having to add a ton of cream. You could use another nut butter like cashew or tahini. I would stay away from peanut as it would dramatically change the flavor. Or you simply add more cream. š
This was a delicious way to change up that leftover Christmas turkey. We all really enjoyed it. I served it with steamed basmati rice and pappadams and sprinkled some cashews and chopped parsley on top. (I would have used coriander if Iād had some). Itās a winner!Ā
The butter turkey curry was outstanding even without the almond butter. Leftover Thanksgiving turkey became a scarce commodity after using it for this dish. I threw in a few fistfuls of baby spinach and served it with rice. The blender step is more mess than necessary because a wand blender accomplishes the same thing with no mess. Sign me up for your leftover turkey!
Can the sauce be frozen please. So it can be made in advance ?
Yes it can! It freezes very well. š
This is a great recipe. Easy to follow, tastes great, and the leftover turkey was moist & delicious. We didn’t have almond butter so substituted peanut butter. Thanks for posting!
Where can you find cardamom pods? Is there a replacement?Ā
They’re usually found in the spices aisle. You can also substitute 1/2 teaspoon of ground cardamom. If you can’t find them, you can omit them.
This was so good! Ā I so appreciated the clever swap of Almond butter from the tradition recipe with lots of regular butter. Ā Thanks.
I have never made Butter Chicken. These directions for leftover turkey were easy to follow and made a GREAT meal. I think the recipe is forgiving – as I didn’t have almond butter and substituted some homemade hummus and the curry was awesome (I make my hummus with garbanzo, generous tahini, garlic, lemon, and oil). I also have a 9 year old who currently refuses to eat anything ‘hot spicy’ so I subbed paprika for the chili powder. The dish was so flavorful and my spouse and I could put hot sauce on it. 4 generous servings. Just bang on delicious! Thanks for this, printed and saved in the family recipe book – right by all the other Thanksgiving favorites. Can’t wait to do this with chicken or even lamb!
This was so easy and tasty. Thanks for helping an expat Brit get his leftover turkey curry on!
Perfect! And I used veggies I needed use up
Love love love, Iāve made this so many times itās easy and very tasty, my whole family loves it xx
Kristen, thanks for the inspiration re ‘currying’ up currently frozen leftover Easter turkey!
I’m wondering though, what type of chili powder you mean: the mixed chili powder used in Mexican dishes, or the hot chili powder that’s only ground hot peppers (aka cayenne)? We have both at home.
For what it’s worth, this Vancouver family loves all things spicy ?. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
Cheers
I use the Mexican variety that you would use when making chili. But you could certainly add some cayenne as well to spice things up. š
Thanks Kristen!
Now all I need is some coriander powder, and turkey curry will be good to go here. Yaaay ?
You could also use some curry powder or an extra teaspoon of garam masala to avoid a trip to the grocery store. š
Wow – sooo easy to make. I had been doing this with ācurry kitsā and adapting them to my own kind of version of ābutter chickenā but this was quick and easy and was super kid-friendly since I could control all the heat/spice levels myself. Love it āthank you!Ā
You are very welcome!!
Hello. Will this still turn out without the Cardamom pods?
It will!
This is was sooo delicious. Made it with leftover turkey from Christmas, I didnāt think there was much flavour to start with but then when everything was added it really came together!
So happy to hear that the recipe was a hit!
Thanks for the recipe. Had a lot of leftover turkey post-Thanksgiving and this fit the bill. I used yogurt instead of coconut milk and added a jalapeno pepper to the onions and ginger. After blending (with an immersion stick) I also added some spinach for added greenery. I’d make this again.
Great call on the spinach. I bet that was really tasty!
I am SO happy I tried out this recipe! It turned out so delicious! My hubby loves it a lot! I cannot express how much I appreciate this recipe you shared to us! Thank you!
That’s so great to hear! I’m happy it was a hit!
This dinner was amazing! Topped with cilantro and served with coconut rice (used the rest of the can of coconut milk in rice cooker to make rice)
I’m so happy it was a hit!
this looks delicious! is it 2-4 Tbsp. of coconut sugar or tsp? it looks like the measurement was left out?
Tablespoons!
Is it 2-4 tablespoons coconut sugar or brown sugar?
It is! I’ve updated the recipe. š