Coronation Turkey (With Leftover Roast Turkey)
A festive twist on a classic British coronation chicken, that uses leftover roasted turkey instead of chicken. There’s some dried cranberries thrown in there as well!
If you’ve got some leftover roasted turkey, this is a fantastic way to use it up! This coronation turkey is incredibly easy to make, is full of flavour & is ideal for when you need a simple lunch or dinner to serve during the holidays.
This batch of coronation turkey is pretty much the same as a classic coronation chicken but with a few festive twists! As the name suggests, we’re using roasted turkey but there’s some dried cranberries in the mix as well, alongside the classic sultanas. I think roasted turkey actually works better than the poached chicken that you’d normally use, as it has a load more flavour. The sauce is packed full of flavour as well, plus it’s super creamy & tangy as well.
For more festive recipes, take a look at our collection of Christmas recipes! You’ll find all the classics here, including roast turkey, cranberry sauce, Christmas pudding, mince pies & lots more. Plus even more leftover recipes!
What You’ll Need
- Leftover Roast Turkey – This dish is designed to use up leftover roast turkey from your Christmas dinner (or Thanksgiving or Easter) & we’re shredding the meat up & serving it cold. I used leftovers from my roasted spatchcock turkey!
- Mayonnaise – The base ingredient for our coronation sauce. Full fat mayo works best.
- Greek Yogurt – We’re substituting some of the mayo with Greek yogurt, for an extra creamy texture & flavour. Feel free to use just mayo if you’d prefer though.
- Onion – You’ll need a white (or brown) onion for the coronation sauce base.
- Spices – We’re using mild curry powder & some turmeric for this coronation turkey. If you’d prefer some more spice, you could add in some chilli powder or use a hotter curry powder instead.
- Mango Chutney – Another classic coronation chicken/turkey component! Using a good quality mango chutney is best.
- Dried Fruit – Instead of just classic sultanas, we’re using dried cranberries as well, for a more festive flavour.
- Nuts – You can use toasted flaked almonds or macadamia nuts for this recipe or you can leave the nuts out completely.
- Herbs – I added some finely chopped chives & parsley to my coronation turkey, for added flavour & colour!
- Celery – Some finely diced celery adds some extra crunch!
How To Make Coronation Turkey
Coronation turkey is super easy to make, it’s pretty much just a case of mixing shredded, leftover turkey with a simple coronation sauce.
Speaking of coronation sauce, we make the base for this by cooking diced onions with curry powder & turmeric, to give it the signature vibrant yellow colour. Then once cool, we mix the onion base with mayonnaise, Greek yogurt, mango chutney, dried fruit, toasted almonds, diced celery, some fresh herbs & our shredded leftover turkey. That’s it!
Serving Suggestions
Coronation turkey (and coronation chicken!) is served cold & the most popular way to serve it is as a sandwich filling, with salad or as a jacket potato topping. However, it’s good with pretty much anything, so you could serve it with some steamed rice, roasted veg or crispy chips.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can use either white or dark turkey meat for Coronation turkey, or a mix of both! Just make sure to discard any bones or cartilage when shredding the meat.
As this recipe uses leftover, your Coronation turkey will keep in the fridge for 2-3 days, depending on when you cooked your turkey.
No, unfortunately Coronation turkey isn’t really suitable for freezing as the sauce will separate & become too watery once it has defrosted.
More Christmas Recipes To Try!
- Hot Honey & Sage Pigs In Blankets
- Sticky Toffee Glazed Ham
- Turkey Porchetta
- Leftover Turkey & Ham Slab Pie
- Sausage Roll Wreath With Honey Glazed Camembert
- Deep Fried Camembert
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Coronation Turkey
Equipment
- Large Mixing Bowl
Ingredients
- 600 g Leftover Roast Turkey (Shredded – See Notes)
Coronation Sauce
- 1 tbsp Vegetable Oil
- 1 White Onion (Finely Diced)
- 2 tsp Mild Curry Powder
- 1 tsp Turmeric
- 300 g Mayonnaise
- 150 g Greek Yogurt
- 100 g Mango Chutney
- 100 g Dried Cranberries
- 75 g Sultanas
- 75 g Flaked Almonds (Or Macadamia Nuts – Toasted & Chopped)
- 2 Celery Sticks (Finely Diced)
- 1 tsp Finely Chopped Chives
- 1 tsp Finely Chopped Parsley
Instructions
- First, place a small saucepan over a medium heat, add in the vegetable oil then leave to heat up for a minute. Once hot, add in the diced onion & a pinch of salt then cook, stirring frequently until soft. This will take around 10 minutes.
- Once the onion's cooked, stir in the curry powder & turmeric then cook for another 2 minutes, to cook out the spices.
- Transfer the onions to a large mixing bowl then let them cool down before making the coronation sauce.
- Once the onions are cool, add in all of the remaining ingredients then stir to combine. Season to taste with salt & pepper then serve!
