A lunchroom favorite turned into a cozy comfort food! Turkey Slop is shredded turkey in a homemade pan gravy ladled over creamy mashed potatoes. This is a delicious way to use leftover Thanksgiving turkey!
If you went to junior or high school where I did you are keenly aware of what turkey slop is.
For those of you who didn’t, Turkey Slop was this delicious lunch item on our schools cafeteria menu. It was the BEST and right up there next to beef sticks, tostadas and French toast sticks.
What is turkey slop? Essentially it’s shredded turkey in a savory gravy over mashed potatoes and was my husband’s FAVORITE hot lunch served. On those days Pat would get triple lunch (yes, that’s a thing) where he would get 3 serving of turkey slop, taking up 95% of his styrofoam lunch tray. It was obscenely hilarious.
Being the good wife I am, over the years since we’ve been out of high school to make him a homemade version of turkey slop. Early on I used cream of chicken soup (GROSS!) and then as the years went on and I discovered how to make a lusciously creamy pan gravy by using butter and flour and broth and milk and even though it’s not an exact replica of our cafeteria fave but it’s definitely a fancy yet not-so-fancy version.
I admit that it doesn’t look like much but it’s a scrumptious way to use up leftover turkey. Because shredded turkey gravy over creamy mashed potatoes with homemade dinner rolls to swipe the bowl clean with, is the coziest, comfort food in all the world.
And we love it.
If you don’t have leftover turkey, the good news is that you can make this anytime of the year, by using turkey breasts or tenderloins. You can poach, roast or pan fry them and then simply shred them into bitesize pieces. However leftovers from Thanksgiving are always best.
With that said, you will need 4 cups of shredded cooked turkey.
Start by melting 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter in a 10-inch skillet over medium-low heat.
Then, once melted and the pan is heated, throw in a cup or so of finely diced yellow onion.
After about 8 to 10 minutes the onions should be tender, go on and add in 2 cloves minced fresh garlic and cook for 1 to 2 minutes.
Next add in 1-1/2 teaspoons of a good quality poultry seasoning. You can find my homemade version in my cookbook [affiliate]!
Then sauté for about 2 minutes to soften the herbs and bring out their delicious herbaceousness.
Next sprinkle in 2 tablespoons of flour, stir and cook the flour for 2 minutes.
Then pour in 2 cups of turkey stock (or both).
And then pour in 1 cup of whole milk.
Next, ring to a bubble and simmer until thickened.
Lastly add in the leftover turkey and season with salt and black pepper, to taste.
Finally, spoon the creamy and saucy turkey and gravy over top of creamy mashed potatoes.
We like to serve with buttery corn, and if at all possible leftover green bean casserole and homemade dinner rolls. Lots of them.
Happy Day After Thanksgiving!
Enjoy! And if you give this Turkey Slop recipe a try, let me know! Snap a photo and tag me on twitter or instagram!
Turkey Slop
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 cup finely diced yellow onion
- 2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
- 1½ teaspoons good quality poultry seasoning
- 2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2 cups turkey stock, or broth
- 1 cup whole milk
- 4 cups leftover shredded turkey
- kosher salt, to taste
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 4½ cups leftover mashed potatoes, approximately
Instructions
- Melt butter in a 10-inch deep sided skillet over medium low.
- Once melted add in onions and saute until softened, about 10 minutes. Add in garlic and cook 2 minutes.
- Next add in the seasoning and cook for another 2 minutes.
- Sprinkle in flour and cook for a minute or two before pouring in the turkey stock and whole milk. Bring to a bubble over medium heat until thickened.
- Add in turkey, season with salt and pepper to taste and spoon over warm, creamy mashed potatoes.
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THANK YOU in advance for your support!
My youngest son, who does not care for turkey, says this is the only way he would eat it, and he’d skip the potatoes.
Of course I am laughing at the title. My husband used to call anything of that nature—-a mixture of stuff—-burgoo. Then I found out that really is a term. I thought he made it up. Well I love the recipe and the blog. And lastly since it was over mashed potatoes, I game!
Only you could make slop look so good!
Made this for lunch today. Delish! Thanks for the recipe, all the other leftover recipes just weren’t sounding good enough to get back into the kitchen.
Will be making this for the 3rd time tonight! My kids absolutely love this with buttered egg noodles. And it seriously couldn’t be easier thanks to my grocery roasting Turkey breast in the store now! Sa-weet! Thanks for another keeper 🙂
I just made this for dinner. Soooo easy and delicious!
Yay! I’m so glad! ❤️
My family loved this! I used a whole organic rotisserie chicken and chicken broth and it turned out great! I thought the gravy was too thin but once you add in the meat, it is very thick and filling! Made with mash potatoes and salad. My 15 month old went to town on this! She had it 3 times and finished the leftovers!
Thank you so much for posting this delicious recipe. I had forgotten all about turkey slop. It was one of the few school lunches worth buying back in the day. I Made a big batch and froze most of it. We had it again for dinner today. It was every bit as good as the first time we had it.
Oh you’re SO welcome Leslie!! I’m so happy you like it as much as I do! ❤️
I had leftover turkey from Easter and made this. It was easy and delicious. My husband and three kids all enjoyed it. It was a cool evening too so it really hit the spot. Great comfort food recipe.
That’s great, Judith! Thanks for coming back and leaving a note 🙂
I call this cat food gravy and my kids love it so did my husband I have access to the schools kitchen so I get to see how they make their food. They use canned turkey chunks and the glass jars of gravy and the Idaho instant potatoes. This is of course only at my kids current school. Not sure on how or if they add spices to there food most times not.
Funny! I always wondered how they made it. I suppose this is a more gourmet version of what schools serve .
I loved this recipe. I made a few tweaks only because I was out of salt. I used some soul food seasoning I bought a few months back that I found to be to salty. I’ve been using it sparingly because I’m trying to cut back on my salt intake. The gravy came out incredible and I served over rice instead of potatoes. Great job and keep up the good work!!
I’ve been looking for this recipe for ever!!!
Thank you for sharing your recipes love them can’t wait to try
I remember this meal from high school. Didn’t know what it was called and I certainly didn’t get 3 servings but it was definitely delicious. Thanks for the recipe
I hate this, it gave my 7 children diarrhea, i have 1 bathroom. DO YOU KNOW HOW BAD TURKEY DIARRHEA SMELL, In conclusion 10/10 perfect meal.
This turkey recipe turned out fantastic! I did decide to cook it a couple of days early and just took all the meat off the bones and stored it in a giant zip lock bag with the broth. Put it in the crockpot on Thanksgiving day. Son in law said it was the best turkey he had ever had and please visit us: https://www.beckandbulow.com
We make a version of this ALL the time with various leftovers, be it pot roast with beef gravy, pork roast with a brown gravy, rotisserie chicken with chicken gravy, etc. It’s one of the best ways to use up leftovers!
I love this recipe! I’ve made it several times. I use my home canned chicken drumsticks in this recipe. It always turns out great, hubby and kids devour it. Rarely do we have leftovers. The only con of the recipe is thay It’s so good, no leftovers LOL. Then I have to make dinner again the next day.