What better way to use up your leftover Turkey than in an elegant meal like Turkey ala King? This delicious dinner recipe will make you look like a master chef, especially if you serve it a few days after an already successful Thanksgiving meal!
Want to make sure your Thanksgiving is perfect? Be sure to cook your Turkey using my no-fail Turkey in a Bag recipe. You will never do it any other way again!
The Ultimate Leftover Dish – Turkey Ala King
Ready to blow the minds of your family and friends? This dish will do it! You’ll be coming off of a super successful Thanksgiving dinner, especially if you used some of my Grandma’s Thanksgiving Recipes and this recipe is a killer way to make use of those Turkey leftovers (it’s also delicious, obviously!).
Time to chop up those leftovers, throw that puff pastry in the oven and get ready to impress your taste buds.
Turkey Ala King Ingredients
Don’t forget to look at the recipe card at the bottom of the page for all of the ingredient amounts needed here.
• Butter
• White onion
• Sliced button mushrooms
• Diced carrots
• Minced garlic
• Turkey broth (or chicken if unavailable)
• White wine
• Celery salt
• Dried thyme
• Heavy cream
• Cornstarch
• Chopped leftover turkey or cooked turkey breast
• Frozen green peas defrosted
•Chopped jarred pimentos
• Salt & pepper
• Vol au vent puff pastry shells
How To Make Turkey ala King
• In a large, deep-sided skillet with a tight-fitting lid, melt the butter and sauté the onions, mushrooms, and carrots until the onions are soft
• Add in the garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 2 minutes
• Pour in the turkey stock (you can use chicken as well if you can’t find Turkey stock), wine, celery salt, and thyme
• Simmer for 20 minutes with the lid on top until the carrots are tender
• Whisk together the cream and cornstarch, and then whisk into the skillet, continue until there are no lumps and the mixture is smooth
• Mix in the turkey, peas, and pimentos, as well as the seasoning, and simmer with the lid on for 10 minutes
• While simmering, prepare the Vol au vent pastry according to the package instructions
• to serve, place the pastry on a plate, remove the pre-cut center circle and then ladle a large scoop of the turkey ala king into the center of the pastry, and then top with the reserved pastry circle
• Sprinkle with fresh parsley and serve
What Is Vol au vent Pastry?
By far, the oddest sounding ingredient in this recipe is the Vol-au-vent, which is different from a standard puff pastry or pie crust that you might have expected.
Vol-au-vent, or “windblown” in its original French, is basically just a puff pastry that has been formed into a small, hollow case, almost making a standing bread bowl out of puff pastry.
You can usually find some Vol au vent at the supermarket, but if you want to make it yourself, you can simply get some puff pastry and cut two circles into a fully rolled out sheet of puff pastry. From there, cut another hole in one of them and then stack the ring-shaped piece on top of the disc-shaped piece.
The use of Vol au vent is to make a convenient little pocket of pastry that you can use to fill with your chicken ala king.
Just be warned; Vol au vent is a lot more filling than you’d first expect, thanks to its butteriness.
What Kind Of Wine Should You Use For This Recipe?
Most turkey ala king recipes you find online use some sherry (or a type of sherry) as part of the liquid for this recipe, but this one uses white wine.
While the former would certainly be a good substitute for the wine if you happen to have it, the average person is a lot more likely to have some white wine on hand rather than a bottle of sherry, hence our choice to use the wine instead.
The key here is to add a little bit of acidity and depth of flavor, so the precise choice of alcohol isn’t as critical as one might think.
In fact, if you wanted to avoid alcohol in general, you could just a little bit of your preferred vinegar and maybe a little more turkey broth to add some depth of flavor as well.
Looking for more delicious Turkey recipes? Try these out:
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Turkey ala King
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup diced white onion
- 1 cup sliced button mushrooms washed
- 1 cup diced carrots
- 1 clove minced garlic
- 2 1/2 cups chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons white wine
- 1/4 teaspoon celery salt
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 3 cups chopped cooked turkey breast Or leftover turkey
- 1/2 cup frozen green peas defrosted
- 3 tablespoons chopped jarred pimentos
- salt and pepper
- 12 vol-au-vent puff pastry shells
Instructions
- In a large, deep-sided lidded skillet, melt the butter and saute the onions, mushrooms, and carrots until the onions are soft, around 15 minutes. Add in the garlic and saute until browned and fragrant, around 2 minutes.
- Pour in the turkey or chicken stock, wine, celery salt and thyme. Place the lid on top and simmer for another 20-25 minutes until the carrots are tender.
- Whisk together the cream and cornstarch, then whisk into the skillet, making sure to keep whisking until there are no lumps and the mixture is smooth.
- Mix in the turkey, peas and pimentos. Salt and pepper to taste. Cover again and simmer on low for 10 minutes.
- While the mixture is simmering, prepare the vol-au-vent pastry according to the package instructions.
- To serve, place a pastry on a plate,, remove the pre-cut center circle and set aside. Ladle a large scoop of the turkey ala king into the center of the pastry, then top with the reserved pastry circle. Sprinkle with freshly minced parsley and serve.
Shelly says
How many people would this serve?
Therese says
It was great, I added extra fresh veggies and duck fat it’s has no fat ,and no sugars it’s better then butter and I would
use Ghee it’s butter only it’s organic and grass feed cows. I did add extra spice it was really yummy.! Big Thanks Great recipe!