Leftover Turkey Nachos Salad Bowls will put Thanksgiving leftovers to use! A healthy leftover Turkey Nachos Salad recipe, loaded with roasted turkey, jalapeños, seasonal vegetables like sweet potatoes, blue corn tortilla chips, and a dairy free friendly salsa con queso topping! Wholesome, easy to make, and delicious!
Do you have a Turkey Hangover yet? Tryptophan, Sugar, and maybe a little bit of Cocktail overdose? If you don’t, you’re probably not American. Which is a smart move for the day after Thanksgiving. Haha! Speaking of non Americans, I’m married to one and we didn’t eat Turkey this year. I actually made Lamb stew and Salmon. Not that we don’t ever eat turkey, but I’d say we prefer our Turkey in some form other than whole bird. Like say Turkey Chow Fun Zoodles, Turkey Chili, or Leftover Turkey Nacho Salad! Loaded Turkey Nachos Salad with all the seasonal veggies, sweet potato, blue corn chips, jalapeños, and my vegan salsa con queso. Yep, you get my point now, right? Leftover Turkey recipes are the best, especially ones in BOWL form. .
These Leftover Turkey Nachos salad bowls just might be the most EPIC way to use leftover turkey; smoked, oven baked, or roasted turkey, you name it! Don’t worry, it works with lefotver roasted chicken, ham, or even a roasted chickpea and nut mix!!
Before I dive into this bowl of goodness, I thought I would get into a nerdy post Thanksgiving nutrition fact. Oh my goodness, is that lame or what? But hang with me here, it’s been a while since I’ve shown my nerdy side. Corny, yes, but nerdy nutrition has been absent. Time to bring that back. Plus it will justify your turkey and sweet potato casserole consumption, kinda.
Nutrition Tip –> Turkey (rich in the amino acid Tryptophan) is an essential amino acid that acts as natural mood stabilizer. It’s a precursor to the neurotransmitter Serotonin and Hormone Melatonin. Exactly what you need to DE-STRESS before Holiday shopping, right? Kidding. But stress free eating has it perks.
The other nerdy tip is that when you eat starchy vegetables or carbohydrates with Tryptophan (like mashed potatoes, carrots, or quinoa pilaf!) then an increase in insulin (sugars) is created, removing the entrance of other amino acids that compete with tryptophan. That means tryptophan gets to the brain faster. (source)
You see? SO COOL! So let’s not forget the Turkey, even in the form of Turkey lefotver this year. Turkey sandwich, Turkey Nachos, Turkey stir fry! It’s all good!
What you need to make Loaded Turkey Nachos Salad Bowls:
- Leftover Turkey (Roasted, Oven baked, or Smoked, etc.)
- Sweet Potato
- Blue Corn Chips and/Sweet Potato Chips
- Broccoli or Cauliflower
- Carrots and/or Zucchini
- Avocado
- Cilantro
- Spinach or kale
- Jalapenos
- Tomatoes
- Vegan Queso (made in 10 minutes with leftover food you probably already have!) or queso cheese of choice.
- Lime
You basically make the queso first with potatoes, carrots, tomato, and cauliflower. Then build your Nacho salad bowls starting with the greens at the bottom, veggies, tortilla chips, turkey, avocado, and spicy peppers and cilantro to finish.
Then pour that nacho cheese goodness on top! Healthy and probably 10 servings of vegetables right there Like whoa!
Loaded Leftover Turkey Nachos Salad Bowls {Dairy Free Option}
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 2 bowls 1x
Description
Utilize leftover turkey and vegetables with these quick and wholesome loaded salad bowls! Gluten free and dairy free friendly.
Ingredients
- 3 to 4 cups leafy greens (spinach, kale, etc.)
- 1/2 cup to 2/3 Cup Salsa Con Queso cheese (My vegan salsa con queso recipe or gluten free pre-made queso of choice, see notes)
- 1 cup diced cooked sweet potato (peeled or skin on)
- 1 cup Broccoli Floret or Cauliflower florets (raw or cooked)
- 1/2 cup sliced carrot (ribbon cut or julienne cut)
- 1/2 cup sliced zucchini (ribbon cut or julienne cut)
- 15–18 Blue Corn Tortilla Chips or Sweet potato chips
- 6 –8 ounces shredded or diced Roasted or Smoked Turkey (leftovers turkey or even Ham work great!)
- handful of sliced Grape Tomatoes
- 1/2 avocado, sliced
- 1 jalapeno, sliced (de-seed if you don’t want spicy)
- Sea salt and Pepper to taste.
- 1/2 cup to 1 cup Fresh Cilantro to Garnish
- 1 tsp Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
- Garlic Powder (to taste)
- Lime -sliced into wedges
- Drizzle of olive oil (optional)
Instructions
- First, make sure your vegan queso is made. It’s SUPER easy and only takes 10 minutes. Made with leftover ingredients like potato, carrot, cauliflower, and canned tomatoes. Recipe is here. BUT If you don’t want to make it, no problem. You can use regular queso of choice. I recommend Pacific foods if you are wanting a quick alternative. It’s not dairy free though.
- Place queso in microwave safe bowl and cover. Heat in 30 second increments, stirring between, until queso is warm. Set aside.
- Load up your Leftover Turkey Nacho Bowls. Divide your ingredients evenly into two or 3 bowls, starting with the leafy greens. You can also just use one large serving bowl
Then add the cooked sweet potato, cauliflower, carrots, zucchini, tomatoes, your tortilla chips, leftover turkey, avocado slices, jalapeno, and cilantro. - Sea Salt/pepper to taste.
- Add a tsp of red pepper flakes to each bowl. Optional Garlic powder to sprinkle.
- Squeeze a lime wedge over each salad bowl.
- Scoop your queso on top of each bowl, warmed. Drizzle with olive oil if desired.
DIVE IN!
Notes
This is one super easy salad bowl. You can use turkey, chicken, ham, or even chickpeas for the protein boost.
Both my vegan queso recipe and regular salsa queso have about the same calories. The difference is the vegan queso will be lower in saturated fat and cholesterol.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: main
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bowl
- Calories: 440
- Sugar: 9g
- Fat: 15g
- Saturated Fat: 2g
- Carbohydrates: 38g
- Fiber: 10g
- Protein: 29g
- Cholesterol: 73mg
Keywords: leftover turkey, salad, gluten free, low carb dairy free, grain free
Now let’s eat up and then all take a nap. Mmm k?
Cool!
P.S Did you know that salmon and chickpeas are also loaded with tryptophan? Just in case you don’t have leftover Turkey. Phew!
Tell me what your eating with your leftovers! I love new ideas.
p.s This grain free potato bread is also a great way to eat leftover mashed potatoes. OMG it’s soooo filling though. WARNING! Haha.
Cheers,
i love. ty for shared
Ok, now I officially know what my Thanksgiving leftovers meal will be next year…?
I’m all about anything that gets the destress foods to the brain faster, and I’m all about leftovers when they look as sexy as these. You are my food person. I get you.
You are my food person and idol. I get you and LOVE YOU!
Leftover turkey recipes are the best – and I love your nerdy nutrition facts!
We love the nerdy facts Lindsay and we are all about these bowls of deliciousness. Fresh and delicious way to revive those leftovers.
Oh thanks friend! I’m glad you like my nerdiness! Haha. You’re the best!
This looks absolutely scrumptious! And what I love is that you have snuck in some broccoli! Nice, I love the stuff and I don’t think I have ever added it to nachos before so I might just have to give it a try. Thanks
It’s like broccoli cheddar in nacho bowl form! Haha. Thanks Lizzie
You know we didn’t do that bird…. but I do love your bowls. I think this one would be great with chicken. Or lamb if I’d remembered to ask for some leftovers. Argh.
My boyfriend was talking last night about eating more tryptophan. I told him I’ve been secretly putting it in all his meals so he would sleep better. He had no idea what I meant. LOL Hope you had a happy holiday!
Haha I love that! classic
Wow this is a totally loaded bowl; we love turkey in our house, but your meal of lamb stew and salmon sounds so delicious too Lindsay; and by the way, I LOVED your caption about recapping the year on Instagram. <3 You are such a gem sister.
Thank you friend! So glad to have you in my life, virtually! hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving
Though I don’t have any leftover turkey, as I did not celebrate Thanksgiving in Toronto, I will definitely remember this for Christmas! I am easily won over with your yummy ideas.
Oh well for that, I am grateful! And I am SO grateful that you commented. GOOD to hear from you my friend.