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Transform your leftover Thanksgiving turkey into wonderfully crispy and juicy taco filling
By
J. Kenji López-Alt
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J. Kenji López-Alt
Culinary Consultant
Kenji is the former culinary director for Serious Eats and a current culinary consultant for the site. He is also a New York Times food columnist and the author of The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science.
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Updated August 31, 2023
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Why It Works
- Boiling the already-cooked turkey meat first makes it extra tender.
- Pan-frying shredded, cooked meat adds crisp texture and complex flavors.
I’m writing this after four solid days of roasting and smoking turkeys by sunlight and painting the walls in my house by moonlight. The last thing I want to do right now is write a long article. It's also going to be published the morning of Thanksgiving, which means that the last thing you'll want to do is dig into a long article. I think we can come to a mutually beneficial agreement here, so I'll keep it snappy, and you'll have the chance to dig into a tasty taco that much faster tomorrow.
Here's what you need to know: You can transform your leftover turkey meat into wonderfully crispy and juicy shreds that are a dead ringer for carnitas, minus all the lard and time involved. This is a technique I discovered by accident a few years back, when I decided to see what would happen if I fried up the shredded meat I'd picked off the turkey carcass that I'd just used to make stock.
Extreme deliciousness is what happened.
The technique works best with leftover dark meat from the thighs, drumsticks, wings, and scraps picked from the carcass, which I simmer until it's falling-apart tender. I pretty much always use my turkey carcasses to make soup or stock, which means that I always have plenty of that boiled meat available. If you don't typically make soup or stock yourself, you can simply simmer your leftover dark meat in nearly enough water to cover, along with a few traditional carnitas flavors: sour orange, onion, and bay leaf.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/__opt__aboutcom__coeus__resources__content_migration__serious_eats__seriouseats.com__images__2015__11__20151124-turkey-carnitas-recipe-2-8a39a92b292e41d884ab6e8be3057061.jpg "Leftover Turkey \"Carnitas\" Recipe (3)")
After that is the easy part. Take that tender double-cooked turkey, shred it up as finely as you'd like, then fry it. You want a good amount of oil in the pan—at least a couple of tablespoons—in order to give the turkey some extra succulence. If you have access to some duck, turkey, or chicken fat, all the better.
Make sure to season the turkey with salt while it's in the pan. Not only will the salt cling to it better, but when you inevitably start stealing pieces of crispy turkey out of the skillet, those stolen bites will at least be seasoned properly.
The real keys here are to use a nonstick or cast iron skillet (you want all the brown, sticky bits to cling to the turkey, not the pan) and to cook the turkey longer than you think is necessary. As bits start to crisp up, fold them over and gently stir them back into the rest of the meat. Continue doing this until the turkey is as crisp as you'd like (I like mine quite crisp).
And that's about it. A super simple technique that creates delicious carnitas for any dish that calls for them, including tacos, burritos, quesadillas, and nachos.
Of course, I won't blame you if it all disappears from the pan before it ever even gets to the table. Pro tip: Blame it on the dog.
Recipe Details
Leftover Turkey "Carnitas"
Prep5 mins
Cook75 mins
Active20 mins
Total80 mins
Ingredients
- Any amount leftover cooked dark-meat turkey (thighs and drumsticks) (see note)
- 1 orange, preferably sour, per pound (450 grams) of leftover turkey meat, quartered (see note)
- 1 medium onion (about 6 ounces; 175 grams) per pound (450 grams) of leftover turkey meat, quartered
- 2 bay leaves per pound (450 grams) of leftover turkey meat
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, chicken fat, turkey fat, or duck fat per pound (450 grams) of leftover turkey meat
- Kosher salt
Directions
Combine turkey meat (with bones if available), orange, onion, and bay leaf in a pot that fits them snugly. Add enough water to cover halfway. Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce to a bare simmer and cook until turkey is fall-off-the-bone tender, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Discard orange, onion, and bay leaves and drain turkey well. Shred turkey and discard bones.
Heat oil or fat in a cast iron or nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add turkey and spread into an even layer. Cook, without moving, until meat is well browned and crisp on the bottom, about 5 minutes. Stir turkey to incorporate the crisp bits and introduce new soft bits to the bottom. Continue this process until the turkey is as crisp as you like it (I like mine quite crisp). Season with salt.
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Notes
You can make this recipe from scratch by roasting turkey legs in a 400°F (200°C) oven until they reach an internal temperature of 165°F (74°C) (45 minutes to 1 hour), then proceeding as directed. Meat picked from the scraps of turkey used to make stock can also be crisped in a skillet and deliver delicious results. After making turkey stock or soup, remove some dark meat, shred it, and proceed as directed in step 2. Sour oranges can be purchased in a Latin market or well-stocked supermarket.
- Turkey Mains
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