Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey Pesto Panini
This loaded panini is one of the perfect ways to use up your leftover Thanksgiving turkey!
Can you feel it? That anxiousness and excitement where you’re so ready for Thanksgiving that you can’t even sleep, eat or focus at work?
Or wait, is that just me?
I kind of think my anxiousness has taken over my better judgement though. I made cornbread last night so it could dry out for the chestnut-pancetta stuffing I’m planning to make today but at around 12:30AM where I “taste-tested” it, I knew that something was way off. And of course I realized I forgot the sugar.
This is the second time this has happened to me with cornbread. Ugh.
So I threw it out and started over. All at 1AM. To top it all off, I ran out of cornmeal with this second batch and I still need to make another cornbread today, which means I have to go to the grocery store the day before Thanksgiving.
Yeah, like I said, I get way too anxious.
Anyway, let’s talk about something more pleasant.
You can’t forget leftovers with this holiday, right? The part where you come home from Thanksgiving dinner with way too much turkey and have no idea what to do with it? Yeah, that’s when you make this. A full-on packed panini with homemade (or store-bought) pesto, avocado, tomatoes and ooey gooey melted mozzarella. And if you have some cranberry sauce left, feel free to throw some on there.
This may not be the moistmaker but it definitely comes to a close second!
Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey Pesto Panini
Ingredients
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a grill pan over medium-high heat.
- Spread 2 tablespoons pesto over 1 side of French bread and top with mozzarella, turkey, tomatoes, avocado and top half of bread. Repeat with remaining slices of bread.
- Add sandwich to pan and grill until the bread is golden and the cheese is melted, about 2-3 minutes per side.
Did you make this recipe?
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My husband loved this recipe so much, we have had it three times in the last week and a half. Thanks for this!
LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS ………. BUT ARE YOU USING A THINNER BAGUETTE AS YOUR BREAD OR A FULL SIZE FRENCH LOAF ? HARD TO TELL BY ANYTHING CLOSE-BY IN THE PHOTOS. A QUARTER CUP OF DICED TURKEY DOESN’T SEEM A LOT FOR A FULL SIZE BREAD PORTION, SO I’M GUESSING SMALLER BREAD.
THANKS FOR ALL YOU DO. THERE HAVE BEEN SOME REAL KEEPERS !!!
I used a smaller-size French loaf but you can certainly use a full-size and add more turkey as desired.
Made this last night – SO YUMMY!!!
I used artichoke spread and it was fabulous!!!!
Didn’t have pesto, used verde. Put a layer of dressing on too. Little splcy, but yum.
Hi there, I just recently posted a blog post about different ways to use Thanksgiving leftovers and this recipe was one of them! I was sure to link your post to it, but if you would like me to un-link please let me know! You can find the post here: http://seekingthesouthblog.blogspot.com/2014/11/18-ways-to-use-your-thanksgiving.html
Have a great day!!
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I made this last night for dinner using carved turkey from the market, and my daughter declared it the best sandwich she had tasted in her life. She’s 12, and she likes to eat, so that was quite impressive! Thanks for sharing the recipe! It was simple, quick and easy to prepare on a hot day! And it had great flavor!
I just made this for my family! Delicious!
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I will most certainly try this. Thank you for the recpe.
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This looks awesome. Great idea! I love thanksgiving leftovers.
The leftovers are the best part about Thanksgiving!