Creamed Turkey (or creamed chicken) is a simple weeknight dinner that can be made with leftover turkey or chicken. It’s pure comfort food and completely delicious.
So, true story: up until about a week and a half ago, I was dead certain that today was the day after Thanksgiving. At the end of September, I wrote Thanksgiving into my editorial calendar as the 17th (because as everyone knows, Thanksgiving is always the 3rd Thursday of November) and just went on living my life, planning posts, doing whatever it is I do.
This was obviously not even a little correct, as I learned while trying to coordinate Thanksgiving plans with family, so what I’m basically saying is this recipe was supposed to come out the day after Thanksgiving, not a week before it. My stellar calendar and editorial planning skills strike again…
Properly timed or not, today’s recipe is pretty special to me because it’s not just one of my personal childhood favorites, it’s the childhood favorite of basically every other child who had the good fortune to attend my elementary school, it’s Creamed Turkey.
They served this in the cafeteria about once a month while I was there, and I really cannot overstate how big of a deal this lunch was. On Creamed Turkey Day (capitalized), almost nobody brought their lunches from home and teachers gave up their lunch hour to let us eat in the classroom, mostly because they were already staying on school grounds to eat creamed turkey too.
I’ve been told that it’s still served at the school but is no longer made from scratch in the kitchens, so who knows if current generations are still developing a taste for it with the same fanatical zeal, but I for one will always have a place in my heart (and on my plate) for creamed turkey.
So obviously I had to recreate it on the blog. And fortunately, I still have an in at the school and was able to get the basic recipe breakdown from one of the school’s longtime lunch ladies.
Turns out creamed turkey is suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuper easy to make. It’s basically cubed, cooked poultry + a roux + a little salt, pepper, and garlic. If you have leftover chicken or, I don’t know, turkey from any holidays we might have coming up, you can make this in about 8 minutes.
We were always served Creamed Turkey over mashed potatoes (if you don’t have a mashed potato recipe you love, give my No-recipe Homemade Mashed Potatoes a try). The internet tells me you can also serve creamed turkey over toast, which sure. If that sounds good to you, you do that. 😉
Creamed Turkey is really just pure comfort food, warm and filling. It’s rich, creamy, and just makes you feel good from the inside out, the way a bowl of chicken soup does on a cold day. Serve with a side of Butter and Garlic Green Beans or Panko Parmesan Broccoli, and your inner child will love it.
More Easy Comfort Food
Recipe Notes
- If you don’t have any cooked turkey or chicken on hand, go try out my recipe How to Cook Chicken Breasts to Use in Recipes, and make some! 😉
Creamed Turkey for Two
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons (1oz) butter
- 2 tablespoons (15g) all-purpose flour
- 1 cup milk any percentage
- 1/4 cup chicken broth
- 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
- Salt and white pepper to taste
- 2 cups (8oz) cubed, cooked chicken or turkey (warm)
Serve Over
- Mashed potatoes or toast
Instructions
- In a medium skillet over medium heat, melt butter. Whisk in flour and cook for about 30 seconds until golden.
- Whisk in milk and broth. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, until mixture begins to bubble and thickens to the consistency of thick gravy, 3 to 6 minutes.
- Remove from heat and whisk in garlic, salt, and pepper. Stir in chicken and allow to sit over very low heat until chicken is warmed through, about 5 minutes.
- Serve over mashed potatoes or toast.
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Cheryl L Pilcher says
ive been searching for recipe for my all-time sch lunch fav turkey n gravy. up in Washington our gravy sounded similar but the turkey at sch was kinda shredded from my memories. not cubed. i’ll try yours since it sounds yummy, i just may have to semi shred the meat lol
Cheryl says
Yes, another Washington kid here….the turkey was more shredded, no squared off chunks. Lol I’ll try this over the weekend. My all time favorite school lunch
Kim K. says
This was really yummy comfort food! I cooked one large bone-in chicken breast in the Instant Pot and cubed it for the filling, which we scooped over mashed potatoes. It would also be great over split biscuits or even as the base for individual pot pies! I added a bit of dried sage, thyme, and rosemary to the sauce, which upped the savory level. Thanks for an easy, warming weeknight recipe.
Tracy says
So glad you enjoyed it!!
Candy Egan says
It’s a (rare) overcast day in AZ where I live and decided to try this recipe but used some cooked chicken I had on hand. Had two lonesome red potatoes in the pantry, diced them and cooked them in salted water and and then mashed them with a fork on my plate and topped with the creamed chicken…yes, pure comfort food! Thank you! Love your recipes.
Jessica says
Cream Turkey!! I dream of this food! You feed my soul!!! I am absolutely going to try this!
Tracy says
Right!? LOL do it!! 😉
kaye says
About “Serve Over”…OMG!! How about over rice..or noodles?? Oh and yes those yummy, buttermilk biscuits 🙂 I always keep a supply of dried beef in my pantry. It’s something I grew up with and now hubby loves it too. Chipped beef gravy over biscuits. Now I have loads of ideas about what else can be served in gravy over any number of wondrous things..especially over a crusty on the outside, fluffy on the inside Buttermilk biscuit.
Thanks Tracy, you make cooking for one or two a total delight!!
Tracy says
Thanks so much, Kaye! And I’ll die on my cream turkey belongs on mashed potatoes hill, but I have to admit, buttermilk biscuits smothered in it do sound AMAZING. 😉
Linda says
I have to laugh. I start looking at one recipe, Then as I am reading, another interesting recipe pops up in the sentence, then I get sidetracked and go to that recipe. Long story short looking at one recipe turns into 5 recipes and I feel like I haven’t eaten a decent meal in weeks lol! I haven’t seen a bad recipe yet. I love your writing style and look forward to seeing what you come up with next. Keep them coming.
Tracy says
Aw, thanks so much, Linda!!
Jules says
My mother used to make this with chicken, tuna, turkey or chipped beef but she served it over buttermilk biscuits and mixed in pimento and petite pois (yuk to you but her favorite veg!). As children we all enjoyed it, and what an easy meal.
Love your site, thank you. As I cook for one, I have found so many good recipes. I actually discovered “Baking Mischief” by tapping in to my web browser “one overripe banana”… Wonderful mini muffins!
Tracy says
Thank you so much, Jules! Over buttermilk biscuits sounds amazing. I am going to have to try that next time. And yes, I am strictly anti-petite pois in my creamed turkey 😉 , but the addition of pimentos is very intriguing…
Courtney says
I grew up eating Creamed *Tuna* on Toast, and always loved it, even though practically everyone else outside my family thinks it sounds nasty. I’ll have to try the turkey version now! Yum! Perfect for leftovers.
Tracy says
Ha! I have to admit, I am not a fish person, so I would totally be in the ick camp! 😉
Tara says
I grew up on Tuna on Toast too! It was a huge favorite, although I’m not a huge fish fan. I thought we were the only ones 😛
Tracy says
You guys are almost convincing me to give Tuna on Toast a try. *almost* 😉
Kathy says
I also grew up with Tina, still make it today. Hubby doesn’t like hot tuna so it’s all mine!
Tracy says
Lol I can’t believe how many people grew up making this with tuna!! I had NO idea!!