Did you all have a great Thanksgiving? Good. Did you manage to survive Black Friday? Good! Do you still have leftover turkey in the fridge but are SO over another helping of leftovers, turkey sandwiches or turkey soup? GOOD, because if so, I have just the thing for you. This Five Spice Turkey Rice Noodle Salad is pretty much the farthest thing from Thanksgiving that still involves turkey, and that’s just what I love about it, because it’s light, bright, full of fresh veggies and herbs and teeming with some of my favorite Asian fusion flavors.

The turkey is bathed in a Chinese five spice and soy sauce dressing, and the salad is tossed with a sweet/tangy/spicy Vietnamese style chile-lime vinaigrette. It’s the perfect anti-Thanksgiving leftovers meal for when you’ve had just about enough of all things heavy and rich.I’ll let you in on a little secret, too: this recipe is a Trader Joe’s knockoff! I bought almost this exact salad a few weeks ago in the prepared foods aisle (TJ’s makes it with chicken), and when I ate it I immediately knew I could take it to the next level by bumping up the veggie and herb content, something I felt was seriously lacking in the store bought version.

Literally. There was ONE sad, measly strip of bell pepper in my salad. Get it together TJ’s.

And don’t get hung up on the fact that this recipe uses turkey. It happens to be super convenient for this time of year when leftover remnants of holiday meals are just begging to be used up, but honestly, make this salad ALL THE TIME with what you have on hand- chicken, beef, shrimp, tofu- because it’s that good and you will want to eat it ALL THE TIME.

5 from 2 votes

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Five Spice Turkey Rice Noodle Salad

This Five Spice Turkey Rice Noodle Salad is pretty much the farthest thing from Thanksgiving that still involves turkey, and that’s just what I love about it, because it’s light, bright, full of fresh veggies and herbs and teeming with some of my favorite Asian fusion flavors.

Course Appetizer, Main Course

Cuisine American

Keyword leftover turkey recipe, leftover turkey salad, salad with turkey

Prep Time 20 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Servings 4

Calories 450 kcal

Ingredients

For the salad:

• 1 teaspoon five spice powder
• 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 cup turkey shredded
• 8 ounces rice noodles
• 1/2 cup shredded carrot
• 1/2 cup bell pepper thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup cucumber thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup mint
• 1/2 cup cilantro
• 1/4 cup crushed peanuts

For the chile-lime vinaigrette:

• 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon chile garlic sauce or Sriracha

Instructions

1. In a small bowl, whisk together five spice powder, soy sauce, brown sugar and vegetable oil until sugar dissolves. Add turkey and toss to combine. Set aside.

2. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add rice noodles and remove from heat. Allow to sit for 8-10 minutes or until noodles have softened. Drain and rinse well, then add to a large bowl.

3. Add turkey, carrot, bell pepper, cucumber, mint and cilantro to bowl and toss with noodles.

4. To make chile-lime vinaigrette, combine rice wine vinegar, fish sauce, brown sugar, lime juice and chile-garlic sauce in a bowl and whisk until sugar dissolves. Toss vinaigrette with rice noodle salad. Top with peanuts before serving.

Recipe Notes

Don’t get hung up on the fact that this recipe uses turkey. It happens to be super convenient for this time of year when leftover remnants of holiday meals are just begging to be used up, but honestly, make this salad ALL THE TIME with what you have on hand- chicken, beef, shrimp, tofu- because it’s that good and you will want to eat it ALL THE TIME.