Cranberry Turkey Salad with Poppyseed Dressing

Packed with toasted pecans, sweet dried cranberries, and tossed in a creamy poppyseed dressing, this cranberry turkey salad is a fast and easy use for leftover turkey!

The leftover turkey sitting in your fridge called. It wants to be used in this dynamite turkey salad.

If you know what’s good for ya, you won’t ignore the call of the turkey. Things like this salad just make sense post-Thanksgiving week and your lunch game is about to get a serious upgrade.

You won’t need any fancy ingredients to pull off this salad either! A couple chicken salad-style basics like celery, fresh herbs, and green onions paired with some toasted pecans, dried cranberries, and a quick homemade poppyseed dressing is all we’ve got going on today.

It’s so simple, but man does it ever make one bomb salad. You may not want anything else for lunch ever again.

This Turkey Salad features…

• A sweet and creamy poppyseed dressing
• Juicy turkey cubes, crisp celery, and flavorful green onions
• Toasted pecans and sweet dried cranberries
• Ready in minutes and perfect for a make-ahead lunch

Making the Turkey Salad

(scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe)

Ingredients You Will Need

• Greek yogurt
• Mayonnaise
• Honey
• Apple cider vinegar
• Poppyseeds
• Turkey
• Celery
• Green onions
• Pecans
• Dried cranberries
• Parsley

How to Serve Salad

This salad can be served in a variety of different ways! Try serving it as a traditional chicken salad sandwich between warm slices of bread, piled into a wrap with greens, or as an actual salad served over mixed greens.

Tips for Perfect Turkey Salad

1. Use a mix of Greek yogurt and mayonnaise in dressing – I like to use a mix of both to give the salad that signature mayonnaise richness, but also keeping the calories lower by replacing some of it with Greek yogurt.
2. Cut turkey into uniform cubes – aim for 1/4-inch cubes so the chicken salad is easy to eat.
3. Toast pecans – toss the pecans around in a nonstick skillet over medium heat until they smell fragrant. This will give them the perfect crunchy texture in the salad.

Recipe Variations

Try these ideas for a different twist on salad.

• Use chicken – cooked chicken works great in place of the turkey.
• Try a different nut – toasted walnuts or almonds would be delicious replacements for the pecans.
• Swap out fresh herbs – fresh thyme, basil, dill, or rosemary all work great in place of the parsley.

Storing Turkey Salad

This turkey salad stores well in refrigerator up to 6 days. For best results, I recommend waiting to add the pecans until just before serving so they maintain their crunchy texture.

The flavors and textures in this salad all work absolutely flawlessly together! It’s got just the right amount of crunch from the celery and toasted pecans, a touch of sweetness from the dried cranberries, and it’s soooo creamy thanks to that bomb poppyseed dressing.

Whether you put it on a sandwich, in a wrap, or pile it on top of greens, you’re winning!

Save this recipe using the ‘save to recipe box’ button below. If you make it, please let us know! Leave a comment + star rating below, or take a photo and tag it on Instagram with #wholeandheavenlyoven.

Try these other uses for leftover turkey next!

• Turkey Orzo Kale White Bean Soup
• Caramelized Onion Turkey Brie Panini
• Turkey Butternut Squash Pot Pie