Jeff Mauro's 3-Ingredient Sauce For Juicy Reheated Turkey

After the holidays, most people find their fridges stockpiled with foods like green bean casserole, sweet potato, and pumpkin pie. While you could turn those dishes into Thanksgiving leftover sandwiches, that's not the only way you can enjoy them. While many leftover turkey recipes taste like a second plate of the same dinner, chef Jeff Mauro, owner of Mauro Provisions, has a go-to way to use leftovers that introduces new flavors to the turkey. 

Daily Meal spoke exclusively with Mauro at the Food Network New York City Food & Wine Fest, where he explained his three-ingredient sauce for leftover turkey. All you need to do is mix leftover cranberry sauce with BBQ sauce and a little stock, then simmer your leftover dark meat in this delicious combination.

The sauce adds both flavor and moisture to the leftover turkey. Mauro explained, "This gently heats the sensitive turkey without drying it out and gives it a sweet and sticky BBQ vibe." This new take on leftover turkey opens up plenty of ideas for tasty dishes in which to use it.

While turkey stock is ideal for matching the flavor of the meat, you could also use a low-sodium chicken broth for a similar flavor when making your cranberry BBQ sauce. Or, substitute vegetable stock in a one-to-one ratio. By adding BBQ sauce, you'll get a touch of smoke. If you like an intensely smoky sauce, you can also experiment by adding a dash of liquid smoke (wondering what makes it smoky? Daily Meal has you covered). Or, if you like spice, add a splash of hot sauce to balance the sweetness.

Once you have your sweet and sticky simmered turkey, you can use it as an ingredient in a variety of dishes. One choice might be to use it to make pulled BBQ turkey for sandwiches, topped with crunchy coleslaw and aioli. You could also use it as a filling for tacos, burritos, or quesadillas. Instead of topping your nachos with pulled chicken or pork, why not juicy BBQ turkey? Whichever way you go, it's a flavor-packed combo that's bound to be a winner.