Can you use leftover turkey instead of chicken in a pie?
Yes, leftover turkey substitutes for chicken in any pie recipe at a straight one-for-one swap by weight. Because roast turkey is drier than poached chicken, make the sauce a little looser and fold the meat in off the heat. Use refrigerated leftovers within 3 days and bake until piping hot throughout.
By the chickenpie.net test kitchen · Published 31 July 2026
A straight swap, with one adjustment
Turkey and chicken behave almost identically in a pie, so every quantity, temperature and timing stays the same: swap cooked turkey for cooked chicken gram for gram. A 23cm pie takes 500 to 600g of picked meat.
The one difference is moisture. Roast turkey, especially breast, starts drier than the poached chicken most recipes assume. Compensate with an extra 50 to 100ml of stock in the sauce and a slightly heavier hand with the cream. Brown meat from the legs needs less help and brings more flavour.
The same swap works in the other direction for hand pies and turnovers as well, where firmer roast meat actually holds its shape better than soft poached chicken does.
Safety with leftovers
Leftover turkey should be cooled within two hours of carving, refrigerated, and used within 3 days. If it has already been frozen and defrosted, it still makes a fine pie, but the finished pie should then be eaten rather than refrozen.
The pie itself must come out of the oven piping hot in the middle, at 74C (165F) or above at the centre of the filling. A deep pie straight from the fridge can need 40 minutes at 200C (400F) to get there, so probe the middle rather than trusting the colour of the crust.
Making it taste deliberate
The best turkey pies do not read as a Christmas clean-up job. Lean into flavours that suit the bird: leeks, smoked bacon, chestnuts if you have them, and a sauce built on stock simmered from the carcass.
Tarragon and creme fraiche also flatter turkey, and a spoonful of leftover cranberry sauce on the side does the same job redcurrant jelly does for game pies. Any pastry works, but puff gives a lighter finish that balances the denser meat.