Thanksgiving Pasta Salad
Turn your Thanksgiving leftovers into a comforting and satisfying mixture of textures and flavors with this vibrant pasta salad, featuring leftover turkey, crispy bacon, tender pasta, shaved veggies, and dried cranberries tossed with a creamy, homemade cranberry salad dressing. It’s the ultimate post-holiday meal, easily repurposing your feast into a cold, make-ahead lunch or dinner that’s even more delicious after the flavors meld in the fridge!
Perfect for the days following the holiday, this Thanksgiving pasta salad is the perfect way to reduce time in the kitchen, transforming your leftovers into an effortless, family-friendly meal.
Have fun making it your own by stirring in other leftovers, such as shaved Brussels sprouts or roasted sweet potato. The creamy cranberry dressing can easily be doubled for an extra saucy pasta salad or for you to store and brighten up other meals throughout the week!
What is Thanksgiving pasta salad?
This Thanksgiving pasta salad is a brilliant and delicious solution for your post-holiday meals, combining leftover cooked turkey and cranberries with al dente rotini, crispy bacon, and finely shaved vegetables. It’s all tossed together with a creamy and tangy homemade cranberry salad dressing (OUT OF THIS WORLD!) and left in the fridge for an hour for the flavors to soak into every bite.
Ingredients needed to make this Thanksgiving pasta salad
- Pasta: This holiday salad is made with rotini pasta, although bowtie pasta works just as well! Cook only until al dente to prevent it from becoming overly soft.
- Turkey: Thanksgiving pasta salad is ideal for using up leftover turkey from your festive celebrations. Chop or shred it for an even distribution throughout the salad.
- Finely shaved veggies: A delicious combination of fennel, red pepper, and red onion, providing a nutritional boost and irresistible crunchy texture.
- Bacon: Cooked and crumbled. Bacon pairs beautifully with turkey, adding extra protein to this turkey pasta salad.
- Dried cranberries: For chewy texture and a sweet-tart flavor. The dried cranberries also add a lovely festive pop of color to this holiday-inspired salad.
- Cranberry salad dressing: I love to make my own creamy salad dressings. This Thanksgiving salad dressing combines canned cranberry sauce (use your leftovers from TG!), mayo, sour cream, rice vinegar, Dijon mustard, celery salt, sugar, salt, and pepper. It’s incredibly easy to whip up and can be made up to a week ahead.
How do you make this Thanksgiving pasta salad?
Cook and cool the pasta:
- Cook the pasta according to the package directions.
- Drain and rinse the pasta with cold water.
- Set the pasta aside until cooled.
Prepare the vegetables and turkey:
- Using a mandolin, thinly slice the fennel, red onion, and red pepper.
- Pull or chop the turkey and make sure it’s small, bite-sized pieces.
Make the dressing:
- In a medium bowl, add the dressing ingredients and whisk together until combined.
- Season to taste with more salt and pepper if needed.
- Store in the fridge until ready to use.
Assemble the pasta salad:
- In a large bowl, add the cooled pasta, veggies, dried cranberries, turkey and bacon.
- Add as much dressing as you want and toss to combine.
- Place the salad in the fridge for an hour before serving to soak up all the flavors.
Serving
This Thanksgiving pasta salad is a complete meal with the perfect balance of protein, carbs, and veggies. Enjoy it for lunch or dinner alongside sliced Garlic Cheese Bread, Sweet Potato Fritters, Sweet Potato Buttermilk Biscuits, or leftover Sweet Potato Casserole.
Round off the meal with a holiday-inspired treat, such as Double Pumpkin Ice Cream Sandwiches, Cinnamon Roll Apple Pies, or White Chocolate Cranberry Blondies.
Sandy’s tips and substitutions:
- Storage: Store leftover Thanksgiving pasta salad in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Keep in mind that the fresh salad ingredients will start to soften and release their natural juices while stored. The homemade cranberry dressing can be stored separately in the fridge for 1-2 weeks. Give the creamy dressing a good stir/shake before using again.
- Al dente pasta: Only cook the pasta until al dente. I usually shave 1-2 minutes off the package’s suggested cook time to achieve the perfect texture.
- Cooling the pasta: Rinsing the cooked pasta under cold water not only removes excess starch so that the pasta doesn’t stick together, but it also helps to stop the pasta from continuing to cook while you prepare the rest of the salad components.
- Chilling the pasta: Assemble this pasta salad and then let it sit in the fridge for 1 hour before serving. This allows all of the flavors to meld together and intensify as it chills in the fridge. Trust me, it tastes the best when you follow this step. Just make sure to factor this extra time into your meal preparations.
- Double the recipe: Double this turkey cranberry pasta salad if you plan to serve a crowd or have extra holiday turkey that you want to use up.
- Cook in salted water: Always cook your pasta in salted water. It makes a huge difference to the overall flavor of the salad.
- Use a large bowl: Choose a large enough bowl to comfortably fold and toss the salad and creamy salad dressing together.
Variations:
- Type of pasta: Change the rotini pasta for your preferred choice, such as bowtie or whatever you have on hand.
- Gluten-free Thanksgiving pasta salad: Swap regular pasta for a sturdy GF variety like brown rice or chickpea pasta, which holds up well to dressings.
- Add other leftovers: Incorporate other leftovers from Thanksgiving into this pasta salad, such as roasted sweet potato, butternut squash, or shaved Brussels sprouts.
- Thanksgiving pasta salad with chicken: Leftover roasted chicken or rotisserie chicken is a great alternative to turkey, if preferred.
- Dairy-free cranberry dressing: Substitute the sour cream and mayo with an equal amount of dairy-free plain yogurt and vegan mayonnaise.
- Other delicious mix-ins: Add diced apple (Honeycrisp or Granny Smith), pears, nuts (toasted pecans or walnuts), seeds, and crumbled soft cheese (blue cheese, feta, or goat cheese).
Looking for more ways to use up leftover turkey and cranberries from your holiday celebrations? Don’t miss out on creating easy family snacks and meals like these Turkey and Cranberry Sliders, Turkey Potpie, or Turkey Cranberry Hand Pies.
More holiday-favorite salads you may want to try:
- Green Salad with Apples
- Turkey Pesto Pasta Salad
- Asian Chicken Cranberry Salad
- Poached Pear Salad
- Cranberry Salad with Grapes and Walnuts
Get the Recipe:
Thanksgiving Pasta Salad
Ingredients
For the Pasta Salad
- 12 oz rotini pasta, bowtie works great, too
- 2 cups leftover Thanksgiving turkey, shredded or chopped
- 1 cup finely shaved fennel
- 1 cup finely shaved red pepper
- 1 cup of finely shaved red onion
- 1 cup cooked and crumbled bacon, about 1 1/2 pound
- 1 cup dried cranberries
For the Cranberry Dressing
- 1 cup cranberry sauce, canned
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- ½ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup rice vinegar
- 1 Tbsp whole grain Dijon mustard
- 1 to 2 teaspoons celery salt
- 2 tsp sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- pinch of black pepper
Equipment
Instructions
- Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water; set aside until cooled.
- Using a mandolin thinly slice the fennel, red onion, and red pepper.
- Pull or chop the turkey and make sure it’s small, bite-sized pieces.
- In a medium bowl, add the canned cranberry sauce, the mayo, sour cream, mustard, rice vinegar, celery salt, sugar, and pepper. Whisk together until combined. Season to taste with more salt and pepper if needed. Store in the fridge until ready to use.
- Assemble in a large bowl the cooled pasta, veggies, dried cranberries, turkey and bacon.
- Add as much dressing as you want (depending on if you like it really saucy). Toss to combine.
- Place the salad in the fridge for an hour before serving to soak up all the flavors. Delish!
Notes
Sandy’s tips:
- Storage: Store leftover Thanksgiving pasta salad in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. The homemade cranberry dressing can be stored separately in the fridge 1 week. Give the creamy dressing a good stir/shake before using again.
- Al dente pasta: Only cook the pasta until al dente. I usually shave 1-2 minutes off the package’s suggested cook time to achieve the perfect texture.
- Cooling the pasta: Rinsing the cooked pasta under cold water not only removes excess starch so that the pasta doesn’t stick together, but it also helps to stop the pasta from continuing to cook while you prepare the rest of the salad components.
- Cook in salted water: Always cook your pasta in salted water. It makes a huge difference to the overall flavor of the salad.
Variations:
- Type of pasta: Change the rotini pasta for your preferred choice, such as bowtie or whatever you have on hand.
- Gluten-free Thanksgiving pasta salad: Swap regular pasta for a sturdy GF variety like brown rice or chickpea pasta, which holds up well to dressings.
- Add other leftovers: Incorporate other leftovers from Thanksgiving into this pasta salad – even stuffing!
- Chicken: Leftover roasted chicken or rotisserie chicken is a great alternative to turkey, if preferred.
- Dairy-free cranberry dressing: Substitute the sour cream and mayo with an equal amount of dairy-free plain yogurt and vegan mayonnaise.
- Other delicious mix-ins: Add diced apple (Honeycrisp or Granny Smith), pears, nuts (toasted pecans or walnuts), seeds, and crumbled soft cheese (blue cheese, feta, or goat cheese).
Hello and welcome to my home and table!
I’m Sandy—lover of food, family, cooking, THE BIG BOARD, travel, and bringing people together. Through great recipes and connection around the table, we become better, stronger, and more courageous people. Feasting on Life is real, and every time we do it, we grow a little more. Read more...
