An easy, breezy way to use up your Thanksgiving turkey leftovers. If you’ve been following us for a while, you know we love to turn our leftover ingredients into simple yet exciting dishes of their own!
Turkey afritada is a Filipino American tomato-based stew consisting of turkey, tomato sauce, potatoes, carrots, and peas. This dish is a twist on Afritadang Manok (Chicken Afritada) and is an easy recipe to make in one pot.
Get ready to turn your post-Thanksgiving meal into feast number two! Read on for the recipe.
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Table of Contents
What is Afritada?
The dish Afritada originates from Spanish influence in the Philippines.
The word is derived from the Spanish word “fritada” (fried) since the meat is pan-fried as the first step in cooking. After pan-frying, the meat is braised in a tomato-based sauce.
Traditional afritada involves cooking chicken or pork, then braising it in tomato sauce or banana ketchup. Other main ingredients include potatoes, carrots, and peas.
Afritada is a casual, hearty meal that Filipinos enjoy making for family dinner.
In our Filipino American recipe, we had Thanksgiving leftovers in mind. Cooked turkey acts as our main protein, which we added at the end instead of pan-frying first.
Serve this with steamed white rice and let the tomato sauce soak into the rice!
Why You Should Make Turkey Afritada
Hearty and healthy – Our recipe is vegetable forward and uses many whole, unprocessed foods. You can also opt to use low sodium tomato sauce and turkey stock, and use leaner cuts of turkey.
Efficient and convenient– This one-pot recipe will use up your turkey leftovers, and uses low-cost ingredients!
Comforting – A warm stew with rice is perfect cozying up in fall and winter, don’t you agree?
What cut of turkey should I use?
This recipe gives you the flexibility of using whatever turkey you have, dark or light. You can also find pre-cooked turkey breast at your local grocery store.
During this recipe shoot, we used cooked turkey breast from Trader Joe’s. We’ve also used it using leftovers from a turkey we cooked. Either option was perfect!
And of course, if you prefer not to have turkey, you can swap it out for chicken.
Ingredients
- oil for the pan
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 cup onion chopped
- 1 bell pepper chopped
- 2 roma tomatoes chopped
- 1 tbsp patis (filipino fish sauce)
- 2 lbs cooked turkey, cut in medium sized pieces (we used turkey breast)
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- 1½ cup turkey stock
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 6 baby potatoes or 1 large potato
- 2 carrots sliced
- ½ cup peas
- salt and pepper to taste
- parsley for garnish
Many home afritada recipes don’t include this, but patis (Filipino fish sauce) and oyster sauce are ingredients we love to add because it adds more depth to the flavor.
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Turkey Afritada Recipe
- In a stewing pot or pan, heat oil at medium heat. Saute garlic and onion until slightly browned and fragrant.
- Add bell pepper, tomatoes, and fish sauce. Cook for 5 min or until they are softened. The tomato should keep its structure but it slightly softens to the touch.
- Add tomato sauce, bay leaves, tomato paste, oyster sauce, sugar. Stir well.
- Add turkey broth. Bring the pot to a simmer, stir occasionally.
- Add potatoes, carrots, and peas. Stir well. Cover the pot and let it cook for 10 min.
- Lower the heat to maintain a very low simmer (gentle bubbles). Add cooked turkey to the pan. Stir to incorporate. Cover and let it cook about 3-5 min. If needed, cook additional time until potatoes are fork-tender.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste. We enjoy adding a generous amount of black pepper.
- Garnish with parsley and serve with rice.
Tips on Cooking Turkey Afritada
- For convenience, you may use frozen peas and carrots.
- When cutting turkey meat into smaller pieces (1-2 bites), aim to cut against the grain. This will improve the texture and tenderness of the meat when you chew.
- While any potato is fine, our favorite potatoes to use in this recipe are baby red potatoes, yellow dutch baby potatoes, or chopped russet potatoes. For baby potatoes, you can throw them in whole. For large potatoes, we recommend you cut them into pieces for faster cooking.
Final Thoughts
Get the most out of your Thanksgiving turkey with our effortless recipe. You’ll definitely reach for seconds for this warm, hearty tomato-based stew!
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Turkey Afritada
Equipment
Ingredients
- oil for the pan
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 cup onion chopped
- 1 bell pepper chopped
- 2 roma tomatoes chopped
- 1 tbsp patis (filipino fish sauce)
- 2 lbs cooked turkey cut in medium sized pieces (we used turkey breast)
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- 1½ cup turkey stock
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 6 baby potatoes or 1 large potato
- 2 carrots sliced
- ½ cup peas
- salt and pepper to taste
- parsley for garnish
Instructions
- In a stewing pot or pan, heat oil at medium heat. Saute garlic and onion until slightly browned and fragrant.
- Add bell pepper, tomatoes, and fish sauce. Cook for 5 min or until they are softened. The tomato should keep its structure but it slightly softens to the touch.
- Add tomato sauce, bay leaves, tomato paste, oyster sauce, sugar. Stir well.
- Add turkey broth. Bring the pot to a simmer, stir occasionally.
- Add potatoes, carrots, and peas. Stir well. Cover the pot and let it cook for 10 min.
- Lower the heat to maintain a very low simmer (gentle bubbles). Add cooked turkey to the pan. Stir to incorporate. Cover and let it cook about 3-5 min. If needed, cook additional time until potatoes are fork-tender.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste. We enjoy adding a generous amount of black pepper.
- Garnish with parsley and serve with rice.
Notes
- This recipe gives you the flexibility of using whatever turkey you have, dark or light. You can also find pre-cooked turkey breast at your local grocery store. And of course, if you prefer not to have turkey, you can swap it out for chicken.
- For convenience, you may use frozen peas and carrots.
- When cutting turkey meat into smaller pieces (1-2 bites), aim to cut against the grain. This will improve the texture and tenderness of the meat when you chew.
- While any potato is fine, our favorite potatoes to use in this recipe are baby red potatoes, yellow dutch baby potatoes, or chopped russet potatoes. For baby potatoes, you can throw them in whole. For large potatoes, we recommend you cut them into pieces for faster cooking.
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