Ina Garten Has the Perfect Dish for Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey

Ina Garten's comfort food cookbook could not have come at a better time. Released in early October 2020, Modern Comfort Food is a deeply soothing ode to approachable, delicious, and nearly foolproof dishes that are like warm hugs on dreary days.

Among the Ina Garten recipes in the book is a beautiful chicken pot pie soup. The day after Thanksgiving, my family usually makes a big stew with leftover turkey meat and any vegetables we have on hand, so it occurred to me that a pot pie could take that tradition to the next level. If you can believe it, we have more than a dozen recipes for pot pie, the comfort food is such a crowd favorite.

Garten tells me her chicken pot pie soup would be lovely with leftover Thanksgiving turkey. And the key to making sure your turkey meat is succulent and moist? Not overcooking it.

"I think people tend to overcook them," she says. She recalls the first Thanksgiving dinner she made: After roasting the turkey for two and a half hours, her mother-in-law said that it couldn't possibly be done, that it usually takes six hours. Six hours will dry out the turkey.

"We’re used to cooking protein for too long, and then forgetting to let it rest," says Garten. "When it rests, it really keeps cooking. I undercook things by about 10 degrees and let [them] rest." A solid 15 minutes should do the trick.

Here's our guide to how and why we let meat rest with timing recommendations for different cuts of meat. "As meat cooks, the juices and moisture inside begin to rise to the surface. If you cut the meat as soon as it’s done cooking, the juices will immediately leak out and pool onto the cutting board," writes Kelly Vaughan.

Here's Garten's great recipe for the weekend and holidays after Thanksgiving.