Name: Leftover Turkey Jamaican Rice
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Jamaican
Ingredients: 1 tbsp light olive oil; 2 tbsp butter; 1 large onion, finely chopped; 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped; 2 – 3 tbsp jerk seasoning; 1 tsp dried thyme; 2 tomatoes, diced; 400g tinned black beans; 1 tbsp scotch bonnet hot sauce or 1 scotch bonnet chilli, finely chopped; 450g (1 lb) leftover cooked turkey, cubed or shredded; 400g (2 cups) basmati rice; 750ml (3 cups) leftover turkey stock or chicken stock; Salt to taste

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A delicious way to give new life to leftover turkey.

This simple Jamaican rice recipe is the perfect way to use up leftover turkey.

It can all be made in one pot and only takes about 40 minutes to cook.

If you don’t eat meat, it is also great served as a vegetarian main or side. Just leave the turkey out of course.

The perfect way to serve leftover turkey. Very easy recipe!

Scotch bonnet vs habanero chillies…

Habenero chillies are similar to scotch bonned though scotch bonnet chillies are naturally sweeter. They are both very spicy, especially the seeds.

I prefer habeneros like those used in the psycho juice hot sauce in this recipe.

Both chillies will work in this recipe and you should add them or hot sauce to taste.

Although you can definitely use the fresh chillies, I recommend trying psycho juice. It’s a great product and a lot less dangerous to work with. It is very spicy though so be careful!

Working with seriously spicy chillies.

Handling scotch bonnet or habanero chillies can be painful! If using fresh chillies, I recommend using plastic gloves and don’t touch your eyes.

I find it equally as delicious to use a habanero hot sauce such as that made by Psycho Juice. They do all the work and you don’t have to worry about causing yourself any discomfort. Their products are top quality and always taste amazing but be careful. They are spicy!

For disclosure reasons, I should tell you that I like their products so much, I now work closely with them to develop recipes.

For the Jerk spice blend

Following is my recipe for jerk spice mix. It can be used to marinate meats too. It’s a good allrounder.

1 ½ tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp cayenne
1 tbsp paprika
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp red chilli flakes
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
2 tsp light brown sugar
2 tsp Italian dried herbs
1 tbsp salt
½ tsp black pepper

Simply mix all of the ingredients together and use immediately or store in an air-tight container for no longer than three months.

Step by step…

Make things even easier on yourself and get all of the ingredients ready before starting.

Heat the butter and oil over medium heat.

Add the chopped onion and fry for about 5 minutes or until soft and translucent.

Stir in the garlic and fry for about 30 seconds. Then add the diced tomato and cook it for about a minute.

Add the Jamaican spice blend and stir well to combine.

Now add the cubed leftover turkey and stir in hot sauce to taste.

Add the black beans and soaked rice and stir well so that the rice is coated with the onion mixture.

Cover with the chicken or turkey stock.

Cover the pan with a tight fitting lid and bring to a rolling boil. Then turn off the heat and allow to sit, undisturbed for 40 minutes.

After 40 minutes, the rice will be steamed to perfection. It will look like this.

Delicately stir with a fork or chopstick. Do not stir to rigorously or the rice grains will split and become mushy.

Serve hot right from the pan. You can serve this with the veggies of your choice and perhaps some more Jamaican spice blend and hot sauce.

Such an easy one pot meal and a great way to use up leftover turkey.

Dig in!

If you like this leftover turkey rice recipe, you might like to try some of these too.

Leftover turkey jalfrezi curry
Turkey tikka masala
Peshawari turkey curry
Leftover turkey soup
Leftover turkey curry

Yield: 6