Name: Tom Yum Fried Rice Using Turkey Meat
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Thai
Ingredients: 2 cups cooked jasmine rice; 2 eggs; ¼ cup oil, (vegetable, coconut, canola or grape seed oil); 6 oz leftover Thanksgiving turkey meat; 2 Tbsp Tom Yum Paste, (Aroy D or Mae Sri Brand); 2.5 Tbsp fish sauce; 1 Tbsp fresh lime juice; 2 tsp sugar; ½ cup tomato chopped into 1-inch pieces; ½ cup mushroom sliced long and thin; 1 Tbsp kaffir lime leaves very finely sliced, around 3-4 leaves; ½ cup shallots, long and thinly sliced; 1/3 cup green onions chopped into ½ inch pieces; ¼ cup cilantro, chopped

Jump to Recipe·Print Recipe

Have you ever had Tom Yum Soup? If so, you will love this Thai Tom Yum fried rice using leftover Thanksgiving turkey meat! The bold and delicious flavors of the Tom Yum paste, mixed with fragrant herbs like kaffir lime leaves, garlic, shallots, brings a delightful flavor explosion in your mouth. And it’s so quick and easy, you can have this delicious fried rice in 20 minutes!

What is Tom Yum?

Tom Yum is a popular Thai dish using fresh herbs, tamarind or lime juice, fish sauce and roasted chili paste mixed together to add a dynamic flavor profile. Tom Yum is most well-known for its sour and salty soup using shrimp, seafood, or chicken. For this recipe, we are going to use the same flavor profile that’s in the soup dish but instead of soup, we are going to use the paste for a rice stir fried dish! It’s a lesser-known dish but it’s very popular with locals who know what this dish is!

Why this recipe work?

This Tom Yum recipe uses left over Thanksgiving turkey meat. Since the turkey is already cooked, you will shave off cooking time by at least 10 minutes, making this dish a very quick and easy dish to throw together.
The recipes call for a pre-made Tom Yum paste. Not only is this saving you a ton of time on making the paste yourself but also, it’s basically two recipes in one. Traditional Tom Yum calls for chili paste, another recipe that you will have to make if not using the paste.
As mentioned, the recipe is quick and fast. You can throw it all together in about 20 minutes.
You can use rotisserie chicken meat too if you don’t typically eat turkey outside of Thanksgiving, allowing you can make this dish all year long!

What goes into this recipe?

Here is the ingredient list for this recipe and a few notes on these specific ingredients that you might find helpful:

Tom Yum paste: This is the star of the show that binds all the ingredients together into a sour, salty and umami flavor. I used Aroy D brand but have use Mae Sri brand and loved it. If you can find a Thai Tom Yum brand, it’d be ideal. If you are unable to, use whatever brand of the paste you can find, but play around with the amount of sugar, fish sauce and lime juice a little bit towards the end to find just the right flavors for your taste buds!
Rice: You want your rice to be a bit on the drier side for all fried rice recipes, this one included. You can use rice that is 2-3 days old but if you are unable, use fresh rice but be sure to let it sit and dry out on a plate for at least 30 minutes to let the moisture escape. You can prepare the other ingredients while this is going on.
Turkey meat: You only need 6 oz of left-over turkey meat. You can use dark or white meat for this and it’s ok to leave some of the skin on too if you like the skin. The skin adds extra flavor. Yum!
Kaffir lime leaves: Also called “Makrut” in Thai, you can find these leaves in the frozen section of the Asian market. You will need about 3-4 leaves for this recipe, don’t skip out of this amazing taste and nutritious ingredient if you can help it.
Shallots: You can substitute sweet purple or yellow onion if shallots are not available for you.

How to make this Recipe:

Check out the step-by-step photos below for how to make this delicious Tom Yum fried rice using your leftover turkey meat!

Heat a wok or large skillet on medium high heat and wait until it’s warm to add oil. Add the garlic and shallot/onion stir, and let cook for 1 minute.
Add the eggs, scrambled lightly for 1 minute. Do not stir it too often; you want to leave large chunks of eggs intact.
Add the turkey and lightly stir fry everything in the wok together for 1 minute.
Add the Tom Yum paste, break up the chunks and stir well with the food in the wok.
Add the mushroom, again, stir lightly for a quick minute just enough to let everything lightly cook together before adding more ingredients.
Add the rice, fish sauce, lime juice, sugar and stir together for 2 minutes. Break up the rice chunks really well and spread everything out evenly on the wok surface so let out the moisture so the fried rice won't get too mushy.
Turn the heat to high, add the tomato and green onions, kaffir lime leaves and cilantro.Stir well together, and cook for 1 minute.
Turn the heat off and place the fried rice in a serving dish and enjoy your new favorite stir-fry!

FAQS and EXPERT TIPS

What does Tom Yum taste like? Tom Yum soup is typically a sour, salty, and spicy soup. The Tom Yum fried rice has the same flavors but less intense because the rice and eggs absorbs those flavors. However, you can jazz up the taste more with fish sauce, lime juice, sugar and chilis if you want more spiciness added to your fried rice.
Tomatoes. You should remove the seed the tomato as best you can before add the tomato to the stir fried to ensure that the fried rice won’t get too soggy from the juice of the tomato. Tomato options for this recipe are roma and the tomatoes on the vine. I find those tomatoes are firmer and hold up better in a stir-fried dish.
Mushroom. You can use any type of mushroom you prefer for this recipe. I used button mushrooms because they’re fast, easy, and you’re guaranteed to find them at most grocery stores.

RELATED RECIPES

Love a recipe you've tried? Please leave a 5-star rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page. Or follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, or Instagram!