Baked Turkey Croquettes

This is a great recipe to use for your leftover holiday turkey, whether it's a Christmas turkey or a Thanksgiving turkey.

For any holiday turkey, it's a good idea to use a turkey that's been raised on organic feed, a free-range turkey, or all of the above. The flavor just can't be beat and the turkey itself will taste a lot better, even after a few days have passed. If you have any left, that is.

This is a super-easy recipe. You can fry these croquettes or bake them. I recommend baking them and making a nice white sauce for accompaniment. You can use this recipe to make your croquettes into a "traditional" croquette shape, or simply shape them into patties for faster cooking.

• 2-3 cups of finely minced turkey (white meat, dark meat, or both)
• 1/4 cup green onion (green part only)
• 1/8 cup white onion, small dice
• 1/8 cup green bell pepper, small dice
• 1/8 cup red bell pepper, small dice
• Regular bread crumbs--1/4 cup for turkey mixture and 3/4 cup-1 cup for coating the patties.
• mayonnaise, as needed
• salt
• pepper
• 1/4 tsp cayenne
• 1 tsp paprika
• cooking oil spray, as needed

1. Heat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Place turkey, bread crumbs & vegetables in a large mixing bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste, cayenne, and paprika.
3. Mix well.
4. Add just enough mayonnaise until mixture holds together enough to make patties. (1/2 to 3/4 cup of mayo--not too wet. If you add too much by accident, add some bread crumbs until you can form patties easily).
5. Use about 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of the mixture to make the patties--your preference. Make them about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch thick.
6. Coat a baking sheet with cooking oil spray.
7. Coat patties on each side with bread crumbs. Regular bread crumbs are fine but you can also use Panko bread crumbs.
8. Place patties on sheet, about an inch apart.
9. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until nicely browned.
10. Drain on paper towels.
11. Enjoy with some white sauce or your favorite gravy.

I tasted the turkey mixture before I made the patties. It tasted good enough to use for turkey salad sandwiches, in my opinion. Keep that in mind, too. (Maybe omit the bread crumbs if you're going to use the mixture for sandwiches, though.)

Enjoy!