Turkey Monte Cristo
This turkey Monte Cristo is made with cranberry sauce, arugula, leftover turkey and Swiss cheese. Perfectly grilled and gluten free! This is the perfect sandwich for using up all those Thanksgiving leftovers!
I always feel like the day after Thanksgiving is a giant hodgepodge of meals. You sit there thinking “how can I use up all this turkey?” Of course there is the typical ways to use it up – turkey soup, turkey wild rice chili or maybe even go full on Friends and make a leftover turkey sandwich with moist maker. The possibilities are endless.
And slightly exhausting. I mean I love turkey but I’m not exactly about eating turkey in every. single. meal. after Thanksgiving. You know what I mean?
So this year I decided to try a little something different with my Thanksgiving leftovers. I froze half and instead of doing the typical mayonnaise and turkey sandwich I’m going full of Monte Cristo style. PLUS I can use my homemade ginger laced cranberry orange sauce on the sandwich to bring the perfect balance of sweet and savory. Then I piled on some Swiss cheese, arugula and lots of leftover turkey, obviously.
After all that sandwich building I dipped it an egg mixture and fried it right up….and then sprinkled it with powdered sugar. It’s basically a savory French toast sandwich. It’s 100% delicious and 100% worth it. PLUS it’s 100% gluten free!
Now as you know I do not live gluten free but I have a lot of gluten free friends and family. The great thing about this recipe is that in order to make it gluten free all I had to to do was pick up a loaf of Udi’s gluten free white sandwich bread. The rest of the ingredients in the sandwich were naturally gluten free so it was a super easy substitute.
Another thing about this bread? It totally changed my mind about gluten free bread. I have heard the rumors of how it tastes and I’m here to tell you – not with this bread! It’s soft, fluffy and perfect for sandwiches, toast and obviously this delicious Monte Cristo. So just like you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover you should also never judge a bread by its gluten level..or something like that.
{Looking for more delicious sandwich recipes? Try my Cuban sandwich, tangy apple slaw corned beef reuben or my chicken bacon spinach grilled cheese.}
Turkey Monte Cristo
This turkey Monte Cristo is made with cranberry sauce, arugula, leftover turkey and Swiss cheese. Perfectly grilled and gluten free! This is the perfect sandwich for using up all those Thanksgiving leftovers!
Yield: 4 sandwiches
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- Kosher salt and pepper, to taste
- 8 slices Udi's gluten free white sandwich bread
- 8 tablespoons whole berry cranberry sauce
- 8 slices Swiss cheese
- 3 cups leftover turkey slices or chunks
- 4 small handfuls arugula
- 4 tablespoons butter
- Powdered sugar
Directions:
In a shallow dish whisk together egg and milk. Season with kosher salt and pepper and set aside.
Lay out 4 slices of bread and top in this order - 1 tablespoon cranberry sauce, 1 slice Swiss cheese, equal amount of leftover turkey and 1 handful of arugula. Cover the other slices of bread with 1 tablespoon each of cranberry sauce and top the sandwich.
In a large skillet or griddle set over medium heat add 2 tablespoons butter. Let the butter melt and get hot.
Once the butter is hot dip the sandwich (both sides) into the egg mixture and add to the skillet. The bread slices are small than normal bread so depending on the size of your skillet or griddle you can fit anywhere from 2 to 4 sandwiches. Cook until the bottom is golden browns and flip. If the skillet needs more butter add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter.
When you remove the sandwich from the skillet the cheese should be melted (and the inside of the sandwich will be hot) and the outside will be golden brown. Serve hot with extra cranberry sauce and sprinkled with powdered sugar.
Learn more about living gluten free! Visit http://udisglutenfree.com/community
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Udi’s Gluten Free. The opinions and text are all mine.
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I LOVE the Udi’s white sandwich bread and recently their rye- This looks so good and I was just drooling over you’re apple/brie/turkey concoction!
I love Monte Cristos!! And I have some Udi’s gluten free bread, so I know what I’ll be making on Friday!
I want left over turkey JUST so I can make these!! WOW!!
Happy Thanksgiving
I haven’t had a good monte cristo sandwich in years! This looks delicious!
I always feel like I just eat turkey as is after Turkey Day…so not creative (coming from a food blogger…). But I have a special place in my heart for monte cristo’s so this is a must for Friday!
Oh YES! Now I have to save some leftover turkey so I can have THIS 🙂
You are one of my favorite bloggers, and your photos never cease to amaze me…I’ve never tried Udi’s but one of my daughters is now eating gluten free, so I’ll check it out — Happy Thanksgiving!
This looks like the best turkey sandwich I’ve ever seen, seriously, I am definitely putting aside some Thanksgiving turkey to make it!
Oh yeah. I need this in my life. And since we are making TWO turkeys this year (yeah, we’re nuts), there will be plenty of leftovers to go around. And plenty for THIS SANDWICH! Yum!
I was just thinking about how a Monte Cristo is basically a French Toast sandwich, and there you went and said it!
I’m going to have turkey left overs just like that!
Ah ha, now I know why you were in line for Swiss cheese. These look awesome. I don’t know that I’ve ever had a proper Monte Cristo, but now I’m totally going to try. Happy Thanksgiving, friend!
Of all the Thanksgiving leftover ideas I think this is my favorite Brandy! You just can’t beat a good ol’ Monte Cristo!
Im literally obsessed with this. Best leftovers post idea EVER!
I love monte cristo sandwiches, this one looks so delicious!!
This looks like my kind of leftovers! I love these flavors.
My husband LOVES Monte Cristos! I need to make him this one Friday! Your pictures are amazing!
Dear Brandy, These look delightful! What a fantastic idea for those holiday leftovers…I love making sandwiches the day after. Have a beautiful and blessed Thanksgiving! xoxo, Catherine
you had me until…powdered sugar.
gak!
nutmegnanny replied: — November 27th, 2015 @ 3:00 pm
The powdered sugar is a pretty common topping for the Monte Cristo but it’s delicious without it as well!
oh sweet mary – I may have fallen just a bit in love 🙂
What a fun way to use Thanksgiving leftovers in a new way!! I can’t wait to share this recipe with some of my friends.
Have a wonderfully relaxing weekend!
This sounds INCREDIBLE. I will have to try this sometime soon!!
Totally craving this right now! Gorgeous sandwich!
You’re right, great minds do think alike! But your version is definitely healthier!
This is one stunning sandwich! I haven’t had a Monte Cristo in years, but I think that’s about to change.