Turkey Veggie Grilled Cheese with Cranberry Yogurt Dipping Sauce
This recipe was created as a way to use up Thanksgiving leftovers, but can be made using any cooked protein and veggies or greens. The star of the show here is the dipping sauce made from sweet tart cranberry sauce, spicy mustard, and tangy yogurt with a touch of lemon. It’s the perfect bright contrast to this grilled cheese! We’re making the filling simply by mixing together protein, greens or veggies with plenty of cheese – doing it this makes the filling hold together a lot better than if you were to layer it.
Ingredient highlight
Whole milk yogurt! Yogurt is one of my favorite ways to get in lots of probiotics, protein, calcium, vitamin A, vitamin B12, and vitamin D. If you don’t already, I really encourage you to start buying whole milk yogurt (and all dairy products!) rather than nonfat or lowfat. Not only is the whole milk dairy more flavorful, creamy, and delicious, research also shows that it may be a lot better for you than low-fat or non-fat. Read this great article here to learn more!
Servings 2
Prep Time 5 minutes 
Cook Time 10 minutes Ingredients
- ¼ cup plain whole milk Greek yogurt
- ¼ cup cranberry sauce*
- 1 tbsp dijon or whole grain mustard
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 4 slices bread**
- Olive oil or butter
- 2 cups (~6 oz) shredded or chopped cheese (sharp cheddar or brie are my favorite)
- 1 cup (~5-6 oz) shredded or sliced turkey
- 1 cup finely chopped greens or leftover cooked veggies
- *No cranberry sauce? Substitute with any fruit preserve or jam you have in the fridge.
- **The portions and quantities needed will depend a lot on the size of your bread, so just use your judgment. The filling will seem like a lot, but once it’s pressed down, it’ll seem more manageable.
- Note: ~ making grilled cheese in a skillet will get you a crispier grilled cheese and is my preferred method. Using the oven might be easier if you’re making multiple at once or just don’t want to deal with the smoke, but it won’t be as crispy.
Instructions
- If using the oven method, preheat the oven to 450F or 425F convection or you can just make these in a skillet.
- In a small bowl, mix together the yogurt, cranberry sauce, mustard, and lemon.
- Brush the outside of each slice of bread with oil or spread on a thin layer of butter. Flip the bread over, oiled side down.
- In a medium bowl, add the cheese, turkey, and greens or veggies and toss to combine.
- Divide the mixture between the two slices of bread and top each slice with the other corresponding slice to form your sandwich.
- You can cook these in a covered skillet until crispy and golden on both sides or use the oven method I’ll describe below (see note).
- Place the sandwiches on an unlined baking sheet (no parchment paper). Place a large heavy oven-proof skillet on top to press the sandwiches down. If you’re making multiple sandwiches, you can place a baking sheet on top of the sandwiches and place the heavy skillet on top of that to weigh it down.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes or until crispy. Serve with dipping sauce.
Items you can prep ahead (optional)
- Make the cranberry yogurt sauce
- Grate 2 cups cheese
- Finely chop 1 cup greens (or use leftover cooked and chopped veggies)
- Cook your protein if you don’t have leftovers
Substitutions:
- To make vegetarian, use a cooked vegetarian protein like 1 can of beans or even chopped boiled eggs.
- To make vegan, see above + use a vegan cheese alternative.
- To make gluten-free, use gluten-free bread or a gluten-free tortilla and turn it into a wrap or quesadilla.
Storage:
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1-4 days (this depends on when your protein was cooked, chicken is good up to 4 days after being cooked).
Leftovers + Repurposing:
- The best way to reheat a grilled cheese is to microwave it for a minute or so, then pan-fry it in a bit of oil or butter to get it crispy again on the outside.
- Serve leftovers with a simple tomato soup or any other veggie soup.
- Leftover dipping sauce can be turned into a dressing (just add oil and vinegar and salt and maybe more mustard) or add it to other dressings to make it a little creamy and sweet.
leave your comments!