Transforming Thanksgiving Leftovers: 5 Delicious Recipes for a Second Feast

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5 Delicious Ways to Repurpose Your Thanksgiving LeftoversWhile I love the smells and tastes of Thanksgiving, after a long day of cooking and eating . . . and eating . . . and eating, I have to admit, the next day I don’t want to eat any more stuffing, day old turkey, and mashed potatoes.  Who likes cold mashed potatoes anyway?  So if you don’t want to eat that slightly rubbery turkey as a left over, what can you do?  You repurpose your leftovers!  Today, we’re going to walk you through five recipes that will repurpose your Thanksgiving leftovers into mouthwatering events of their own!

Do you find that you fight with your kids over eating the leftovers?  Does someone not like cold or reheated turkey?  Are you all sick of mashed potatoes?  And, seriously, what in the world do you do with leftover stuffing?  Well, you are in luck!  Today, we’ll give you some collated recipes to transform those leftovers so that no one will even guess they were originally your Thanksgiving dinner!  Sneaky, Sneaky!

Delicious way #1 to repurpose your Thanksgiving leftovers

Turkey and Gravy over Biscuits  5 Delicious Ways to Repurpose Your Thanksgiving Leftovers

If you like biscuits and gravy, you will LOVE this recipe.  Unfortunately, I can’t take credit for this idea, as my mom did this after Thanksgiving and Christmas every year.
If you have biscuits or rolls left over from Thanksgiving, you don’t need to make any biscuits.  If, however, you don’t have any left, you’ll want to make some biscuits.  This recipe comes from p. 129 of my Better Homes and Garden’s Cookbook.
Ingredients:
2 C all-purpose flour
1 T baking powder
1 T sugar
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 C butter or 1/2 C butter and 1/4 C shortening
1 C milk
Directions:
1.  Prehead the oven to 450.  In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and cream of tartar.  Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Make a well in the center of the flour mixture.  Add milk all at once.  Using a fork, stir just until the mixture is moistened.
2.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface.  Knead dough by folding and gently pressing it for four to six strokes or until it holds together.  Pat or lightly roll the dough until 3/4″ thick.  Cut dough with a floured 2 1/2 inch biscuit cutter, reroll scraps as necessary and dip the cutter into flour between cuts.
3. Place dough circles  1″ apart on an ungreased baking sheet.  Bake for 10-14 minutes or until golden.  Remove biscuits from the baking sheet and serve warm.
So that’s the biscuits.  Now we need the –

Turkey and Gravy

Directions:
1.  Chop 3C leftover turkey into 1/2″ – 3/4″ chunks directly into a skillet
2. Cover with 4-6 cups of leftover gravy.  Heat until the cold turkey is warmed through.
3. Serve over the biscuits.

5 Delicious Ways to Repurpose Your Thanksgiving Leftovers

Delicious way #2 to repurpose your Thanksgiving leftovers

Mashed Potato Pancakes – Yields 12 pancakes

These are similar to latkes but are made with mashed potatoes, not hashbrowns.

This recipe is from Just a Taste. 

Ingredients:

3 C leftover mashed potatoes, chilled

2/3 C shredded cheese

2 Tbsp chopped scallions, green and white parts

1 egg, lightly beaten

3 Tbsp all-purpose flour

1/2 C all-purpose

Vegetable oil, for pan frying

Sour cream (for serving)

Directions:

1.)  In a large bowl, stir together the mashed potatoes, cheese, scallions, egg, and 3 tablespoons flour until combined.  If it’s too dry, use another egg.  If it’s too wet, add 1T of flour at a time until it holds together.  No worries.  Using your hands, divide the mixture into 12 portions. Roll each portion into a compact ball, then flatten it into a pancake about a 1/2-inch-thick.
2.)  Place the remaining ½ cup of flour in a shallow dish and carefully dredge each pancake in the flour.
3.)  Heat 3 to 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. (Add enough oil to thoroughly coat the bottom of the pan.)
4.)  Fry the pancakes, in batches, until they’re golden brown and crispy on both sides, 3 to 4 minutes. Add more oil to the pan as needed between batches. (Do not overcrowd the pan and wait to flip the pancakes too soon or they won’t develop a crisp crust. Transfer the pancakes to a paper towel-lined plate and immediately sprinkle them with salt.
5.)  Serve the potato pancakes topped with sour cream and garnished with additional chopped scallions.

Delicious way #3 to repurpose your Thanksgiving leftovers

5 Delicious Ways To Repurpose Your Thanksgiving Leftovers

Thanksgiving Leftover Casserole

This recipe is from Taste of Home.  

Ingredients:

4 C seasoned stuffing cubes

4 C cubed cooked turkey

2 celery ribs, finely chopped

1 C frozen peas

1 C fresh or frozen cranberries

1/2 C chopped sweet onion

1/4 C all-purpose flour

4 large eggs

3 C 2% milk

1 can (8-1/4 ounces) cream-style corn

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

2 Tbsp butter

1/3 C coarsely chopped pecans

Directions:

1.)  Preheat oven to 350°. Layer the first 6 ingredients in a greased 13×9-in. baking dish. In a large bowl, whisk flour, eggs and milk until smooth. Add corn, salt and pepper; mix well. Pour over top; let stand 15 minutes. Dot with butter and sprinkle with pecans.

2.)  Cover and bake 35 minutes. Uncover and bake 30-35 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Delicious way #4 to repurpose your Thanksgiving leftovers

Leftover Stuffing Muffins

from Budget Bytes.  

We’re going to use this recipe this year, and can I just say, I’m SO looking forward to this as my homemade stuffing is my favorite part of the meal!

Ingredients:

2 tsp butter (for greasing the muffin tin)

3 C prepared stuffing or dressing

1 C chopped turkey or ham

1/4 lb. frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed

6 large eggs

2 Tbsp milk

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp Freshly cracked pepper

Directions

1.)  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a muffin tin with butter, oil, or non-stick spray. Thaw and squeeze the spinach dry.
2.)  Add the stuffing, turkey, and spinach to a bowl, then stir gently to combine without breaking up the stuffing too much.
3.)  Divide the stuffing mixture between all 12 wells of the muffin tin. Leave the stuffing loosely packed in the cups so that the egg mixture can fill in around the stuffing.
4.)  In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, salt, and pepper. Divide the egg mixture among the 12 wells, starting with 2 Tbsp per muffin and then adding a little bit more until all of the egg mixture has been used. The egg will not fully cover the stuffing, it will puff up as it bakes.
5.) Bake the muffins for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and crispy on the top. Allow the muffins to cool slightly, then run a knife around the edges to loosen and remove each muffin. Serve warm.

5 Delicious Ways to Repurpose Your Thanksgiving Leftovers

Delicious way #5 to repurpose your Thanksgiving leftovers

Leftover Green Bean Casserole Potpie – Yields 8 servings

This recipe is from McCormick.  

Ingredients:

1 package (14.1 ounces) refrigerated pie crusts, (2 crusts)

2 Tbsp butter

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

2 C shredded cooked turkey

2 C prepared green bean casserole

2/3 C prepared turkey gravy

1/2 C milk

Directions:

1.)  Preheat oven to 425°F. Prepare pie crusts as directed on package for two-crust pie using 9-inch pie plate.

2.)  Melt butter in large skillet on medium heat. Add onion; cook and stir 5 minutes or until softened. Stir in remaining ingredients. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook until heated through. Spoon filling into pastry-lined plate. Top with second crust. Seal edges and cut several slits on top.

3.)  Bake 30 to 40 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

What About you?

Do you have any recipes for using up Thanksgiving leftovers that you’d like to share?  Share them in the comments below.  And as you’re making Thanksgiving dinner for your family and loved ones, remember,

You’ve got this Mama

 

 

One Comment

  1. Geni
    November 25, 2022 at 7:43 pm

    I make a 20+ lb. turkey every year for 6. The kids (all adults now) take what they want of the leftovers and then I package the rest of the food as TV dinners. They each couple ends up with 12 rolls and a pumpkin pie and a 9×12 foil pan with a lid full of leftovers. This year in our freezer, I have 8 TV dinners for later when we want Thanksgiving food again. Freezer cooking at its easiest!