Five Recipes for Thanksgiving Leftovers
Thanksgiving is next week already! Can you believe it?! Do you have your menu planned? (If not, you can check out my Thanksgiving menu for inspiration!) In my family, it wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without being able to stock up on at least a couple of days worth of leftovers once dinner is finished. I always factor leftovers into my menu planning and make sure to have disposable to-go containers so that guests can fill them up after dinner. Below I am sharing five of my favorite recipes to use up those Thanksgiving leftovers… don’t forget to cap it off with some leftover pumpkin pie! :)
1. How to Make Homemade Turkey Stock
2. Thanksgiving Leftovers Casserole
3. Turkey, Mushroom & Wild Rice SoupÂ
What are your go-to Thanksgiving leftovers ideas?!Â
I could eat a turkey stuffing gravy cranberry sauce sandwich or a turkey salad with dried cranberries and nuts sandwich every single day all year. I’d probably be perfectly happy eating cold sweet potatoes and/or stuffing for breakfast every day, too. Plus, I have a dog and a cat, so I never worry what to do with leftovers, but I make too much cranberry sauce every year on purpose so I have some to turn into cranberry frozen yogurt, ice cream, or yogurt pops, which I’m already looking forward to eating about a month before I even buy the turkey every year.
It’s become an after Thanksgiving tradition to make a Pumpkin Turkey Chili with the leftovers. Very hearty, and you’d never know there was pumpkin in it!
I love to make perogis with the left overs. Some are mashed potatos and cheese.
The best recipe for leftover turkey is turkey croquettes. Our family has been making them for years and I think they would be crushed if we did not have them. Swing share the recipe but should you want it, let me know.
Hi Wanda –
Would you please share your turkey croquette recipe with me? My daughter and I love them. Thanks so much! –Allison
HI Michelle!
I missed the deadline on your “Ask Me Anything” Post yesterday, which I was really sad about, but I was wondering if you could just answer this one question of advice I’m hoping to get from you since it has to do with Thanksgiving. What 3 cookie recipes come to mind when you think of the holidays, or more specifically, Thanksgiving? I’m responsible for the desserts for Thanksgiving and I want to do a holiday theme, but I can’t think of holiday cookies. Thanks!
Hi Katherine, My family never did much in the way of cookies for Thanksgiving, it was always pies and trifles. However, there is one cookie recipe that my grandma ONLY made for Thanksgiving because our out of town relatives loved them – these Italian Walnut Pillow Cookies: https://www.browneyedbaker.com/celebrating-2-years-of-blogging-with-italian-walnut-pillow-cookies/
Oohh, those do look yummy! We’re already making apple and pumpkin pie, but we like some sort of finger food on the side so I usually make some cookies. Thanks for the advice!
I make turkey pot pie every year! It’s awesome with smoked turkey!
The turkey is a must have on the table for Thanksgiving, but with the exception of possibly a sandwich, no one wants .more turkey. It frustrates me. The side dishes are another story. I think the Thanksgiving Leftovers Casserole looks great, with or without the turkey. My favorite leftover dish is Sam Sifton’s Thanksgiving Eggs:
http://www.dinneralovestory.com/the-morning-after/
I’m from Italy so I don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, but these recipe are too interesting not to try them :D Especially the Turkey, Mushroom & Wild Rice Soup looks very delicious and perfect also for a normal dinner on this chilly evenings!
The Great After-Thanksgiving Turkey Enchiladas from Bon Appetit (can be found here: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/The-Great-After-Thanksgiving-Turkey-Enchiladas-15693). I usually use jalapenos instead of the chipotles, and I always warm the tortillas in the micro instead of pan frying. It’s such a simple recipe and can be altered in any way you want, so this usually gets used several times during the year and not just at Thanksgiving!
For breakfast on Friday after Thanksgiving, I always pan fry potato-rutabaga cakes and stuffing cakes. Fry them to a golden brown, top with leftover turkey gravy.
Mmmm! Love your ideas! My husband and I, for the past few years, have been doing Friendsgiving on the actual day, so we usually leave our leftovers with whoever is hosting!
I used to make a spicy black-bean turkey chili at work, though my favorite is a Monterey-style sandwich – grilled sourdough, sliced turkey, top with avocado, tomato and melted monterey jack (plenty of Hellman’s!)
*Have* to have an open-faced turkey sandwich! And I make Jane Brody’s Turkey Carcass Soup (with barley). This past summer my husband was very ill, and a neighbor brought over a turkey pie, and it was sooo good – something like your turkey leftover casserole, but in a pie crust, and no cheese. It had turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, green beans, and gravy, all home-made. If (big if) I have enough leftovers to make that, I’m going to attempt it.
I make the ‘OMG Sammich’ for my wife. Thich sourdough bread with mashed potatoes on one slice (like Mayo), dressing on the other slice, with turkey in the middle. She loves these and waits all year for them.
Every year, after we’ve already had our Thanksgiving celebrations with extended family, I roast a turkey just for my little family and we have a mini-post-Thanksgiving celebration. I do it because a) who doesn’t want more Thanksgiving?, but mostly because b) Turkey is a good deal around this time of year and I LOVE to have all the leftover turkey to use for other dishes. I always make turkey stock, your Turkey Tetrazzini (so good! I portion it out into 2 8×8 casserole dishes and freeze one or both), and plenty of from scratch turkey pot pies! I’m going to have to try your turkey pot pie version (which reminds me of almost a turkey shepherd’s pie) this year too, looks great!
I am not worried about left overs this year. My son is bringing home his friend from college who lives out west and won’t be going home for Thanksgiving. Last night I made your cranberry orange loaf in mini loaf pans. it is a keeper! I am going to wrap the remaining (key word is remaining) loaves well and freeze them until next week. My plan is to slice the loaves and serve them warm with the meal. if I do have any left overs love your idea of the turkey wild rice soup.
Turkey divan! Have been making this for years . It’s a good way to use up all the left over turkey in one shot. I live in Florida and we always grill our turkey, smoke it with cherry wood. Yum! Can’t wait!
Thank you for this… and definitely left over turkey for those turkey sandwiches :)