Thanksgiving Leftovers Casserole
This is one of my all-time favorite things that my grandma made when we were kids. It wasn’t only for Thanksgiving leftovers; any time she had leftovers sitting in the refrigerator, she would whip this up. It’s perfect for using up whatever you have; the meld of flavors is simply awesome. You basically layer stuffing, then turkey, then leftover vegetables (green beans, mushrooms, corn and peas are all exceptionally good in this), top it with leftover mashed potatoes, and then sprinkle with some shredded cheese. Bake till it’s heated through and the cheese is melted. This is seriously delicious, and reminds me of stopping at grandma’s on a random weeknight and her making this for dinner. It’s definitely comfort food, and a perfect way to use up turkey leftovers!
The original recipe card (don’t these just give you the warm fuzzies?):
What’s your favorite way to use up Thanksgiving leftovers?
I hope everyone had a fabulous holiday yesterday, and if you’re out shopping today, hope you find some good deals!
MY OTHER RECIPESOne year ago: Empire Cookies
Thanksgiving Leftovers Casserole
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
1 onion, chopped
2 cups of leftover vegetables (green beans and mushrooms are my favorites in this)
2 cups of leftover stuffing
2 cups leftover turkey (or any other meat)
1 can cream of mushroom soup (optional, I don't add it, but it's in the original recipe)
2 cups leftover mashed potatoes
2 eggs
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat and saute the onion until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in the remaining vegetables and the turkey. Mix together and remove from heat.
3. In a casserole dish (9x13-inch), spread the stuffing over the bottom. Add the turkey and vegetable mixture and spread evenly on top of the stuffing. If using, add the can of cream of mushroom soup and spread on top of the meat and vegetable mixture. In a medium bowl, mix together the mashed potatoes and the eggs until thoroughly combined. Spread this on top of the turkey and vegetable mixture (or the cream of mushroom soup, if you used it). Top with the shredded cheese.
3. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Let stand 5 to 10 minutes before serving.
Did you make this recipe?
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First, this is amazing! Just made it last night and the husband said it’s DEFINITLY a keeper. But I had so many leftovers, I was able to make two casseroles. Would this be okay to freeze? And what reheating suggestions would you recommend?
Hi Jen, I think it would freeze fine. I would double wrap with plastic wrap, then cover with foil. I would thaw in the microwave, then reheat (covered with foil) at 350 degrees. You could put it in the oven straight from the freezer, but it would take quite some time to reheat.
My Mom had a recipe similar to this, loved it. I also still have the card in her handwriting, brought a tear to my eye to see this one. Thanks.
thanks for this recipe. was looking for one exactly like this. Your original recipe made me think of something my sister is doing for the family for Christmas. She has collected old recipes handwritten from grandmas, aunts etc… and has scanned them and sent the scans to spoon flower.com (i think that’s the site) where they then turn it into fabric. She is making tablecloths, dish towels and aprons out of these scanned recipes. Just thought I’d mention :)
Off to make this casserole now. Thanks!
I have done this one and now I look forward more to the leftovers than the original dinner…as stated GREAT comfort food
I love that you skip the canned soup. LOVE IT! Adding to the leftovers list! Thanks!
This is absolutely wonderful! I had cream of chicken soup and used that…so good! Thank you!
Love the casserole idea. I’ll try it out tonight. I came up with a good turkey salad recipe on my site. Feel free to check it out.
Mmmmm… looks delicious! My mom has a whole box of those recipe cards with a whole section for Thanksgiving, and I’ll be adding this to the collection! I’m just wondering though, why would you need to mix eggs with the mashed potatoes?
Mixing the eggs with the mashed potatoes keeps them from drying out in the oven and keeps them creamy.
Oh, I see :) Thanks! Can’t wait to make this. Thanksgiving isn’t over until the leftovers are!
Oh my!! thank you so much for the leftover thanksgiving idea. I mixed the gravy with some cut up turkey in lieu of the mushroom soup. What a great idea and delicious at that. This will be my go to way of serving leftovers from here on in @ thanksgiving. thank you for ALL of your posts. Ii do so enjoy them! Val
You are very welcome! I’m glad you enjoyed the casserole, and love the idea of using gravy in place of the soup!
This casserole is so ingenious and yet it delivers great taste! thanks for the inspiration I will make it soon, even with a leftover plain roasted chicken!
Hey! I love your blog, so I decided to give you an award. :) You can pick it up here! Thanks for posting!
That sounds so good! My favorite leftover meal is stuffing, turkey, gravy all in a pan heated up. Its amazing! I made extra gf stuffing and gravy to ensure I could still eat this!
I’ve done this before… in lieu of the cream of mushroom soup i’ll use leftover gravy!
Dea – AWESOME idea to use the leftover gravy in place of the canned soup!
Great way to use up those leftovers! I love family recipes. Great food and memories!
it looks so yummy!!!! :D
this is brilliant! I am going to see if I can convince s. that we should do this this evening – we have all the fixin’s for it! I might do a mini version of it with my leftovers whether he does with his or not. Thanks for the idea!
Looks like a great way to use leftovers. I like to make a potpie. I love the recipe card, I get to old lump in the throat when I come across a hand written recipe my mom wrote, she passed 7 years ago ,but I’m so happy to have these little tid-bits of her.You better be out shopping at all the great places you guys have there!
I actually didn’t do any shopping on Friday, believe it or not! I was on the couch, watching the Pens, and recovering from Thursday ;-)
Oh, we were just talking about this last night! Unfortunately the only thing we have significant leftovers of is the mashed potatoes. For Christmas, though, I’m planning to have enough for something like this! :o)
Perfect for fried potato pancakes! :)
Yup, this looks perfect! That recipe card is adorable isn’t it? Thanks for sharing this great recipe with us :)
This casserole looks perfect!