What to Do with Thanksgiving Leftovers

Looking for ideas for how to repurpose your Thanksgiving leftovers? You’re not alone! One of the most common questions we get is “how on earth can we make our leftovers interesting enough so they don’t go to waste?” The good news is that for every leftover item, there are dozens of creative ways to use it up! Here are some of our favorites:

Turkey

• Sandwiches are perhaps the most common of the Thanksgiving leftovers, but we encourage you to get creative and customize your leftover turkey sandwich to your own personal taste. You may not enjoy a turkey sandwich topped with all of the same fixings you just ate at Thanksgiving, so top it with something that will make you love it  like yogurt tzatziki, pickled chilis, or crispy bacon! 

• Soup, like this turkey posole, is an easy way to turn cooked turkey meat into a savory dish that will keep you warm once the Christmas music kicks in. Who can say no to homemade soup around the holidays? 

• Tacos are a comforting way to turn that turkey into a crowd-pleasing meal with a refreshingly different taste than the usual Thanksgiving spread.

Turkey tip: Reheating proteins like turkey can dry them out, so we recommend serving them with plenty of sauce if you’re making a sandwich or taco. You can also serve them in soup or stew to bypass the moisture question entirely. Be sure to save your turkey bones to make stock! 

Mashed Potatoes

• Dumplings are the food equivalent of a hug from grandma. For this reason alone, they’re a truly stellar use of your mashed potatoes, which already feel like an unapologetic embrace of carbs and butter. 

• Fritters solve the problem of potential potato boredom by performing textural jujitsu–turning your creamy, smooth leftovers into crispy nuggets of root vegetable goodness that just beg for dipping sauce. If you master the fritter, no root vegetable will intimidate you ever again! 

• Shepherd’s pie is the kitchen sink answer to leftovers, since it can easily use up an entire batch of mashed potatoes and creates an even more comforting, homey, carb-y delight of a dish in the process. 

Mashed Potatoes Tip: Leftover mashed potatoes will be at their best for about four days in your fridge. Experts recommend reheating them with some extra butter or milk to keep them moist.

Vegetables 

• Frittata is a workhorse dish that can use up extra turkey as well as roasted sweet potatoes. 

• Breakfast hash is a hearty and filling way to combine leftover protein with whatever assorted vegetables you still have around. 

• Stir fry is one of our evergreen ways to use up any veggie leftovers and Thanksgiving is no exception. As with frittata and hash, stir fry can easily adapt to whatever vegetables and proteins you need to use up. 

Vegetables tip: If you’re still feeling overwhelmed or uninspired by your leftover vegetables, try making a pureed soup using items like carrots or sweet potatoes. The types of vegetables that won’t work well for this approach are members of the cabbage family like Brussels sprouts and kale, since they have a strong flavor that can overpower a soup. 

Everything else

• In the unlikely event that you have leftover pie, try making these pumpkin pie pancakes

• Leftover cranberry is the unexpected star of these yogurt parfaits

• Even leftover beverages like red wine can get a second life! Our friend and scrappy chef Joel Gamoran uses it to marinate chicken and make a juicy, delicious dinner.

Tip: When in doubt, look to a hearty brunch as the ultimate way to use up your Thanksgiving leftovers by giving them new life. Breakfast burritos in particular are a lovely way to put a fresh spin on ingredients you might otherwise grow tired of.