Using up the leftovers

This Thanksgiving I’m cooking for a ‘crowd’ of only four, and both of the guests will be at their own home, where I will deliver the food for them to enjoy. Despite the fact that this is one-third as many people as our usual gathering, I seem to be incapable of reducing the size of the meal. I had pre-ordered a turkey months ago and decided to make the whole thing and deal with the leftovers. As I cut up the bread for stuffing I got a little carried away so there will be plenty of that remaining as well. Since my husband loves leftovers he will be delighted, because we normally don’t have that many.

I am sure I will not be the only person facing more leftovers than usual, so I felt a reminder of how to use all of that food would be in order. Over at The New York Times, Sohla El-Waylly starts us off with three ways to use leftover stuffing/dressing. I am fascinated by the brilliant idea of using it as a filling for soup dumplings.

Good Housekeeping has twenty ways to use all different kinds of leftovers, including hand pies, enchiladas, salads, soup, and turnovers. Food Network boasts over sixty recipes to make the day after Thanksgiving, where the Fried stuffing bites with cranberry sauce pesto caught my eye. All Recipes is honing in on the turkey, with ten fresh ways to use the leftover bird in tamales, manicotti, and more. My husband will make several turkey sandwiches through the weekend, but he is especially looking forward to potato pancakes using leftover mashed potatoes. What’s your favorite way to use holiday leftovers?

Photo of Thanksgiving leftovers breakfast “burritos” from Food52.

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6 Comments

  • Jane  on  November 24, 2020

    I’ve an even smaller Thanksgiving this year – two of us – so I’m not doing the traditional dinner as it seemed crazy. But in prior years my favorite meal with leftovers is the sourdough/Italian sausage/artichoke/Parmesan stuffing made every year (this Bruce Aidells recipe) which I make into a strata with eggs.

  • Rinshin  on  November 25, 2020

    I decided to skip turkey altogether for the first time since my first Thanksgiving and roasting a chicken for the two of us. We can normally handle leftovers for 1-2 days only.

  • Rinshin  on  November 25, 2020

    Jane, since bread stuffing is our favorite part of Thanksgiving, I want to make your favorite one as well as ours – “Simple is Best” dressing

  • hillsboroks  on  November 27, 2020

    We discovered and absolutely love the Stuffing Hash recipe from the November 2014 issue of Bon Appétit. You add grated sautéed yams to leftover stuffing and finally top it with poached eggs. We now add extra grated yam to it and it is amazing for breakfast, brunch, lunch or a light dinner.

  • hillsboroks  on  November 27, 2020

    I forgot to add that I always leave the maple syrup off the Stuffing Hash. I can’t bring myself to put maple syrup on poached eggs.

  • goodfruit  on  November 27, 2020

    PW’s Leftover Turkey Pot Pie!! It’s really delicious 🙂

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