Looking for leftover Thanksgiving dinner recipes? Whether your holiday has left you searching for leftover turkey recipes, leftover ham recipes or leftover chicken recipes, or even just leftover mashed potato recipes, we’ve found some great ideas!
Leftover Turkey Recipes
(Not a turkey fan? No worries! Use any meat or meat-substitute instead.)
Biscuit Turkey Bake smothers leftover turkey and veggies with fluffy, flaky biscuits.
Bubble & Squeak will use your mashed potatoes, corn, cranberry and turkey.
Cran-Apple Turkey Skillet Recipe combines cranberries, turkey and stuffing in a one-skillet dish with apples and nutmeg. Easy and delicious!
Cranburgers are made with stuffing, cranberry sauce, turkey gravy and ground meat.
Gravy Balls combine turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes in bite-sized balls which are then dipped in egg wash, rolled in bread crumbs and baked (or fried) to a crisp. Dip them in gravy or cranberry sauce!
Hot Open-Faced Turkey Sandwiches will use your leftover turkey and gravy!
Potato Cakes with Turkey Toppings present the same ingredients in an unusual way. Form leftover mashed potatoes into potato cakes, topped with turkey meat, corn, gravy and veggies for a delicious meal!
Pumpkin Turkey Chili is an interesting spin on a classic soup by I Breathe I’m Hungry.
Smoky Bacon Turkey Chowder uses sweet potatoes, turkey and more! It’s rich and delicious.
Thanksgiving Leftover Nachos are a delicious combination of nachos, turkey and cranberry-jalapeno sauce.
Thanksgiving Leftover Pizza proves that anything can be put on a pizza! Substitute cranberries in place of tomato sauce and turkey in place of pepperoni for this easy kid-friendly dish.
Thanksgiving Paninis combine leftover turkey, cranberry sauce and gravy into one delicious sandwich by Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond.
TLC (Thanksgiving Leftover Casserole) includes stuffing, turkey, cranberries, veggies and corn. I’d throw some mashed potatoes into it also, even though the recipe doesn’t call for it.
Turkey Chili will give your leftovers new life in a radically different flavor. You’ll need leftover turkey, veggies, and mashed potatoes for this recipe.
Turkey Enchiladas are delicious – and they don’t taste anything like that traditional Thanksgiving meal! The too-familiar taste of turkey is masked by taco seasoning, cumin, oregano, basil and jalapeno slices.
Turkey Gumbo will use your leftover turkey and any leftover veggies you may have from your holiday.
Turkey Jambalaya puts a Thanksgiving twist on this delicious meaty rice dish.
Turkey Lasagna is a great way to use some leftover meat if you’ve got all the other lasagna ingredients nearby!
Turkey Pot Pie is a great way to use up that leftover turkey and vegetables! Use a prepared pie crust (maybe you have one leftover?) to make it even easier! If you like spicier dishes, try this Cajun version!
Turkey Ramen adds turkey, hard-boiled eggs, bacon and scallions to ramen noodles for an easy meal after yesterday’s cooking bonanza.
Turkey Soup comes in a million varieties, like this Southwestern Turkey Soup and this Turkey Stew. This one uses leftover stuffing in the form of dumplings!
Turkey Stir-Fry mixes your leftover turkey, green beans, cranberry sauce with soy sauce, peanut oil and other flavors. If you click the link, ignore the video at the top of the page. It confused me, too! The leftover recipe is below the video.
Turkey Stock is a kitchen staple that can be made easily by boiling leftover turkey bones in a pot for hours. It lasts six months in your freezer and can be used in any recipe that calls for chicken stock! Seal it in Ziploc bags for easy storage and use in your soup recipes.
Turkey Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie will use most of your leftovers at once! This recipe calls for turkey, sweet potatoes, veggies, cranberry sauce and more!
Turkey Swiss Quiche sounds amazing! Leftover turkey is blended with Swiss cheese, green onions, and more in a delicious pastry shell.
Waffled Leftovers is a creative way to repurpose stuffing in a form that even kids can love! Mix your leftover stuffing with some scrambled egg mixture and cook it in a waffle iron… and top it with leftover turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce and even potatoes!
Leftover Mashed Potato (and Sweet Potato) Recipes
Crispy Potato & Stuffing Patties can even include turkey! Whisk the ingredients together and fry them in oil over medium-high heat.
Day-After Dip mixes sweet potatoes with cheese and other ingredients to form an excellent chip dip! You can throw some mashed potatoes in there, too!
Homemade Gnocchi are easy to make from mashed potatoes! These little potato dumplings also include some flour and egg and are often confused for pasta.
Mashed Potato Pancakes are a simple dish that can be made with leftover potatoes. Just mix them with egg, flour, and seasonings before you fry them on each side with a little oil or Crisco shortening!
Potato Dumplings use leftover rolls and mashed potatoes to form a dumpling.
Sweet Potato Pudding blends leftover sweet potatoes with whipping cream, cinnamon, cloves, coconut, sugar, almonds and more for a sweet treat.
Sweet Potato Waffles combine mashed potatoes with sugar, flour, eggs and sour cream to form waffles!
Vegetables Samosas are a delicious way to repurpose your holiday meal. Use your Thanksgiving leftovers, including mashed potatoes and veggies, to form these delicious, puffy triangles of goodness.
Other Thanksgiving Leftover Recipes
Cranberry and Carrot Muffins are surprisingly delicious!
Cranberry Cheesecake Brownies will use your extra cranberry sauce… but, really, that’s just an excuse to enjoy these delicious treats!
Fried Stuffing Bites with Cranberry Sauce Pesto is a delicious treat! Form that leftover stuffing into bite-sized balls and deep-fry it! If you have eggs, milk, leftover stuffing and cranberry sauce, you’ve got to try this!
Sweet Potato and Cranberry Donuts are an interesting twist on two Thanksgiving staples.
Leftover Cranberry Sauce Bread is a vegan recipe from Oh My Veggies!
Whipped Cranberry Butter is a simple two-ingredient dish from Good Life Eats!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Nicole Thelin
Nicole is the founder and lead researcher of Low Income Relief. After a personal experience with poverty and homelessness following her husband's sudden medical discharge from the U.S. Army, Nicole discovered the life-changing impact of community resources. This experience ignited her passion for empowering others to navigate similar crises. Nicole launched her writing career at age 16, working for various newspapers and publications. Her commitment to in-depth research and accessible content has been recognized by Google for Publishers and other industry leaders. For over 20 years, she has applied her investigative skills to uncover the most helpful, up-to-date information on benefits programs and community resources, ensuring Low Income Relief maintains the most extensive resource databases available.