Black Friday is over but you’re still tired from shopping and certainly don’t feel like cooking. If you froze your leftovers, you may not feel like eating the same turkey, stuffing, potatoes and cranberry combo the same way you did on Thanksgiving. Follow these 15 ways to turn frozen Thanksgiving leftovers into a new meal with the addition of a few new ingredients.
Sources: Food Network, Serious Eats
This recipe incorporates the entire leftover turkey carcass — meat and bones for the stock as well the leftover stuffing, which it uses for dumplings. Check out the Food Network recipe here.
For dessert, here is a favorite from Serious Eats. The recipe makes use of leftover pie and cranberry sauce — and if you’re brave a spoonful of sweet potato casserole — all whipped up with a few extra ingredients in a shake.
To spice up your leftover turkey check out this recipe from Serious Eats that uses classic Sichuan flavors of chile oil, vinegar, and Sichuan peppercorns.
Charred brussels sprouts and potatoes go surprisingly well with yolky eggs and gravy, so consider this hash for breakfast, should you have leftovers of this variety. Check out the full recipe from SeriousEats here.
Not for the faint of heart or anyone on a diet, this creative sandwich uses leftover turkey and gravy and takes it up a notch with bacon and heavy cream. Check out the recipe from Serious Eats Managing Editor J. Kenji Lopez-Alt here.
This is another breakfast leftover creation from celebrity chef Giada de Laurentiis. You’ll use mashed potatoes to fry into potato pancakes and then top with an egg and marinara sauce for a different flavor. Check out the Food Network recipe in full here.
Take all your leftover veggies and combine with eggs, cheese and breadcrumbs in a skillet to create this delicious leftover fritatta. Check out the full Food Network recipe here.
Food Network star Giada De Laurentiis suggests using leftover shredded cooked turkey to whip up a classic Italian Bolognese sauce. Check out her recipe.
You can toss your leftover turkey plus veggies like green beans and peas into a casserole dish and top it with a prepared pie crust for lunch or dinner. Here is the recipe from the Food Network.
For those that don’t like to waste anything, you can throw the entire turkey carcass into a pot to make the broth for this soup. Then add the actual turkey meat and other leftover staples like sweet potatoes for the perfect post-Thanksgiving soup. Here’s the recipe.
This idea comes from food writer Sydney Oland and was originally published on SeriousEats. We thought it was pretty creative. Oland recommends making cakes from leftover stuffing and then breading and frying them to create an “English Muffin.” Then top it with sliced turkey, poached egg and gravy and cranberry sauce. See the full recipe here.
This one comes from the Food Network and is a personal favorite — it uses my favorite cheese in the world. Regardless, it is quite easy to make. Simply pile turkey, brie and arugula between pieces of rye bread that have been coated with apple butter. Grill. Here is chef Tyler Florence’s full recipe.
For a Mexican twist on leftovers, check out this recipe from Serious Eats. You’ll need a few extra ingredients beyond the leftover turkey that probably weren’t part of the original Thanksgiving meal, but it works particularly well if you’ve finished off the rest of the sides and just have turkey left.
Fry up your left over turkey breasts into cutlets topped with gravy and mushrooms. Serve with a side salad and some leftover cranberry sauce. Check out the full recipe from the Food Network here.
If you have tons of leftover stuffing, chef Sunny Anderson recommends deep frying bite-sized balls and then creating a pesto dip that incorporates the leftover cranberry sauce. Check out the recipe here.