Delicious Ways to Use Thanksgiving Leftovers
If you are hosting Thanksgiving Dinner, the chances are good that you will have lots of left-over food. Once you’ve made a sandwich or two, that option gets a little old.
I’ve “cooked” up some ideas to make use of those Thanksgiving left-overs and even stock my freezer with some great comfort-food options to pull out on a cold Tuesday night in December.
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Preparing for Left-Over Meals
I no longer fight the crowds on Black Friday. I just let my fingers do the walking and purchase my Christmas gifts on-line. If you want my picks for this year, you can find them HERE.
What I do over the Thanksgiving weekend is finish up my Christmas decorating and meal prep with my left-overs.
To make the process go smoother, when I’m preparing my grocery list for Thanksgiving and I also include the things I need to make some great leftover meals from Thanksgiving dinner.
Turkey Noodle Soup
I use my Chicken Noodle Soup recipe and just add cut up turkey instead of chicken. Once it’s cooked, I divide it up into individual-sized freezer-safe containers and put them in my freezer. These make excellent options to pull out for lunch or if one of use gets sick over the winter.
Green Bean & Turkey Casserole
I had the idea of using left over green bean casserole and left over turkey to make a comfort food delight. It’s pretty amazing.
Ingredients
- 1 pre-made pie crust
- 3 cups leftover green bean casserole
- 2 cups leftover turkey, cut into cubes
- 1 can cream of chicken or mushroom soup
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1/2 tsp thyme
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350°
- Mix turkey, green bean casserole, soup, and milk together with spices.
- When mixed well, put into pie crust and cover with foil
- Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes until heated through
- Let sit for 5 minutes before cutting to serve
Nutrition
Turkey Pot Pie
I created a recipe for this Turkey Pot Pie recipe that uses stuffing, mashed potatoes, and turkey. Talk about a multitasking recipe.
This is also a great freezer meal recipe. If freezes really well, just take it out and let it thaw before baking it in the oven.
Ingredients
- 2 cups leftover stuffing If I don't have enough stuffing I add in some leftover mashed potatoes
- 2 cups leftover turkey meat cut into chunks
- 4 tbsp butter
- 1/4 cup diced onions
- 1/4 cup diced celery
- 1/4 cup flour
- 2 cups turkey broth I use homemade, but you can also use store-bought (chicken broth is a great substitute)
- 1/2 cup frozen peas thawed
- 1/2 cup diced carrots microwaved for 1 minute
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/2 tsp thyme
- 1/2 tsp celery salt
- 1/4 tsp ground sage
- Fried Onion Rings
Instructions
Prepare Pie Crust
- Grease pie pan with butter or spray with cooking spray
- Press left-over stuffing into pie pan on bottom and up sides to form a crust
- Put chopped up turkey in the prepared pie pan
Make Sauce
- Saute onions & celery in the butter, in medium saucepan until translucent
- Whisk in flour until a paste has formed and completely combined
- Slowly add broth and stir or whisk until becomes thick and bubbly
- Add the peas, carrots and spices to the sauce and stir until mixed
- Pour sauce over turkey in pie pan
- Put fried onions on top (Optional)
Cooking
- Bake in pre-heated 350° oven for 30 minutes with foil on top
- Remove foil and bake until brown and bubbly, about 10 more minutes
- Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes before cutting to serve
Notes
Turkey Noodle Casserole
I’m a huge fan of pasta, and this recipe from Simply Joy caught my eye. It looks so yummy. This year, it is definitely going to be one of my weekend left-over meals that I make.
Turkey Bone Broth
I’m a person who believes in reduce, reuse, recycle and that includes my turkey carcass. I don’t throw it away until I’ve gotten lots of yummy bone broth from it.
Ingredients
- Bones, skin, and drippings from Turkey Make sure you've taken off as much meat as you can
- Water
- 1 Onion, peeled and quartered
- left-over veggie scrapes See Notes
- 1 tblsp crushed garlic
- 1/2 cup white wine
- fresh herbs bay leaf, oregano, thyme, – use 2 tsp of dried if you don't have fresh
Instructions
- Place turkey bones, leftover skin, and any drippings, the onion, garlic, veggie scraps, herbs, and wine into a large stockpot
- Cover with water so that it's just 1-2 inches over the bones
- Bring to boil over medium-high heat. Once it starts to boil turn it down to a very gentle simmer and let cook for 3 hours.
- Let cool enough to handle, then strain the broth into glass jars. I use quart but you can use whatever works for you.
- Place in refrigerator. Skim off any fat or gel the next day.
- I use this broth to make my turkey noodle soup.
- You can also process the broth with a pressure canner to keep in the pantry. I'm definitely going to do that this year.
Notes
Nutrition
5 More Turkey Left-Over Recipes
- Turkey Sandwiches
- Mix cranberry sauce to your morning yogurt — add fresh fruit and granola
- Potato Pancakes with leftover mashed potatoes
- Cobb Salad
- Turkey Salad Sandwich
Final Thoughts
Turkey is such a versatile protein that can be used anywhere that you would use chicken. The recipes I shared with you for leftovers from Thanksgiving are great comfort foods. Perfect for this time of year.
If you just take one day to put all this together, you can have meals in the freezer for an easy dinner several times over the next few weeks. I have even made these recipes in individual-sized portions so that someone can easily grab a meal for themselves.
With the busyness of the holidays, these freezer meals can be a game-changer on a busy night!
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My name is Lynn. I live in the suburbs of Chicago in a 1,300 sq. ft. home with my Handy husband, Keith.
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