Thanksgiving Leftovers: 30 Ideas Sorted by What You Have

Leftovers are good for about two days and then become a guilt object at the back of the fridge. The problem is almost never a shortage of ideas — it is that the ideas are filed by dish name when what you actually have is three random containers.

So this is sorted by what is in front of you. The keeping times come first, because half of what gets thrown away on the Sunday was still fine and half of what gets eaten should not have been.

How long you actually have

• Cooked turkey: 3–4 days refrigerated, 3 months frozen. Freeze it in gravy or stock, not dry — dry frozen turkey comes back as sawdust.
• Stuffing: 3–4 days, and it freezes well. Reheat to steaming hot, not warm; stuffing that has been inside a bird is the single riskiest thing on the table.
• Mashed potato: 3–4 days. It freezes acceptably if it is buttery; low-fat mash comes back grainy.
• Gravy: 1–2 days refrigerated, 3 months frozen. The shortest window of anything here.
• Cranberry sauce: 10–14 days, because it is essentially preserved in sugar and acid. The one thing you do not need to rush.
• Cooked vegetables: 3–4 days, and they do not freeze into anything you will want to eat.
• Pie: pumpkin and any custard pie must go in the fridge, 3–4 days. Fruit pie is fine on the counter for two.

Get everything into the fridge within two hours of it coming off the table, in shallow containers rather than one deep tub — a large deep container cools too slowly in the middle.

Turkey (1–8)

1. The correct sandwich. Turkey, stuffing, cranberry, mayonnaise on one slice and gravy on the other, white bread, eaten standing up. Everything else in this section is a distant second.
2. Turkey pot pie. Turkey, leftover veg, and gravy loosened with stock under puff pastry. The single best use of a bad gravy.
3. Turkey and sweetcorn chowder. Onion, potato, corn, stock, cream, turkey in at the end so it does not turn to string.
4. Turkey ramen. Carcass stock, soy, ginger, noodles, a jammy egg. The best thing you can make from the parts nobody wanted.
5. Turkey enchiladas. Shredded turkey and cheese rolled in tortillas under salsa. The spice is the point — it stops the food tasting like Thursday.
6. Turkey hash with chopped potato and a fried egg. Breakfast, and the fastest thing here.
7. Turkey salad with grapes, celery and walnuts, bound in mayonnaise and mustard. Better on day three than day one.
8. Stock from the carcass. Break it up so it fits, cover with cold water, add an onion and a carrot, simmer three hours, never boil. Freeze flat in bags. This is the leftover that turns into ten more meals.

Mashed potato (9–14)

9. Potato cakes. Mash, a beaten egg, a handful of flour, formed into patties and fried in butter until dark. Cold mash works far better than warm.
10. Shepherd’s pie lid, over any leftover meat and gravy.
11. Gnocchi, if the mash is plain enough — riced potato, flour, egg, worked as little as possible.
12. Potato bread rolls, which use up a surprising quantity and freeze well.
13. Soup thickener: a scoop stirred into any broth-based soup instead of cream.
14. Chocolate potato truffles, which sound wrong and are not. Full recipe below.

Chocolate potato truffles

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb leftover mashed potatoes, cold
• 2 tbsp honey or maple syrup
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 8 oz chocolate chips or a bar
• 1/4 cup chopped nuts, cocoa powder, coconut or sprinkles

Method

1. Stir the honey, cocoa and vanilla into the cold mashed potato. It must be cold; warm mash goes soupy and never recovers.
2. Roll into teaspoon-sized balls and set them on a plate.
3. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over an inch of simmering water, not touching the water.
4. Drop a ball onto a fork, dunk, let the excess run off, then lower it into your topping.
5. Spoon the topping over, return to the plate, repeat.
6. Freeze for 5 minutes to set.

This only works with plain or lightly buttered mash. Mash with garlic, cheese or herbs in it will taste exactly as strange as you fear.

Stuffing (15–19)

15. Stuffing waffles. Press cold stuffing into a hot waffle iron. Crisp outside, soft middle, and the best single idea on this page.
16. Stuffing-stuffed mushrooms, baked with cheese on top.
17. Fried stuffing balls, rolled around a cube of cheese and breadcrumbed.
18. A savoury bread pudding: stuffing, eggs, milk, cheese, baked until set.
19. Croutons. Cube it, oil it, bake it hard, and put it on soup all week.

Cranberry sauce (20–24)

20. Whisked into a vinaigrette with oil, mustard and a splash of vinegar.
21. A glaze for pork or chicken, thinned with stock and reduced.
22. Baked into muffins or scones, where the tartness does the work of fruit.
23. Stirred into porridge or yoghurt, which uses it up faster than anything else.
24. A cocktail syrup, warmed with a little water and strained — cranberry, bourbon, lemon.

Gravy and everything else (25–30)

25. Gravy is the two-day item. Use it or freeze it on the Friday; do not let it sit hoping for a plan.
26. Poutine, over chips and cheese, which is the correct emergency use.
27. Roasted vegetable frittata, for the containers of sprouts and carrots nobody will reheat as-is.
28. Bubble and squeak — potato and greens, fried hard in a pan, edges left alone until they catch.
29. Dinner rolls into bread pudding, sweet or savoury.
30. Pumpkin pie for breakfast, which needs no recipe and no defence.

What to freeze, and how

Freeze in portions you will actually thaw — one meal, not one tub. Label with the date, because everything in a freezer looks identical by January. Turkey goes in with liquid. Stock freezes flat in bags and stacks like books. Mash, stuffing and pie all freeze; cooked vegetables, cream-dressed salads and anything mayonnaise-bound do not.

Thaw in the fridge overnight rather than on the counter, and reheat once, properly hot. Reheating the same container three times is how good leftovers become a bad week.

Next November

If the shopping is the part you dread, Rockoly’s Thanksgiving specials put a live chef on the call and send every ingredient to each guest’s door, so nobody is carrying bags. For a team rather than a table, virtual Thanksgiving has the workshops and the games worth running.

If you make the truffles, tag us on Instagram @rockoly_us — they photograph much better than they sound.