6 Creative Ways To Use Up Your Leftover Thanksgiving Stuffing

Ah, the morning after Thanksgiving. You wake up bleary-eyed, happy, and to a fridge bursting at the seams with Thanksgiving dinner leftovers. How will you eat all this food without having dinner repeats all week long? We have a few ideas. First, freeze it. Take a good look at what’s left over and freeze what you can: process rolls into bread crumbs, separate veggies into their own plastic freezer bags, use that turkey to make a season’s worth of stock. And that stuffing? Here are six delicious ways to use it. 

We suggest thinking of stuffing as you would a starch or a carb – anything you can make with potatoes, flour, or chickpeas, you can make with stuffing. It just has a little extra flavor.

Make Waffles

This is perhaps our favorite way to use stuffing. Turn them into a sweet-savory breakfast. You want a two to one ratio with eggs (two cups of stuffing? One egg.) and throw in a little broth (start with ¼ cup) to moisten. When it’s holding together, smear it on a waffle maker and cook until crisp. While this is a great opportunity to use up some ham and cranberry sauce, we go full breakfast and douse them in maple syrup.

Or a Breakfast Hash

Another great brunch recipes when your guests just won’t leave. Turn the stuffing into hash. Just sauté it with cubed sweet potatoes and a little bit of olive oil. Got leftover ham or roasted pork? Throw that in there too. Top with runny fried eggs for a breakfast of champions. [pagebreak]

Make Grab and Go Muffins

If you’re packing up your leftovers and hitting the road (there’s more familia to see after all), turn stuffing into hearty and sturdy grab and go muffins. It’s all to eye here but start with twice as many eggs as cups of stuffing and add in chorizo or jalapeno for protein and spice. Even a little cheese. Bake them off, pack them up, and hit the road.

Turn Stuffing into Burgers

You got breakfast covered, try lunch! Add one egg for every cup of stuffing and mix with ¼ of whole wheat flour and ½ pound of ground turkey or crumbled chorizo. Then roll into patties and bake or fry until golden. Keeping it vegetarian? Add chickpeas for even more protein.

Use it as… Stuffing

Duh. Stuffing makes a great appetizer. Plop it into peppers, stuff it into mushroom caps, even smear it on dates and then wrap with bacon. We suggest prepping these the morning after Thanksgiving and freeze them for the upcoming holiday happy hours, pot lucks, and parties. Just bake them off the day of your fiesta.

Turn Stuffing into Dumplings

It’s cold outside! Turn the turkey into a cozy homemade soup and use the stuffing to make dumplings. Start with the same amount of eggs as cups of stuffing and mix in ¼ cup of flour. You want a wet dough that holds together lightly. Roll up dumplings and cook in your soup. Happy holidays.