six Thanksgiving leftover recipes for the containers already in your fridge

Four kinds of Thanksgiving leftovers lead to six very different dishes. Cooked turkey can become pie, soup or quesadillas; stuffing becomes muffins, mashed potatoes become gnocchi, and cranberry sauce becomes crumb bars.

Pick the finished form before you shop, then open the linked creator page for its complete ingredients and method. Hearth & Petals has not made or tested these recipes.

Shredded cooked turkey sits with carrots, celery, onion and peas in a milk-and-stock sauce. The recipe uses both a bottom and top pastry crust, making this a complete pie rather than filling under a loose lid.

Its top-and-bottom crust makes this the turkey option you slice at the table. Settle on the pie when one shared main dish suits dinner better than bowls or handheld wedges.

Carrots, celery, onion and halved baby potatoes share the bowl with already cooked turkey. Broth and a little heavy cream make the liquid lightly creamy without turning it into a dense chowder.

A ladle settles this choice: baby potatoes give the bowl substance, while the pale broth stays lightly creamy. It is the turkey route for someone who wants vegetables and potatoes gathered into one spoonable meal.

The selected branch uses leftover turkey, cranberry sauce, apple slices and regular mozzarella inside whole-wheat tortillas. A pinkish dip of cranberry, rosemary and Greek yogurt belongs to the same complete recipe.

Turkey and cranberry sauce leave the fridge together in this option, with apple and mozzarella making the filling savory-sweet. The browned wedges and yogurt dip suit a casual meal that can be eaten by hand.

Anna Hinman’s recipe combines leftover bread stuffing with eggs and butter. Her own example used sausage stuffing with onions, celery, garlic and spices, but the recipe accepts the bread stuffing you have.

The muffin pan gives every serving its own crisp golden top and rough bread-cube shape. Individual portions work well when you want the stuffing to feel distinct from the shared baking dish served at Thanksgiving.

The dough uses leftover mashed potatoes, egg yolks, flour and nutmeg. Pamela Salzman permits cut pillows or ridged pieces and suggests butter with grated Parmesan for a simple finish.

Here the leftover becomes the base of small potato dumplings instead of returning as a side dish. Because mashed potatoes vary, Pamela’s complete recipe should control the dough and method.

Kelley Simmons uses leftover cranberry sauce for the middle. Butter, flour, oats, brown sugar and cinnamon make the base and topping, so the finished dish is a layered bar rather than another spoonful beside turkey.

The red cranberry layer sits between a buttery base and coarse oat crumb, giving the sauce a clearly sweet role after dinner. Cut squares make the transformation easy to see and easy to share.