3 Easy & Freezer-Friendly Thanksgiving Leftover Recipes

1. Turkey and stuffing casserole

You are going to need 1-2 cups of chopped turkey, 2½ cups leftover gravy, 1 cup of sour cream, 1 cup of grated cheddar cheese, and cooked stuffing - enough to form a layer of stuffing in the casserole pan.

Get your turkey into an aluminum tray, and mix it with the cream of sour cream and gravy. Cover it with a layer of cheese. Spread the stuffing evenly over the cheese. Now cover the dish with tin foil and freeze it.

When needed, thaw it out and put it in the freezer at 350 degrees for half an hour.

2. Broccoli and rice casserole 

For this casserole, you will need an onion, a bit of butter, cream cheese, paprika, broccoli (I am using chopped broccoli), flour, garlic powder, and some salt and pepper, as well as some milk and 1-2 cups of chopped turkey.

Also, I have cooked my rice (which ended up being about 4 cups) with Lawry’s seasoned salt and olive oil to make it flavorful.

Chop the onion, melt the butter in a pan on medium heat, and add in the onion, salt, pepper, and some mustard. Then add some flour, let it cook for a bit, and stir it. Then add in the milk and give it all a good stir so nothing burns on the bottom.

After a while, add garlic powder, some more mustard, and paprika.

Add in the cream cheese, and stir it again. Then I recommend adding Lawry’s seasoned salt - I find it adds a little extra flavor to whatever dish I'm making, so I add it to a lot of things. It should be getting a little thicker thanks to that flour roux.

Let it simmer and let all the flavors marinade together. Do not forget to add in chopped broccoli. 

Next, add in all the chopped turkey and rice. I also improvised and added some gravy. Finally, transfer the mixture into an aluminum tray and cover it with cheese. Again, you can cover it with tin foil, freeze it and thaw it whenever.

3. Turkey pasta carbonara

You are going to need bacon, an onion, minced garlic, milk, gravy, Parmesan cheese, and chopped turkey, as well as the pasta itself.

Start by frying some chopped bacon and chopped onion. After a while, add some minced garlic and let it all sauté together. You do not want to add your garlic in too early, or it will burn and give a weird taste to your dish.

Add in a little bit of milk and mix it. Then add some gravy. Mix it all up and let it thicken a little bit.

Next, add some parmesan cheese for extra flavor. Finally, add chopped turkey. I went off the recipe a little bit and added in some parsley, some white pepper, as well as a can of mushrooms, just because I thought they would add to the flavor.

I felt like the sauce needed a little bit of thickening so that it would really stick to the pasta. 

So I took about a tablespoon of flour with a little bit of water and mixed it around and then just stuck it through the strainer to avoid any lumps, and that just helped to thicken the sauce up. 

I took the pasta that was fully cooked. It was kind of hot, so I added in the frozen peas to just cool down that pasta so it would not all stick together, and I stirred it around.

Finally, I am going to pour my sauce over the pasta and stir everything together. I think this dish would work with chicken or ground beef, too.

Thanksgiving leftovers recipes

So now you have three great options for what to do with leftover turkey after Thanksgiving. I really hope you find these helpful and enjoyable.

What does your family cook with Thanksgiving leftovers? Share your traditional recipes in the comments and have a great Thanksgiving!