5 Healthy Ways to Use Your Thanksgiving Leftovers

By The Dirt To Dinner Team November 21, 2020

Ingredients

Nutrition

5 Healthy Ways to Use Your Thanksgiving Leftovers

Thanksgiving dinner is one of our favorite meals of the year, but we always struggle with one thing – what on earth do we do with all those leftovers?! Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered!

Ingredients

By The Dirt To Dinner Team November 21, 2020

Whether you’re looking for quick information, or want something to impress your friends at dinner, here’s our Featured 5 of the Week!

Thanksgiving dinner is one of our favorite meals of the year! But, we always have so much food left over. And, with Thanksgivings being smaller this year due to Covid, there will probably be even more food to go around. We all know the typical turkey sandwich, but there are many other healthy ways to use these delicious leftovers. Here are some of our favorites!

5. Turkey Salad

This is one of the easiest ways to use your leftovers, and it can be more than just throwing sliced turkey on some greens!

Making a salad delicious is completely up to you, and with the amount of veggies eaten on Thanksgiving, there should be no shortage of toppings for this salad. Roasted sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts, leftover green beans – add them all! You can even make croutons out of leftover stuffing and salad dressing from cranberry sauce. The options are endless!

So, if you’re still feeling super full the day after Thanksgiving, this salad is the perfect light lunch!

4. Turkey and Vegetable Soup

It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving if we weren’t making some kind of soup!

Making turkey soup is very easy and creates a cozy meal. To season your broth, you can use a mixture of low-sodium turkey broth and the carcass. Let it all come to a boil then simmer with your turkey meat and veggies. After you remove the carcass, it’ll be full of flavor.

This can be eaten on its own or with some whole-grain biscuits for a hearty and nutritious meal!

3. Air-Fried Thanksgiving Leftovers Eggrolls

Yes, we said eggrolls!

As long as they’re not deep-fried, eggrolls can be a great way to use Thanksgiving leftovers. Buy some eggroll wrappers from any grocery store (they’re usually in the produce section) and add turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, veggies – really any leftover you want! Roll it up and seal with water, and cook them in the air fryer at 350F for 6-7 minutes, flipping halfway.

For extra crispy eggrolls, spray them with cooking spray before air-frying them. Quick, easy, and delicious!

2. “Fancy” Turkey Sandwiches

Take a break from turkey on white bread with mayo and give these new sandwiches a try!

First, make some cranberry mayo using your leftover cranberry sauce. There’s a great recipe for it here. Warm up your turkey in the microwave and grab some multi-grain rolls. Spread some of the cranberry mayo on the roll and place your turkey on top. Now, you can just eat it like this and it will be delicious, but if you’re a toppings person, consider adding some avocado, lettuce, or brie cheese for extra flavor!

And, the best part about these sandwiches is that you can make them year-round by swapping out the leftover turkey with a turkey burger!

1. Turkey Stir-Fry

You’ve heard of chicken stir-fry, beef stir-fry, and shrimp stir-fry. Now, get ready for turkey stir-fry!

This is another super-easy way to use your leftover turkey. And, if you still go for a big turkey this Thanksgiving like we are, you’re going to need some recipes to use it up! Grab your fresh or frozen veggies and make the stir-fry just as you normally would. You can even add some leftover veggies if you have them. If you like rice in your stir fry, add some of that too, but consider using brown rice so you get your whole grains. Add the cooked turkey last and let it sit with the rest of the stir-fry until it’s warm and full of flavor.

There are so many ways to make stir-fry, so use your favorite recipe and just add some turkey at the end!

The Bottom Line

Thanksgiving dinner is great, but with these delicious and nutritious recipes, you may think the leftovers are even better! Either way, enjoy all of the food this holiday has to offer and worry about the calories later. It’s only once a year! Happy Thanksgiving!