Delicious ideas to use up your Christmas leftovers
Christmas lunch is one of the most hotly anticipated meals of the year, and doing a roast with ALL the trimmings is part of the joy. One thing that’s guaranteed at Christmas is leftovers!
To make sure none of these Christmas delights ends up in landfill (rotting anaerobically to reduce methane – a potent greenhouse gas), here are some delicious ideas to use up your Christmas leftovers:
How to use up leftover ham
Pea and ham soup is a good way to use up some lefttover peas and potatoes Pea & ham soup recipe
Obvious, but so simple so I had to include it – a ham sandwich.
A cheese and ham pasta bake is another great place to hide any other leftover veg – I’d swap the spring onions in this recipe for normal onions and whatever veg you have leftover or around…
A quick ham salad is an easy way to use up leftover ham.
Another great place for leftover ham and veg is in an omelette.
How to use up leftover turkey
There’s the good old turkey and stuffing / cranberry sandwiches…
Or check out this leftovers turkey casserole, designed to use up leftover roasted veg too!
You could go for a Turkey curry – I’d swap the unseasonal green pepper for leftover greens from Christmas day. This uses leftover potatoes too 😊
Try this Leftover Sunday Lunch Potato Hash too to use up meat, potatoes and veg…
These Stuffin’ Muffins give a home to almost all the leftover, green veg, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy!
Cooked turkey (and some pre cooked greens or carrots) would go well in a stir fry with some rice or noodles and a sweet and sour sauce (just mix honey, tomato ketchup, soy sauce and vinegar and you’ve got your own home made version).
How to use up leftover sausages
If you’ve got sausages / pigs in blankets left, as well as stuffing turkey and potatoes, try this Roast potato, turkey, sausage & stuffing pie recipe
Otherwise, use as a sausage sandwich, or reheat and serve with scrambled eggs as part of a cooked breakfast.
How to use up leftover cranberries and stuffing
Try a Potato And Stuffing Hash. This one looks delicious and would be amazing with some poached eggs or leftover ham/turkey and some leftover veg mixed in.
Or make ‘ Gobbler Cakes’. Apparently a hit with the kids and they use up stuffing and cranberries.
How to use up leftover mash or roast potatoes and roast parsnips
There are a few recipes above, but here are some more potato specific ones if spuds or parsnips is all you have.
An excellent combination with cabbage or brussels as ‘bubble and squeak’. You can fry it in a pan to make crispy cakes when you reheat. Add in some egg and any leftover veggies to your potato and make a potato pattie. Then fry with a little oil on both sides until golden and crispy.
We love a potato or parsnip hash. As the potatoes are already cooked, chop them and warm them with some sautéed onions and tomatoes, and an egg or black beans.
Potato pancakes are another way to use up mash!
How to use up leftover Christmas veg (brussels, cabbage, carrots etc)
There are a lot of good recipes above, like omelettes, hash’s etc. If all you have left are veg, here are a couple of other ideas for you:
Cabbage/brussels and carrots goes great in stir fries with noodles (some turkey would work well in this too).
Leftover veg will pretty much always work in a tomato sauce with smokey chipotle and some black beans. Eat with rice or on a baked potato (sweet potatoes are particularly good here!).
Some of these look so nice that I might deliberately make too much this year just so I can enjoy these on Boxing Day!