From Dinner to Breakfast

Leftover Breakfast Ideas

Egg Fried Rice:

Ok, you probably didn’t make fried rice for Thanksgiving dinner – but take-out may have saved your kitchen for Thanksgiving prep on the night before. Anyways, this dish is so simple and takes dinner for breakfast to a whole new level.

Ingredients: Leftover Fried Rice, Eggs

Instructions:

1. Microwave or toss in a buttered pan your leftover fried rice.
2. Fry an egg and place it on top of the fried rice before serving!

Stuffing Waffles with Cranberry Sauce

These might sound strange, but most carb lovers will agree that it’s hard to get enough stuffing. Using the waffle iron makes the stuffing crispy on both sides but remain moist in the middle. This recipe would be hard to feed a crowd unless you have multiple waffle irons because they take about 6-8 minutes per waffle in order to be sure that the egg cooks through.

Ingredients: Leftover Stuffing, an Egg and Cranberry Sauce

Instructions:

1. Grease your waffle iron.
2. Mix an egg into 2 cups of leftover stuffing.
3. Place a scoop of stuffing mixture into a waffle maker & cook at least twice as long as a normal waffle.
4. Garnish with leftover cranberry sauce or leftover gravy.

Sweet Potato & Turkey Hash:

This is a sweet heat (sweet potatoes/jalapenos) dish that is a different taste from normal hash browns. Use it to compliment your main dish or make it the main dish.

Ingredients: Serves about 4

2 C leftover Sweet Potatoes

2 C leftover Turkey

1/2 Onion, chopped

1 Bell Pepper

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 Jalapeno, minced

1/2 tsp ground Sage

1/4 tsp dried Thyme

Salt & Pepper to taste

Olive oil for cooking

4 fried Eggs (1 per person, if desired)

Avocado and Bacon crumbles, optional

Instructions:

1. Dice the first 4 ingredients.
2. Heat about 1 T olive oil in a large pan over medium high heat.
3. Add then add the sweet potatoes and cook and stir for a few minutes per side until browned (remember these are leftover sweet potatoes so they are already cooked). Remove from pan.
4. Add another 1 T of olive oil to pan then add pepper, onion, and jalapeño. Cook for a few minutes.
5. Add the garlic for a minute then add the leftover turkey along with the sage, thyme and leftover sweet potatoes. Heat for 1-2 minutes.
6. Fry the desired number of eggs and serve them on top of the hash mixture, if desired.

Leftovers for Breakfast

Breakfast Leftover Ideas

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal:

Pump up the flavor on your healthy breakfast with this oatmeal that will trick your mind into thinking that it’s indulging in a nice slice of pumpkin pie! There’s no sugar needed and you get to use up that last bit of pumpkin at the same time.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup old fashioned Oats

1/3 cup Milk (or milk alternative)

1/3 cup Water

2 T leftover canned Pumpkin

1 T Maple Syrup

1/2 teaspoon Chia seeds

1/4 teaspoon Pumpkin pie spice

2-3 tablespoons chopped Pecans for topping

Instructions for 1 serving:

1. Combine in a small pot all ingredients, except for the pecans. Use a bigger pot and double or triple all ingredients to serve more people.
2. Stir together and turn heat to medium low and cook about 10 minutes (or desired consistency).
3. Top with pecans, add milk and enjoy!

Thanksgiving Breakfast Sandwich:

Pile your leftovers into a breakfast sandwich. This one’s pretty basic, but worth mentioning if you’re up early and can’t wait for a turkey sandwich. Other things to remember besides the cranberry sauce when making a leftover Thanksgiving sandwich are how great avocados and pesto sauce taste with turkey.

Ingredients: Biscuit, leftover Cranberry Sauce, leftover Mashed Potatoes, Fried Egg.

Instructions:

1. Layer the ingredients in the order listed, ending with the top half of the biscuit.
2. This sandwich can be assembled and eaten either cold or hot.

Potato Pancakes with Leftover Veggies:

Leftover mashed potatoes actually make some hearty pancakes. Just add an egg and then feel free to throw in other leftover vegetables to make them a little healthier and create more texture. Ingredients: Leftover Mashed Potatoes, an egg, salt & pepper, grated cheese and/or any leftover vegetables desired

Instructions:

1. Mix all ingredients together. Use an egg per about 2 cups of leftover mashed potatoes, also add a little milk to the mix if your mashed potatoes are thick.
2. Pre-heat a skillet to medium-high and add a little butter.
3. Fry a scoop of potato mixture on each side a few minutes until nicely browned.
4. Eat as is or add toppings such as sour cream, more cheese, chives, etc.

Gruyere Baked Eggs:

Turn cheese and mushrooms into a breakfast casserole. This one isn’t really Thanksgiving leftovers, except maybe from your appetizers, but if your Thanksgiving company is still there then this casserole will quickly and nicely feed a crowd – but make more than one casserole tho since this recipe only serves 2-4 people. Serve with toasted pumpkin bagels for a nice combination that makes it more like Thanksgiving.

Ingredients:

1 T Butter

8 oz Mushrooms – any variety, sliced

1 clove Garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon Thyme

Salt & Pepper

4 large Eggs

1/3 cup Gruyere, shredded (if you don’t have Gruyere, see our cheese substitute page.)

2 T Heavy Cream

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 400°F.
2. Melt the butter then add the mushrooms, sprinkle with salt & pepper and cook about 5 minutes.
3. Stir in the garlic & thyme and cook 2-3 more minutes.
4. Grease an 8X8” baking dish and then add the mushroom mixture.
5. Crack the eggs over top of the mushroom mixture and sprinkle them with salt and pepper then the shredded cheese.
6. Drizzle the heavy cream over the eggs.
7. Bake about 10-12 minutes until the whites of the eggs are set and the yolks are velvety.
8. Serve warm.

Additional Leftover Information

For information concerning the safety of leftovers, please see our blog post for leftover safety tips.

To find out how long leftovers last, see our page on leftovers.