Thanksgiving Leftover Recipes Your Kids Will Eat

These parent-approved Thanksgiving leftover recipes use traditional Thanksgiving food in creative ways, but not so creative that our kids won't eat them!

Discover genius ways to feed the family using all of the leftover Thanksgiving sides, turkey and desserts that hang around after the holiday.

Help us grow the list by sharing your favorite ideas for what to do with Thanksgiving leftovers below! Scroll down and add your family's favorite recipe idea to the box at the bottom of the list.


 
    Leftover Thanksgiving Nachos

    Shila:  After a couple nights of eating from our traditional turkey dinner platter, in my house we like to reinvent Thanksgiving leftovers into something completely different. Try this recipe for Thanksgiving-inspired nachos that use turkey, fried onions and leftover veggies. You can easily customize this with whatever toppings your kids prefer! From Food Network

    Leftover Pie Parfaits

    Shila:  Wondering what to do with Thanksgiving leftovers from the dessert spread? Layer with whipped cream for fun individual parfaits! You can even send them home with your guests in pretty mason jars. From Homemaker's Habitat

    Loaded Mashed Potato Soup

    Shila:  One of the best and warmest Thanksgiving leftover recipes has to be throwing together an awesome pot of soup. Use your leftover mashed potatoes (which are already deliciously seasoned), and thin them out with chicken broth. Potato soup always tastes better topped off with crispy bacon, shredded cheddar cheese, and sour cream. From Rocky Mountain Cooking

    Cranberry, Brie & Turkey Pizza

    Shila:  Our Thanksgiving leftovers often include plenty of cheese and cranberry sauce, and these make for deliciously different pizza toppings paired with leftover turkey. Buy frozen dough, and garnish with red onions and rosemary too. From Taste of Home

    Leftover Cranberry Sauce Muffins

    Shila:  Don't forget about using extra cranberry sauce to make some delicious Thanksgiving leftover recipes for breakfast! In fact, you probably have all of the ingredients in your pantry already for these tasty cranberry muffins. From Kitchen Treaty

    Fried Mashed Potato Balls

    Kristy Pepping:  You can make Thanksgiving leftover mashed potatoes even more fantastic by turning them into breaded potato balls that kids and adults will both love! If you have leftover Thanksgiving rolls to use up and a food processor, you can even create your own breading. From Delish

    BBQ Turkey Sandwich

    Shila:  Shred up some turkey from your Thanksgiving leftovers and warm up the meat with store bought BBQ sauce. Serve on a bun for a tasty sandwich. Try topping it with pickles or slaw!

    Sweet Potato Bread

    Shila:  This quick bread recipe is an excellent choice if you need Thanksgiving leftover recipes to use up sweet potatoes. Even better if the potatoes were already mashed and served up as one of your epic Thanksgiving side dishes! If your sweet potatoes happened to be already sugared, you may want to reduce the amount of additional sugar called for in this recipe. From Tastes Of Lizzy T

    Monte Cristo Sandwich

    Shila:  This famous battered and toasted sandwich uses leftover turkey, ham and swiss cheese slices. Dust a sprinkle of powdered sugar for garnish while hot and serve it up with a dipping of red jam. This is one of the best Thanksgiving leftover recipes, especially if you make both ham and turkey! From Striped Spatula

    Make-Ahead Turkey Potpie

    Kelly R:  I made this potpie with our Thanksgiving leftovers, and it was a hit! Warm and comforting with familiar flavors that appeal to kids. We made ours as one family-size pie instead of individual servings, and it worked perfectly. This is one of the best Thanksgiving leftover recipes I've tried, because it's also a freezer friendly meal! You can make it right away and enjoy it later when everyone isn't so burned out on the leftovers. From Taste of Home

    Creamy After-Thanksgiving Turkey Soup

    Shila:  This highly-rated Thanksgiving leftover soup goes all in with the turkey carcass, stuffing, vegetables, butter and flour in a Dutch oven. Broken up bits of fettuccine noodles, along with a pour of heavy cream make this meal extra velvety and rich. From Allrecipes

    Turkey Cranberry Sliders

    Katie G.:  My kids love the Hawaiian roll baked sandwiches with ham and cheese. This recipe is a fun twist using up Thanksgiving leftovers. Layer on the toppings then throw in the oven for a quick and easy lunch. From Graceful Little Honey Bee

Primary photo:   Jessica Kantak Bailey on Unsplash

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