7 Thanksgiving recipes and delectable dishes you can whip up using leftovers!

After cooking up tons of Thanksgiving recipes for the family, the last thing you want to do is waste leftovers. Here are some recipes that put them to use!

Easy Thanksgiving recipes, plus leftover ideas

It may not be a local tradition, but many Filipino families now celebrate Thanksgiving together with their American friends and relatives.

If you're hosting a feast in your home this year, you might want to try using these delicious Thanksgiving recipes for food that is sure to impress your guests.

Squash soup

Start off your Thanksgiving dinner with a deliciously creamy squash or pumpkin soup.

You can pair this copycat Yellow Cab squash soup recipe from Pepper.ph with some sliced crusty bread to warm up your bellies before the big feast.

Squash pasta sauce

Transform your leftover squash soup into a creamy pasta sauce using this easy-to-follow recipe from food blog, This Is My Kitchen.

Just toss your pasta of choice into the sauce and top it with bacon for a quick post-Thanksgiving lunch.

Roast turkey

A roast turkey is usually the centerpiece of any Thanksgiving dinner.

Preparing a perfectly roasted turkey is not as difficult as it may seem, though you will need to have a fairly large oven to do so.

Once you have found a right-sized bird for your oven, cook it using Food Network star Ina Garten’s Perfect Roast Turkey recipe.

BBQ turkey quesadilla

You can expect quite a lot of leftover meat from your Thanksgiving turkey.

One easy dish that you can make out of it is this Barbecued Turkey Quesadilla by Sheila Lukins on CommunityTable.com.

Image source: CommunityTable.com

Garlic rosemary roasted chicken

Expecting a small group for dinner? Then you can opt to roast a chicken instead of a turkey.

Mom blogger and home cook Peachy Adarne shares an easy Garlic Rosemary Roasted Chicken recipe that is a perfect alternative main dish for Thanksgiving.

Image source: ThePeachKitchen.com

Chicken salad spread

An ordinary chicken salad spread becomes a whole lot more delicious when you use leftover roasted chicken in place of plain boiled chicken breast.

Cebuana crafty mom Marryl Erojo’s recipe is great as a sandwich spread or smeared on top of a vegetable salad.

Stuffing

To complement your roasted turkey or chicken, you should also make some yummy stuffing.

Betty Crocker’s Bread Stuffing recipe is a Thanksgiving classic that is easy to prepare. It can be stuffed into the cavity of your turkey or chicken, or baked separately in a dish.

Image source: BettyCrocker.com

Stuffing meatloaf with marmalade glaze

Leftover stuffing need not go to waste. Use yours to make this yummy Stuffing Meatloaf with Marmalade Glaze from RealSimple.com.

Here’s a tip: Leftover stuffing can keep for 2 days in the refrigerator and up to a month in the freezer!

Image source: RealSimple.com

Mashed potatoes

Instead of serving rice, go all the way in keeping to the traditional Thanksgiving meal by preparing mashed potatoes.

Martha Stewart’s recipe for Perfect Mashed Potatoes is made extra rich by adding milk or cream and butter.

Potato croquettes

Leftover mashed potatoes are the perfect base for an amazing Potato Croquettes appetizer.

You will need about 4 cups of mashed potatoes for PanlasangPinoy.com’s recipe, which serves 6. You can always halve the recipe if needed, or if your leftover mashed potatoes aren't enough.

Gravy

Turkey and mashed potatoes would be incomplete without rich gravy poured over them.

Made with the drippings from your roast, Food.com’s gravy recipe is no-fail and very easy to follow.

Shepherd’s pie casserole

Don’t throw out your leftover gravy. If you happen to have a cup or so left over, try making this Shepherd’s Pie Casserole from Cooks.com.

Your Thanksgiving gravy will surely add loads of flavor to this baked dish.

Apple pie

An apple pie makes the perfect sweet ending to your Thanksgiving feast. You can opt to make everything from scratch or buy frozen pie crust to make things easier.

If you're making apple pie for the first time, try CasaVeneracion.com’s resident blogger Connie’s go-to apple pie recipe.

Apple pie shake

If think that there is no creative way to reuse leftover apple pie, you are mistaken. Food Network Star Kelsey Nixon's Apple Pie Shake makes for a delicious snack or dessert.

All you'll need is frozen apple pie, milk and vanilla ice cream — and voila! You've got yourself a refreshing treat.

Image source: FoodNetwork.com

Thanksgiving recipes and leftover ideas to prepare at home

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Patricia de Castro-Cuyugan

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