If you find yourself with a mountain of festive leftovers, you’re in luck. We’ve got a merry stash of sensational recipes perfect for using up the Christmas turkey, trimmings and even the pudding. With a little planning, some clever tips and a few hero ingredients, you can enjoy days of delicious meals that really do make the most of leftovers and minimise food waste.
Go beyond turkey sandwiches – click or scroll through our gallery to discover 25 genius ways to use up every last scrap of your Christmas meal, from mains to desserts.
An excellent chuck-it-all-in dish, this pie incorporates pretty much all the leftovers from your Christmas dinner, including cooked meat, vegetables and even bread sauce. In truly thrifty fashion, chopped roast potatoes and Brussels sprouts make up the topping. You can easily make this vegetarian throwing in leftovers from mains like nut roast or roasted squash, or just replacing the meat with extra veg.
A roasted veg tart where the vegetables have already been roasted? Sounds like a winner to us. This is the perfect solution for using up leftover cooked vegetables and you can make life even easier with shop-bought shortcrust pastry. You could also swap the Cheddar for any firm or semi-soft goats' or blue cheese – ideal if you didn't quite manage to get through that wheel of Stilton.
You can make this simple casserole with turkey, ham or chicken (or a mixture of all three). The topping, meanwhile, is made from stuffing ingredients and comes out of the oven wonderfully crunchy. Although this recipe uses just peas and spinach alongside the meat, you could also add any leftover vegetables you have, such as carrots or Brussels sprouts.
Pile slices of leftover roast beef, plus crunchy beansprouts and pak choy, into a steaming bowl of noodle soup. Not only is this fragrant broth quick to assemble, the aromatic spices, chilli, lime and coriander will awaken taste buds dulled by festive excess.
Prepare a generous fried breakfast (or brunch) as you normally would – fried mushrooms, tomatoes, eggs, bacon – but make it festive by replacing the sausages and black pudding with pigs in blankets and fried patties fashioned from leftover stuffing. You can also substitute bacon for slices of leftover ham.
This fantastic seasonal recipe sees goose take a starring role, so it's perfect if you've served the meat as your Christmas main. You can use any leftover goose meat (or, indeed, turkey) for this tasty dish, which is paired with a Brussels sprout and chestnut thoran (a dry vegetable curry).
Another simple idea that doesn't require much effort at all. For an indulgent leftovers dish, cube baked ham and mix with a cheesy white sauce, then top with sliced leftover potatoes and bake in the oven until golden and bubbling. You can swap the ham for shredded turkey meat, and feel free to throw in leftover veg and stuffing too.
There's nothing easier than popping leftover vegetables into a baking tin and pouring batter over the top for a festive – and vegetarian – riff on toad in the hole. If you fancy a meaty version, you could incorporate pigs in blankets and serve the dish smothered in gravy. When using cooked vegetables, follow the recipe below from step 5 onwards.
A low effort, comforting one-pot dish is exactly what we all need after Christmas. Our recipe for rice casserole is just the ticket and is very adaptable, too. The rice goes into a baking dish uncooked and is mixed and baked with cooked ham (swap for turkey, if you like), vegetables (use frozen diced veg or leftover cooked veg), a can of condensed cream of mushroom soup, stock and seasoning. A scattering of cheese is the perfect finishing touch.
This incredibly indulgent recipe requires a bit of effort before going to bed on Christmas Day, but we promise it's worth it. Leftover turkey leg meat is used for a confit and later piled into a bread bun, along with a potato rösti (also made from leftovers) and a fried egg. You can whip up the truffle mayo specified in the recipe or whisk leftover gravy into mayo. Don't worry if you don't have any fig jam – replace it with Christmas chutney instead.
Shredded turkey is given a new lease of life when matched with fragrant Malaysian flavours. This sweet and sour coconut noodle soup calls for shop-bought laksa paste, but if you can’t find it, sub in Thai red curry paste for a similarly delicious result. Don’t forget to add plenty of crunchy vegetables and fresh herbs to really beat the post-Christmas slump.
One of the easiest ways to use up Christmas odds and ends is in an ‘anything goes’ tart. Fill a ready-made shortcrust pastry case with shredded turkey meat or chopped ham (or both), pour over seasoned whisked eggs and dot cranberry sauce and leftover cheese across the top. Bake until the egg mix is set and the cheese golden and bubbling.
A one-pan hash is brilliantly low-effort but tastes delicious – especially if you're feeling fragile from the day before. Fry up leftover potatoes and ham, stir in any extra Brussels sprouts or add chopped, cooked carrots. Crack a couple of eggs on top and cook until set. Serve scattered with fresh herbs.
If you've served roast beef on Christmas Day, you're in for a treat – the leftovers form the basis of an all-time classic sandwich. Put together a take on a Reuben with wholegrain mustard, gherkins, caramelised onions and slices of cold roast beef. Don't forget to butter the fluffy white bread generously, too.
Incorporating both leftover roast potatoes and turkey, this spicy breakfast dish is sure to tempt you out of bed on a chilly morning. The hearty flavours are lifted by the creamy avocado and fragrant chopped coriander, while the chorizo provides a lovely sweet, smoky note.
Leftover ham, quick-to-cook linguine and a silky poached egg come together in this comforting dish that's ready in under 20 minutes. Perfect for twirling around your fork while watching all the best festive TV shows.
Not only can you throw all the odds and ends from your Christmas cheeseboard into this mac 'n' cheese, you can also add leftover turkey, chopped pigs in blankets, stuffing and Brussels sprouts (if you like). Oozy, cheesy, comforting and indulgent, it's an absolute winner of a festive dish.
Use up several festive leftovers in one dish by building the ultimate Christmas toastie. Mix and match the meat (shredded ham or turkey would work well), add the odds and ends from your cheeseboard and finish with a generous dollop of cranberry sauce. Butter the exposed sides of the bread before grilling or browning in a frying pan until toasted and golden all over. Any cheese that melts well, like Cheddar, Gouda or brie, will work beautifully, while crumbling in Stilton will add punchy flavour and texture.
This festive leftovers classic cannot be ignored. Take the Christmas sandwich to the next level with gravy mayo, bringing salty, spicy and savoury flavours perfect for a lazy Boxing Day lunch. Filled with crunchy salted crisps, spicy Tabasco sauce and mayonnaise mixed with leftover gravy, it's the ultimate turkey sarnie.
There’s absolutely no need for vegetarians and vegans to miss out on the delight that is a leftovers sandwich on Boxing Day. This tasty number is loaded with all the most delicious components of a vegan roast, with fluffy on the inside, crispy on the outside stuffing patties ensuring that it really is a sandwich to remember.
Get the recipe for the ultimate vegan leftovers Christmas sandwich here
Whether you like your cranberry sauce sweet and smooth or tart and chunky, it's a Christmas staple. Fortunately for those with leftover sauce, cranberries go brilliantly with a number of breakfast dishes. For the ultimate festive breakfast, heat cranberry sauce with pure maple syrup (to taste) in a saucepan until it thickens, then spoon over pancakes, waffles or French toast or to stir into porridge.
Made with leftover panettone you might have lingering around after Christmas, this dessert is comfort in a bowl. It's also a luxurious upgrade on classic British bread and butter pudding, with buttered slices of the sweet Italian bread soaked in custard and baked. For a real treat, serve with an aromatic spiced clementine sauce (ideal for using up a glut of the seasonal fruit).
Alternatively, you can also use slightly stale panettone to make this gorgeous French toast dish. Our version – topped with fried, calvados-infused apple wedges, whipped cream and fresh apple matchsticks – is a truly indulgent brunch treat.
This ingenious crumble recipe uses leftover Christmas pudding to top a spiced apple base. Serve with custard, ice cream, cream or all three – it is Christmas, after all. Fresh (or even slightly past their best) cranberries make a delicious addition to the dish; just mix in with the apples when assembling.
If there's an unused jar of fruity mincemeat still lurking in the cupboard post-Christmas, try this new take on a mince pie. The tart incorporates a crunchy streusel (crumble-like) top and an aromatic filling that still feels fabulously festive.
Get the recipe for mince pie streusel tart here
Now discover how to turn holiday leftovers into brilliant breakfasts