Leftover Thanksgiving Casserole

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This Leftover Thanksgiving Casserole is the perfect dinner to make after you made enough turkey to feed half the neighborhood and you have a lot of delicious thanksgiving leftovers.

Leftover Thanksgiving casserole in a baking dish with cranberries in the background.

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More about Leftover Thanksgiving Casserole

The leftover Thanksgiving casserole was invented by us, the people who habitually make too much for holiday dinner and then are stuck with lots and lots of meat and sides leftover. The best way to use them is to recreate them and add something new to create a whole new dish.

Why This Thanksgiving Leftover Casserole Recipe is a Keeper

Casseroles are pure comfort food. Busy mothers have been making them for centuries for their families, Masterclass takes a deep dive into everyone’s favorite layered dinner. Leftover Thanksgiving Casserole.

This easy leftover turkey casserole is layer upon layer of all your best leftovers – turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, veggies and it’s topped off with mashed potatoes.  Inside the flavors all come together into this luscious leftover creation.

  • 30 Minute Meal: Only five minutes to assemble and then pop it in the oven.
  • Easy Ingredients: They are already made for thanksgiving dinner, they just need to be assembled in a new way.
  • Family Friendly: Everything in the dish is already things that they love so what else could be easier or more popular.
  • Adaptable: Can make it low-carb, meat free, dairy free, etc…

If you’re looking to make Thanksgiving leftover inspired recipes, try these Easy Turkey Pot Pie, Crock Pot Turkey Soup and Leftover Turkey Pasta Casserole.

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How do you keep the turkey moist?

A serving of leftover Thanksgiving casserole on a white plate with a fork.

One of the best ways to keep turkey from becoming dry is to add Giblet and Turkey Neck Gravy , chicken broth, turkey stock or butter to the turkey before reheat low and slow.

Ingredient Notes for Leftover Turkey Casserole

Ingredients for leftover thanksgiving casserole.
  • Leftover Turkey: Use leftover turkey, you can use all white mean, dark meat or a combination of both.
  • Cheese: Cheddar cheese or a blend of your favorites. Yum!

See the recipe card below for a complete list of the ingredients with measurements.

Variations and Substitutions for Thanksgiving Leftover Recipes with Stuffing, Mashed Potato and Cranberry Sauce

This day after Thanksgiving casserole is easy and delicious. When you’re ready to revamp your leftovers and make them in to a whole new dinner. Truly the best part is you should feel free to use whatever you love. Pour gravy on top of it all. Definitely use up all your delicious food in one dish that is ready to eat. You get to enjoy a little bit of everything.

  • Rotisserie Chicken: Make this recipe with chicken in place of the turkey and stuffing casserole.
  • Vegetables: It is a great way to use up whatever you have. Leftover sweet potato casserole, cornbread stuffing or use leftover mashed potatoes even instant mashed potatoes. Use green bean casserole, peas, brussels sprouts, corn casserole or mashed sweet potatoes or even cans of corn or beans. They all work great.

How to Make Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey Casserole Recipe

These are the basic steps for making Leftover Turkey Casserole recipe. Refer to the full, printable recipe card below for detailed instructions and nutritional information.

Assembling the components on the casserole.

STEP 1: Prepare and Cover the Bottom of the Baking Dish

First, preheat oven to 375°. Then spray bottom of the 8×8 non-stick casserole dish with no-stick cooking spray.

STEP 2: Combine Turkey and Layer the Leftover Turkey

Then spread leftover stuffing on top of the turkey. In a small bowl, combine 1/4 cup mayo and cranberry sauce; evenly spread over turkey. Next, in another bowl, combine remaining 1/2 cup of mayo, potato leftovers and cheese; evenly spread on top of cranberry sauce mixture. Spread stuffing on top.

STEP 3: Cover the Leftover Turkey Casserole Recipe with Foil and Bake

Finally, cover the baking dish with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Serve with leftover gravy.

Recipe Frequently Asked Questions to use Thanksgiving Leftovers

No, truly you can use what you like and layer it how you want, just remember to make sure to keep everything moist.

Keep for up to four days in the fridge. If you store leftovers in the freezer, they will be of best quality within 2-6 months. Find out more about leftovers from Thanksgiving.

Top with leftover gravy and reheat in the microwave.

A spoonful of Leftover Thanksgiving casserole.

Expert Tips for Making This Great Recipe

Along with turkey soup and Turkey Pot Pie, you can make this amazing casserole with leftover mashed potato, stuffing, sweet potato and green beans.

  • Different Cheese: Use what you like or what you have. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese or any good melty cheese can be added to the turkey mixture.
  • Mayo Replacement: Cream of Mushroom soup or cream of chicken soup are wonderful to use in this recipe.
  • Season: If you need a little more, add salt, pepper, garlic powder to the turkey casserole with stuffing. Adding seasoning will bring nice flavor to the dish.
  • Spaghetti Casserole: Add a little cooked pasta and top with sour cream for a different use for these thanksgiving leftovers.
  • Fried Onions: Top the turkey and dressing casserole with a little crunch from French Fried Onions and add a layer of cheese on top.
4.74 from 88 votes

Leftover Thanksgiving Casserole

Yield: 6 servings
Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 25 minutes
Total: 30 minutes
This Leftover Thanksgiving Casserole is the perfect dinner to make after you made enough turkey to feed half the neighborhood and you have a lot of delicious thanksgiving leftovers.
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⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️Did you try this recipe? Please leave a star rating and review below!

Ingredients

  • 4 cups Stuffing, divided
  • 4 cups Turkey, about 1 lb. of leftovers
  • ¾ cup Mayonnaise, divided
  • ¼ cup Cranberry sauce
  • 2 cups Mashed potatoes, leftovers
  • 1 ½ cups Cheddar cheese, shredded

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 375°. Spray 8-inch baking dish with no-stick cooking spray.
  • Place half of the stuffing in the dish and top with all of the turkey.
  • In a small bowl, combine 1/4 cup mayo and cranberry sauce; evenly spread over turkey.
  • In another bowl, combine remaining 1/2 cup of mayo, potatoes and cheese; evenly spread on top of cranberry sauce mixture.
  • Top with remaining stuffing.
  • Bake for 25 minutes or until heated through.

Expert Tips

 
  • Different Cheese: Use what you like or what you have. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese or any good melty cheese can be added to the turkey mixture.
  • Mayo Replacement: Cream of Mushroom soup or cream of chicken soup are wonderful to use in this recipe.
  • Season: If you need a little more, add salt, pepper, garlic powder to the casserole.
  • Moisture: If it still seems a little dry add, melted butter or chicken stock or turkey stock or top with leftover gravy.
  • Pasta: Add a little cooked pasta and top with sour cream for a different use for these thanksgiving leftovers.

Estimated Nutritional Information

Calories: 724kcal | Carbohydrates: 51g | Protein: 27g | Fat: 46g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 17g | Monounsaturated Fat: 13g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 88mg | Sodium: 1097mg | Potassium: 497mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 763IU | Vitamin C: 16mg | Calcium: 258mg | Iron: 2mg
The nutritional information provided are estimates. To learn more about how I calculate this information go to www.itisakeeper.com/about-its-a-keeper/privacy-disclosure-policies/
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Course: Main Dish
Cuisine: American

19 thoughts on “Leftover Thanksgiving Casserole”

  1. 5 stars
    This turned out great! I wish I would’ve have taken a picture! Thank you for all the tips in your article. Because of them I added a few extra layers of what we had including our collard greens and sweet potato leftovers from Thanksgiving. This casserole was a hit for me and my family

    Reply
  2. 3 stars
    This turned out good. But I challenge anyone to put 4 cups of turkey, 4 cups of dressing, 2 cups of mashed potatoes into an 8×8 baking dish. Along with any of the other suggested ingredients. Wasn’t going to happen in my house. After I started with the 8X8 pan and then moved up to a much larger casserole dish, I did add the remainder of my green bean casserole but omitted the cheese. Casserole turned out really good but I was drawn to this recipe because it advertised an 8×8 dish. There are only two of us so I wanted something smaller. All in all, we have dinner for two more nights!

    Reply
  3. 5 stars
    I thought this was a great idea for thanksgiving leftovers! I had just the right amount of turkey and stuffing for it. However, I used a little more cranberry sauce, and did a layer of swiss cheese after placing the mixed potatos in the pan. Then, with the rest of the stuffing, I also added my leftover green bean casserole to fully cover the top.
    I personally find that swiss and cranberry compliment each other, and the green bean casserole adds a whole new compliment!

    Reply
  4. 5 stars
    I made this thanksgiving recipe this morning and it was better than my thanksgiving meal! I was a little concerned about how the cranberry sauce and mayo would be mixed together and it was fabulous! Thank you so much for sharing that very tasty casserole recipe. This is a keeper!

    Reply
  5. 3 stars
    Sounds yummy. I’ve been looking for an after Thanksgiving Casserole recipe which also includes the use of cranberry sauce, but why mix it w/mayo? I would add a layer of vegetables (such as peas & carrots OR green beans) somewhere in between.

    Reply
    • it’s completely flexible. You can add or omit anything you like – that’s the great part about casseroles. The mayo does add a creaminess and brings the casserole together nicely, though.

      Reply
    • Actually, I used to work at a burger joint for many years, and our November Burger Special used Cranberry Mayo as the base, and the burger was absolutely delicious!

      Reply
  6. 5 stars
    This sounds wonderful. We usually make dressing instead of stuffing. I think it would still work. I think from now on we should make an extra pan to make sure we have enough to try this recipe. My whole crew is excited to try this one!

    Reply
  7. 5 stars
    All the best flavors of Thanksgiving rolled into one! It is perfect for shopping day, I’ll just have my teenager throw it into the oven before I get home.

    Reply
  8. 5 stars
    Oh my gosh – what a brilliant recipe! I whipped up lunch today in a snap with my Thanksgiving leftovers – just in time to head out the door for some Black Friday shopping!

    Reply

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