How to Transform Your Turkey Day Leftovers Into 14 Different Meals

Thanksgiving dinner may be delicious, but sometimes it's even better the next day as leftovers! Rach challenged the impossibly creative chef Richard Blais to turn an assortment of Turkey Day classics into as many new dishes as possible in just 60 minutes! Here’s what he came up with. Watch the video above to see how each one was made!

#1 Potato Soup

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-- 1 cup mashed potatoes
-- 1/2 cup hot water (from a tea kettle)
-- salt and pepper
-- Blend mashed potatoes and hot water and top with whipped cream, crispy shallots, and fried stuffing.

#2 Shepherd’s Pie

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-- In a casserole pan, layer mashed potatoes, chopped turkey, green bean casserole, pulverized fried stuffing, shallots and salt and pepper to taste.
-- Bake until hot.

#3 Turkey Fried Rice

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-- In a super hot pan with oil, fry 1/2 cup rice pilaf, add diced carrots, chopped green beans and mushrooms from the casserole.
-- Sear, add salt and pepper and serve.

#4 Swedish Meatballs

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-- In a food processor, pulse 1 cup dark meat with a few tablespoons of turkey fat from the roasting pan. Add salt and pepper. Pulse until ground.
-- Form into meatballs and sear in pan and add gravy.
-- Serve with cranberries and mashed potatoes.

#5 Turkey Rillette

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-- Use the Swedish meatballs mixture (not heated) and serve with toast, croutons made from frying the stuffing and chopped apple pie filling.

#6 Hearty Turkey Soup

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--Put the turkey bones (with some meat still on them) in a pressure cooker with 1 quart of water for 20 minutes. This makes stock.
-- To make the turkey soup, pull off the meat and remove the bones. Add carrots, green beans, salt, pepper, and wild rice pilaf to the stock. Top with crispy skin.

#7 Turkey Wings

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-- Take the wings of the turkey and fry until crispy. Warm up cranberry sauce. Add black pepper, and this will be your glaze to serve with the wings.

#8 Turkey Burger

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Take your rillette mixture (above) and form it into a patty. Add salt and pepper and sear. Glaze with gravy and cranberry jelly “ketchup.”

#9 Sweet Potato Bread Pudding

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Cut leftover rolls into cubes and toast them. Mix with whipped cream and sweet potato puree. Top with marshmallows and bake until charred.

#10 Risotto

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-- In a pan, add wild rice pilaf, chopped glazed carrots, chopped green bean casserole, onions from the turkey pan, and warm it on the stove. Add in chopped turkey meat and stock (from the pressure cooker turkey soup above). Add salt, pepper and a little bit of whipped cream.

#11 Pot Pie

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-- Finely chop turkey, carrots and green beans. Mix with the potato soup (see above), salt and pepper. Add chopped sage, thyme and rosemary. Put into an oven-safe vessel and top with apple pie crust. Bake until hot and golden.

#12 Turkey Pot Roast

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Take the large carrots and glazed onions from the turkey roasting pans. Add turkey stock (from soup recipe above) and big pieces of turkey. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with mashed potatoes and cranberries.

#13 Carrot Soup

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-- Blend honey glazed carrots, turkey stock (from soup above) and whipped cream with salt and pepper. Heat until hot.

#14 Stuffing Pancakes

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-- Form leftover stuffing into pancake shapes. Sear in a hot pan until crispy. Top with apple chutney (pie filling) and/or cranberry sauce.

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