Christmas Leftover Recipes

After Christmas Day, there’s always mountains of food left over, especially turkey. To save you from living off turkey sandwiches for the next few weeks, we’ve put all of our top Christmas leftover recipes together for some festive food that tastes amazing!

Christmas Mulligatawny Soup

One of the easiest ways to use up your Christmas leftovers is to simply throw it all together and make yourself some Christmas soup. This recipe is a festive take on a classic spicy soup, serving 6 people.

Ingredients:

• 1 large onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 carrot
• 300g butternut squash
• 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 dried red chilli
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• 1 tbsp curry paste
• 500g turkey
• 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
• 750ml chicken or giblet stock
• 300g basmati rice
• Sprigs of fresh coriander

Method:

Begin by peeling and slicing the onion and garlic, slicing the carrot and cutting the squash into 5mm chunks. Peel and finely grate the ginger. Next, take a large saucepan over medium heat and heat the oil. Add in the onion, garlic, carrot ginger and dried chilli. Put the lid on and cook until all of the vegetables are soft, cooked through and slightly golden, remembering to occasionally stir.

Next, add in the butternut squash, curry paste, tomato purée and shredded turkey. Stir until everything is well coated, then add in the chopped tomatoes and sea salt and black pepper seasoning. Pour in hot stock, bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes. Finally, add in the basmati rice, simmer for 10 minutes, serve and garnish with coriander leaves.

Turkey, Leek and Ham Pie

Perfect for a Boxing Day buffet or a post-Christmas Day dinner with family, this turkey, leek and ham pie is a great way to use up the leftovers of the big bird. It takes around an hour and a half to make from start to finish and serves 6.

Ingredients:

• Small lump of butter
• 1 large chopped onion
• 2 large sliced carrots
• 2 sliced leeks
• 200ml double cream
• 200ml chicken or turkey stock
• 500g cooked turkey
• 200g cooked ham
• 10 button mushrooms
• 2tbsp chopped tarragon
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• Handful of thyme leaves
• Pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 225g puff pastry
• 1 egg
• 2tbsp parmesan

Method:

First of all, pre-heat the oven to Gas Mark 6 and heat a large pan over a medium heat. Next, add in the butter and gently cook the onion until soft, but not brown. Add the carrots and leek and cook until the carrots begin to soften, this should take around 5 minutes. Pour in the cream and stock and simmer until the sauce starts to thicken, then add in the turkey, ham, mushrooms, cayenne and herbs. Season to taste with salt and black pepper and remove from the heat.

Taking a ceramic pie dish, pour in the filling and add a pastry lid on top. Brush the pastry with a beaten egg and sprinkle the parmesan over it. Cook in the oven for around 20 minutes until the pastry is golden brown and enjoy.

Turkey Sloppy Joes

This recipe has got the classic sandwich burger, the sloppy Joe, and taken a festive approach to mix it up. Serving 4, you could just build a few, or multiply the recipe for a party and let people build their own.

Ingredients:

• 200g turkey
• 200ml gravy
• 1 carrot, shredded
• 1 apple, sliced
• ½ red onion, sliced
• 2 sprigs of fresh mint
• 2 gherkins, finely sliced
• 1 fresh red chilli, sliced
• 4 buns
• 2 tbsp tomato ketchup
• 1 tbsp HP sauce
• 1 tsp English mustard
• ½ tsp Tabasco sauce
• 1 splash Worcestershire sauce

Method:

Place your shredded turkey with 4tbsp of gravy into a small pan. Heat on low for 10 minutes and keep the rest of the gravy separate, ready for dipping later on. Next, take the carrot, apple, mint leaves and red onion and place into a bowl with a spoonful of the liquid from the gherkin jar. Add the gherkins and chilli, lightly season and put aside. For the barbecue sauce, mix together the ketchup, HP sauce, English mustard, Tabasco sauce and Worcestershire sauce.

Now everything is prepared, you can put your buns together. Toast the bun halves, and spread the BBQ sauce inside. Add the turkey, drizzle on some extra gravy and top with the slaw made earlier. Make sure to serve with extra gravy on the side for dipping.

White Chocolate & Cranberry Cookies

You can’t have Christmas without cookies. These white chocolate and cranberry cookies are great to make with any leftover baking supplies and taste amazing. This recipe makes 14 cookies and only takes 35 minutes to prepare!

Ingredients:

• 100g unsalted butter
• 85g icing sugar
• Seeds of one vanilla pod
• 100g self-raising flour
• 30g cornflour
• 4 tbsp oats
• 50g white chocolate
• 50g cranberries

Method:

Start by beating the butter and icing sugar until pale. Take the vanilla pod seeds and add to the butter. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cornflour and oats, then add into the butter. Mix in the chocolate and cranberries, wrap the dough in cling film and refrigerate for one hour. Cut out 1cm rounds and bake on a baking sheet for 12-15 minutes on gas mark 4. Allow to cool for around 10 minutes and enjoy!

Mulled Wine Sorbet

Got leftover mulled wine that you don’t want to waste? Turn it into a sorbet which everyone can eat! Our mulled wine sorbet recipe is super easy to make and serves 4. Just multiply the recipe accordingly to suit how much dessert you want.

Ingredients:

• 2 ice cube trays frozen mulled wine
• 2 tbsp natural yoghurt or crème fraîche

Method:

First of all, you need to cook off all of the alcohol; otherwise the wine will not freeze. Bring the mulled wine to the boil, and keep it boiling for around 5 minutes until the texture becomes similar to syrup. Once cooled completely, pour it into ice-cube trays and leave in the freezer for as long as possible. When you decide to make the sorbet, place the ice cubes into a food processor and blitz a few times to break them down slightly. Add in the yoghurt or crème fraîche and blitz immediately until it has blended. To serve, either let it set in the freezer a little again or place straight into bowls.