What Can You Do With Leftover Turkey And Sides Roll Em Up Into These Easy Thanksgiving Leftovers Bites

Thanksgiving may be over but digging into leftover turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes has just begun! These three holiday favorites can be repurposed into Thanksgiving leftovers bites, inspired by Real Food By Dad, to serve hot with leftover gravy for dipping. Crispy-fried on the outside and scrumptiously tender on the inside, these Thanksgiving leftovers bites are layers of deliciousness. Each bite has a panko-breaded crunch that gives way to a comfort food layer of mashed potatoes wrapped around a tasty center of stuffing, turkey, and Gruyère cheese. Dipped in hot gravy, these leftovers bites will become a new favorite way to repurpose Thanksgiving leftovers. ALSO TRY: Leftover turkey taquitos with nutty buffalo dipping sauce Sound complicated? Slapping together a leftover turkey sandwich might seem easy, but these bites are surprisingly simple to make. Mix the ingredients, shape the balls, and fry them—you’ll never settle for a leftover turkey sandwich again. Once you are done making your bites, serve and eat! Just like that, you’ve transformed the typical Thanksgiving leftovers into an innovatively tasty new meal guaranteed not to bore your overnight guests.

Combine stuffing, turkey, cheese, and parsley

In a large bowl, combine the stuffing, turkey, Gruyère cheese, and fresh parsley.

Form the stuffing and turkey mixture into a ball

Using your hands, form the mixture into 2-tablespoon-sized balls and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Place this sheet in the freezer for 30 minutes to set up. These are the center of the leftovers bites.

Heat the oil

These leftovers bites are fried. Prepare the hot oil just before the bites come out of the freezer. Fill a deep cast-iron casserole pot with enough oil to submerge the bites. Heat the oil to 365 F.

Wrap the turkey and stuffing with leftover mashed potatoes

Remove the bites from the freezer and wrap about four tablespoons of cold mashed potatoes around each ball.

Coat the bites with breading

These leftovers bites come to the table with a crispy fried coating of panko bread crumbs. To bread the bites, place flour in a bowl, whisk the egg in a second bowl, then pour panko bread crumbs in a third ball. Roll each bite in the flour with one hand, lightly coat it with egg with the other hand, then use your first hand to cover the ball in panko.

Fry the leftovers bites

Before you start frying the bites, line a baking sheet with paper towels. Working in batches, drop 2 to 3 of the breaded bites in the oil and fry for 3 to 4 minutes, or until they are golden brown. Use a heatproof slotted spoon or a spider skimmer to transfer the fried bites to the prepared baking sheet.