Christmas is a time when lots of households indulge in a variety of sweet and savoury treats but often, there are some leftovers.

With the festive season being an expensive time of year, you might want to use up everything you have and waste as little as possible. After all, the food on the table at Christmas is some of the best!

To help you with this, we’ve rounded up some recipes that will help you use your Christmas leftovers.

5 recipes to use up your Christmas leftovers

Toasted Christmas leftover wrap

YouTuber My Fussy Eater (Ciara Attwell) has shared a way you can use up your leftovers in a simple tortilla wrap.

Ingredients:

  • Tortilla wrap
  • Chutney or similar sauce
  • Turkey/other cooked meats
  • Brie/other leftover cheese

Lightly toast the folded wrap containing all the ingredients in a frying pan and you’ve got yourself a different on a Christmas leftover lunch.

Turkey curry

This super-easy turkey curry is a fabulous family favourite that gives your tastebuds a bit of a treat after endless roast dinners this Christmas. 

The recipe serves four, has a preparation time of just 10 minutes and only takes 30 minutes to cook. 

Ingredients: 

  • Olive oil
  • 1 onion
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • Can of chopped tomatoes
  • 1/2 tablespoon of curry powder
  • 1 chicken stock cube
  • 1 tablespoon of plain flour
  • Leftover cooked turkey
  • Salt and pepper
  • Freshly chopped coriander (optional)

Sweet and sour turkey

Why not give your leftover turkey an extra bit of flavour with this sweet-and-sour recipe from Kitchen Sanctuary? Here’s what you’ll need.

Ingredients:

  • 400g leftover cooked turkey - shredded or chopped into cubes/pieces
  • 2 tbsp cornflour or cornstarch
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 large onion - peeled and chopped into large chunks

  • 1 red pepper - chopped into 1 inch pieces
  • 1 green pepper - chopped into 1 inch pieces
  • 2 cloves of garlic - peeled and chopped/crushed
  • 1 tsp minced ginger
  • 150 ml tomato ketchup
  • 2 tablespoon malt vinegar
  • 6 tbsp dark brown muscovado sugar
  • 425g canned pineapple chunks in juice
  • Boiled or fried rice
  • 1 teaspoon sesame seeds

Christmas leftover salad

Jamie Oliver teamed up with Tesco to share this Christmas leftover salad recipe that has an Indonesian-inspired dressing.

He explained it’s a great one to do if your fridge is full of leftovers and it’s versatile as the celebrity chef says you can add any crunchy leftover vegetables to it.

Here are the ingredients he decided to use:

  • 320 red or white cabbage
  • 1 cucumber
  • 2 carrots
  • 1 bunch of fresh mint (or basil, coriander or parsley – you choose)
  • 2 limes
  • 4 tablespoons crunchy peanut butter
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons sweet chilli sauce
  • A bit of water (if needed)

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Leftover turkey soup

If, after all the Christmas celebrations, you want to take a break from cooking, this recipe could be ideal for you as it can be cooked in a slow cooker or the oven if you wish.

The Gluten Free Blogger has shared this recipe so you can make it gluten-free if you’d like.

Ingredients:

  • Onion
  • Celery
  • Carrots
  • Garlic
  • Olive oil (optional if you’d like to fry vegetables before cooking)
  • Chicken stock
  • Dried herbs
  • Shredded turkey
  • Orzo, rice or quinoa
  • Leftover crumbled stuffing (optional for sprinkling on top as you serve)

What do you do with your Christmas leftovers? Let us know in the comments below.