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There are many things to be thankful for. A roof over your head, food on the table, waking up every day and I hear you, I agree but one of the things I am thankful for is Thanksgiving dinner!
Thanksgiving is my favourite holiday and I absolutely sound like a broken record trying to push Fall on everyone at this point but what’s not to love?
It isn’t Christmas where you’re buying gifts for people, it isn’t Halloween where you’re eating too many sweets, it is literally people gathering to eat a hearty filling dinner while drinking and laughing and I’m all about this holiday!
What’s your favourite holiday? Is it or is it Thanksgiving? Haha
PIN Mini Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey Bites FOR LATER:
With a huge feast, although we all eat to the max capacity, there are bound to be leftovers! So, what do you do when you’re sick of the leftovers? Make new recipes out of them! These Mini Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey Bites are a delicious and easy way to make a new snack out of old ingredients!
These mini leftover turkey bites have an amazingly flaky crust, soft mashed potatoes, savoury creamy turkey and veggies and melted golden cheese top!
These little bites are a great overall snack or appetizer that you can even make when it’s not Thanksgiving or the holidays!
What’s your favourite Thanksgiving food? I’d love to know in the comments below!
This Mini Leftover Turkey Bites recipe is accompanied by a YouTube Tutorial. If you haven’t subscribed to my channel on YouTube, don’t forget to!
HERE IS HOW TO MAKE Mini Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey Bites:
WHERE CAN I FIND THESE INGREDIENTS?
You can find the ingredients for these Mini Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey Bites at your local grocery store if you’re making it from scratch but I highly encourage you to use what leftovers you have! Butter Puff Pastry is the best for this base which can be found in the frozen aisle of most grocery stores. You can also do it from scratch!
Leftover mash potatoes and either chicken or turkey should already be in your fridge to make these! If not, you can purchase this ready-made in stores. Any preferred shredded cheese is fine as well.
This is completely optional but a gravy or cranberry dipping sauce can be bought or made too!
WHAT ARE THE INGREDIENTS?
The ingredients for these Mini Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey Bites are:
- 2 Sheet Butter Puff Pastry
- 1 1/2 Cup Mashed Potatoes
- 1/4 Diced Sweet Onion
- 1/2 Cup Cream
- 1/2 Cup Cheese
- 1 Cup frozen mixed veggies
- 1 Cup Diced turkey breast
- 1/2 Tsp parsley
- 1/2 Tsp thyme
- 1/2 Tsp chicken bouillon
- 1/2 Tsp salt
- 1/2 Tsp pepper
- 1 Tbsp Olive oil
WHAT EQUIPMENT DO I NEED?
For this recipe, you’ll need a mini muffin/cupcake tin as well as some spoons to scoop out and fill each of the puff pastry bites. Other than that this will be baked for about 25 minutes in the oven so no other equipment is really needed.
WHAT ARE THE STEPS TO PREPARE?
For this mini leftover thanksgiving turkey bites recipe you’ll need to:
- Measure/Prep – all your ingredients to fill each pastry
- Cook – the creamy turkey and mixed frozen veggies filling
- Cut -each puff pastry into little squares and place them in the mini muffin tins
- Bake – them half way to avoid any uncooked or raw pastry
- Fill – each puff pastry bite with a layer of mashed potatoes, turkey/veggie mixture and cheese on top
- Bake – until the pastry is fully cooked and golden and the cheese is crunchy and melted on top
- Cool – serve and enjoy!
CAN I SUB/ADD ANYTHING TO THIS RECIPE?
You totally can substitute what you want from this recipe. My goal is to help you use most of your leftovers to avoid food waste so feel free to add or sub what you’d like!
I know some families don’t really enjoy turkey and may have a roast chicken dinner so chicken breast works great as well.
If you didn’t have mashed potatoes, that’s totally fine too. You can just use roasted potatoes and mash them up a little bit before filling.
Use any veggies that you had as a side for dinner if you have them but frozen mixed veggies like what I did is good too!
I used shredded marble cheese but you’re welcome to use what cheese you have or/and like!
WHAT DOES IT TASTE LIKE?
These mini leftover thanksgiving turkey bites taste exactly like it sounds! The first bite you take literally feels like Thanksgiving in a bite. You’ve also got a variety of textures in this one too which is the best!
It’s got it all. It’s crunchy, savoury, creamy, cheesy. You’ll have to stop yourself from eating from than a few!
HOW LONG DOES IT KEEP FOR?
If you keep these in an airtight container in a cold fridge, they will keep for up to a week and you can reheat them via toaster oven or air fryer to crisp up! Additionally, you can store them in the freezer for up to a month and reheat them the same way so they feel fresh again!
WHAT GOES WITH THese Mini Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey Bites?
These Mini Leftover Thanksgiving bites are an amazing snack by themselves but you can have them with:
- Salad -eat these bites on the side of your salad
- Raw Veggies & Dip – perfect little bite sized snacks to go with your veggies and dip!
- Other Appetizers -add these bites in your next appetizer board
- Smoothies -have a few of these and a smoothie before your workout!
WHAT ARE OTHER VARIATIONS OF Mini Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey Bites?
There are so many different but similar ways you can have these Mini Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey bites such as:
- Grands!™ Mini Chicken Pot Pies – Instead of puff pastry and turkey, use biscuit dough and chicken!
- Mini Turkey Pot Pies -Perfect mini pies to enjoy
- Thanksgiving Leftover Empanadas – I love empanadas and these look so good!
MORE Leftover Turkey RECIPES?
There are so many ways you can use your leftover turkey! My favourite recipes to use leftover turkey are:
- BBQ Turkey Quesadillas – Quesadillas are a great, easy quick meal to make!
- Leftover Turkey Fried Rice – Fried rice is filling and the best way to use leftover meat
- Creamy Turkey Casserole – Love this quick and easy dinner idea!
- Healthy Leftover Turkey Enchiladas – Enchilada sauce and cheese is so dreamy!
INSPIRATIONS FOR THIS DISH?
I love bite-sized recipes as I feel like they are so much more fun to eat and you don’t get bogged down by having one heavy meal! I wanted to try and put everything into one yummy and cute bite and this idea popped into my head!
It worked out so well and I will make this annually every time I have Turkey dinner leftovers in the fridge!
HOW CAN I MEAL PREP THIS RECIPE?
See the storage instructions above but they keep really well! You can pack these in a small container and heat them up for 20-30 seconds or in the toaster oven for a minute or two!
Alternatively, you can also eat them without heating them up as long as you let them sit out a little bit and not be too hard and cold!
ANY OTHER NOTES?
Just one quick note for these mini leftover thanksgiving turkey bites recipe! When you par-bake them, there is a big chance that the sides of the butter puff pastry will fall in so all you need to do is push it back up and they turn out great. The bites are filled to the top and covered with cheese so the shape of these doesn’t really matter!
This is a fun and yummy way to use your Thanksgiving leftovers!
Mini Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey Bites
Ingredients
- 2 Sheets Butter Puff Pastry
- 1 1/2 Cups Mashed Potatoes
- 1 Cup Turkey Breast diced
- 1 Cup Frozen Mixed Veggies
- 1/4 Cup Sweet Onion diced
- 1/2 Cup Cream either half n half or whipping
- 1/2 Cup Shredded Cheese
- 1 Tbsp Olive oil 1/2 to coat baking tin and 1/2 cook in pan
- 1/2 Tsp Dried Parsley
- 1/2 Tsp Dried Thyme
- 1/2 Tsp Chicken Bouillon
- 1/2 Tsp Salt
- 1/2 Tsp Pepper
Instructions
- In a shallow pan on MEDIUM HIGH heat, add in your oil and onions and saute til fragrant and translucent.
- Next, add in your diced turkey breast, frozen veggies and spices and cook for about 2-3 minutes or until turkey is slightly browned.
- Now, add in your cream and cook until the cream thickens up and coats all the turkey and veggies in the pan. Once the cream has thickened up, side aside to cool.
- Preheat your oven to 400F and prepare a mini muffin tin by coating each section with a bit of olive oil.
- Cut your puff pastry into small 2×2" or 3×3" squares and place in each tin section. make sure to press the pastry against the edges to prevent the sides from falling over. You want to make sure you have enough space to fill each pastry.
- Parbake for about 5-10 minutes then take out to fill.
- Fill each pastry with a layer of mashed potatoes, turkey and veggie mixture and cheese on top.
- Bake for another 20-30 minutes or until the cheese is crunchy and melted on top.
- Cool, serve and enjoy!
I swear by this recipe and recommend it to anyone who likes repurposing their leftovers! I am big on not wasting food but I also get sick of eating the same thing often so this recipe is perfect!
Kids will love it too because, to be frank, what’s not to like? Mashed potatoes and melt cheese sell themselves!
I hope you enjoyed this recipe and make this as well as add this to your roster to create annually. Make sure to dip these in gravy for additional goodness!
Would you love eating these little Mini Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey Bites? I’d love to know in the comments below!
Xo,
Lynn
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ooo these look absolutely delicious! x
mia // https://beautiful-inspiring-creative-life.com/
Thank you, Mia x
Looks so yummy and I haven’t heard about this food before! I always find your recipes are not difficult to make (maybe) once I have all the ingredients at home. Thanks for sharing Lynn 😀
Love to hear it! That’s what my blog is all about! Easy Recipes! Thanks for reading, Merry xx
Okay, so…fall content? Yes please! These look insane Lynn, and while we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving here in the UK, these we need to try ASAP!
OMG NO WAY!!! No Thanksgiving in the UK?! Thats crazy. It’s my fav holiday! xx