Marcus Samuelsson's Best Tips For Making The Most Of Your Holiday Leftovers - Exclusive

The holiday season is probably the most food-centric time of the year. While you could curate a fast food Thanksgiving dinner and just order Christmas dinner from restaurants, many Americans will opt to spend the various holidays cooking and preparing elaborate homemade meals, complete with all (and we mean all) the fixins' — from gravy and cranberry sauce to mashed potatoes and pies. And where there is a ton of food, there will always be a ton of leftovers. 

Some consider leftovers as the best part about Thanksgiving and other holiday-season feasts, but a lot of folks look at a full fridge of leftovers and recoil. If you are in the latter camp, fear not. There's no better person to ask for recommendations on how to upgrade leftovers than restaurateur, chef, and food personality Marcus Samuelsson. The winner of multiple James Beard Awards, Samuelsson has made a career out of his uncanny ability to mesh different flavors and reimagine traditional dishes. This talent scores him airtime on numerous television shows — including "Chopped" and "Iron Chef" — as well as a collaboration with kitchenware brand OXO as one of their newest Chefs in Residence.

Samuelsson's new concept of "Nextovers" reinvents leftovers into something that tastes just as good (if not better) as when it was served the night before. And when it comes to foods of Thanksgiving and the festive season, we'll take all the help we can get. The Takeout asked Samuelsson for some exclusive tips for making the most of holiday leftovers. 

Gravy is a special ingredient for Marcus Samuelsson. "I happen to love gravy. It serves as the foundation for my grandmother's Swedish meatballs that remind me of home," he says. Gravy is also an integral part of Thanksgiving spreads. It's a must-have for drizzling on turkey and mashed potatoes during the meal — but on day two, you really need to find a better way to use it than just drizzling it atop leftover spuds. 

Samuelsson recommends repurposing meaty gravy as a dressing for roasted veggies. "It adds a layer of complexity that enhances the vegetables and turns a mundane dish into a comforting meal," he says. Gravy is already filled with meat flecks and flavors from the pan drippings, plus you can add extra aromatics to match the spices that are already on your veggies. Dried thyme and rosemary would help the gravy better complement the vegetables, while roasted garlic would create excellent flavor synergy between the fresh, vibrant veggies and the umami-forward gravy. Toss the vegetables with the gravy right before serving them — may we suggest with a slice of leftover turkey or ham? 

Additionally, the star chef encourages home cooks to make extra gravy, as it can be used during subsequent holiday-season meals. "Freeze gravy to enjoy it way past November," Samuelsson suggests.

Thanksgiving and the holiday season may be a time of sharing, but that spirit shouldn't stop after the leftovers are all packed away. Marcus Samuelsson recommends using leftover dinner rolls to whip up crowd-pleasing batches of pull-apart bread. "It's super-easy to make, and you can even serve them at your holiday dinners instead of plain rolls," he says. 

To make pull-apart bread specialties with your leftover rolls, you'll first want to cut them into small pieces before dressing them with your favorite mix of savory seasonings. You can toss them with just melted butter and a little bit of cheese, or go all-out with garlic, herbs, and Parmesan. Then you can place the mixture into a greased Bundt tin and bake it until the bread has set into place. 

Since the rolls are already baked, you don't want to overbake this bread — just heat it up enough so that the cheese becomes gooey and gives you the intended pull-apart effect. Serve this shareable bread with extra gravy, or if you're using melty mozzarella in your recipe, consider serving it with a side of the best store-bought marinara sauce for dipping. 

Never underestimate the power of a waffle iron — you can use it for so many different purposes besides making waffles. For instance, Marcus Samuelsson has a novel suggestion for using this appliance during the holidays: "A fun way to use leftover stuffing is to make savory waffles. A break from tradition, but a game changer!" 

Samuelsson uses a mixture of stuffing and a binder, like eggs, to make these waffles. He also notes that you can add cheese to your recipe, too. He recommends using tongs with silicone heads to handle these savory waffles, making it easy to lift them out of the waffle iron and onto your plate. From there, your stuffing waffle can be a side with other holiday-season favorites, or consider using it as the bready base to construct a superb Thanksgiving-leftover sandwich.

Don't have a waffle iron? No need to fret. Samuselsson also recommends putting the same leftover-stuffing mixture into baking cups to make handheld stuffing muffins. 

There's nothing better than a fresh, acidic, and slightly sweet bowl of cranberry sauce complementing your Thanksgiving spread ... but let's forget about the canned jellied stuff; avoid the gelatinous monstrosity and make real cranberry sauce with an easy recipe. As an added bonus, homemade cranberry sauce can do more than provide sweetly tart relief from the heaviness of your other Thanksgiving favorites, per Marcus Samuelsson. 

Samuelsson describes the profile of cranberries to be "both bitter and sweet," meaning that it can add and restore balance to an overly sweet dessert by using cranberry sauce as a topping. "The perfect combination for me would be a cranberry sauce and cherry cheesecake," he says. The cherries are much sweeter than the cranberries, so the two will work in perfect harmony to elevate this simple-yet-classic dessert to new heights. 

When a lot of folks think of Thanksgiving leftovers, their first thoughts might go straight to sandwiches — or, of course, just heating up the leftovers and eating the same turkey dinner for a couple more days. But Marcus Samuselsson has a more innovative way to utilize leftover poultry. "My favorite way to transform roasted turkey or chicken is turning it into a nice, velvety soup," he says.

Samuelsson looks back fondly upon childhood memories with his grandmother in her Swedish kitchen, where roasted chicken was a staple. His family used leftover chicken as a base for flavorful soup that Samuelsson calls "food for the soul during the dark, colder months. My son Zion loves this too, so I get to pass down a tradition to my family that was very special for me."

You can also utilize leftover poultry for a warming winter soup — as well as many other leftovers that you may have. Whip up a quick mirepoix with carrots, onions, and celery, and add it to a broth made with your bird's carcass. You can even add in any spuds that didn't make their way into the mashed potatoes, or turn to another hearty carb like barley or rice. This is a fantastic way to go through a ton of turkey without getting tired of eating it.

It's the day after Thanksgiving. Last night, you loaded up on your fair share of turkey, and quite possibly drank a bit more wine than you should have. Not even a long slumber on the pull-out couch can offer relief from your pounding hangover — but a plate of French toast drenched in syrup just might.

To make this happen, Marcus Samuelsson recommends repurposing leftover dinner rolls, because "for a sweet breakfast, baked French toast is always a hit." To make this dish, you can even use those stale, dry dinner rolls that someone accidentally forgot to put away the night before.

All it takes is to tear up your dinner rolls (along with any bread chunks that didn't make their way into the stuffing) and bake them in a vat of custard as a French toast casserole. Alternatively, you can simply dredge the leftover bread in a sweetened custard mixture, and toss it on the griddle or in a nonstick pan. A couple of bites of this stuff, and you'll be supercharged for all of your Black Friday shopping — and quite possibly all the way through Cyber Monday, too. 

Mashed potatoes are the side dish of choice on Thanksgiving, but this doesn't mean that you have to subject yourself to eating sludgy spuds on day two. Among the many options for what to do with leftover mashed potatoes after Thanksgiving, Marcus Samuelsson recommends whipping up a batch of fritters. 

Samuelsson shares that he uses teff flour for his mashed potato fritters, along with a berbere spice mix — although he notes that you can use whatever spices you prefer to give the fritters an edge. After they've been mixed up with a balloon whisk, Samuelsson says the final step is to fry them up."These are simple and delicious every time," he says — and you can fry them in a pan, or use an air fryer.

There are tons of ways to enjoy your mashed potato fritters. Serve them with reheated gravy or cranberry sauce for dipping, or shove them into your Thanksgiving-leftover sandwich for extra texture. 

Dumplings are probably the last thing that you're thinking about making with your holiday-feast leftovers. But when it comes to leftovers, you have to get creative.

When we asked Marcus Samuelsson what he would add to a dumpling made with Thanksgiving leftovers, he suggested a mixture of turkey, stuffing, and gravy. "It's like a bite-sized Thanksgiving meal rolled into one," he says. He also recommends trying a dessert rendition of this recipe by using leftover sweet potatoes, sugar, and vanilla beans. Consider dipping these sugary dumplings into a marshmallow crème dip, and you'll have a fun version of a sweet-potato casserole right at your fingertips.

Samuelsson also shared his secret for making evenly shaped dumplings with us. He uses a cookie scoop to portion out the amount of filling that he needs, adding that this technique is "also great if you have kids, because they'll love being your sous scooper." 

We can't make a list of the best ways to use holiday leftovers without addressing the elephant in the room: the Thanksgiving leftover sandwich. Marcus Samuelsson calls it a "classic morning-after meal," and confirms that it's the easiest way to use Thanksgiving leftovers. "I like to use rustic bread or even toasted dinner rolls, spread a layer of cranberry sauce, add your turkey, roast pork (or both!), [and] a touch of gravy, and you have an easy and delicious lunch," he says.

While this is a great place to start, there are many other ways that you can add pizzazz to your sandwich without having to make a store run for a ton of ingredients. Try spreading a layer of Dijon mustard between the bread and the meat for extra moisture. You could also toast the entire thing in a panini press or a waffle iron to give it some extra crunch, or opt to make the sandwich in a wrap instead. 

For a more international take on repurposing holiday-feast leftovers, Marcus Samuelsson suggests making stuffed pancakes inspired by xian bing, the pan-fried buns popular throughout China. These savory discs are a great handheld way to enjoy Thanksgiving leftovers — and they don't require much prep to make, either.

To do this, Samuelsson recommends sautéing aromatics like ginger, garlic, and shallots before adding minced leftover turkey and collards. This mixture can then be "pinched in a homemade dough and lightly fried until crispy," he says. You can also add some Sichuan peppercorns for some extra heat.

The dough itself can be made from a simple mixture of hot water and flour, which helps it develop a consistency that's a cross between a dumpling and a pancake. Despite the pancake's reputation as a breakfast food, this meal can be enjoyed at any time of day — especially for a fridge-clearing lunch. Serve it with a side of gravy for dipping, or use it as an accompaniment to Thanksgiving-leftovers soup. 

Stir-fried dishes are perfect for a light and easy meal — especially when your fridge is bursting at the seams with leftover veggies. Marcus Samuelsson loves to use leftover green beans for a stir-fry; he also throws in veggies like broccoli, carrots, and sliced peppers. "I'll finish off the veggies with a touch of soy sauce, a drizzle of sesame oil, and pepper flakes for a dish packed with a bang," he says. 

Vegetables aren't the only type of food that you can add to a stir-fry of holiday-feast leftovers. If you have whole pieces of turkey, consider giving them a rough chop and adding them to your vegetable mix. Your turkey is already cooked, so you'll want to avoid leaving it in the pan for too long, which will cause it to dry out. Add it in at the end of the cooking time, give it a quick toss with the sauce, and serve it warm with a side of rice.