Leftover Stuffin’ Muffins
Soooo, are you sick of turkey and stuffing yet? I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday, but I also hope that none of those tasty leftovers end up in the trash. Don’t forget that a lot of those yummy goods can be frozen OR turned into new yummy goods!
Like these Leftover Stuffin’ Muffins.
These great little muffins are a super flexible way to combine your leftovers into a “new” meal and avoid Thanksgiving burnout. The bulk of this recipe is leftover stuffing (dressing), but you can add a variety of other ingredients to the mix and make them your own. I used a plain herb stuffing, but you could use cornbread, rice, or practically any type of leftover stuffing you have.
I chopped up some extra turkey because that’s what I had, but if you have leftover ham that would be even more amazing. I threw in some frozen spinach from my freezer, but you could use any sautéed greens that you have from the Thanksgiving feast (collards, mustard, kale, whatever). If you have roasted root vegetables (sweet potato, squash, parsnip, etc), those would also be fantastic in the mix. Basically, experiment and have fun with it!
P.S. I didn’t do a cost break down of this recipe because I’m really not sure how to calculate the cost of leftovers that I didn’t make…
See This Recipe in Action:
Leftover Stuffin' Muffins
Use up those Thanksgiving leftovers in these versatile and customizable Stuffin' Muffins. Freezable and reheatable for quick meals later.
Ingredients
- 3 cups precooked stuffing or dressing
- 1 cup chopped turkey or ham
- 1/4 lb. frozen spinach
- 6 large eggs
- 2 Tbsp milk or cream
- 1/4 tsp salt
- Freshly cracked pepper
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Thaw and squeeze the spinach dry. Add the stuffing, turkey, and spinach to a bowl, then stir lightly to combine without breaking up the stuffing too much.
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Liberally coat each well in a muffin tin with non-stick spray (or butter). Divide the stuffing mixture between all 12 cups. Leave the stuffing loosely packed in the cups so that the egg mixture can fill in the empty spaces.
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In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, salt, and pepper. Divide the egg mixture among the 12 cups, filling each about 1/2 to 3/4 full. The eggs and stuffing mixtures will expand during cooking, so try not to over fill.
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Bake the muffins for 25-30 minutes or until lightly golden brown and crispy on the top. Allow the muffins to cool slightly, then run a knife around the edges to loosen and remove each muffin.
Recipe Notes
Make sure to coat well with non-stick spray or butter. These muffins will stick to the tin if not well oiled.
Feel free to get creative with the add-ins. Roasted vegetables, cheese, or other meat make great additions.
Step by Step Photos
First, mix together your solid ingredients. This is where you can get creative. I used 3 cups of leftover herb stuffing, 1 cup of chopped Thanksgiving turkey, and 1/4 lb. of frozen spinach (thawed and squeezed dry). I would have loved to use ham in this instead, but you could even do both ham and turkey. Roasted vegetables would also be awesome in this.
Be kind of light handed when stirring these ingredients together because you don’t want your stuffing cubes to disintegrate. You want it to stay kind of chunky. Oh, also preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Coat each well of a muffin tin REALLY well with either non-stick spray or butter. These things will stick if not really well greased. Fill each well with the stuffing mix, making sure not to pack it in there. You want some empty space for the eggs to fill in.
Whisk together 6 eggs, 2 Tbsp of milk or cream, 1/4 tsp salt and some freshly cracked pepper. Whisk until it’s really smooth to make it easier to pour into the muffin tins (globby eggs will be difficult to control).
Divide the whisked egg mixture between all 12 wells of the muffin tin. You want the egg to fill each well about 1/2 to 3/4 full (I over filled a few of mine). If you run out of egg mixture because you over filled (hi, ME), you can whisk one more egg with a splash of milk and a dash of salt and pepper. REMEMBER: the egg mixture will poof up as it cooks, so you don’t want them to be completely full.
Bake the Leftover Stuffin Muffins in the preheated 375 degree oven for 25-30 minutes, or until the bits of stuffing on top are brown and crispy. Let them cool slightly, then run a knife around the edges to help loosen and remove the muffins.
After cooling them in the refrigerator, you can freeze them for quick breakfasts later. A quick zap in the microwave will make them hot and breakfast ready.
Although everyone raves about my stuffing THAT day – no one eats the leftovers… until now! THANK YOU, BETH! I doubled the recipe and almost have none left – despite my 13-yr-old coming home from school, bending over the muffins and sniffing (rather loudly) before asking for left-over hot dogs. (sheesh). However, after people started eating “dinner” (yes, we had it for dinner – I didn’t want the leftovers in the fridge any longer), there were comments like: “Wow! This is REALLY good!”…. “This is the BOMB!”….. “How many do I get?”… “May I have some more?” I made two muffin trays and a small bread pan tray that has 8 small loaves. We’re almost done with the second muffin tray. My husband works nights and will be up to eat soon – hopefully we’ll have some left over to freeze – but I’m not holding my breath. That’s 4 kids who love them. So much for stuffing left-overs. Thanks to you, Beth, I know what to do from now on!!!
I’m glad they were such a hit!! :D
We didn’t have any spinach so we went with leftover green bean casserole. It is amazing. I was impressed.
In the oven now, I used stovetop cornbread dressing, cut up left over Turkey breast, onions, a little sage, rosemary and parmesan cheese, smells delicious, can’t wait to try…will be updating shortly.
What a fantastic recipe!! I made mine with rye bread dressing, my leftover green beans, mushrooms, Brussel sprouts, sweet potatoes and ham. Family thought it was a little crazy, but LOVED them when they came out of the oven. Thanks!!!
These are in the oven now. I used frozen broccoli that I pulsed in the food processors I also added 1/3 cup salsa and 4tbs cranberry sauce to the eggs and milk. Fingers crossed!
This recipe has been the best base for my go-to make-ahead breakfast bites!! I am absolutely awful in the mornings, and hate to make myself food but NEED the protein in the morning – and I usually hate eggs. But the flavors & textures in these little muffins fix my every issue with the usual eggs! I make mine with pre-packaged diced ham, Stove Top stuffing, and then some good old shredded cheddar. Keeps me full, happy, and away from McDonalds on my drive to work :)
I did have issues with the eggs sticking to my pans each time but now I have silicone muffin tins and they work MUCH better! Cheers <3
I have made these for years! Don’t forget that you can add gravy ( not too much) or even cranberry sauce! If you run out of stuffing use mashed potatoes with eggs mixed in. Spray your muffin pans and put the mashed potato mixture in building up around the sides but leaving a well in the middle. Prebake about 15-20 minutes so it gets a crust then add leftovers. Yummy!
I love that idea!
Niet in het nederlands.
Beetje jammer.
Went way into left field with these trying to kill leftovers and they were still amazing! Substituted 8 egg whites that were left over from a pound cake I made, I also subbed frozen brussels sprouts that I thawed and squeezed because that is what we had in the freezer. Threw a little cheese on top for good measure. They were delicious and my three small children devoured them.
This looks great! I don’t have frozen spinach, but I do have some fresh kale. Do you think that would work?
You’ll probably want to sauté the kale down in a skillet until it’s tender first. :)
I was wondering how these are for freezing? I’m planning to make up some freezer meals with Thanksgiving leftovers for my son to take back to college. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
I froze some and they were great. I like to wrap each one in plastic (either plastic wrap or the thin fold-top type sandwich bags), then put them all in a gallon sized freezer bag.
I love this recipe. I have been making breakfast casseroles. I also have many different breads that I have been cubing up and then mixing together, freezing until I need. I add peppers, green scallions. I use deyhdrated eggs in a bag and add a little salsa and mix then add to mixture. Came out great. I am also going to try this with my hash browns, Oh and adding ham or sausage would make it even better. Again like many other comments you can just go through your fridge and add almost whatever you want to this recipe and it will turn out great.
I work for a housing facility and on a tight budget and the residents love hot breakfast.
My husband loves these. Such a simple and tasty dish. What a great idea Beth. Followed the recipe but I’m thinking next time I’ll substitute precooked sausage crumbles for the turkey/ham.
My only problem is, my family NEVER allows left over stuffing! Seriously, they hoover it. I *love* this idea, just trying to figure out how I can do it w/out actual stuffing. Any suggestions?
I think you’d pretty much have to make a separate batch of stuffing. The flavor of the stuffing adds a lot to this dish! :)
Make extra stuffing. My favorite stuffing is boxed (high quality) stuffing, not the generic stuff, with lots of onion and celery added. I also like to add chopped pecans, but my family doesn’t like that.
Take this stuffing (which you have NOT made available to your family and make the stuffing’ muffins.