As I mentioned yesterday, this was the first Thanksgiving that I cooked myself. And it was my first time making cranberry sauce. And we have lots of cranberry sauce left over. LOTS! So much, in fact, that I’ve (desperately) started trying to think of different ways to use leftover cranberry sauce. Sure, we could just eat it as is, but how much fun is that? (Answer: Not very.)
Cranberry-Glazed Brussels Sprouts: Roast some brussels sprouts and toss with a little bit of your leftover cranberry sauce. We had this over the weekend and it was a nice, easy side. (I’ve also done this with roasted winter squash too.)
Thanksgiving Leftover Sandwiches: Why not, right? And no, this doesn’t have to be a gross, sloppy mess. Check out this Turkey Cranberry Panini on Following in My Shoes. I had planned on making these with any leftover Field Roast that we had, but we didn’t end up having any left. Next year!
Cranberry Flavored Cream Cheese: Mix a little cranberry sauce into some plain cream cheese for a deliciously different bagel topping.
Cranberry Muffins: Stir some cranberry sauce into your favorite muffin or quick bread recipe.
Cranberry Orange Popsicles: Ever since buying a Zoku, I’m all about finding new and different ways to make popsicles. Mixing orange juice and cranberry sauce would make a sweet-yet-tart frozen treats. You could do this as a granita too.
Cranberry Syrup: Simmer the cranberry sauce on low heat and add some orange juice until it’s a syrup-y consistency. This is the perfect syrup to top pumpkin pancakes or gingerbread waffles.
Cranberry + Cheddar Grilled Cheese: Start with some sturdy bread and top with sharp cheddar and some of your leftover cranberry sauce. It’s a little messy, but it is so good!
Cranberry Apple Pie: Make your favorite apple pie recipe and add some cranberry sauce to the apple mixture before baking.
Baked Sweet Potatoes with Cranberry Topping: I love baked sweet potatoes and topping them with a spoonful of cranberry sauce is so much tastier than adding butter or brown sugar.
What are your favorite ways to use leftover cranberry sauce?
Sadly, cranberry sauce is the first thing I run out of every year, and once it’s gone, I’m no longer interested in any of the leftovers. I like it THAT much!
That’s funny, because I really like cranberry sauce, but I need it with other things & it always ends up being the last thing we have left. If I have nothing to put it on/with, I’m at a loss, hence the list.
I love these! For some reason I’m in the minority and would much rather all of the leftover Thanksgiving side dishes than the turkey. Unfortunately all of the cranberry sauce I made got gobbled up and we didn’t have any leftovers but I’ll make a double batch at Christmas so I can try these out!
Even when I ate meat, I wasn’t crazy about turkey. The sides are the best part!
OHHH I bet the muffins would be divine. I love cranberry sauce, it’s my favorite side dish…or the sweet potato casserole. Probably bad that my two faves are the sweet thigns LOL
Well, sweet potatoes are really healthy! And cranberries are full of antioxidants. So just focus on the good, not the bad.
I love these ideas! The cream cheese is a great one!
Winter squash is fairly tasteless. What a fun way to put some sweetness into the flavor. I tend to use jarred jellied cranberry sauce, but I’m certain that would work too. Thanks for sharing your ideas.
This was the first time I made my own cranberry sauce and I was surprised at how easy it was. But to be honest, I really like the canned stuff too. I used to always buy a bunch of cans when they were discounted after Thanksgiving. I can vouch for the fact that the canned stuff is really good on sweet potatoes and I bet it would work on the squash too.
Thank you for this! I have a jar of cranberry sauce left over and I was wondering what to do with it. Pancakes is a great idea! Now, what shall I do with the leftover jar of gravy? LOL!
Ooh, I just saw a recipe today for mashed potato pancakes with gravy. It made me wish I had leftover mashed potatoes! Other than that, I’m at a loss.
Ooh, I made potato pancakes prior to Thanksgiving and they were yummy! They’d be really nice with gravy. I’ll probably cook the gravy with some meat or something.
What a great recipe round-up! I’ve seen lots of leftover turkey recipes, but this list definitely interests me more.
I’ve never actually eaten cranberry sauce, but those apple cranberry sauce muffins sound yummy!
OH!!!! I sounds wonderful on winter squash! We primarily used it on sandwiches and then I dumped it (along with 3 lbs of stuffing) in the trash. It’s salad time!
This was our first thanksgiving too. How did the turkey turn out? Surprisingly we only set off our smoke alarm twice, but the turkey turned out great!
3 pounds of stuffing!? WOW! Since it was just me & my husband (our families are up in Illinois), I didn’t make very much food, so apart from the cranberry sauce, we didn’t have a ton of leftovers.
We don’t eat meat, so no turkey for us, which made things easier for me.
I remember all the drama surrounding how to cook it, when it’s done, making sure it’s not too dry, etc.
Since you like the canned stuff also, pour two cans into the crockpot, then throw in a roast, I use the most on sale roast I can find. Add in half a packet of onion soup mix and then water. Comes out delicious
We love it on our toast in the morning, and making it our jam on peanut butter and jam sandwiches.
I’m definitely one of the ladies that enjoys the sides better than the turkey! Great recipes and ideas, though!
All of these sound delish, but my favorite would be the cranberry cream cheese! Spread on a flour tortilla, roll up real tight and then cut in 1/2 inch slices and make pinwheels. Sorry, your posts make me hungry every time.
YES! That would be so good! I love those cream cheese pinwheels.
I can’t stand cranberries BUT my Hubby LOVES them so I’ll have to make one of those for him!
Fantastic ideas and post! My family is notorious for forgetting to put the cranberry sauce out so these are perfect for us.
Oh yes, and am I ever glad we still have some because it’s great on oatmeal!
Oh, another good idea that I didn’t even think of! Cranberry sauce would be fantastic on oatmeal!
Cranberry cream cheese!!! Yum!!! These all sound good, I love cranberry sauce.
Love, love cranberry sauce!! Just made my first homemade batch this year as well. It is SO good! I used to love the canned jellied kind, but now that I am in love with fresh real cranberries I want to put them in everything.
Recently made cranberry orange scones for the first time. Last year lemon cranberry muffins. I love this list…gave me many ideas I hadn’t thought of. This year I used leftovers on my salads. It was good!!
Yes! I always liked the canned kind too–the kind that would just plop out and retain the shape of the can.
But the homemade stuff was so good and now I’m on a cranberry kick too. I love how they pop open when you cook them. Just made chipotle cranberry ketchup today!
First, thanks for mentioning my sandwich — sorry it took an entire year for me to notice!
Second, GENIUS to put it on roasted sweet potatoes. That sounds REALLY good.
Ha! And I totally need to save some leftovers to make that sandwich this year. I’ve been doing cranberry sauce on a grilled cheese this week though, which is also pretty darn amazing.
A tip I got from my coworker is to add leftover cranberry sauce to your cornbread mix and bake as usual. It puts a yummy, tangy spin on cornbread paired with soup from leftover turkey.
Adding it to cornbread is a great idea–thank you!
Ooooh! Cranberry Syrup! Great idea!