Transform your Thanksgiving leftovers into this delicious Savory Thanksgiving Bread Pudding! Flavorful stuffing, soaked in a herby custard and baked with juicy pieces of turkey and sweet cranberries, and then topped with melted cheddar cheese!
There’s no reason why the day after brunch can’t be as good as the holiday feast itself! Also check out my Thanksgiving leftover strata, turkey phyllo rolls, turkey sandwich and turkey shepherd’s pie for more delicious ideas to use up holiday leftovers!
Thanksgiving leftover recipe
Besides the oven roasted turkey and the Thanksgiving stuffing, the one thing that’s guaranteed on Thanksgiving Day is leftovers. After all, you wait a whole year for Thanksgiving, and then you go out of your way to produce the best feast possible for your family and friends.
You even call it an early night because nothing productive ever came out of staying up on Thanksgiving Day after the meal. But then you wake up the next day and face reality.
There’s plenty of leftovers and the thought of eating the same thing again makes you feel queasy.
Thanksgiving bread pudding
So instead of re-heating and re-serving boring leftovers, transform the remnants of your feast and extend the holiday spirit to the day after, with this fantastic Thanksgiving Bread Pudding!
I mean what could possibly be better than Thanksgiving dinner? Thanksgiving brunch the following day with flavor-packed pear stuffing soaked in a herby custard and then studded with juicy pieces of delicious turkey and sweet cranberry sauce and finally topped with melted cheddar cheese. Hell yeah, baby!
There’s no reason to go cold turkey the day after, when the alternative is this easy and this good. You can also check out this leftover turkey sandwich, turkey shepherd’s pie, turkey croque monsieur, or these turkey phyllo rolls for more Thanksgiving leftover ideas!
So you just might want to make a little extra for your feast this year, just so that you have more leftovers to make this for brunch next day. 🙂
And for this savory bread pudding, I used my Pear, Sage and Sausage stuffing. But you’re welcome to use any kind of stuffing, since you will be adding more bread for this recipe too.
What I do strongly recommend though is that you add some sweetness to your stuffing in the form a fruit (if you don’t already have any in your stuffing) – either pears or apples are a great option.
So you have leftover chicken or ham in the fridge? Go ahead and throw that in there too. This is such a creative way to use up and transform your holiday leftovers in a really delicious way.
Oh and one more thing. I’d like to take a quick vote if you guys don’t mind. What do you think about a beautiful drizzle of maple syrup on this Thanksgiving bread pudding and all that delicious turkey, stuffing, cranberries and cheese?
I LOVED it that way while Mr K didn’t want to go anywhere near the maple syrup. I’d love to know how you guys feel about that! 🙂
Recipe highlights
This I think is one of the best ways to have Thanksgiving for breakfast or brunch. Imagine how delicious this is going to be with those beautiful turkey roast leftovers?
The custard adds another layer of flavor while the rosemary makes it smell that much better.
By letting the turkey meat sit in the rosemary infused milk, you’re letting it soak up extra flavor while making it deliciously juicy which also prevents it from drying out. And this is all on top of the flavors of your favorite stuffing.
Then you also have the added sweetness of pears (which complemented the pear stuffing I used), and the tangy sweetness of cranberry sauce.
Recipe
Thanksgiving Leftover Savory Bread Pudding
US based cup, teaspoon, tablespoon measurements. Weight measurements are recommended for accurate results whenever available.
Common Measurement ConversionsIngredients:
- 2 ½ cups of stuffing any kind of stuffing, doesn’t have to be bread-based, I used my Pear, Sage and Sausage Stuffing
- 4 cups of stale 1 inch bread cubes that’s about 4-5 thick slices, I used an Italian bread loaf
- 1 ½ cups half and half or 50:50 of cream and milk
- 1 – 2 pears Bosc or Bartlett cut into small cubes (use 2 if your stuffing doesn’t have fruits, 1 if it does)
- 1- 2 sprigs of rosemary
- 5 eggs
- ¼ tsp salt
- Some cranberry sauce
- Extra chopped parsley
- Leftover turkey shredded about 2 packed cups at room temp
- ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions:
- Place half and half in a saucepan with the rosemary. Bring it to a boil and turn off the heat. Add the shredded turkey (or chicken) and let the herbs steep in the milk for about 20 – 30 minutes to infuse the flavour, and for the milk to cool down to room temperature. Then remove the rosemary sprig.
- Preheat oven to 350°F, and butter a 9 x 5 inch oven proof dish.
- Break the eggs into a bowl, and whisk them with the cooled rosemary infused milk mixture and turkey and salt.
- In a large bowl, place the stuffing, bread cubes, pears and parsley and mix to combine. Add the custard (milk, egg, turkey mix) and mix well to coat with the custard.
- Pour half of this into the buttered dish. Pour some leftover cranberry sauce on top, and place the other half of the bread pudding mix over it. Push down and leave for a few minutes to help the bread pieces soak up the custard.
- Spread some more cranberry sauce on top and sprinkle (generously) some cheese and a little sea salt over it.
- Cover with foil and bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake for a further 10-15 minutes until the cheese is bubbling and the custard has set.
- Serve warm, with maple syrup.
“This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.”
This is the kind of brunch you can have all day, coupled with a nice glass (or bottle) of wine too maybe. And the kind of thanksgiving leftover recipe that ensures your holiday spirit lives on a day or two longer.
So go on, pour some maple syrup on top and dig in, because you only get to eat Thanksgiving once twice a year thanks to this savory bread pudding.
And if you’re already thinking about making this again with leftover ham, the day after Christmas? Why, I’d say great minds do think alike after all! 😉
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