Transform your Thanksgiving leftovers into this delicious Savory Bread Pudding. Flavorful stuffing, soaked in a herby custard, is 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! And for another great savory bread pudding/casserole idea to use up Thanksgiving leftovers – Thanksgiving Leftover Strata!
Besides the 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.
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 Leftover Savory Bread Pudding!
I mean what could possibly be better than Thanksgiving dinner? Thanksgiving brunch the following day with flavor-packed stuffing soaked in a herby custard and then studded with juicy pieces of delicious turkey and sweet cranberries 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, creamy turkey shepherd’s pot pie, turkey croque monsieur, or these turkey filo 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 that I shared with you guys yesterday. 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 savory 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! 🙂
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Ingredients:
- 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 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, sage and sausage stuffing I used), and the tangy sweetness of cranberry sauce.
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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Vicki says
Looks sooooooooo delis and will definitely use the recipe this Thanksgiving “day after buffet”
Petra says
hi Dini
What a great way to transform leftovers! I am with you re the maple syrup as well, it is both sweet and savoury! 🙂
arlene@arls's world says
Wow Dini, this looks amazing! It sounds so delicious! Perfect for Thanksgiving and leftovers 🙂
Caroline | carolinescooking says
I’ve been meaning to comment ever since I first saw this – sounds like a delicious dish and great use of leftovers!
Erin @ Thanks for Cookin'! says
How cool to make bread pudding out of stuffing! And when the stuffing has sausage like yours absolutely bring on the maple syrup…yum!
Julie is Hostess At Heart says
Seeing your delicious recipes make me so excited for Thanksgiving leftovers! I’m cooking so you can bet I’ll be making extra for dishes such as this one and you phyllo dish!
stef says
This is such a great way to use up leftovers. I first found myself just looking at all the amazing pictures and almost forgot to read about it. Unfortunately for me I don’t celebrate thanksgiving (being from NZ it’s not something we have there) but as I was reading I just decided to substitute my memory of christmas dinner into your story and I feel that it fit perfectly. I love this idea to use up the leftovers, it is so creative and something different. Which is so refreshing. Thanks for sharing with us at Fiesta Friday. 🙂
Suchitra says
Well said Dini! A very useful recipe! Thanks for sharing.
Judi Graber says
Thumbs up for drizzling maple syrup over your savory pudding. It looks delicious enough with all of that gooey cheese but maple syrup too – yum! Thanks for coming to the party Dini and sharing with all of us 🙂
Cakespy says
OMG THAT LOOKS SOOOOOOOOOOO good. I love how it could be made with a variety of leftovers. I have a massive craving now!
Dini says
Thank you Jessie!! 😀 I like creating a challenge out of leftovers!
Jessica - The Novice Chef says
This is such an interesting idea! Pinning it to try later this month!!
Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella says
This looks so delicious and what a good idea for Thanksgiving or Christmas leftovers! 😀