By Boxing Day you may feel like you can’t face another mouthful, but we have some leftover recipe ideas that will tempt you back into the kitchen for more. In a world grappling with food waste (it is estimated that we waste nearly a quarter of the food we buy), making the most of your leftovers not only reduces your environmental footprint but also adds a bit of variety to your post-Christmas meals.

Leftover Roast Meat

Strip your leftover roast of the best cuts first. Any leftover beef, lamb, ham or turkey slices can be frozen for up to 3 months with a spoon of leftover gravy for another quick roast dinner.

If you are feeling peckish, turn your leftover roast into satisfying sandwiches. Try turkey with lettuce, mayonnaise and a spoon of cranberry sauce or ham with a red cabbage slaw and dijon mustard.

Next strip the joint or carcass of all remaining meat. These less intact scraps of meat will make an excellent basis for soups, or mixed with rice for risottos and pilafs.

Your turkey or chicken carcass or beef joint bone can now be made into a nourishing bone broth. Place your roast bones in an oven proof lidded pot or slow cooker and cover with water. Add a halved onion, a couple of bay leaves and a handful of peppercorns and cook on low for 4-6 hours. When the cooking time is up, skim and strain the broth, discard the veg and bones and you'll be left with a deeply flavoured nutritious broth for use as a base in soups, casseroles or risottos.

Explore our Recipe Hub for more inspiration, like a Boxing Day Risotto, a Ham Carbonara or a Tikka Turkey Curry. 

Leftover Vegetables & Trimmings

One of the best things about Christmas leftovers is Bubble & Squeak. This versatile recipe can use up any leftover chopped veg, add in a sauteed onion and leftover mashed potato, and form into patties with your hands. These can now be covered in flour and fried in oil until crisp. Serve with leftover pigs in blankets for a satisfying Boxing Day brunch.

For an irresistible supper, take leftover chopped veg, diced roast potatoes and chunks of sausage meat stuffing and bake in a rich cheese sauce topped with breadcrumbs until golden and bubbling.  

Greens, like cooked cabbage and sprouts can be added to curries and pilafs made with your leftover roast.

Leftover Pudding

Turn leftover sweet treats into a festive rocky road fridge cake, by mixing with melted chocolate and butter. Try chopped nuts, crumbled Christmas pudding and broken sweet biscuits.

Leftover Christmas pudding can also be wrapped in buttery filo pastry and baked to make a seasonal strudel. Serve with any leftover brandy butter or cream.