Hello to a new week! OK, so I’m of course wishing it was still the weekend, but I’m trying to stay positive and keep focused on what’s ahead, instead of what’s behind. We had a great weekend of a horseback riding birthday party (for my son’s preschool friend), a neighborhood brunch at our house and an afternoon at the local Renaissance Festival. ⚔️ So much fun! But we’ve got lots more to look forward to in the weeks ahead as well. Especially with Thanksgiving on the horizon… And besides the side dishes at Thanksgiving dinner, the leftovers from Thanksgiving are my favorite part of the holiday! I love reheating them, of course, or making my famous Thanksgiving leftovers breakfast hash, but I also love turning them into entirely new dishes.
That’s what my creamy turkey artichoke casserole, 15-minute turkey noodle soup and best ever leftover Thanksgiving turkey sandwich with cranberry sauce and cream cheese are all about. (I’ve also got my eye on this easy turkey soup recipe with dumplings and leftover turkey taquitos from some blogging friends.) And today’s recipe for Thanksgiving leftovers chef salad is a way to use leftovers without making your pants pop! And it’s great when you still have a large crew to feed because everyone can assemble their own plate to suit their tastes. Salad bar to the rescue! So what all do we have here?
Let’s get into it. And of course, you can feel free to add or subtract from this salad to suit your tastes and the leftovers you have on hand.
Thanksgiving leftovers chef salad ingredients:
Well, we’ve got the leftover turkey and ham, of course, just diced up and ready to go. We’ve also got any leftover deviled eggs (or you can just use hard-boiled eggs like I did here) to go around the plate. And we’re using leftover cranberry sauce (my easy 15-minute version) to make the super easy vinaigrette for this salad. Of course there’s also the lettuce, tomatoes, cheese and bacon that you expect from a big chef salad. Pick any greens you love for the lettuce. I’ve also added mushrooms before, so feel free to toss in any extra veggies you love. Finally, if you have cornbread with your Thanksgiving meal and there’s leftovers, you should definitely make some cornbread croutons to go with this salad! (That’s my friend Mary’s recipe )
(And if you love that dressing like I do, here’s a cranberry vinaigrette post dedicated to it so you can save or print that recipe.)
The best part of this Thanksgiving chef salad is that you just have to assemble it, shake up the dressing and you are ready to dig in! No fussing in the kitchen after all the cooking that’s already taken place. Just make sure to grab your veggies when you are doing your big Thanksgiving grocery store run and you’ll be all set to make this in the days after, when you don’t want to leave the house. Or even really the couch…
I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner, filled with family and friends, and I hope you have leftovers to last for DAYS! Enjoy and happy holidays! XO, Kathryn
The amount of water you need for the vinaigrette will depend on the consistency and thickness of your cranberry sauce. Start with 1 or 2 tablespoons and add more until you have a pourable consistency. My 15-minute easy cranberry sauce is chunky and works fine for this dressing. If your cranberry sauce is chunky and you want to smooth it out to use for the dressing, just mix this dressing together in the blender. Feel free to add other veggies to this salad. You can also make croutons from leftover cornbread if you have any!
