In our household, Thanksgiving is one of the most important holidays. And I think we can all agree that the best part about Thanksgiving is the delicious food!

But for us, Thanksgiving is more than just the fourth Thursday of November — it’s not like a giant bird stuffed with bread is your average weeknight meal, so we really go all out and make sure there will be plenty of leftovers to extend our Thanksgiving feast into the following week.

But year after year, the same questions always arise: How will all of this fit in the refrigerator? How can our family members take home leftovers of their own? Nobody has enough Tupperware for this! Fear not.

This Thanksgiving Casserole combines all of your holiday leftovers (minus the pie. Not that there should ever be leftover pie.) into one delicious dish! Gone are the days of refrigerators being as overstuffed as your family, and the need for “creative” Tupperware solutions (I knew we were saving those old peanut butter jars for something… I just didn’t know it would be for mashed potatoes).

This casserole is super easy to assemble, so you can throw it together at the end of the night before everyone goes home to slip into their food coma — all you’ll need are your leftovers, some shredded cheese, and a little bit of mayonnaise.

Preheat the oven to 375°. Spray an 8-inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Spoon in 2 cups stuffing, then top with turkey. We think the stuffing is the most important part of any Thanksgiving dinner, and our family’s recipe was perfect in this casserole! Click here for our Sausage, Apple, and Cranberry Stuffing recipe.

Combine 1/4 mayonnaise with cranberry sauce; evenly spread over turkey. For super moist turkey, you can check out a few tips here. Click here for my Easy Homemade Cranberry Sauce recipe.

Combine remaining 1/2 cup mayonnaise, your favorite mashed potatoes and cheese in a large bowl. Evenly spread over the last layer, then top with remaining 2 cups stuffing.

Bake 40 minutes or until heated through. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Garnish, if desired, with dried cranberries. If you are using our family’s stuffing, note that it does already contain dried cranberries, so you probably won’t need the extra. Though they do look pretty atop the final product :)

Leftover Thanksgiving Casserole

By Life Tastes Good
Published 11/26/2015

Ingredients

• 4 cups leftover prepared stuffing, divided
• 4 cups coarsely chopped leftover cooked turkey (about 1 lb.)
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup whole berry cranberry sauce
• 2 cups leftover mashed potatoes
• 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375°. Spray 8-inch baking dish with no-stick cooking spray. Spoon in 2 cups stuffing, then top with turkey.
2. Combine 1/4 cup mayonnaise with cranberry sauce; evenly spread over turkey.
3. Combine remaining 1/2 cup mayonnaise, your favorite mashed potatoes and cheese in large bowl. Evenly spread over the last layer, then top with remaining 2 cups stuffing.
4. Bake 40 minutes or until heated through. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Garnish, if desired, with dried cranberries. If you are using our family’s stuffing, note that it does already contain dried cranberries, so you probably won’t need the extra. Though they do look pretty atop the final dish :)

Yield: 6 Servings
Prep Time: 15 mins.

Cook time: 40 mins.
Total time: 55 mins.

Recipe source: Hellman's Turkey Casserole