Preparing leftovers is a lot of fun, as it requires a lot of culinary imagination and a good dose of love. In addition, this practice saves money, time and effort, as well as helps to better plan and raise awareness about unnecessary food waste. However, when you reuse food you must pay attention to certain details, because if not, it can harm your health. For this reason, in none of the following cases should you recycle leftovers: food prepared with less than fresh ingredients, food leftovers left out of the refrigerator for a long time, food reheated several times, food stored for many days in the refrigerator, improperly stored leftovers, food that has a strange appearance, such as bad smell or very strong smell, white spots, fermentation, among others.
And you wonder how you should use leftover food? Well, you must use the prepared food a maximum of two days later, you must defrost the food correctly if that is the case, if you do not have enough food leftovers, complement them by preparing a little more of the same product, do not use abundant salt in the base food, Since the flavor tends to be too concentrated after storing the preparation, keep the leftovers in an airtight container and in an appropriate way.
We gather for you some delicious recipes for use. Let’s cook with leftovers!
Recipes to use up leftover chicken
Chicken is a very versatile and profitable food, as it is used to create many delicious food recipes, and in the same way, its leftovers are also used to prepare exquisite recipes for use. If there is any leftover roast, stew or grilled chicken, we can shred it, cut it into strips or chop it into cubes, and thus use it in new preparations. Likewise, when you cut raw chicken, its bones, skin and less meaty parts are used to cook a broth or stock that works as the base for many recipes. If you have bits of raw meat left over, you can make ground meat instead. As if that were not enough, if you fry the raw skin in a pan, letting it cook in its own fat, you will taste a delicious pork rind. In addition, although it is not about chicken, we highlight that the use of roast lamb leftovers,
Take note of the following culinary suggestions to make the most of leftover chicken:
- Chicken hash
- Chicken tinge chicken sops
- Chicken empanadas with short crust pastry
- Colombian chicken empanadas
- Chicken soup
- Mexican chicken tacos
- Pasta salad with chicken and vegetables
- Chicken and Pineapple Pasta Salad
- Pasta salad with chicken and lettuce
- Spaghetti with chicken and tomato sauce
- Green beans with chicken
- Powdery chicken
- Chicken vole-au-vents
- Chicken meatballs
- Crispy Chicken Nuggets
- Puff pastry filled with chicken
- Puff pastry braid stuffed with chicken
Recipes to use leftover meat
There are dishes prepared with meat that always leave many leftovers, such as round, barbecue, and roast, among others. These remaining pieces, depending on their size, can be cut in various ways and reused in other preparations. For this reason, in all these cases it is great to know how to take advantage of leftover food and have good recipes, in this article we show you recipe options with leftover meat:
- Puff pastry stuffed with minced meat
- Tacos with roast beef
- Spaghetti with tomato sauce and meat
- Roast beef burritos
- Whole meal spaghetti with minced meat
- Sautéed meat with vegetables
Recipes to take advantage of fish and seafood
If you prepare recipes with fish or shellfish, you should be cautious and use the leftovers that same day or the next day at most, because as you already know, this type of food is very delicate and spoils easily. However, if we prepare the right recipe, it almost always becomes a delicacy.
Here are some ideas for making recipes with seafood or fish:
- Mussels Pate
- Mussels Pate
- Seafood croquettes
- Homemade and easy fish cakes
- Seafood pancakes
- Fish Tacos
- Tagine omelet
- Seafood Cannelloni
- Shrimp pasta in white sauce
- Tuna burgers
- Salmon Burgers
- Chipotle tuna burgers
- Pasta with Salmon
- Shrimp patties
- Venezuelan dogfish empanadas
- Mexican tuna empanadas
Recipes to take advantage of vegetables
There are endless ways to take advantage of vegetables, for example, you can use them in a puree or sautéed, and you can also give them a new use and create a new recipe. In this sense, if you learn how to take advantage of leftover food, you will not only manage resources better, but you will also improve your diet and plan the menu for the week. What do you think if you take a look at the following recipes made with vegetables? Keep reading!
Tasty recipes
- Vegetable pate
- Chard croquettes
- Vegan vegetable croquettes
- Vegan Cauliflower Quinoa Burgers
- Quinoa and spinach burgers
- Quinoa and eggplant burgers
- Eggplant pizza
- Easy and light eggplant tart
- Aborigines in vinaigrette
- Vegetarian fajitas with cheese
- Dumplings with vegetables
- Vegetable omelet
- Sautéed vegetable salad
- Pasta salad and roasted vegetables
- Whole meal salad with vegetables
- Vegetable frittata
- Vegetable titan
- Baked Vegetables
- Sweet potato and meat cake
Sweet recipes
- Sweet potato cake without wheat flour
- Sweet potato bread
- Sweet potato pancakes
- Gluten free sweet potato gnocchi
- Sweet potato pasta
- Sweet potato with chocolate
- Sweet potato cheesecake with berries
- Sweet potato with chocolate
Recipes to take advantage of legumes
One of the dishes that generate the most leftovers is the cooked legumes, stew, stewed beans, and stewed chickpeas, among other similar dishes. If these types of preparations are stored in a hermetically sealed container, you should bear in mind that they usually keep quite well and for a more or less prolonged time. Of course, everything will depend on the additional ingredients that the recipe contains, since vegetables such as carrots and tomatoes tend to make food rancid more quickly.
We emphasize that the recipes that we propose mostly need to separate the solid part from the liquid part, and in turn, in some cases, it is also necessary to separate the beans from the rest of the solid ingredients. With that said, let’s look at some clever suggestions for getting the most out of legumes:
Salads, meatballs and burgers
- Red beans with quinoa
- Red and white bean salad
- Bean salad with avocado
- Chickpea salad with avocado
- Lentil meatballs
- Vegan lentil meatballs
- Lentil and rice burgers
- Lentil and mushroom burgers
- Chickpea Burgers
- Corn and Chickpea Burgers
- Corn and Chickpea Burgers
- Chickpea and oatmeal burgers
Dips, creams, sauces and fillings
- Lentil hummus
- Classic hummus
- Macaroni with hummus
- Spaghetti with beans
- Black bean dip
- Areas stuffed with beans
- Black bean rice
Recipes to take advantage of fruits
Are the fruit very ripe and you doing not want to discard it? Don’t worry, there are many great recipes so you don’t waste anything and get the most out of each case. Of course, avoid using very ripe fruit for preserves (jams, fruit in syrup, etc.), as you shorten the life of the product and the quality is not the best. In those cases, it is best to use fruit at an optimal ripening point, that is, neither green nor very ripe. Either way, there are many interesting options; below we share with you some of the recipes for use with fruits:
Very ripe fruit
- Ripe banana cake
- Oatmeal and banana fitness cake
- Oatmeal cookies without sugar or flour
- Banana pancakes
- Banana smoothie and cookies
Ripe fruit (at its ideal point)
- Venezuelan banana cake
- Upside down apple and pear cake
- Apple and cinnamon jam
- Lemon marmalade
- Homemade mandarin jam
- Meddler jam
- Red plum jam
- Pumpkin Jam
- Sugar-free fruit compote for babies
- Apple and banana compote
- Roasted Pears with Cinnamon
- Sugar free applesauce
- Apple fifteen
- Apple jelly with jelly
- Banana and chocolate cake
- Male plantain fritters
- Fruit papillae
- Fruit splash
- Venezuelan Chalk
Recipes to take advantage of rice
If rice is improperly preserved, a bacterium called bacillus cereus can develop, it dies after applying heat, but its spores do not and these are considered equally toxic. That is why it is so important to follow a certain protocol when storing this food. In this sense, never leave the rice overnight on the stove, before putting it in the fridge let it cool completely, and once cold, refrigerate or freeze it immediately in a hermetically sealed container. If you still have doubts about the procedure to follow in these cases, we suggest you consult our article: Can I freeze rice?
Wondering how to use leftover food? When it comes to cooked rice, the most versatile is dry and white, as it lends itself to many more recipes, since it is almost neutral. We propose a few ideas for you to prepare recipes to take advantage of rice:
Sweet recipes
- Rice pudding flan
- Rice fritters
- Rice pudding cake
- Tasty recipes
- Rice and cheese fritters
- Yamani rice burger
- Brown rice burger
- Tuna and rice balls
- Baked rice croquettes
- Chicken fried rice
- Rice areas without flour
- Rice areas with cornstarch
Recipes to take advantage of pasta
Pasta loses qualities from one day to the next, because it does not hold up well if we reheat it, however, there are recipes with which you can rescue this meal and give it a phenomenal twist. For example, baked preparations not only allow you to recover those leftovers, but also provide you with a creative and delicious dish. Of course, always keep in mind that it is best to use a pasta that has only been in the fridge for one day (maximum two), because if it spends more time, it becomes less appetizing and even unhealthy. Then check out our suggestions to make the most of pasta:
- Spaghetti al papillae
- Spaghetti cake
- Baked dough
Tip: For best results, the original pasta must be al dente.
Recipes to take advantage of bread, biscuits, cookies and pastries
Bread is a very versatile food, whether fresh or aged, because its neutral flavor allows you to use it in a variety of recipes, both sweet and savory. When it gets hard, an interesting alternative is to grate it, so you can use it as a complementary ingredient, thus serving to thicken bread or give consistency to certain preparations.
On the other hand, you can also take advantage of the buns and pastry products that have been made for a few days and prepare puddings, cheesecakes, cakes, sweet croquettes, cheesecake bases, cake pop, and candies in glasses, among others. As a sample, here we provide you with desserts full of imagination and flavor:
Tasty recipes
- Broccoli croquette
- Vegetable pudding
Sweet recipes
- Chocolate croquette
- Light bread pudding
- Homemade bread pudding
- Tarija’s of milk, sugar and cinnamon
- Capirotada of three milks
- Mexican capirotada with cinnamon
- French toast with syrup
- Plantain and cheese croquettes
- Barrera cake
- Sponge cake pops
- Novella cake pops
- Chocolate pudding
- White chocolate and raspberry pudding
- Oreo truffles
- Oreo cookie cream with chocolate
- Biscuit Maria and chocolate truffles
- Oreo cups
- Lemon Dessert
- Banana and chocolate cake in the microwave
Tip: never use leftover bread or pastries if they have green areas.
