Leftover Turkey Stuffing Balls
Wondering what to do with leftover stuffing or what to do with leftover turkey? I'm very excited to share these Leftover Turkey Stuffing Balls with you! Everything you love about Thanksgiving in one bite! Well, except for the dessert, but you certainly can have that after you devour these, if you have room, lol!
I really have no idea what to call these. Thanksgiving Balls? Stuffing Balls? I mean, sure you can make these when looking for Thanksgiving recipes for leftovers, or with leftovers from Christmas or Easter. Anytime you have leftover turkey really (with the fixin's).
We could call them Leftover Turkey Balls, however, they have stuffing in them so I thought do I add that into the title. All you need really need to know is that these Turkey Balls are a trifecta of deliciousness! These hit all the holiday food notes! Bite after bite!
You'll be grabbing a turkey breast occasionally throughout the year just to make these! I've made these balls using boneless turkey breast from my farmers market, and then making gravy with turkey wings I buy there as well. I have also made them from my smoked turkey and smoked gravy recipe leftovers and OMG next level!
Table of Contents
To sum up these Leftover Turkey Balls, make them, make them, make them!!
If you do Friendsgiving or any sort of Thanksgiving potluck, these would absolutely be a hit!
You can use store-bought gravy BUT If you make a killer gravy with fresh herbs like sage, tarragon, thyme, and Rosemary, I say make your own.
TIP - If you make gravy and love it, always freeze the leftovers when completely cooled. (I freeze mine in quart mason jars, leaving headspace)
Just combine equal parts mashed potatoes and stuffing and then add in as much or as little shredded turkey as you like. Feel free to season the mixture with black pepper. Other than that everything was already seasoned, so no need for more.
Ingredients
- leftover turkey
- stuffing
- mashed potatoes
- panko
- gravy
- butter/oil (or you can bake)
Instructions
- This recipe couldn't be simpler when leftovers are around yet its one of those memorable foods that will have you making the mashed potatoes, stuffing and turkey JUST so you can make it again!
- All you need to do is to combine equal parts mashed potatoes and stuffing and then add in shredded turkey meat.
- Form the mixture into balls like making a meatball and bake them for 15 minutes just to firm up the exterior a bit. The inside is light and fluffy as a cloud. If your ingredients are cold you may need to bake longer.
- Next, smother them in gravy and add a dollop of cranberry if you like and dig in!
- OR even better in my opinion and the way I now make these. Form them into balls, roll in seasoned panko, pressing to get the panko to adhere and fry them up in a bit of butter/olive oil just to warm them through. The brown bits make these turkey balls even better!
Tips
- Allow ingredients to come up to room temperature, makes these easier to form into balls.
- Or heat the mashed potatoes up a bit, adding a bit more butter if necessary.
- Same goes for stuffing, you can heat it up just a bit in the microwave, adding in a bit of broth if necessary (or water) to remoisten.
- Crusting the leftover turkey balls in panko and frying them up a bit does make a delicious difference! The gastropub where I first had these, rolls them in Panko and then deep-fries them. Stunning!
- If you need a homemade gravy without the drippings this is a good one.
What can I make with leftover mashed potatoes?
Besides making these Leftover Turkey Stuffing Balls, You can make my "famous" Mashed Potato Pie, or my leftover Loaded Mashed Potato Skillet. My friend Caroline makes Irish Colcannon with leftover mashed potatoes.
What can I make with leftover stuffing?
Besides making these Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey Stuffing Balls, I love placing stuffing in my waffle maker to make stuffing waffles and then top those with all sorts of stuff. I have even wrapped stuffing in bacon and made Stuffing Bombs. Yummo!
Let me know if you make the Leftover Turkey Stuffing Balls OR if you come up with a better name for them. Maybe Gobble Balls?? Because, well turkey and you'll gobble them up...Haha!!
Enjoy!
More recipes for leftovers
Recipe originally published in November 2019, updated October, 2023 with tips & more.
Leftover Turkey Stuffing Balls
Ingredients
- 3 cups mashed potatoes
- 3 cups stuffing
- 1 ½ cups shredded turkey
- Gravy
- Optional: Black pepper
- Panko (see notes)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees and spray a baking sheet lightly with cooking spray.
- Warm-up your potatoes and stuffing so that they are easy to handle.
- In a large bowl, combine potatoes, stuffing and turkey and season with black pepper if you like. (There should already be enough salt in the ingredients)
- Form into balls, pressing down firmly as you would when making a snowball.
- Place balls onto the baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes.
- Plate and coat with hot gravy.
- Dig in!
- See notes for the addition of panko and frying these balls up.
These meatballs are pretty AMAZING! I love how you can simply bake them in the oven using whatever you have. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe, Colleen!
That board is beautiful. And I'm saving this recipe for all my Thanksgiving leftovers.
They really do great work!
Thanksgiving in a little ball of stuffing. I wouldn't wait for leftovers to make these!
Yes! How we feel exactly!
I love everything about this recipe. Such a great way to use leftovers and make an amazing dinner.
Loving this recipe! This is like a heavenly bite of Thanksgiving at once. This is the kind of recipe I love because it's using leftover ingredients the day after thanksgiving. The appearance looks like Swedish meatballs!
Thanks! They are true comfort!
I am not only drooling over those turkey balls, I'm drooling over that gorgeous cutting board! I also have a thing for cutting boards 🙂
I want to bring these to a potluck. Do you think they’d be ok if I kept them in a crockpot with the gravy to keep them warm?
Sure, I would place them in the crock and shortly before serving, pour gravy over and heat.
What a great idea for re-purposing leftovers. Like how the measurements are flexible.
What a great way to use up leftovers, including the mashed potatoes - so easy too!
Do you think you could freeze these?
I have not tried it however I can't see why not. Just freeze the gravy separate.
i was wondering if I cook them ahead of time if I can freeze them minus the gravy . I think its a wonderful idea . and I don't always feel good enough to cook so freezing food helps me alot
Hi Evelyn! Why not make the mixture and form the balls, freeze them and then when ready, roll in panko and cook. My instincts say this will give you the best result. Let me know how it goes and enjoy!
Oh My Gosh!!!!!!!
I realize this is from 2yrs ago, just hoping for a reply!!!
Has anyone frozen these?
(w/o gravy)?
If so, what temp & how long?
I'm the only one who would eat this,
(I KNOW!!!) Therefore, don't want to make a little bit, nor a lot and they'd go to waste.
Thank you SO MUCH, Colleen ❣
You can totally freeze these! Freeze balls on a plate or cookie sheet first for a couple of hours, and then package. Freeze gravy separately. Enjoy! I can't wait for November to make these again, everyone here is obsessed with them lol!
I made these the day after Thanksgiving. OMGOODNESS. They are the BOMB! I fried mine. Loved the crunchy crust. The inside was moist. I’m making these for Christmas dinner. My mouth is already watering, with delight. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
Woot!!Love hearing that Ann!
I was wondering if adding some dried cranberries would taste good. Or even maybe making a cranberry sauce Gravy? Anyone have any thoughts. I will be cooking my turkey in the next couple of weeks. It's just me and my husband so we will have lots of leftover turkey and would love to make these and freeze for future meals.
Dried cranberries would be tasty if you enjoy a pop of sweet. The balls are soft, so you would def have the texture of them apparent. If I were to make and freeze, I would assemble the balls and once thawed THEN roll in Panko and fry up. Cranberry sauce on the side is delish or a cranberry sauce gravy as you mentioned. Enjoy!
Very good and easy to put together. I did mine in the air fryer. I did coat them in panko, sprayed them with a bit of avocado oil and preheated my air fryer to 380. I cooked the balls for 6 minutes then turned them over, sprayed again and color them for 6 additional minutes. They turned out great! I also ended up freezing extra uncooked balls for later.
Glad they worked in the air fryer! Thanks for your comment on your technique Patti!!
My Mom made these 40 years ago! She called them turkey balls. If she didn't have enough gravy she made a white sauce to hold them together. Then deep fried them. We loved them!!
Love that!!
These sounds so good but I was wondering, can you add some leftover sweet potatoes in this too or not really?
I can't see why not, just a different flavor. If you do that, maybe don't use gravy (or do, just depends on your preference). PS I LOVE sweet potatoes!!!
yes, for more of a non savory ball. I use whole berry cranberry sauce and blend it for dipping. delicious!
Do you think adding French fried onions would work instead of panko?
I can't see why not, maybe just rough chop them first.
Can you freeze these turkey Balls for later?
I would make them into balls and freeze, then when ready, roll in panko and cook.
yes you can. let them thaw a bit, then roll in breadcrumbs and fry. you can roll them in the crumbs and freeze them then just thaw a bit and fry. they come out good both ways
Thanks Terri!
Hello so your mashed potatoes and stuffing must already be prepared for this recipe right?
Yes or you can make them just because you want to make this (which I have done in the past as well). Hope you enjoy! I freeze gravy JUST for this recipe 🙂
I was looking for some way to use leftovers and came across this recipe. One word - YUM!!! My hubby thinks I had too much potatoes to the rest ratio, but I did what you had directed. 1:1 stuffing and potatoes and then whatever for turkey. My only issue and this is NOT the recipes fault, is there was too much liquid or such in my potatoes. Made the meatballs flatten as they cooked. I just know next time to use less potatoes and try frying them instead.
YUM!!!!
Glad you enjoyed and yes it will depend on the potatoes and the ration you would enjoy! I almost always fry them rolled in Panko, yummmm!