We’re all about reducing food waste over here at Budget Bytes, so I want to make sure you’ve got plenty of options for enjoying your Thanksgiving leftovers later this week! These Leftover Stuffing Muffins have been a reader favorite since they were posted back in 2014, and since I made them again myself last week I decided to give the photos a little facelift. The recipe is the same as always, simple, delicious, and portable. ;) These tasty little savory muffins make a great grab-n-go breakfast!
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What is a Stuffing Muffin?
Okay, these are basically like those little egg bites that you can get at Starbucks, but with leftover stuffing added into the mix. In addition to the eggs and stuffing, I also added leftover turkey and spinach. So it’s like little single-serving baked eggs with meat, vegetables, and stuffing. Super tasty, super portable, and the perfect make-ahead breakfast!
Choose Your Ingredients
These great little muffins are a super flexible way to combine your Thanksgiving leftovers into a “new” meal and avoid Thanksgiving burnout. The bulk of this recipe is leftover stuffing (dressing), but you can add a variety of other ingredients into the mix and make them your own. Here are some other ingredients that would taste awesome in these Leftover Stuffing Muffins:
- Chopped broccoli
- Chopped ham
- Roasted sweet potatoes or butternut squash
- Chopped green beans
- Mushrooms
- Corn
- Cheese (cheddar, brie, mozzarella, feta, goat)
Whatever you decide to add, make sure it’s chopped into small pieces!
Bake it as a Casserole
While I haven’t done this yet, you could definitely bake this as a breakfast casserole, just like a strata. This amount of ingredients would probably fit an an 8×8 or 9×9-inch casserole dish. You’ll need to bake it until the center reaches an internal temperature of 160ºF.
How Long Do They Last?
You’ll want to either freeze or eat these leftover stuffing muffins within a few days, assuming you made them the day after Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, there’s no exact lifespan of dishes like this because the freshness and safety of leftovers can depend on so many different things, like how long the ingredients stayed at room temperature before they were refrigerated, the conditions within your refrigerator, and how quickly they were able to cool down once inside the refrigerator. When in doubt, play it safe!
Leftover Stuffing Muffins
Servings 12 muffinsIngredients
- 2 tsp butter (for greasing the muffin tin)
- 3 cups prepared stuffing or dressing
- 1 cup chopped turkey or ham
- 1/4 lb. frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed
- 6 large eggs
- 2 Tbsp milk
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp Freshly cracked pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a muffin tin with butter, oil, or non-stick spray. Thaw and squeeze the spinach dry.
- Add the stuffing, turkey, and spinach to a bowl, then stir gently to combine without breaking up the stuffing too much.
- Divide the stuffing mixture between all 12 wells of the muffin tin. Leave the stuffing loosely packed in the cups so that the egg mixture can fill in around the stuffing.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, salt, and pepper. Divide the egg mixture among the 12 wells, starting with 2 Tbsp per muffin and then adding a little bit more until all of the egg mixture has been used. The egg will not fully cover the stuffing, it will puff up as it bakes.
- Bake the muffins for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and crispy on the top. Allow the muffins to cool slightly, then run a knife around the edges to loosen and remove each muffin. Serve warm.
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Equipment
- Muffin Pan
- Whisk
- Measuring Cups Spoons
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!How to Make Leftover Stuffing Muffins – Step by Step Photos
Start by preheating the oven to 375ºF. Grease a muffin tin with butter, oil, or non-stick spray.
First, mix together your solid ingredients. This is where you can get creative. I used 3 cups of leftover herb stuffing, 1 cup of chopped Thanksgiving turkey, and 1/4 lb. of frozen spinach (thawed and squeezed dry). Whatever you use, make sure it’s chopped into small pieces and all vegetables have been cooked down to remove most of their moisture.
Gently stir the ingredients together until combined. Try not to stir too vigorously because that moist stuffing can kind of turn into a paste if stirred too much, and you want this mixture to remain chunky.
Divide the stuffing mixture between the 12 wells of a muffin tin. Do not pack the stuffing down into the well, you want there to be some empty space to be filled in with the egg mixture.
Whisk together 6 eggs, 2 Tbsp of milk or cream, 1/4 tsp salt, and ¼ tsp freshly cracked pepper. Whisk until it’s really smooth to make it easier to pour into the muffin tins.
Divide the whisked egg mixture between all 12 wells of the muffin tin. To make sure you don’t run out of egg mixture, start by adding just 2 Tbsp to each well, then go back to add a little bit more to each until you’ve used all of the egg mixture. The egg will not fully cover the solid ingredients. The egg will puff up quite a bit as it bakes.
Bake the Leftover Stuffing Muffins in the preheated 375ºF oven for 25-30 minutes, or until the tops are brown and crispy on the edges. Let them cool slightly, then run a knife around the edges to help loosen and remove the muffins.
Allow them to cool to room temperature, then transfer to an air-tight container to store in the refrigerator or freezer. A quick zap in the microwave will make them hot and breakfast ready!
My family is not big on eating leftovers unless I recreate it into something new and this recipe works like a charm for that. I used all of the items from the recipe and threw in the cup or so of carrots that were left from dinner. These are perfect for a quick breakfast.
Although everyone raves about my stuffing THAT day – no one eats the leftovers… until now! THANK YOU, BETH! I doubled the recipe and almost have none left – despite my 13-yr-old coming home from school, bending over the muffins and sniffing (rather loudly) before asking for left-over hot dogs. (sheesh). However, after people started eating “dinner” (yes, we had it for dinner – I didn’t want the leftovers in the fridge any longer), there were comments like: “Wow! This is REALLY good!”…. “This is the BOMB!”….. “How many do I get?”… “May I have some more?” I made two muffin trays and a small bread pan tray that has 8 small loaves. We’re almost done with the second muffin tray. My husband works nights and will be up to eat soon – hopefully we’ll have some left over to freeze – but I’m not holding my breath. That’s 4 kids who love them. So much for stuffing left-overs. Thanks to you, Beth, I know what to do from now on!!!
I’m glad they were such a hit!! :D
We didn’t have any spinach so we went with leftover green bean casserole. It is amazing. I was impressed.
In the oven now, I used stovetop cornbread dressing, cut up left over Turkey breast, onions, a little sage, rosemary and parmesan cheese, smells delicious, can’t wait to try…will be updating shortly.
What a fantastic recipe!! I made mine with rye bread dressing, my leftover green beans, mushrooms, Brussel sprouts, sweet potatoes and ham. Family thought it was a little crazy, but LOVED them when they came out of the oven. Thanks!!!
These are in the oven now. I used frozen broccoli that I pulsed in the food processors I also added 1/3 cup salsa and 4tbs cranberry sauce to the eggs and milk. Fingers crossed!
This recipe has been the best base for my go-to make-ahead breakfast bites!! I am absolutely awful in the mornings, and hate to make myself food but NEED the protein in the morning – and I usually hate eggs. But the flavors & textures in these little muffins fix my every issue with the usual eggs! I make mine with pre-packaged diced ham, Stove Top stuffing, and then some good old shredded cheddar. Keeps me full, happy, and away from McDonalds on my drive to work :)
I did have issues with the eggs sticking to my pans each time but now I have silicone muffin tins and they work MUCH better! Cheers <3
I have made these for years! Don’t forget that you can add gravy ( not too much) or even cranberry sauce! If you run out of stuffing use mashed potatoes with eggs mixed in. Spray your muffin pans and put the mashed potato mixture in building up around the sides but leaving a well in the middle. Prebake about 15-20 minutes so it gets a crust then add leftovers. Yummy!
I love that idea!
Niet in het nederlands.
Beetje jammer.
Went way into left field with these trying to kill leftovers and they were still amazing! Substituted 8 egg whites that were left over from a pound cake I made, I also subbed frozen brussels sprouts that I thawed and squeezed because that is what we had in the freezer. Threw a little cheese on top for good measure. They were delicious and my three small children devoured them.
This looks great! I don’t have frozen spinach, but I do have some fresh kale. Do you think that would work?
You’ll probably want to sauté the kale down in a skillet until it’s tender first. :)
I was wondering how these are for freezing? I’m planning to make up some freezer meals with Thanksgiving leftovers for my son to take back to college. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
I froze some and they were great. I like to wrap each one in plastic (either plastic wrap or the thin fold-top type sandwich bags), then put them all in a gallon sized freezer bag.
I love this recipe. I have been making breakfast casseroles. I also have many different breads that I have been cubing up and then mixing together, freezing until I need. I add peppers, green scallions. I use deyhdrated eggs in a bag and add a little salsa and mix then add to mixture. Came out great. I am also going to try this with my hash browns, Oh and adding ham or sausage would make it even better. Again like many other comments you can just go through your fridge and add almost whatever you want to this recipe and it will turn out great.
I work for a housing facility and on a tight budget and the residents love hot breakfast.
My husband loves these. Such a simple and tasty dish. What a great idea Beth. Followed the recipe but I’m thinking next time I’ll substitute precooked sausage crumbles for the turkey/ham.
My only problem is, my family NEVER allows left over stuffing! Seriously, they hoover it. I *love* this idea, just trying to figure out how I can do it w/out actual stuffing. Any suggestions?
I think you’d pretty much have to make a separate batch of stuffing. The flavor of the stuffing adds a lot to this dish! :)
Make extra stuffing. My favorite stuffing is boxed (high quality) stuffing, not the generic stuff, with lots of onion and celery added. I also like to add chopped pecans, but my family doesn’t like that.
Take this stuffing (which you have NOT made available to your family and make the stuffing’ muffins.