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!
The recipe was perfect. I used chopped leftover green beans (nice crunch)and other meats for the turkey. What’s so terrific about this recipe is it gives you the proportions and method you need and you can make changes from there. I was also glad that it didn’t rely on cheese which practically every breakfast casserole (type) recipe has. I “repurpose” leftovers religiously so I like having a new option!
Oops! I poured the egg mixture into the dressing turkey mixture, then added 1/2 cup cubed cranberry sauce. Didn’t use any spinach. This was delicious! Next time I’m adding chopped collard greens and Mac and cheese.
This is a terrific and flexible recipe! We had oyster/sausage/rye bread stuffing for thanksgiving and it worked perfectly. I added a little sour cream and mozzarella cheese to the mixture and substituted 4 TBSP of egg white for 2 of the eggs. Baked for 30 minutes in an Xlarge muffin tin and they came out beautifully!
This ended up being really great. I didn’t have spinach , so i chopped up the ends of some leftover dark butter lettuce and it still worked out. I was not really paying attention while i was cooking and somehow missed the milk bit–so i poured in just a tiny tad bit to each muffin . I think the milk ‘resaturated’ the stuffing mix, which was needed. I sprayed my tins pretty well with the veg oil spray–but still got stuck. Maybe either more butter in the mix or just straight up buttering the pans would have been better. My hope is to freeze these, so that when I need small portions of stuffing… ta da!
ALSO Forgot to mention: 1. I made 7 muffins, used 3 eggs. Splash of milk on each muffin as an afterthought. Wish I added some cheese. I was using Stovetop Stuffing – Chicken version… and these came out tasting just like chicken pot pie. Cannot say I was sad about that! My toddler even ate them. They didn’t puff up, but they did cook. I used significantly less chicken than shown (leftovers.) Thanks again!
Loved this recipe!!! I cut it in half to make 6 muffins instead of 12 and turned out beautifully. Thanks you so much for posting this!!!
Happy to hear it worked to half it!
Great recipe! Used leftover stuffing and following another suggestion, replaced milk with nonfat plain. Greek yogurt and added some shredded cheese. Delightful little individual portions with lots of flavor and lovely texture. Thanks!
Great to know that the yogurt will work! Thanks for sharing Melanie.
These were a bit overly eggy at the bottom for me. It’s a great idea, though, and I think that next time I’d halve the eggs, add in shredded cheese, and toss all the ingredients gently before spooning into the muffin tin.
Sorry to hear that Monica! Let us know how it goes next time.
I am a dietitian and I am using this recipe (and citing you of course ☺️) in my cooking class this week!!! Amazing!
Thanks Aubrey!
Had four cups of stuffing so used an extra egg, sour cream in place of milk, and lefft out the spinach (we didn’t have any on hand). OMG were they ever good!
Oh man sour cream?!? YUM!!!🤤
I had leftover stuffing from a pork chop meal so I thought I’d try this. I just used the stuffing and the eggs with milk and s&p (no added meat or veggies). I used mini tins. I went down to 350° for 25 minutes. Perfect!!! I served them as appetizers for superbowl. These are really good. I am going to start making these and serving them with our dinner meals. The minis just pop into your mouth like popcorn. (I can wait to bake my next ham to try it as an addition.) TY for sharing the recipe.
Add some parmesan cheese.
Can these be Prepared and refrigerated overnight and baked in the morning?
That would probably work. :) You may need to increase the cooking time by a few minutes since everything will be very chilled when going into the oven.
I would save adding the egg until you’re ready to put in the oven because It’s going to absorb completely into the stuffing.
That’s what I did: got everything ready in the muffin tin, and had a separate bowl with the milk and egg that I poured in when I was ready to put it in the oven. I did let everything come to room temperature.
was going to try some stuffing waffles but the wife liked these so much the rest of the stuffing went into another batch! skipped the spinach, subbed 1tbsp yogurt and 1 tbsp orange juice for the milk, used mostly turkey and a bit of ham, and added some diced red pepper for the second batch.
Will definitely be keeping this recipe on hand for every “post turkey’ leftover cook-off!
Taste great. About to make batch number 2. No need to look for another recipe. Thanks
Loved these! Just stuffing, turkey, mozzarella cheese. Can’t wait too try some of the comment suggestions
My family does not generally eat leftovers unless I can really transform them into something else. This recipe did the trick and allowed for a lot of creativity with leftovers. I used everything as called for in the recipe and also added in the leftover carrots too. My husband declared they were his favorite leftover ever.