Leftover Thanksgiving Cottage Pie with Turkey | Best Recipe Box (2024)

FAQs

Can you make cottage pie to eat the next day? ›

Yes, make the cottage pie right up to the point before you put it in the oven. Then quickly cool, cover and refrigerate, along with the gravy. It should be fine in the fridge for up to a day.

Divide leftovers into smaller portions and refrigerate or freeze them in covered shallow containers so they cool quickly. A large container or whole turkey will take too long to cool down to a safe temperature, which gives bacteria a chance to multiply.

Instead, try turning your leftovers into a casserole, like our turkey divan, our chicken stuffing casserole, or our turkey pot pie; a soup, like our turkey noodle soup, our leftover turkey & wild rice soup, or our homemade turkey stock (made from your turkey carcass); or something lighter or more flavorful than before, ...

If you fall in this second category of people don't fret. You can absolutely reheat a cottage pie straight from frozen and still get tasty results. Hopefully, you've frozen it in an oven-safe dish, but if not, you'll have to transfer it to one now.

As long as you follow good food hygiene, it should be fine for 3-4 days.

Don't reheat leftovers more than once. If you have a big pot of soup, for example, it's better to take out what you need and reheat it in a smaller pan. Equally, the NHS recommends that you don't refreeze leftovers. This is because the more times you cool and reheat food, the higher the risk of food poisoning.

USDA recommends using cooked turkey within 3 to 4 days, kept refrigerated (40°F or less). Refrigeration slows but does not stop bacterial growth. Turkey can be frozen for 3 to 4 months. Although safe indefinitely, frozen leftovers can lose moisture and flavor when stored for longer times in the freezer.

Here's How to Send Thanksgiving Leftovers With Guests

All you need are a few disposable cupcake tins and matching lids. The tins should have at least 4 to 6 open spots for maximum leftovers. Have each of your guests take a cupcake tin and choose whatever Thanksgiving food they'd like to take home.

Thanksgiving leftovers should last up to four days in the fridge. But the key is to store the extra food properly! Here are some tips for storing your leftovers: Pack your leftover mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables, gravy, and casseroles in several small containers (rather than one large container).

It is also worth noting what was not present at the first Thanksgiving feast. There were no cloudlike heaps of mashed potatoes, since white potatoes had not yet crossed over from South America. There was no gravy either, since the colonists didn't yet have mills to produce flour.

Why do Thanksgiving leftovers taste better? ›

The flavor compounds – the herbs, the spices, the reactions that take place during cooking, sort of cool back and depending on how you have cooled and refrigerated your food, actually get back into the food and get trapped into the starches and the proteins.

It's a baked pasta recipe using a creamy, cheesy white wine sauce as the base. Cooked spaghetti, mushrooms, green peas, black olives, turkey, and bacon make up the bulk of the casserole and then it gets topped with panko breadcrumbs.

How long can you keep Cottage Pie in the fridge? Once you've put it out, ideally you should eat it within 4 hours. If you allow any left overs to cool, make sure to refrigerate in a container with a lid and chill. You can keep leftovers of Cottage Pie in the fridge for approximately 3 days or so.

Always freeze the pie on the day that you make it. Defrost in the fridge overnight, then cook as per the recipe. Alternatively, to cook from frozen, heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4, cover with foil and cook for 1½ hrs. Increase oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7, uncover and cook for 20 mins more, until golden and bubbling.

I would not try to freeze a leftover Cottage Pie as the freezing process will dehydrate the pie, cause separation of the ingredients, and result in taste and texture issues with the reheated product.

It will keep in the fridge for 4 days – assembled and ready to heat, or once cooked. You can also freeze Cottage Pie 100% perfectly. You can bake from frozen – though it does take around 1 hour (it's a formidable block of ice!!) or thaw then bake. Cooked leftovers also freeze well.

Freshly baked shepherd's pie will keep for about 3 to 5 days in the fridge; refrigerate covered with aluminum foil or plastic wrap.

You can bake a fruit-based pie a few days in advance as long as it's stored properly. Loosely cover: After baking and cooling your pie, loosely cover it with aluminum foil. Store: store for at room temperature for up to two days, or up to seven days in the fridge according to USDA guidelines.

It will keep in the fridge for up to 4 days so then all you have to do is heat it in the oven for approx. 30 minutes until the top is golden and the meat mixture is bubbling around the sides. You can also freeze cottage pie and it will keep in your freezer for up to one month.