How to Turn Your Thanksgiving Leftovers Into Breakfast

With all those goodies in the fridge, why subject yourself to a bowl of cold cereal?

After the big meal, the thought of cooking a nice breakfast could be enough to put you over the edge. Might as well just subject yourself to that dusty box of granola bars in the back of your pantry, right?

But the thing is, you already have the workings of a seriously awesome breakfast among the stacks of leftovers in your fridge. You just need to know how to put them to use. Here's how:

Turn cranberry sauce into cranberry syrup

Heat leftover cranberry sauce in a saucepan over medium heat, thinning it with a bit of water, and suddenly you have a fruit syrup that's perfect drizzled over pancakes and waffles.

Reinvent the BEC

Bacon, egg, cheese, and turkey. Props if you serve it on a leftover, toasted roll.

Add leftovers to a frittata

A frittata is a catch-all for leftovers—toss shredded turkey, mashed potatoes, vegetables, or even some stuffing into the skillet before adding your eggs.

Make sweet potato pancakes

If you have leftover mashed sweet potatoes or squash, they're best added to your pancake batter for the ultimate fall stack.

Pile turkey onto French toast

A French toast sandwich stuffed with turkey, cranberry sauce, and arugula will keep you seriously fueled for your Black Friday shopping.

Make Stuffing Hash

Perhaps the ultimate use of leftover stuffing—reheat it in a skillet until it gets nice and crispy then top it with a fried or poached egg.

...Or turkey Hash!

Turkey can play the hash game well too. Toss in some grated potatoes and chopped green peppers to round it out.

Bake a strata

Revive leftover, stale dinner rolls by turning them into a sweet or savory strata (AKA breakfast bread pudding).

Cranberry sauce + yogurt

Leftover cranberry sauce is great dolloped on your morning bowl of yogurt. Spoon some sauce onto Greek yogurt and finish it with a sprinkle of granola, a drizzle of maple syrup, a bit of fresh chopped mint, or all three.