Transform your leftover turkey, stuffing, and more into a mouthwatering Thanksgiving Eggs Benedict. It’s the ultimate way to savor those holiday flavors all over again.
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Savoring Thanksgiving Leftovers with Eggs Benedict for Breakfast
There’s something truly magical about the day after Thanksgiving when the refrigerator is brimming with an array of delicious leftover: succulent turkey, aromatic stuffing, cranberry sauce, and so much more. These favorite Thanksgiving recipes are waiting to be transformed into a new and exciting dish that captures the essence of the holiday season! This Thanksgiving Eggs Benedict does just that, and I can’t wait to share this recipe with you.
This dish is a testament to the versatility of leftovers, allowing you to create something entirely new and equally satisfying. With a harmonious blend of textures and flavors, this Eggs Benedict will become a post-Thanksgiving tradition that you eagerly anticipate each year.
As someone who has tested a lot of thanksgiving turkeys over the past few years this is hands down my favorite way to enjoy the leftovers! It is also really easy to make variations to suit it to you.
Ingredients
- Leftover Stuffing – Any kind of stuffing/dressing should work! I have used both recipes from scratch and the famous boxed stovetop stuffing to test this recipe and both worked great.
- Leftover Turkey – A nice piece of breast meat is ideal but since that is a hot ticket item really any large slice of leftover turkey will work. You could also piece together a few small pieces on top of the stuffing waffle as well.
- Eggs – You will see both egg whites and eggs appear on the list in the recipe card, note the egg whites are from the unused portion of the hollandaise sauce. In hollandaise sauce you will only use egg yolks, save the egg whites and use those for the stuffing waffles. If you aren’t making hollandaise sauce you could just use 1-2 full eggs for the stuffing waffles instead on the egg whites.
- White Vinegar – Seems so random but you will want a little vinegar to add to the pot of water for poaching eggs.
- Hollandaise Sauce – I highly suggest using my Easy Blender Hollandaise Sauce Recipe, the blender makes it foolproof. The following is that you will need for that:
- Butter
- Eggs
- Lemon Juice
- Salt
- Dijion Mustard
Instructions
Prep:
Preheat the oven to WARM. Add a sheet pan onto the oven rack to hold things to keep warm as you are making them.
Add a large pot full of water to the stovetop, turn the heat to high and cover to bring to a simmer. Once the water is to a boil or simmer turn down to medium heat, you will want the water to be at a low simmer which means small simmering bubbles not large bubbling boils. While you are waiting for the water to heat up prep the rest of the meal.
Make the Stuffing Waffles:
Preheat the waffle maker. In a bowl mix together the leftover stuffing and the egg whites*. Making one waffle at a time use a heaping 1/4 cup of the stuffing in the waffle maker. Cook until golden and crispy (it takes 5-6 minutes in my dash waffle maker). Place done waffles in the warm oven while everything else cooks.
Prepare the Turkey:
Warm up your turkey. You can either warm it on the stovetop or in the microwave. If heating in the mircowave coer with a damp paper towel to keep it from drying out, cook until warm. If heating on the stove top, place a skillet over medium heat. Once the skillet is hot lightly spray a little oil. Two or three at a time depending on the size of the skillet cook the turkey pieces about 2 minute per side until hot. Continue with all of the turkey and transfer to the oven to keep warm while cooking the remaining parts of the meal.
Make the Hollandaise Sauce:
If you are making the blender hollandaise recipe now is the time to prep that.
Poach the Eggs:
Finally you are ready to poach the eggs before assembling the eggs benedict. With the water at a light simmer add the white vinegar. Cover a plate with a fresh kitchen towel or paper towels to collect the water off the eggs when they are done.
Crack each egg into an individual small bowl, a small ramekin works great for this. Working in batches doing 3 to 4 eggs at a time. Use a slotted spoon to swirl the water into a circle pattern, like a tornado. Carefully and as closely to the water as you can drop the eggs into the moving water one at a time. Cook 3 minutes, don’t let it overcook too much.
Use the slotted spoon to remove the eggs from the water and transfer to the towel covered plate. Continue with remaining eggs.
Assemble the Base:
Build your eggs Benedict. To each plate add 2 stuffing waffles and top with the warm Turkey. Carefully transfer a poached egg to the top of each piece of turkey.
Top with Hollandaise:
Divide and drizzle the hollandaise sauce on top of the poached egg, top with fresh thyme, and serve immediately.
tips, tricks and questions
Waffle Makers: I used the Dash Mini Waffle maker for this recipe, these waffle makers are fairly inexpensive if you are looking for a new waffle maker. In the past I have used a large belgium waffle maker to make 2 large stuffing waffles and then cut them into quarters to use as the base of the thanksgiving eggs benedict. Feel free to use what you have just note you might have to adjust the amount and time for the stuffing waffles.
NOTE: You may not need all of the egg whites if your stuffing is very moist to begin with. This will vary on whether or not you made from a box or homemade, if the stuffing seems dry you will want to add probably all of the egg whites. If the stuffing is relatively moist still you could use about half of the egg whites. When in doubt add more egg whites as they will cook in the waffle and help it to brown and keep it from falling apart.
What are some creative variations I can try with the leftovers I have?
- Add a layer of cranberry sauce between the turkey and the poached egg. It adds a sweet and tangy dimension to the dish that’s truly divine.
- Skip the Hollandaise sauce and use leftover gravy instead.
- If you don’t have stuffing use leftover mashed potatoes as the base instead, you could even make these Leftover Mashed Potato Cakes as the base.
Can I make a vegetarian version of this dish?
Absolutely! You can substitute the turkey with sautéed mushrooms or a leftover vegetarian protein of your choice. This Eggs Benedict is adaptable to your preferences, you could even just leave the turkey out.
If you like this Leftover Breakfast Thanksgiving Eggs Benedict Recipe you might also like:
Thanksgiving Eggs Benedict
Ingredients
- 2 cups leftover stuffing
- 4 egg whites* see notes
- 1 cup hollandaise sauce
- 8 large pieces of leftover Turkey
- 8 eggs
- 2 teaspoons white vinegar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to WARM. Add a sheet pan onto the oven rack to hold things to keep warm as you are making them.
- Add a large pot full of water to the stovetop, turn the heat to high and cover to bring to a simmer. Once the water is to a boil or simmer turn down to medium heat, you will want the water to be at a low simmer which means small simmering bubbles not large bubbling boils. While you are waiting for the water to heat up prep the rest of the meal.
- Preheat the waffle maker. In a bowl mix together the leftover stuffing and the egg whites*. Making one waffle at a time use a heaping 1/4 cup of the stuffing in the waffle maker. Cook until golden and crispy (it takes 5-6 minutes in my dash waffle maker). Place done waffles in the warm oven while everything else cooks.
- Warm up your turkey. You can either warm it on the stovetop or in the microwave. If heating in the mircowave coer with a damp paper towel to keep it from drying out, cook until warm. If heating on the stove top, place a skillet over medium heat. Once the skillet is hot lightly spray a little oil. Two or three at a time depending on the size of the skillet cook the turkey pieces about 2 minute per side until hot. Continue with all of the turkey and transfer to the oven to keep warm while cooking the remaining parts of the meal.
- If you are making the blender hollandaise recipe now is the time to prep that.
- Finally you are ready to poach the eggs before assembling the eggs benedict. With the water at a light simmer add the white vinegar. Cover a plate with a fresh kitchen towel or paper towels to collect the water off the eggs when they are done.
- Crack each egg into an individual small bowl, a small ramekin works great for this. Working in batches doing 3 to 4 eggs at a time. Use a slotted spoon to swirl the water into a circle pattern, like a tornado. Carefully and as closely to the water as you can drop the eggs into the moving water one at a time. Cook 3 minutes, don't let it overcook too much.
- Use the slotted spoon to remove the eggs from the water and transfer to the towel covered plate. Continue with remaining eggs.
- Build your eggs Benedict. To each plate add 2 stuffing waffles and top with the warm Turkey. Carefully transfer a poached egg to the top of each piece of turkey.
- Divide and drizzle the hollandaise sauce on top of the poached egg, top with fresh thyme, and serve immediately.
Notes
* The egg whites are from the unused portion of the hollandaise sauce. In hollandaise sauce you only use egg yolks, save the egg whites and use those for the stuffing waffles. If you aren't making hollandaise sauce you could just use 1-2 full eggs for the stuffing waffles instead on the egg whites.
Also NOTE you may not need all of the egg whites if your stuffing is very moist to begin with, this will vary on whether or not you made from a box or homemade, if the stuffing seems dry you will want to add probably all of the egg whites. If the stuffing is relatively moist still you could use about half of the egg whites. When in doubt add more egg whites as they will cook in the waffle and help it to brown and keep it from falling apart.
Waffle Makers: I used the Dash Mini Waffle maker for this recipe, these waffle makers are fairly inexpensive if you are looking for a new waffle maker. In the past I have used a large belgium waffle maker to make 2 large stuffing waffles and then cut them into quarters to use as the base of the thanksgiving eggs benedict. Feel free to use what you have just note you might have to adjust the amount and time for the stuffing waffles.
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