Winner, winner, turkey dinner! The best Boxing Day recipes

Christmas is an important time in the British culinary calendar - turkey, ham, pigs in blankets, and a whole host of vegetables fill bellies on the 25th. If anyone actually wants to eat anything the next day, what is traditional, and what is now the new norm for meals in Britain on Boxing Day?

In short, Boxing Day is the day after Christmas! The 26th of December is still a bank holiday in the UK and it is celebrated in a number of ways in different homes - whether it is sitting and watching the full programme of football fixtures or going for a boxing day walk, there is still an exciting meal of the day that has to be thought-out.

Being the day after Christmas, Boxing Day’s traditional feast is using up all of those leftovers. Tradition states you should lay all these out in a buffet style with some pickles and some extra cheeses. But of course, there are a number of alternative options you can do with those leftovers.

Photo by Ana Maltez / Unsplash

For those who aren’t familiar with a British Christmas dinner, it consists of a turkey/ham and lots of veggies, sausages, and stuffing! Normally on the leftovers you get sausages, turkey meat (often the brown meat the kids won’t eat!), potatoes, carrots, and green vegetables. Here are some inventive things you can make with those delicious ingredients.

This is one of the most popular uses for Christmas Day turkey leftovers. A no-fuss choice… buy a curry sauce, mix in the turkey, and put in the slow cooker in the morning until when you get back from your Boxing Day walk. All you need to cook is some rice.

We loved this idea. Make or buy pizza dough and, instead of tomato as the base, use a tikka masala sauce. Sprinkle some sliced onions, red peppers, and, of course, turkey from Christmas Day. The recipe also works really well with flatbreads.

If there should be any leftover sausages from your side dishes or the pigs in blankets, then this is a great way to reuse them the next day. All you need is flour, eggs, and milk, a pinch of salt and pepper, and a whisk. Pour the batter into an oven dish and pop those sausages in it. Oven bake then serve with heated-up greens.

A very traditional way to use up vegetables - whether they are leftovers or have sat in the bottom of your fridge drawer for that little bit too long. Heat them up with a stock, blend, and serve. Sprinkle some shredded turkey in there, too, or even some crumbled cheese…

A British favourite. Mash up the leftover potatoes and mix in with any leftover greens. Traditionally, this is cabbage but you can really mash in whatever you like, especially those Brussels sprouts which never really get eaten up, do they? Fry the mixture in burger-sized patties in heated butter and serve with a poached egg on top. Dreamy.

Another simple option is to make a sandwich with the leftover stuffing, bacon, sausage, turkey, and cranberry sauce. If you’re feeling a little bit more inventive, fry the sandwich in butter making it a hot, oozy, Christmas-time delight.

Really, this can be left open as there are so many ways you can incorporate leftovers into a pasta dish. We recommend shredded turkey and/or sausage and some green vegetables, pulled together in a creamy sauce, tarragon, and some cheese on top in pasta-bake-style. Winter is not the time for watching calories, after all. 

As it says on the tin, put everything together in a rich gravy-like sauce, cover in finely sliced or mashed potatoes and grated cheese and put in the oven. Simple, delicious, and easy - as the Christmas period should be. 

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