12 Ways To Upgrade Leftover Sweet Potatoes

Here's how to enjoy your leftover sweet potato casserole even more the second time.

For countless families, it's simply not Thanksgiving (or Christmas, or any big gathering) without sweet potato casserole. And then the main event is over, and three days later you have a giant casserole still 3/4 full that's hogging valuable space in your fridge.

Think of those sweet potatoes as an asset, a building block for soups, breads, smoothies, and more. You can resurrect that casserole phoenix-like in the recipes we share below. You'll quite possibly like the clever sweet potato reincarnation even better than the original.

If it's whole, uncooked sweet potatoes you're swimming in, check out our long list of lovely sweet potato recipes.

Mash them for a whole new dinner side

This is probably the most obvious transformation, but if you're looking for minimal effort and maximum versatility, here you go. Scrape off and discard any marshmallow or brown sugar topping, then heat up in the microwave and mash up or purée everything that's left, adding more milk or melted butter as needed. You're left with a colorful side to serve with salmon, pork chops, or ham. If your sweet potatoes are already spiced, the flavor will only complement these rich mains.

Get Recipe: Spiced Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Make them into a dip

You need about 1 to 2 cups of cooked, mashed sweet potatoes to make a savory dip with white beans and chipotles. This is delicious for snacking with tortilla or pita chips, or as a spread on a veggie wrap.

Get Recipe: Sweet Potato White Bean Dip

Enrich your smoothies

Mash up and freeze your leftover sweet potato casserole (with or without topping) ice cube trays to add to smoothies. The sweet potato cubes work especially well in this healthy carrot cake smoothie recipe, which is like having a rich dessert shake for breakfast.

Get Recipe: Carrot Cake Smoothie

Add it to snack cake batter

You can swap out sweet potato purée for applesauce in nearly any baking recipe. Do so in this spiced snack cake recipe and you'll have a moist, delightful cake with minimal effort.

Get Recipe: Applesauce Spice Cake

Try your hand at homemade bread

A reader gave us the smart tip to swap leftover cooked sweet potatoes for the mashed potato in this timelessly popular recipe. It'll give it a pretty orange tint, too. If the freshly baked loaf isn't enough, you'll flip even more for the toast the next day.

Get Recipe: Homemade Potato Bread

Add it to waffle batter

You can serve these sweet potato waffles for breakfast, brunch, or dinner. You'll need 3/4 cup of mashed sweet potatoes for this recipe.

Get Recipe: Sweet Potato Waffles with Fried Egg, Bacon, and Scallions

Make the best-ever holiday gingerbread

After multiple reader comments simply raving about this gingerbread recipe, I suggested to my mom that she make it. "It's the best ever!" she told me. Swap out the pumpkin purée for sweet potato mash and you'll have a holiday delight that you can bake in mini-loaves and freeze for gifts.

Get Recipe: Pumpkin Gingerbread

Bake a sweet noodle kugel

Add up to 2 cups of sweet potato purée to this noodle kugel (you can reduce the sour cream or cottage cheese if you like) and serve it as a savory-sweet side with brisket or roasted chicken.

Get Recipe: Noodle Kugel

Upgrade your meatloaf

Turkey meatloaf has a rep for being dry. Add cooked sweet potatoes to keep it juicy and help bind it together. Use 1 to 1 1/2 cups of mashed sweet potato instead of the 2 cups pf grated zucchini that this recipe calls for. To really use up your leftovers, glaze it with cranberry sauce instead of ketchup.

Get Recipe: Turkey Meatloaf

Fry up a batch of unique croquettes

Piping hot and crispy, croquettes are impossible to resist. Use about 2 cups of mashed sweet potatoes instead of the potatoes in this recipe and add in about 2 tablespoons of flour to help bind it all together (sweet potatoes don't have as much starch as regular potatoes). Dip in sour cream or aioli.

Get Recipe: Potato Croquettes

Reinvent it as a creamy soup

Instead of starting with raw sweet potatoes as the recipe does, omit them and instead add about 3 cups of mashed sweet potatoes at the beginning of Step 3. If your sweet potato casserole was spiced, omit the cinnamon and nutmeg in the recipe.

Get Recipe: Creamy Sweet Potato Soup

Treat yourself to unforgettable gnocchi

Sub 1 cup of mashed sweet potatoes for the pumpkin purée in these delicate little dumplings. Serve them in a brown butter sauce. Pair them with a pork loin for an elegant dinner.

Get Recipe: Pumpkin Ricotta Gnocchi

Read the original article on Simply Recipes.