How to Make Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie from Leftovers

Hi, there! Welcome to Flawed yet Functional! I am Emily, a Type 1 Diabetic managing my blood sugar level through diet, exercise, and healthy habits. Holidays can be tricky for anyone trying to maintain health and minimize waste. I threw together this leftover-eliminating, gluten-free, and dairy-free sweet potato shepherd’s pie this weekend, and it was so good! Holidays don’t have to mean loads of trash for the garbage men! After the turkey is completely used up, the next step is to eat all those leftovers! Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie from Thanksgiving leftovers can use all the vegetables you’ve got to create a “new” meal and eliminate waste! A holiday victory, right?! Let’s take a look at the recipe…

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While I love the great spread at Thanksgiving dinner as much as the next person, the leftovers can get old. Particularly if I’ve been able to convince my husband to get a large turkey. One year I convinced him to buy a 24-pound turkey for only four of us at Thanksgiving dinner. Yes, 24 pounds for 4 people. I had no idea how much meat that was! We had turkey for weeks!

Should you find yourself in a similar situation with turkey to spare and possibly lots of other sides too, then make sweet potato shepherd’s pie with all those leftovers to give your palate something new.

Use All The Leftovers

Shepherd’s pie is a great way to use a variety of leftovers from your holiday meal. From cooked dishes like green bean casserole to raw veggies from a vegetable platter, this recipe can use any type of vegetable. Don’t worry about the vegetables blending together. Once they are smothered in gravy and topped with mashed vegetables, all will be fine!

For the sauce over the vegetables and meat, make use of any leftover gravy or turkey stock from the gravy making process. Simply pour that delectable gravy right over the mixture and save yourself from making a new roux or sauce! If you don’t have enough gravy to wet the meat and veggies, add a bit of turkey or chicken stock to get the volume of liquid right.

For the recipe below, I used the leftover fresh veggies from a vegetable platter. I gave them all a quick chop into bite-sized pieces so they would cook quicker. The leftover turkey meat also got a quick chop then I threw a 1/2 cup of leftover gravy to be the base of my sauce coating the meat and vegetable mixture. That little bit of gravy didn’t quite create enough sauce to coat everything so I add homemade turkey broth from the neck and organ meat to create enough extra liquid to make the perfect sauce.

If you have more than 1/2 cup of gravy leftover, you may not need to add any additional stock. Aim for a liquid level of just pooling around the vegetables, not completely submerging them.

Now for the topping, any type of leftover mashed vegetable is a great topping. I happened to have mashed sweet potatoes, but you could put anything on top: regular mashed potatoes, mashed cauliflower, or mashed parsnips. Whatever mash you have, use it!

As you read through my recipe, don’t limit your shepherd’s pie to the leftovers I had on hand. Got green beans? Chop them up and add to the meat mixture! Broccoli and Cauliflower from a veggie tray? Chop small and saute with the onion before adding the meat! Use all the things!

Make it a One Pan Dinner

Completely by accident, I made this a one-pan dinner! Normally, I pour the meat and vegetable mixture into a glass 9×13 pan then top with mashed vegetables and bake it (**Note: If you use a glass baking dish, DO NOT broil the dish at the end for browning. There is a chance the pan could break.**) However, the maid at this house has not kept up with dishes this week, so there were no clean baking pans when I was ready to bake. None. Zilch. 

I was feeling frustrated as I thought of the work to swap food out of a pan and then wash it then continue on with the recipe, and then I realized…I can bake it in the cast iron dutch oven I have the meat and vegetable mixture in! Woot! More dirty dishes averted!

To make this recipe easier on you, begin with a dutch oven that is oven-safe (not necessarily cast iron, most dutch ovens can go from stove-top to oven. Be sure to check the manufacturer’s directions for the temperatures the pan can withstand). I used a 6 quart enameled cast iron dutch oven. The sides were a tad high for proper browning, but that is a sacrifice well worth making for the sake of fewer dishes!

Steps to a Great Shepherd’s Pie

Here are the basic steps of making shepherd’s pie. Don’t feel limited by the ingredients used in this recipe. Substitute whatever is in your kitchen, just use this basic method:

• Saute chopped onion with any fresh vegetables until just soft
• Bloom spices in vegetables
• Add chopped turkey and any other fully cooked vegetables
• Stir in gravy and additional broth
• Taste for seasoning
• Thicken meat and vegetable mixture
• Top with mashed vegetable
• Bake for 15-20 minutes at 375° then broil for browning, if desired

That’s it, really! You don’t need a recipe for shepherd’s pie. It is a catch-all recipe, and truthfully, what doesn’t taste good drowning in gravy and covered in mashed potatoes? Give it a try with your Thanksgiving leftovers!

Check out the recipe below and use up all those bits and pieces of holiday leftovers! Try this Paleo-friendly, turkey sweet potato shepherd’s pie to minimize waste and create a whole new meal from Thanksgiving leftovers.

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***Looking for ways to have less food waste this holiday season? Check out these 5 ways to use ALL the parts of a whole turkey!***