Thanksgiving Dinner Twice Baked Potatoes

In my house, I’m huge on leftovers.  I purposely make large meals so that leftovers can be taken to work or school as lunches for the week.  Or if I know that we have a busy night with tons of extracurriculars (I’m looking at you piano & organ lesson night), I’ll plan to have enough various leftovers that we can heat up a quick meal when we can home.  My schedules are still allowing us to eat together as a family, but the leftovers feed hungry teens more quickly.

Even though the leftovers game is strong, my absolute favorite leftovers are Thanksgiving.  My mom makes the best casserole out of Thanksgiving leftovers that I look forward to every year!

Most years, including this one, I am on the road for thanksgiving, which means that I usually contribute a pie or dinner rolls to the meal.  But I also love cooking my own Thanksgiving meal, so I’ll often cook my own mini Thanksgiving a couple weeks before Thanksgiving!  This year, I made my mom Sage Stuffing and dry brined a turkey for the first time (I don’t have a recipe for that since I wasn’t sure it would work, but I loved it so much, I’m going to try dry brining a chicken and I’ll report back!)  

I used the leftovers we didn’t just warm up and eat to make the casserole like my mom does (I am so excited to bake it up later this week) and the rest for today’s recipe.

The Sunday Funday prompt this week was stuffed potatoes.  But my stressed out holiday brain thought Twice Baked Potatoes.  Then I looked at my Thanksgiving leftovers and decided to run with it!

These potatoes are basically self contained mini Thanksgiving dinners and it is amazing!  It’s almost like my mom’s casserole, only it doesn’t need to bake as long.  Plus, this is a great option if most of the Thanksgiving potatoes got eaten and there aren’t enough for the casserole, since twice baked require another set of potatoes anyway.

Check out these other great stuffed potato recipes:

• Bacon-wrapped Loaded Baked Potatoes from Food Lust People Love
• Baked Potatoes With Butter & Goat Cheese Filling from Sneha’s Recipe
• Cheesy Shrimp-Stuffed Twice-Baked Potatoes from Making Miracles
• Crock Pot Loaded Baked Potatoes from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Leftover Turkey and Gravy Stuffed Potato from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Thanksgiving Dinner Twice Baked Potatoes from Amy’s Cooking Adventures

Thanksgiving Dinner Twice Baked Potatoes

3 large potatoes

½ cup roast turkey

½ cup sage turkey dressing

1 cup gravy, divided

1 tablespoon butter

Bake the potatoes.  I like to microwave them for 4-5 minutes then bake at 400 degrees F for 30 minutes.

Cool the potatoes slightly.  Then cut in half and scoop most of the potato out of the skins, leaving just enough potato to leave a sturdy cup.

Add the butter and ¼ cup of gravy to the scooped potato and mash until smooth.  Load the potato mixture into a piping bag fitted with a large ridged tip. 

Place a small scoop of dressing into each potato skin.  Top with roast turkey.  Finally, pipe the potato mixture over the top.  Return to the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the potatoes are heated through and beginning to brown.  Serve immediately, topped with the remaining gravy.