So, no one liked your pork roast? Too much ham and too little company? Sounds like you might need to have a little fun with leftovers.

Leftover Pork Recipes to Have fun With

Leftover pork can cause a few problems. You have already seasoned it up to meet you taste palate, so turning it into something else might seem like it could turn out a little gross. You could always eat the leftovers as is, but that would be too boring. If it didn’t turn out to be the greatest meal in the first place, why on Earth would you want to eat it again.

Let’s start with that leftover ham that you had cooked so spectacularly, but not enough people were around to eat it. You could continue to heat it up and eat it over and over again for the next few days, before it turns green. Or, you can break out a new culinary skill called “new to you leftovers.” Yes, that is a skill, stop arguing. ham is the easiest of the pork products to reinvent. You could of course slap it on some bread and call it a sandwich, or you could make some ham, macaroni and ricotta cheese that the kids will trample over you to get. Even making a twice baked potato with your ham is a treated brunch. But my favorite would have to be a simple cheddar and rice pudding, and even a super cozy dish of ham, cheese and mushrooms for those chilly nights.

Now let us turn our attention to that watery, tasteless pork roast we ended up making. What to do with that? We could just cut it into strips and smoother it in bbq sauce, and serve as a sandwich, or we could do some fancy knife work and dice it up to make empanadas. And there is always that classic stand by of bubble and squeak.

Pork sausage can be thrown into just about any casserole that you can invent, everything from the sweet to the savory. There is nothing grander than sausage. Now, let’s think about those pork chops. You know the tough chewy ones that make you shiver just thinking about them. The only way I see to redeem this meat is to turn them into a hash, or even using them in a shepherd’s pie.

Finally we'll tackle that tenderloin you grilled or sautéed and smothered in a sauce. You will need to scrape as much of the sauce off as possible before turning it into anything else. Pat it dry with a paper towel to try and remove more of it. Now coarsely chop it, and create a fiesta frittata or a Greek feta casserole.

Now that you got a few suggestions, go on and turn that ok main meal, into something that will be talked about, “you mean that was made from leftovers?”

About the Author

Erin M. Phelan combines cooking, writing and talking about food with her love for the countryside. She is a modern homesteader and raises her own organic food. Erin lives in a lovely farm in Kansas, with her husband and young children. You can read about her adventures in her blog, A Homesteading Neophyte, and her recipes are published regularly at All Foods Natural.