Eleven Delicious Ways to Use Leftover Mashed Potatoes

Sometimes I make extra on purpose just to make sure I have leftovers because there are so many tasty ways to use them.

Potato patties are just one of many mouthwatering ways to use them up.

1. Make potato patties from your leftover mashed potatoes. (Maybe you call them potato pancakes or potato cakes.) You can serve these with eggs for breakfast or accompanying a meat dish for dinner. I just use my hands to form 1/3 cup cold leftover mashed potatoes into a 1/2 inch thick patty, place the patty in greased and heated non-stick pan, fry it until the bottom is browned, and then turn and brown the other side. Sometimes I add an egg to the potatoes before forming them into patties and sometimes I coat the sides of the patties with flour before frying them up. If you need more specific instructions, here are two recipes: Crispy Potato Patties and Irish Potato Cakes.


2. Use your leftover mashed potatoes in raised breads. Most recipes for potato breads and rolls tell you to use potatoes mashed without butter and milk added, but there are a few recipes that will work with leftover mashed potatoes. I posted a recipe for Mashed Potato Bread last week, and here’s one for dinner rolls that uses 1/2 cup mashed potatoes prepared with butter and milk.


3. Mashed potatoes can go in soup, too. Make a simple potato soup with your leftovers or stir them into any creamed soup.


4. Deep fry leftover mashed potatoes as potato balls or potato cheese puffs.


5. And as long as we’ve got the deep fat fryer out, we might as well make make doughnuts.


6. Mix an egg and some garlic powder in your leftover mashed potatoes and turn them into a baking dish. Top with pats of butter and bake at 400F for 30 minutes. I don’t know what this dish is called, but it’s my sons’ favorite way to have their potatoes served.


7. I’ve never used mashed potatoes in the center of a meatloaf, but some people have and it looks yummy. This recipe uses instant mashed potatoes, but there’s no reason you couldn’t substitute your already made leftover ones.


8. Put leftover mashed potatoes on top of hot dogs. I haven’t tried this, either, but the recipe contributor says that kids love their hot dogs served this way. Who am I to argue?


9. Put together a shepherd’s pie. This is a good way to use leftover meat, gravy and cooked vegetables, too. Just cut the meat into bite-sized pieces, mix the meat and vegies into the gravy, and then spread the mixture in the bottom of baking dish. Top with a layer of leftover mashed potatoes and bake at 400F for 30 minutes. If you want a cheese topping, you can sprinkle the potatoes with grated cheese during the last 15 minutes of baking. Here’s a recipe for Shepherd’s Pie that uses up turkey dinner leftovers: Turkey Shepherd’s Pie with Leftover Mashed Potatoes. This recipe is called Mashed Potato Hot Dish, but I’d call it a shepherd’s pie made with ground beef. Or how about Rachel Ray’s 30 Minute Shepherd’s Pie, which also uses ground beef?


10. Bake muffins. Another way to use leftover mashed potatoes that I haven’t tried, but I bet these muffins are moist.


11. If you have leftover cooked roast beef along with your leftover mashed potatoes, serve Italian Beef Rolls.

What do you do with your leftover mashed potatoes?

Update on Wednesday, May 6, 2009 at 5:56PM by rebecca

Two more suggestions:

• Kim from Hiraeth has a recipe for Mashed Potato Salad. I’ll be trying this next time I have leftover mashed potatoes.
• Kim in On says,” My grandmother just fried them in a big mash with some sauted onions.” Come to think of it, my aunt used leftover mashed potatoes similarly. She made large ranch breakfasts for a whole crew, and if there were any potatoes left from the previous day’s supper, she’d just fry them up with onions and lots of pepper and serve them along with bacon, eggs, pancakes, etc.

Update on Thursday, May 7, 2009 at 12:36PM by rebecca

Pam uses mashed potatoes that have already been whipped up with butter and canned milk for these recipes:

• Gnocchi
• Potato Candy

Update on Tuesday, June 9, 2009 at 9:20AM by rebecca

I can’t wait to try this recipe for potato stacks from the Mennonite Girls.

What is required of those that hear the word preached?

It is required of those that hear the word preached, that they attend upon it with diligence,[1] preparation,[2] and prayer;[3] examine: What they hear by the scriptures;[4] receive the truth with faith,[5] love,[6] meekness,[7] and readiness of mind,[8] as the word of God;[9] meditate,[10] and confer of it;[11] hide it in their hearts,[12] and bring forth the fruit of it in their lives.[13]

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Theological Term of the Week

humanity of Christ
The teaching that Jesus was truly human, with a human body, mind, soul, emotions, and with human limitations and weaknesses, so that all the essential elements of unfallen humanity were found in him

• From scripture:

  Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. (Hebrews 2:14-18 ESV)

  For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15 ESV)
  

• From The Westminster Larger Catechism:

  Question 39: Why was it requisite that the Mediator should be man?

  Answer: It was requisite that the Mediator should be man, that he might advance our nature, perform obedience to the law, suffer and make intercession for us in our nature, have a fellow feeling of our infirmities; that we might receive the adoption of sons, and have comfort and access with boldness unto the throne of grace.

• From Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem, a list of reasons that Jesus’ full humanity was necessary:

  1. For representative obedience.
  2. To be a substitute sacrifice.
  3. To be the one mediator between God and men.
  4. To fulfill God’s original purpose for man to rule over creation.
  5. To be our example and pattern in life.
  6. To be a pattern for our redeemed bodies.
  7. To sympathize as High Priest.

• From Herman Bavinck in The Divine and Human Nature of Christ:

  [T]he Christ became very man and perfect man, like us in all things, sin excepted. He was infant, child, youth, and man, and He grew in wisdom and in favor with God and man (Luke 2:40 and 52). All this is not appearance and illusion merely, as those must say who hold that the Divine properties belong to the human nature, but it is the full truth. There was in Christ a gradual development, a progressive growth in body, in the powers of the soul, in favor with God and man. The gifts of the Spirit were not given to Him all at once, but successively in ever greater measure. There were things which He had to learn, and which at first He did not know (Mark 13:32 and Acts 1:7). Even though He was in possession of the not-able-to-sin state of being, there was in Him, because of His weak human nature, the possibility of being tempted and of suffering and dying. So long as He was on the earth He was not according to His human nature in heaven, and hence He too did not live by sight but by faith. He fought and He suffered, and in all this He clung fixedly to the word and the promise of God. Thus He learned obedience from the things which He suffered, continually established Himself in obedience, and so sanctified Himself. And in this at the same time He left us an example, and became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him (Heb. 5:9).

Learn more:

1. Arthur Pink: The Humanity of Christ
2. David Legge: The Humanity of Christ
3. Greg Johnstone: Human, Body and Soul
4. Phil Johnson: Christ as Man (mp3)
5. At my old blog: Quiz on Jesus As a Human Being with answers.

Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it, giving you credit for the suggestion and linking back to your blog when I do.

I’m also interested in any suggestions you have for tweaking my definitions or for additional (or better) articles or sermons/lectures for linking. Credit will be given for any of these suggestions I use, too.

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms organized in alphabetical order or by topic.