Five creative recipes you can make with leftovers (and they’re all healthy!)

Credit: https://www.yummy.ph/recipe/savory-banana-fritters-recipe

Picture the scene: you’re home late from work. It’s a Wednesday night, you’ve had no time to go food shopping and all that’s looking back at you in the fridge is that slightly limp carrot and a few sorry-looking bits of leftovers. You would normally phone for a takeaway but you’ve been doing so well lately, you don’t need this setback. Besides, didn’t you spend a small fortune on groceries a few days ago? There must be something you can eat?

Any of this sound familiar? Well, take heart because all it takes is a little bit of imagination (and a little bit of planning) to make something tasty and nutritious. Often, the biggest barrier people have is coming up with fresh ideas of what to do with leftovers. So if you need a bit of inspiration, we’ve got some recipes based on the top five most thrown out foods – a great way to tackle the problem of food waste while staying firmly on the healthy diet wagon.

What to make with leftover fruit

Did you know fruit is the most wasted food in the UK, with bananas being the top offender?
We hate to see waste, so we thought we’d share a quick recipe for overripe ones. Forget banana bread – these fritters are perfect for a light dinner or snack. Bananas are a great source of potassium and fibre, as well as vitamin B6 and Vitamin C, so it’s definitely worth keeping them on your shopping list.

Sweet and Spicy Banana Fritters (Vegan)

Mash three or four bananas in a bowl together with a finely chopped onion.

Mix in a teaspoon of ground ginger, a teaspoon of chilli powder, and salt and pepper to taste.

Add a tablespoon of plain flour and mix well. Separate the mixture into balls and then flatten in the palm of your hand to make patties. Add more flour if the mixture is too wet.

Fry each patty in a healthy oil of your choice for around 4 minutes or until golden brown before transferring to a paper towel to absorb any excess oil.

Sprinkle with some fresh herbs and a chopped chili (optional) and eat either on their own or with a side salad and coleslaw.

What to make with leftover vegetables

Despite its popularity, the humble potato is the most thrown away vegetable in the UK, quickly followed by carrots. There’s really no need! Leftover vegetables are some of the easiest foods to use up. They can be chopped up and blitzed into soup or made into tasty sauces that can then be frozen. Did you know that vegetable peelings make awesome healthy crisps? Potato, carrot, and beetroot shavings can be chopped up and put in an air fryer to make a healthy (and free) snack. This recipe is for a delicious vegetable curry, which can be made as spicy or as mild as you like. It cooks in less than 30 minutes, so it’s perfect for a midweek meal.

Potato, Carrot and Pea Curry (Vegan)

Peel and chop any carrots and potatoes you have leftover. As a rough guide for portions, use one vegetable per person.

Boil the chopped potatoes and carrots for 15 minutes, then leave to one side.

In a separate pan, heat a tablespoon of healthy oil and add sliced onion. If you like, you can add chopped green chili, a pinch of mustard seeds and a few curry leaves when the oil is hot.

Saute the onions until they’re translucent. Add ginger paste and chopped garlic and stir.

Pour in a tin of coconut milk, or a tin of chopped tomatoes if you prefer a less creamy curry, then stir in the potato and carrots. If the curry seems too watery, you can slightly mash the potato and carrot with a spoon to thicken it up.

Let the curry simmer for around 10 minutes. You can add in some frozen peas if you want to at this point. Sprinkle in some chopped coriander at the end of cooking.

Serve with chapati, roti, or a bread of your choice to mop up the goodness!

What to make with leftover fish

There are loads of healthy options for cooked fish leftovers. It’s easy to turn a few fillets into fish cakes or tacos (if you have some potatoes or tortillas going spare!) Fish is also delicious stirred into fresh pasta. Here we share an easy recipe for a rather fancy-looking fish pâté on toast. It uses just a few ingredients that you’re likely to have already in the back of your cupboard. Better still, there’s no actual cooking involved, so you can have a night off (phew!)

Fish Pâté on Toast

Flake the leftover fish into a bowl and mix in some low-fat yoghurt, creme fraiche, or even some cottage cheese. You can use virtually any type of cooked fish for this dish – cod, haddock, and smoked mackerel are all suitable.

Add in some chopped herbs – parsley or chives work particularly well, as does dill. Use up any herbs you might have languishing in your fridge. Feel free to experiment!

Time to add in some acidity – this could be a dash of wine or cider vinegar, half a teaspoon of horseradish, a few drops of lemon juice, or even some hot pepper sauce. Mix well and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Toast some crusty bread and spread lashings of the mixture over the top. Finish with some slices of cucumber if you feel like it. Simple but delicious! Eat this on its own as a light dish or add a side salad as part of a main meal.

What to make with leftover chicken

Did you know cooked chicken can last up to four days, providing it’s kept covered in a fridge?
Here we share a recipe to use up chicken leftovers from Sunday’s roast. It’s perfect for chicken that may have become a little dry as the soup plumps and rehydrates it. It’s lovely and warming, low-calorie meal to come home to any day of the week.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Make up a litre of stock using any chicken or vegetable stock cube from the cupboard.

Use miso powder if you have any for an authentic Asian flavour.

In another pan, add a touch of oil and fry off some fresh garlic and ginger. Add the shredded chicken meat, together with a can of sweetcorn.

Ladle the hot stock over the chicken until you have the consistency you like.

At this point, you can add other sliced vegetables that you may have in the fridge such as mushrooms, carrots, and cabbage. Cook for around 10 minutes so that the chicken has softened and the soup has thickened slightly.

Add in dried egg noodles (one cake per person) and cook for a further 3 minutes.

Serve the soup up in a bowl and scatter a few chopped spring onions and coriander over the top. Add a dash of soy sauce or any condiment you like!

What to make with leftover bread

It’s easy to make bread go further, even when it’s past its best. Blend it into breadcrumbs and save for another day or chop it into tiny pieces to make croutons for soup. Below is a simple recipe for a Tuscan classic salad – Panzanella. We love how the bread soaks up the juices of the tasty tomatoes. It’s an easy recipe that you can customize for personal preference. Top tip: If your bread isn’t stale, you can chop it up and bake it in the oven for 15 minutes or so to dry it out.

Panzanella salad

Tear the bread into chunks and place it in a bowl. You can use any bread but crusty loaves and baguettes are better as they won’t disintegrate as quickly. Sourdough also works well. Pour over your preferred vinegar, just enough for the bread to absorb – you could use red wine/sherry vinegar.

Roughly chop around six tomatoes and put them into a drainer with a bowl underneath. Sprinkle with salt to encourage them to release more liquid into the bowl. Leave to one side for around 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, squeeze the remaining liquid out of the tomatoes and add the flesh to the bowl with the bread. Save the juice for the dressing.

Add three tablespoons of olive oil and a tablespoon of red wine/sherry/balsamic vinegar to the tomato juice. Season with salt and pepper and whisk together until you have a slightly thickened dressing. You can add in some chopped, tinned anchovies (if you have any in your cupboard) instead of adding salt for more flavour.

Pour the dressing over the bread and tomatoes and leave it to absorb the flavours for 10 minutes.

Finally, sprinkle over some chopped basil and add some capers and olives from the cupboard, together with some thinly sliced red onion (optional). Tuck in straight away or leave to steep for a little while longer.

So there you have it, some really simple dishes to fire up your imagination and tickle your taste buds! What’s so great about using leftovers is there are no rules, you can modify your recipe depending on what’s available. There’s always something useful you can make, it just takes a little know-how. Do you have any favourite recipes for leftovers? Let us know in the comments below.