Waffled Cranberry Cream Cheese Leftover Turkey Sandwiches

ByCourtney
79 Comments
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Make these sweet and savory Waffled Cranberry Turkey Sandwiches with your Thanksgiving leftovers. Stuffed with cream cheese, cranberry sauce, fresh greens and turkey and finished with a dusting of powdered sugar, these sandwiches hit the spot!

Normally I have no trouble devouring Thanksgiving leftovers within a few days. Between cornbread stuffing topped with a fried egg, creamy mashed potato bowls, and apple pie for breakfast (obviously), we usually have those leftovers polished off in no time.

But this year I enjoyed a total of 4 different Thanksgiving dinners, each of which came with leftovers. Don’t hear this as a complaint. I mean, I LOVE a good leftover turkey sandwich on a Hawaiian roll with some Miracle Whip. Especially when the leftover meat is from my favorite Oven Roasted Turkey recipe.

But come Friday, I was over it. If we had any hope of finishing up those turkey leftovers, the sandwich was going to have to be reinvented.

So reinvent we did–in the form of waffles, cream cheese, and leftover cranberry pear sauce.

Consider this a Thanksgiving makeover of the classic Monte Cristo. Crispy waffles sandwich a sweet and tangy cranberry cream cheese filling, turkey leftovers, and a bite of peppery arugula.

Finished off with a little powdered sugar, these sandwiches are pretty enough to serve for a fancy brunch, but simple enough to enjoy for a lazy lunch.

For those of you who get all weird when your meat and your fruit mix, I beg you, give this sandwich a try. The Mr. hates when fruit invades his savory food. Hawaiian pizza? No. Cranberry pork chops? No. And God forbid someone slip some mandarin oranges into his salad.

But even the fruit hater had to admit he enjoyed this sweet and savory sandwich.

Two turkey and cranberry waffle sandwiches on a wooden cutting board with cranberry sauce in the back.

A few notes on how this all comes together:

I was really excited to find this recipe for whole wheat waffles from Faux Martha. They’re light and fluffy with a crispy exterior that’s sturdy enough to hold onto your sandwich fixins.

This batter makes 6 waffles, which is enough for 12 quarter sandwiches. If you’re not looking to feed a crowd, you can freeze any leftovers for a quick and easy breakfast.

I’ve left the amounts for all the sandwich fillings blank, since it will depend on how many sandwiches you’d like to make. As a guide, I used one 8 oz. block of cream cheese and about 1 cup cranberry sauce to make all 12 sandwiches.

You can serve these at room temperature, but I prefer to assemble them then warm them up just a bit in the oven until everything kind of melts together. Perfection.

Two waffled cranberry turkey sandwiches stacked on top of each other.

Waffled Turkey Cranberry Sandwich

Yield: 12
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes

Leftover turkey finds new life in these Thanksgiving inspired Waffled Turkey Cranberry Sandwiches. A smear of cream cheese, bite of peppery arugula, and sprinkling of powdered sugar finish off this sweet and savory masterpiece.

Ingredients

For the waffles:

  • 1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
  • 2 Tablespoons sugar
  • 1/3 cup unsalted butter
  • 1 1/2 cups lukewarm buttermilk
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the sandwiches:

Instructions

For the waffles:

  1. Heat your waffle iron to high heat.
  2. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a medium bowl.
  3. Melt the butter in the microwave in a large measuring cup. Add the buttermilk to the hot melted butter mixture and whisk together. Whisk in the egg and vanilla.
  4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. The batter will be a little lumpy.
  5. Pour batter into the heated waffle iron until it just covers the outside edges (always better to err on the side of too little batter rather than HUGE mess on your counter).
  6. Remove waffles when they're browned and crispy on the outside and place in a single layer on a baking sheet. I got 6 waffles out of this batter, which will make 12 sandwiches. If you don't want that many sandwiches, you can wrap the extra waffles in saran wrap, place in a freezer safe bag, and save them for breakfast another day.

For the sandwiches:

  1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
  2. Break the waffles into fourths. Smear cream cheese all over one side of the waffles, then spread cranberry sauce on top of that. Place slices of turkey on the cranberry sauce followed by the arugula. Top with another quarter of a waffle, then place the sandwich back on the baking sheet.
  3. Repeat with remaining sandwiches. Place the sandwiches in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes or until warmed through. Sprinkle with sifted powdered sugar, if desired, then serve.

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© Courtney Rowland
Cuisine: American / Category: Sandwiches and Burgers

79 Comments

  7. I just ate and I’m hungry again. You have no idea how much I love turkey, sandwiches, waffles, oh just everything in this recipe. Wow. Pinned.

    Reply

  8. FOUR Thanksgiving dinners? Sounds awesome, but yeah…I would be OVER leftovers by Friday, too. I actually made a waffle/leftover concoction this year too, but didn’t get it up on my blog in time to be relevant. Oh well, saving until next year 🙂

    Reply

    1. Yeah, I did a turkey for the blog (blogger problems, anyone?), then we had two different Thanksgiving dinners at work, then one with family on the big day. Sooooo turkeyed out. But I did freeze some and I’m sure I’ll be grateful for all that turkey in January. I hate when I make something then realize it’s too late for anyone to care…lol. Just consider yourself super organized…you’re already working on next year’s posts! 🙂

      Reply

  9. I’m totally one of those weird people that don’t like when fruit and meat mix. But there have been exceptions in the past, and this might just be one of them!

    Reply

  12. This might just be the most creative way to use up leftover Thanksgiving food that I’ve seen. Waffles! Awesome!

    Reply

  14. Oh, my gosh, Courtney! I want to hang out with you after the Thanksgiving holiday! These sandwiches look terrific! We were nearly nowhere as inventive with our leftovers 🙂

    Reply

  15. Brilliant – as usual – Courtney. Appreciate the recipe intro to the whole wheat waffles, too…Santa is placing a waffle maker under the Christmas tree. (Or so says my crystal ball…Tee hee!)

    Reply

  19. Any sandwich that you sprinkle with powdered sugar is okay in my book. Dang those look good Courtney! I’m really regretting the lack of turkey in my house right now. And your photos are amazing, as usual!

    Reply

  21. Be still, my heart. First, your photos are seriously stunning. My mouth is watering just looking at them. This flavor and texture combination sounds spectacular!

    Reply

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