While most people know of the "Sunday Scaries" (that anxious feeling you get when the weekend is over and need to anticipate a new week), I feel like I get hit with the "Thanksgiving Scaries"!

Let me explain: Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday so when it is over and friends/family start saying goodbye, I get a pit-in-my-stomach. There's of course sadness that the holiday is over, but with so much food leftover, I also feel pressured to eat up all my leftovers for a week straight to avoid any waste.

If you've ever had these same "Thanksgiving Scaries", fear not! This Thanksgiving Leftover Panini (with a "Moist Maker") is sure to be the cure. You can rest easy knowing your mouthwatering Thanksgiving leftovers will be put to good use in a no-waste Thanksgiving leftover remake!

Thanksgiving leftovers piled into a warm panini sandwich on a cutting board.

If you're as big of a fan of the T.V. show FRIENDS as I am, you're probably familiar with the "moist maker." According to Ross, the "moist-maker" is a gravy-soaked piece of bread in the middle of the Thanksgiving leftover sandwich that keeps the whole thing from drying out, and instead, makes it perfectly juicy and flavorful!

The "moist maker" makes the sandwich so delicious that when somebody at Ross's work steals his sandwich, he has a complete meltdown.

As one of the best ways to completely transform an abundance of Thanksgiving leftovers, I can confirm that this sandwich is truly meltdown-worthy because you'll no longer get bored of eating the same thing for an entire week once the holiday is over!

As an added bonus, you don't even need to heat up the leftovers before adding them to the sandwich. The panini press (or skillet) warms them up for you.

With crispy, gold-brown bread, gooey cheese, savory turkey, creamy mashed potatoes, rich stuffing, and tangy cranberry sauce, this Thanksgiving leftover panini contains the most heavenly combination of flavors!

Ingredients

Instructions

Leftover cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, and yogurt mixed together in a bowl.

Step 1: In a small bowl, add all ingredients for the sauce and mix to combine.

Step 2: Preheat a panini press (or skillet) to medium heat.
Step 3: Spread butter on one side of one slice of bread.

Cranberry sauce mixture spread on top of bread.

Step 4: Assemble the sandwich by placing the slice of bread, butter side down on a cutting board. Spread ½ the sauce over top.

Cheese and stuffing layered next on top of the bread.

Step 5: Add 2 slices of white cheddar cheese on top of the sauce, then a layer of leftover stuffing.

Step 6: Pour turkey gravy into a shallow dish. Place an unbuttered bread in the gravy and coat both sides. Transfer gravy-coated bread to the sandwich.

Greens and sliced cheese added on top of the gravy soaked bread.

Step 7: Layer leftover turkey on top with some mixed greens and another 2 slices of cheese.

Assembled sandwich before getting pressed in the panini press.

Step 8: Spread butter on one side of the last slice of bread. Spread mashed potato/cranberry sauce on the other side. Place on top of the sandwich, butter-side up.

Leftover Thanksgiving Sandwich pressed in a panini press.

Step 9: Place sandwich on the preheated panini grill and press for about 8 to 10 minutes, or until grill marks appear on the outside.

Step 10: Remove sandwich from the panini press. Slice in half and serve sandwich warm.

⭐️ Quick Tip! If using a skillet to grill the sandwich, instead of a panini press, you’ll want to flip the sandwich halfway through so it can toast and crisp up on both sides.

A leftover thanksgiving panini filled with thanksgiving leftovers and topped with a cranberry toothpick.

My Top Tips!

⭐️ I recommend using a thick-cut bread so it can support the heavy leftovers.

⭐️ If you don’t have all of the traditional Thanksgiving leftovers listed here, just leave them out and/or supplement with other sandwich toppings! For example, leftover salad can be used as a “slaw” and mashed sweet potatoes can be used instead of the cranberry sauce.