Fried Dressing Patties have a tender moist center with a buttery crunchy exterior. They’re the perfect quick and easy recipe for using leftover dressing!
Fried Dressing Patties recipe is a delicious way to use up Thanksgiving dressing leftovers.
They’re quick and easy to make and are the perfect side dish for any meal. You’ll feel good about repurposing leftovers instead of throwing them out when the family refuses one more spoonful!
Our Thanksgiving Dressing Recipe is one of our most requested dishes over the holidays.
It’s a simple homemade dressing that family members request to take home so I always make plenty.
But, let’s face it you can only eat so much of it until your family is tired of it or the food police say to throw it out.
This Thanksgiving Leftover Food Guide and FoodSafety.org are good resources on how long food can be safely stored.
Dressing is good for 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator.
We often make up an extra dish of dressing to freeze and bake when we start craving it again.
Fried Dressing Patty Ingredients
- Leftover Dressing – previously made and baked
- Egg – this binds the dressing together and allows you to shape it.
- Butter – adds flavor and allows the exterior of our patties to become crisp.
Note: This recipe can be increased very easily.
How to make this Dressing Patties Recipe
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- Combine the leftover dressing with an egg. The egg acts as a binder and will keep your patty together. Feel free to add a couple of drops of water if it isn’t sticky enough to press together.
- We used a 3-inch biscuit cutter to make uniformed-sized Fried Dressing Patties that are approximately 1 to 1-1/2 inches thick. You can also use a glass or any 3-inch circle. My mom just used her hands to form them like you would a hamburger patty.
- Heat the butter in a large skillet. When hot, add the Dressing Patties and cook for approximately 4 minutes on each side. We love using a fish spatula for this task.
Thaw and Reheat
How to Store and Reheat Leftover Stuffing Patties
Last year we fried up Dressing Patties and repurposed them with some of our other leftover meals.
The best way to store Leftover Dressing Patties
The best way to store Dressing patties is in an airtight container in the refrigerator. That being said, their countdown started the day you made the stuffing. Therefore, keep the dressing or the dressing patties no longer than 3 to 4 days.
If you will not be able to eat them within that period of time, seal them in an airtight container and slip them into the freezer for up to 3 months.
There’s no need to wait for the holidays! You can enjoy delicious patties all year long. They make a great side dish and thaw out in a jiffy.
Tip: You can also freeze them before frying. Just thaw and then fry them. That will give you a nice crisp buttery exterior.
Thaw and Reheat
To thaw, either put the stuffing patties in the refrigerator overnight or thaw them in 30-second increments in the microwave. They can be re-fried in a little butter after thawing to crisp up the exterior.
Tips for the Perfect Fried Stuffing Patties
- Uniformed-sized patties will cook at the same rate.
- Make sure the butter is melted and hot in the skillet so the patties will form a crust and not just absorb the butter.
- Don’t crowd the skillet. These cook quickly so it doesn’t take long to have them all cooked up in a jiffy.
- Cook over medium-high heat.
- If it’s too hot they will burn and not get warm in the center.
- If it’s not high enough, it will be difficult to get that crispy exterior.
- When freezing the patties, allow them to cool completely before adding to an air-tight container. Otherwise, the exterior will not be crispy.
- Frozen Fried Dressing Patties don’t have to be thawed.
- Just pop them into the microwave for a couple of minutes or let them sit in the refrigerator (plan ahead method).
- You can re-crisp the patties by adding them back to a hot skillet lined with a little butter or placed briefly under the broiler.
Serving Ideas
Make two patties. Top one patty with a couple slices of turkey and then top with the other patty. Fry your mini turkey sandwich and serve with hot leftover gravy.
From our friend and reader Roma
Pin this amazing Leftover Dressing recipe!
More Thanksgiving Leftover Recipes
- Leftover Turkey Casserole
- Turkey a la King
- Hot Turkey Sandwich
- Mashed Potato Patties
- Grilled Turkey & Havarti Sandwich
Don’t forget to stop back and let me know how your fried dressing patties turned out!
More Delicious Recipes
This post was updated to improve readers’ experience. No changes were made to the recipe.
Lily
Friday 19th of November 2021
Hi. The recipe sounds wonderful but I'm a little confused. Do you only mix the egg and dressing and fry in the two T of butter or are you frying in an additional 2 T of butter? Your directions read "to combine the ingredients and press together", and there are only three ingredients, butter being one of them. Can you please clarify.
Julie Menghini
Monday 22nd of November 2021
Hi Lily! Let me clarify. I combine the leftover dressing is the egg, cut them out with a biscuit cutter, and fry them in the heated butter. I appreciate your comment so that I can clarify for our other readers. Thank you.
MICHAELA KENKEL
Wednesday 25th of November 2020
The dressing is my FAVORITE part of the meal and I always make TONS extra! I can't wait to make these!!
Julie Menghini
Wednesday 25th of November 2020
Mine too! Thank you!
Nikki Lee
Sunday 22nd of November 2020
Amazing! This is something we make every year! I love to warm us cranberry sauce to drizzle over the top!
Roma
Thursday 24th of February 2022
@Julie Menghini, I was hoping someone would pick up on this.. I've been doing a of this for a long time.with my version I take a on little by smaller patty and then put be a table spoon on each of the 2 patties then a slice of turkey and make a sandwich then fry. Oi always have gravy leftover Incase you want to have a mini turkey dinner (again)
Julie Menghini
Sunday 22nd of November 2020
That sounds amazing too! Thank you.
Deb Clark
Friday 20th of November 2020
Pinned to save because this is going to come in super handy for our after T-Day leftovers! This sounds terrific and so easy to make!!
Julie Menghini
Sunday 22nd of November 2020
Thank you, Deb! e love our leftovers just for this recipe!