Dirty rice with andouille sausage, shepherds pie, pizza, tacos (assuming all the parts are refrigerated separately; putting an assembled taco in the fridge doesn't really make good left overs IMO), soups, fried chicken... Nothing with pasta. Cold pasta is gross and reheating it never comes out good.
this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2025
74 points (100.0% liked)
Ask Lemmy
28810 readers
1408 users here now
A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions
Rules: (interactive)
1) Be nice and; have fun
Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them
2) All posts must end with a '?'
This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?
3) No spam
Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.
4) NSFW is okay, within reason
Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either [email protected] or [email protected].
NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].
5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions.
If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email [email protected]. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.
6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try [email protected] or [email protected]
Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.
Partnered Communities:
Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Reheated pasta is a thing here in Italy. If I am not mistaken, there are some recipes which started as a way to use pasta leftovers.
In a way that doesn't make it just become mush? Cuz, like, I make it al dente and it's great; but if I save it and reheat it, its like super overcooked and that's my main problem with leftover pasta. It loses all its chew.
Take cold pasta, pour in oven safe container, sprinkle cheese, broil, bang ---> gratin!
This is the way
Pancit bihon is the most amazing leftover I have ever eaten. Only mine, though. I add more soy sauce and garlic than is the norm.
The majority of soups are also much better after they have rested in the fridge overnight. Especially chowders. But also pho.
Chili, as everyone is saying.
Gumbo, and also oxtail stew, I won't even serve them the first day, they are so much better after a rest in the fridge.
Not cooking but any time we get pizza hut pizza I get a pan pizza to reheat - all that extra fat in the crust crisps up, it is so good reheated and not good the first day.
Any big hunk of meat is good because the first day it can be meat, rice, and beans, then tacos, then nachos or soup/chili or enchiladas.
Also if you don't like cooking (I do but have competing priorities) a big Tupperware of salad made in the weekend can help throughout the week.
I love doing Pulled Pork for lunches and dinner. Great for a meal and then it's great to put in other dishes. Nachos and quesadillas for lazy days and then great in soup
Chili (I modified the "Joy of Cooking's" McCleod chili recipe with fresh chilis and roasted red peppers)
Julia Child La Beouf Bourguignon (This actually gets better the longer it sits in the fridge).
Baked Ziti (Cooks Illustrated)
Chicken Tinga (Bon Appetite recipe)
Lasagna
Chili. Almost any stew, really. They only get better when they sit longer.
Any stew type thing is generally easy to scale up and usually follows the "better the next day" character. Goulash, curries, thick soups (beef barley is my favorite), and chillis.
There's no change in texture from reheating, which I think is key to good leftovers. Anything baked is going to dry out yet not be crisp, and anything fried is going to be soft and sad. Applying these principles to other things, and you come across things like lasagna as well.
For stuff that is baked, grilled, or pan fried, if it's something you can cook a bunch of, but pull most of it when it's 80% done, you can sometimes reheat that ok. We'll make 4 burgers out of a pound of meat, and either cook up 2 and just leave the other 2 for tomorrow, or say, pull 2 off when they're pretty rare, and cook the ones we're eating to medium. Then the next day, by the time the patties are heated through, they're to the right doneness.
Do you make your cottage pies with minced beef?
For some reason I find the beef fat takes on an unpleasant flavor/texture when chilled and reheated. Maybe I'm doing it wrong.
Pizza is one of my favorite ledtovers, though. Cheese is good warm or cold.
Curry always tastes better the next day.
Not Japanese curry. It can get kind of grainy.
Bolognese and chilli are awesome. They usually taste better the next day since the sauce had time to soak in all the flavours from the spices we use.
Soups are also really good and full of flavour. Our current favourite is a coconut milk rice noodle soup with lemongrass and curry paste in it. Tastes really fresh, a little spicy, and the rice noodles add a nice consistency to the meal. Top it off with some fried, marinated tofu and you're golden
Two of my favorites are one-pot chicken riggies and baked ziti
Coming from Utica, I was expecting steamed hams.
Chilli con carne + rice
Spaghetti bolognese
Lasagna
Spinach & ricotta canneloni
Slow cooked braised beef & penne
Thai green curry + rice
Slow cooked butter chicken + rice
Slow cooked lamb korma + rice
Soups (pumpkin, potato & leek, pea & ham, etc)
Also we tend to freeze batches of leftovers without pasta/rice as it saves a lot of space in the freezer and throwing some fresh rice or pasta is little effort while the frozen meal container defrosts (fresh rice & pasta is much better, but frozen does work for a true reheat-only meal)
+1 spag bolo. It's hard to not make leftovers with it
Baked beans.
Super easy to make, not hard to make delicious, taste just as good the next day, freeze really well.
Similarly, black beans.
If u have a leftover ham bone y can add that in as well gives u a nice flavour and u get some nice meety chunks as a bonus.
Yessss.
Meat and bone scraps are so great to cook with.
Rice and beans yumm
Anything rice-based reheats well
I don't like leftovers. I prefer when it gets made into something else.
Roast chicken becomes soup, tacos, or enchiladas.
Grilled steak or chicken gets chopped up and put in the freezer to make quesadillas.
Chili becomes chili dogs or chili con carne on cheese enchiladas.
My mom used to cook a couple pounds of ground beef and then season bits as needed for tacos, sloppy joes, or spaghetti.
Roast chicken.
Cook a bird on Sunday afternoon and pick on the remains all week.
Vermicelli rice. Next day I make it into fried rice or mix it with minced meat, egg and fried onions making some meat balls.
What is vermicelli rice?
sous vide turkey is so good that it's worth making outside of Thanksgiving