No matter how much you love cooking, sometimes it's hard to summon the energy to whip up a midweek dinner after a long, busy day. So why not plan your evening meals with leftovers in mind? Cook a little extra, and you'll have the base of another tasty recipe to eat the next day – plus, it'll help keep your food bills down and avoid anything going to waste. Read on for our collection of creative dinner-to-lunch ideas, from easy takes on roast dinner leftovers to a clever way to use up day-old risotto.
Why not switch up your usual roast chicken by adding a simple rub of ground ginger and paprika? Served with a homemade peppery mustard and ginger mayonnaise laced with watercress or rocket, this dish just needs some green vegetables and steamed potatoes to make it a perfectly balanced meal.
Get the recipe for roast chicken with ginger mayonnaise here
There are so many uses for cooked chicken, but it really shines in this fresh, crunchy, aromatic salad. It's simple to throw together, too; there's a sharp lime dressing to make, some vegetables and herbs to chop, and it's ready to go. A packed lunch that would make your colleagues jealous!
A slow-cooked, flavoursome, easy chilli should be in every home cook's repertoire. Make it a weekend project – this dish freezes well, and will keep for up to three days in the fridge. Serve with tortilla chips, sour cream and mashed avocado for a satisfying supper. It's easy to make a vegetarian version, too, with meatless mince or just by throwing in extra vegetables and beans.
Here's a zero-effort recipe to use up that leftover chilli – just open a can of sweetcorn, stir it in, roll it all up in some flour tortillas, spread with smoky chipotle paste and cover with grated cheese. Bake your enchiladas in the oven until the cheese is wonderfully gooey and melting, then serve.
In this simple recipe, salmon is marinated in maple syrup and spices, grilled, and served with a fruity salsa and caramelised onion rice for a delicious hit of sweet and spicy flavours. Both accompaniments also make for great next-day meals. The salsa can be upgraded to a salad with blanched green beans and any leftover rice – add a little salmon on top, if you still have any.
Whiz up your leftover salmon with dill and mayonnaise to make these great burgers in next to no time. The recipe also calls for smoked salmon, but don't stress about that – just increase the amount of fresh salmon you add to the mix. You can even make these burgers the day before if you're low on time, or stash them in the freezer to cook and eat whenever you like.
This one isn't just for Christmas! Hot or cold ham makes a perfect meal any time of year, served with jacket potatoes and crunchy coleslaw. Here, it's paired with a sweet and lightly spiced salsa. It's not the end of the world if you don't glaze your ham, but doing so does add an extra layer of texture and flavour.
Leftover ham is so versatile (hello, ham and mustard baguette!) that it's always worth cooking more than you need. It's especially perfect for this easy one-pot casserole with rice, vegetables (any will do), plenty of cheese, and a secret sauce made from a tin of condensed soup.
Master the art of a perfectly creamy risotto, and you'll have an easy midweek meal up your sleeve. This dish tastes great, packed with sweet, earthy butternut squash and full-flavoured Comté cheese, which is similar to Gruyère. You could cook the squash in an air fryer too (at 180°C/350°F for about 15 minutes). Just remember to give the basket a shake halfway through.
Get the recipe for butternut squash, sage and Comté risotto here
Arancini are balls of leftover risotto which are crumbed and deep-fried, though an air fryer will make the job easier (cook them at 180°C/350°F for about 10 minutes). In Italy they're often served with pre-dinner drinks, but we think they're just as good with a salad and a dipping sauce. The method is the same for any flavour of risotto, but you must make sure the rice is completely cooled before you start.
Slow-cooked pork belly is hard to resist, with meltingly tender meat and crunchy crackling. It does take a bit of time to cook, but it's pretty much hands-off time, so you can leave it to do its thing. Roasted with apples and onions, this dish is served with a flavoursome cider gravy. For perfect crackling, leave the pork uncovered in the fridge overnight to dry out the skin.
Leftover pork belly makes a great sandwich with mustard, and it can be shredded to make fantastic tacos. But it really shines in these Thai-style summer rolls. In our recipe, rice paper wrappers are filled with fresh herbs, noodles and vegetables – all you'll need is a chilli dipping sauce to serve it with. Easy, quick and healthy!
It's worth firing up the grill for this juicy tuna steak dish, which comes served with finely chopped chargrilled vegetables and dressed with fresh herbs, olive oil and sherry vinegar. Best of all, it's ready in minutes. The tuna is quite filling, so you won't need to pair it with anything heavy – just add a green salad on the side.
Get the recipe for grilled tuna with vegetable vinaigrette here
What better way to use leftover tuna than in this classic salad from Southern France? There's very little to do here aside from some chopping, and boiling a few eggs. The recipe calls for fresh artichokes, but feel free to use some in olive oil from a jar (or omit altogether). You could also flake up your leftover fish and use it for a next-level tuna melt.
With a coconut base, this creamy one-pot curry makes a tasty midweek dinner – and it uses a jar of shop-bought red curry paste, so there's very little effort involved in cooking it. The sauce is thickened with whizzed up peanuts, and it's aromatic, spicy and fresh. Just ensure you have some leftover jasmine rice to hand for lunch the next day.
Day-old rice is perfect for fried rice – it dries out in the fridge, which prevents the grains from sticking together. In this 20-minute stir-fry, juicy prawns and frozen peas are fried with a few store-cupboard ingredients for a super-tasty meal.
Beef topside is a lean cut that's full of flavour – but it does need to be served rare to medium rare, or it may become tough and chewy. Follow our step-by-step roasting guide, and you'll get perfect results every time. Use the meat juices from cooking as a sauce, and serve with your favourite seasonal vegetables.
It's always worth cooking a larger piece of beef than you need, because the leftovers will deliver a few more delicious meals. A roast beef and mustard sandwich always goes down well, or you could cut the meat intro strips and toss in a stir-fry, fried rice or noodle dish. Our favourite way to use up leftover beef? These tempting tacos, loaded with onions, garlic, chilli and orange. Use shop-bought tortillas to speed things up.
Here, sweet and charred fresh corn is paired with a spiced butter, then coated with garlicky cream cheese. This one makes a delicious main-course veggie meal, or a perfect side to serve alongside some grilled chicken. Add a squeeze of fresh lime, and it's ready in no time at all.
Strip off the kernels from your barbecued sweetcorn, then mix them with some tuna and grated vegetables to rustle up these crisp fritters in a lightly spiced batter. They're served with a yogurt dip, so all you'll need to do is add a salad on the side.
Roast lamb is given an Italian twist in this one-tray meal. Lamb meat is naturally quite sweet, so the cheese adds a wonderful savoury note. It's stuffed with Pecorino and garlic, then baked on a bed of potatoes, tomatoes and onions, with a splash of white wine providing a tasty sauce.
This rich, flavoursome recipe – ideal for a more leisurely weekend lunch – was created with leftover lamb in mind. The small pieces of meat are slow-cooked with root vegetables, fresh herbs and red wine to create a versatile dish that you can serve up with pasta or polenta. It would also be great topped with creamy mashed potato for an Italian-style version of cottage pie.
An excellent summer dish, this recipe combines meaty hake with juicy, plump and sweet tomatoes. You'll want to choose the best quality tomatoes with lots of flavour to really make this dish stand out. A baguette is great to serve alongside the salad, as is a generous spoonful of garlic mayonnaise. Can't find samphire? Use fine asparagus instead.
Get the recipe for roast hake, samphire and tomato salad here
Put that leftover hake to great use by adding it to these fragrant fishcakes. The recipe couldn't be simpler – just whiz up the ingredients in a food processor, shape, dust with flour, then fry for a few minutes until crisp on the outside. Serve them up with a crunchy green bean and onion salad for a light, fresh meal.
A warming dish filled with goodness, these lightly spiced meatballs come with an easy tomato sauce, made with store-cupboard ingredients – so they're the perfect quick dish for a weeknight. Serve them with flatbreads and a salad, or with some small pasta shapes like orzo or macaroni.
Leftover meatballs make a great sub sandwich, and it's as easy as making a tomato sauce (or using leftover sauce from last night's dinner) and packing into a roll with a little grated cheese. If you do want to make the sauce yourself, follow our recipe for a baked meatball sub (link below), starting from step 4. Or, if you're after a heartier lunch, simply toss spaghetti or other pasta through tomato sauce and top with your leftover meatballs, finishing with a few shavings of Parmesan.
Quick to prepare, yet full of flavour, this is a healthy, tasty midweek dish. The soba noodles are tossed in an Asian-style dressing of fresh ginger, garlic and sesame oil, then loaded up with bright green vegetables, with roasted vegetables on the side.
This recipe couldn't be simpler! All those lovely roast vegetables and noodles from last night's dinner can be combined into a miso ramen bowl. Make a broth with stock and miso paste, pile in the leftovers, and top with a soft boiled egg. If you like, you can add some spring onions for extra crunch.
This easy vegetarian main is cooked in one roasting tin, and requires just a few ingredients. The vegetables are coated in a tomato and chilli sauce to add a little kick, while mixed nuts add crunch and protein. You could serve it with some grilled halloumi, if you like. We'd recommend doubling it up (the recipe serves two) to have plenty of leftovers for tomorrow.
Get the recipe for roasted spicy squash, nuts and beans here
Your leftover roasted squash dish could be whizzed up with some vegetable stock to make a filling soup. Or, you could create this salad, by taking couscous, quinoa or bulgur wheat, adding olive oil and lemon juice, and finishing with some fresh herbs, some extra nuts and some pomegranate seeds. It's a great way to use up any salad bits lurking at the bottom of the fridge too.
Although this rich, warming dish takes time to cook, the oven (or slow cooker) does all the work, and there's very little prep. The ragù keeps for three days in the fridge, so it could be a weekend job. Serve with ribbons of pappardelle pasta, or as a filling for a lasagne.
Your meat ragù is already cooked, so this Spanish-style dish will be easy work. The recipe uses a lamb filling, but we guarantee that the leftover beef will work just as well. The aubergines are topped with Manchego (a hard sheep's cheese) but you could use feta or Parmesan instead.