The Best Ways To Use Up Your Father’s Day BBQ Leftovers

If you were celebrating Father’s Day yesterday (and I’m well aware that not everyone was, so if not, I hope you had a good day regardless), then you may well be staring at a fridge full of food right now. Ah, the leftovers. So fun for about 24 hours, and then, so monotonous. So tedious. So samey. BBQ leftovers can be especially annoying to deal with: Yes, potato salad might taste better the next day, but what do you do for the rest of the week? Live on a diet of it while it slowly morphs into an unappetizing mass? No thanks. 

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Well, you needn’t. Hot on the back of Father’s Day, we thought it’d be a good idea to pull together our favorite uses of BBQ leftovers, which you can use for the rest of this week. 

BBQ Fried Rice

Barbecued meats can be repurposed in a bunch of different ways, but fried rice is up there with my favorites. Leftover chicken, grilled pork, or sausages can give a depth of flavor to a fried rice instantly, and imbue it with an umami-rich, salty sweetness, similar to the effect that you’d get from char siu or lap cheong. The extra char you’ll get on the meat will also create even more flavor. Bear in mind that you might need to add fewer seasonings if you’re using BBQ meat in fried rice, as it’ll likely be pretty punchy already. 

Grilled Cheese With Relish

Leftover onion relish? While it’ll usually keep for a while in your fridge, strike while the iron’s hot and throw it into a grilled cheese. Onion relish gives a grilled cheese (with any additional fillings, mind you) a burst of sugariness and a rich, caramelized note – and extra moisture, too. 

It’s not just onion relish that you can put into a grilled cheese, either. Jalapeño relish will give it fieriness, while tomato relish will add extra savoriness (and sweetness). Your relish is your oyster, or something like that.

Leftover Roasted Potatoes

Did you know you can turn potato salad into roasted potatoes? Oh, you didn’t? Well, you can. Provided that your salad isn’t too intensely dressed, you can tip it onto a baking sheet and roast it up, until the potatoes have crisped and deepened in color, and are ready to use with…well, whatever you want. 

The reason this works is that the oil or mayo used in your dressing will act as the cooking fat here, while the interior of the potato will be seasoned and flavorful thanks to sitting in said dressing. So, you get loads of bang for your buck, with very little work. You don’t even have to chop anything!

Homemade Croutons

Burger buns tend to end up in the trash – but if you know you’ve got a few salads in mind for the coming week, take a minute to chop them up, toss them in oil and some dried herbs, and throw them in the oven. The slightly stale bread is perfect for making homemade croutons. Alternatively, you can pulse them into breadcrumbs and use them to top a mac and cheese (when the weather’s cooled down slightly, that is).