Leftover Chicken Recipes: 12 Easy Ideas for Cooked Chicken

Leftover chicken is one of the most useful things in your fridge: it’s already cooked, so dinner is halfway done. Use it within 3–4 days, or freeze it.

12 ideas

1. Chicken salad: mix with Greek yogurt, celery and apple. Our healthy chicken salad takes 10 minutes.
2. Fried rice: add shredded chicken to egg fried rice with the rice.
3. Quesadillas: add it to black bean quesadillas.
4. Chicken noodle soup: stock, carrots, celery, noodles and chicken in 20 minutes.
5. Pasta: stir into creamy tomato pasta at the end.
6. Wraps: tortillas, hummus, lettuce, cucumber and chicken.
7. Rice bowls: rice, chicken, avocado, corn and a yogurt-lime sauce.
8. Curry: add to chickpea curry for extra protein.
9. Pizza topping: with BBQ sauce, red onion and cheese.
10. Stuffed baked potatoes with cheese and spring onion.
11. Frittata: fold into a vegetable frittata.
12. Salad: on top of a big green salad with a lemony dressing.

Reheating tips

Reheat until steaming hot throughout. Add a splash of stock or water so it doesn’t dry out, and cover it in the microwave.

Got more than chicken in the fridge?

Tell RecipeMe everything you have and it will suggest dishes that use it all, with steps and calories.