Thanksgiving Leftovers Calories: 17 Day-After Meals Ranked by USDA Data

Thanksgiving leftovers run from 125 to 1,132 calories per meal by USDA FoodData Central numbers. A reheated full plate is about 1,132. The three-decker turkey sandwich with a gravy-soaked middle slice is 895. A bowl of turkey noodle soup is 312, and pumpkin pie for breakfast is 389. Plain turkey breast is the protein bargain: 125 calories, 25.6g protein.

Every number below is built from USDA ingredients at stated gram weights, and the turkey, stuffing, gravy, cranberry and pie values match our Thanksgiving dinner calories post exactly. So Thursday and Friday add up in the same currency.

How many calories are in Thanksgiving leftovers?

Here is the full ranking, heaviest first. Protein per 100 calories is the last column: higher means more protein for the same calories.

Rank	Leftover meal	Calories	Protein	Protein per 100 cal
1	Reheated leftover plate	1,132	64.5g	5.7g
2	Three-decker with a gravy-soaked middle slice	895	62.0g	6.9g
3	Turkey, stuffing and cranberry on sourdough	701	41.4g	5.9g
4	Pecan pie for breakfast	674	9.0g	1.3g
5	Turkey cranberry sandwich on sourdough	623	38.7g	6.2g
6	Lighter leftover plate	606	35.0g	5.8g
7	Stuffing waffle with gravy	456	14.1g	3.1g
8	Turkey slider on dinner rolls	390	32.2g	8.3g
9	Pumpkin pie for breakfast	389	7.3g	1.9g
10	Turkey sandwich on white with mayo	378	31.1g	8.2g
11	Turkey rice bowl with gravy	360	31.4g	8.7g
12	Turkey salad lettuce wraps (mayo)	327	26.8g	8.2g
13	Turkey noodle soup	312	33.7g	10.8g
14	Turkey and egg scramble	304	38.2g	12.6g
15	Mini pie slice with Greek yogurt	287	21.1g	7.4g
16	Greek yogurt turkey salad wraps	175	32.8g	18.7g
17	Plain turkey breast, 3 oz	125	25.6g	20.5g

The pattern is simple. The turkey is never the heavy part. Bread, stuffing, mayo and pie crust decide where a leftover lands, and the meals built around turkey with little else on top win the protein column.

How many calories in a leftover turkey sandwich?

It depends almost entirely on what rides along with the turkey. Here are the four sandwiches, built piece by piece.

The three-decker, Moist Maker-style. Three slices of white bread, the middle one soaked in gravy, white and dark meat, stuffing, cranberry and mayo. The sitcom-famous sandwich is a real feat of engineering.

Component (USDA FDC ID)	Amount	Calories	Protein
White bread (174924)	3 slices, 87g	231	7.7g
Turkey, light meat, no skin (171491)	3 oz, 85g	125	25.6g
Turkey, dark meat, no skin (171091)	3 oz, 85g	147	23.5g
Bread stuffing (2707687)	1/2 cup, 100g	177	3.1g
Turkey gravy (171568)	1/4 cup, 59.5g	30	1.5g
Cranberry sauce (173961)	1 slice, 57g	91	0.5g
Mayonnaise (171009)	1 tbsp, 13.8g	94	0.1g
Total		895	62.0g

The gravy on the middle slice is only 30 calories. The mayo, at 94, costs three times as much as the gravy everyone worries about.

Turkey, stuffing and cranberry on sourdough. The "everything" sandwich: two 2 oz slices of sourdough (172675, 308 calories), 3 oz of white meat (125), half a cup of stuffing (177) and a slice of cranberry sauce (91). Total: 701 calories, 41.4g protein. Sourdough slices from a bakery loaf are thick, so the bread alone outweighs the turkey on calories.

Turkey cranberry sandwich on sourdough. Same bread, 3 oz of turkey, cranberry sauce, a tablespoon of mayo (94) and a romaine leaf (169247, 28g, 5). Total: 623 calories, 38.7g protein.

Plain turkey sandwich on white. Two slices of white bread (58g, 154), 3 oz of turkey, a tablespoon of mayo and a romaine leaf. Total: 378 calories, 31.1g protein. The humble one is less than half the three-decker and still has more protein than most lunches.

And the slider from our Thanksgiving dinner post holds up: two dinner rolls (172793, 174), 3 oz of turkey and a slice of cranberry sauce is 390 calories, 32.2g protein.

How many calories in a reheated leftover plate?

A full reheat of the main course, without the roll or the pie, comes to 1,132 calories and 64.5g protein. That is light and dark meat with skin (150 + 175), a cup of mashed potatoes (237), half a cup of gravy (61), a cup of stuffing (354), half a cup of green bean casserole (64) and a slice of cranberry sauce (91).

The lighter plate, with 3 oz of skinless white meat and half scoops of everything (mashed potatoes 119, gravy 30, stuffing 177, green bean casserole 64, cranberry 91), is 606 calories with 35g protein. Same food, roughly half the plate. Stuffing is the biggest single lever: going from a cup to half a cup saves 177 calories by itself.

How many calories in turkey soup?

A big bowl of homemade turkey noodle soup is about 312 calories with 33.7g protein. Our bowl: two cups of broth (174536, 30), 3 oz of turkey (125), half a cup of cooked egg noodles (169732, 80g, 110), a medium carrot (170393, 25), a celery stalk (169988, 6) and a quarter cup of onion (170000, 16).

That is 10.8g of protein per 100 calories, the best ratio of any hot leftover. For comparison, a cup of canned turkey noodle soup prepared with water (174562) is only 68 calories but has 3.9g of protein, because the can holds far less turkey. Making soup from the carcass is the move. Our recipe calorie calculator handles a whole pot divided into bowls.

How many calories in stuffing waffles?

A stuffing waffle made from a cup of leftover stuffing pressed with one large egg (171287, 72) and topped with a quarter cup of gravy is 456 calories with 14.1g protein. Fun, crispy, and honestly a great use of the waffle iron. It is also the lowest protein meal in the ranking that is not pie, because stuffing is mostly bread and fat. Put a few slices of turkey on top and it becomes a meal: 3 oz of white meat adds 125 calories and 25.6g of protein.

How many calories in turkey salad?

Classic turkey salad, 3 oz of turkey with two tablespoons of mayo and a quarter cup of chopped celery, wrapped in two romaine leaves, is 327 calories with 26.8g protein. More than half of that is the mayo: 188 calories.

Swap the mayo for a quarter cup of plain nonfat Greek yogurt (2705424, 36 calories) and the same wraps drop to 175 calories with 32.8g protein. That one change saves 152 calories and adds 6.3g of protein. A spoon of mustard helps the flavor if the yogurt feels too tangy.

Is pie for breakfast a lot of calories?

A regular slice of pumpkin pie (150g) with two tablespoons of whipped cream is 389 calories with 7.3g protein, about the same as a turkey sandwich on white but with about a quarter of the protein. A regular slice of pecan pie is 674 calories, more than many full lunches. Apple sits between them at 444 for the same slice.

If pie for breakfast is the tradition, keep it. A mini slice of pumpkin pie (75g, 187) next to a 6 oz serving of nonfat Greek yogurt (170g, 100) is 287 calories with 21.1g protein. Still pie. Just a breakfast that holds you until lunch. All the pie numbers live in our Thanksgiving pie calories guide.

Which Thanksgiving leftovers are highest in protein?

Ranked by protein per 100 calories, the top five are:

1. Plain turkey breast: 20.5g per 100 calories (125 calories, 25.6g protein per 3 oz)
2. Greek yogurt turkey salad wraps: 18.7g (175 calories, 32.8g)
3. Turkey and egg scramble: 12.6g (304 calories, 38.2g). Two large eggs (143), 3 oz of turkey (125) and a pat of butter (173410, 36).
4. Turkey noodle soup: 10.8g (312 calories, 33.7g)
5. Turkey rice bowl: 8.7g (360 calories, 31.4g). 3 oz of turkey, a cup of white rice (168878, 205) and a quarter cup of gravy (30).

Skinless white turkey meat is about as lean as chicken breast, which is why it tops our high-protein foods list too. The leftover rule writes itself: the more turkey and the less bread and mayo, the higher the ratio. Pie lands last at 1.3 to 1.9g, which is fine for a treat, just not a protein plan. To see how much protein your own day needs, try the protein intake calculator.

How should I store Thanksgiving leftovers?

Chill leftovers promptly and follow the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service guidance on leftovers for how long they keep and how hot to reheat them. Slicing turkey off the bone and packing it in shallow containers also makes Friday's sandwich faster.

Do Thanksgiving leftovers ruin the week?

No. The heaviest meal here, the reheated plate, is 1,132 calories. On a 2,000 calorie target, that still leaves 868 for the rest of the day. One heavy leftover meal is one meal, not a verdict. What helps most is tracking it honestly and looking at the week as a whole, which our guide on how to not gain weight during the holidays walks through. If you want Thursday's total first, the Thanksgiving calorie calculator builds it dish by dish.

If tracking food ever feels stressful, or you have a history of disordered eating, please work with a doctor or dietitian rather than going by numbers alone.

How do I track Thanksgiving leftovers in Nouri?

Leftovers are where database apps fall apart. There is no barcode on a sandwich you built at 11pm from four containers, and searching "turkey sandwich" gives you a deli sub that has nothing to do with yours. So you either add five ingredients one by one or give up.

I built Nouri because I had that exact problem. I used MyFitnessPal first, and the numbers were fine, but tracking a normal dinner took several minutes and after a long day I just would not do it. Then I tried AI photo trackers, and when I checked their estimates against what the ingredients actually added up to, the photo numbers came in low. The camera cannot see what is hidden. A leftover sandwich is the perfect example: from above it is two slices of bread, while the stuffing, the mayo and the second layer of turkey are inside.

In Nouri you just type it the way you would text a friend: "turkey sandwich with stuffing and cranberry on sourdough." Nouri itemizes it, shows its reasoning and a confidence rating for each item, and if your slices are thick or there was extra mayo, add that context and it recalculates. Too full to type? Say "Hey Siri, track food in Nouri" from the lock screen, then "stuffing waffle with gravy." For what it's worth, Nouri scored 92.1/100 in our 100-meal accuracy benchmark (MyFitnessPal 77.0).

FAQ

How many calories in a leftover turkey sandwich?

A plain turkey sandwich on white bread with 3 oz of turkey and a tablespoon of mayo is about 378 calories with 31g of protein. Add stuffing and cranberry on sourdough and it is about 701. The three-decker with a gravy-soaked middle slice is about 895.

How many calories are in a Moist Maker sandwich?

Our Moist Maker-style build, three slices of white bread with white and dark turkey, half a cup of stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce and mayo, comes to 895 calories and 62g of protein by USDA numbers. The extra bread slice and the stuffing do most of the work. The gravy is only about 30.

How many calories in a turkey cranberry sandwich?

On two 2 oz slices of sourdough with 3 oz of turkey, a slice of cranberry sauce, a tablespoon of mayo and lettuce, it is about 623 calories with 38.7g of protein. Skip the mayo and it drops by 94.

How many calories in a bowl of turkey soup?

A big homemade bowl of turkey noodle soup with 3 oz of turkey, noodles, vegetables and two cups of broth is about 312 calories with 33.7g of protein. A cup of canned turkey noodle soup is about 68 calories but only 3.9g of protein.

How many calories in a plate of Thanksgiving leftovers?

A full reheated plate with turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole and cranberry sauce is about 1,132 calories. A lighter plate with half scoops and skinless white meat is about 606.

How many calories in a stuffing waffle?

One waffle made from a cup of stuffing and an egg, topped with a quarter cup of gravy, is about 456 calories with 14.1g of protein. Topping it with 3 oz of turkey adds 125 calories and 25.6g of protein.

How many calories in turkey salad?

Three ounces of turkey with two tablespoons of mayo and celery is about 317 calories before the wrap, and 327 in two romaine leaves. Using a quarter cup of nonfat Greek yogurt instead of mayo brings the wraps to 175 calories with 32.8g of protein.

How many calories in a slice of pie for breakfast?

A regular slice of pumpkin pie is 374 calories, or 389 with two tablespoons of whipped cream. Pecan pie is 674 and apple 444 per regular 150g slice, by USDA typical recipe values.

Is leftover turkey healthy?

Skinless white turkey meat is very lean: 125 calories and 25.6g of protein per 3 oz, or 20.5g of protein per 100 calories. Dark meat is 147 calories for the same portion. What you pair it with matters more than the turkey itself.

What is the highest-protein Thanksgiving leftover?

Plain turkey breast has the best ratio at 20.5g of protein per 100 calories. For a full meal, the turkey and egg scramble has 38.2g of protein for 304 calories, and the Greek yogurt turkey salad wraps have 32.8g for 175.

What is the lowest calorie Thanksgiving leftover meal?

Greek yogurt turkey salad wraps are about 175 calories, and turkey noodle soup is about 312. Both keep the protein high while skipping the bread, stuffing and mayo that push most leftovers up.

What is the easiest way to track Thanksgiving leftovers?

Describe it in one sentence. In Nouri, type or say "turkey sandwich with stuffing and cranberry on sourdough" and you get calories and macros item by item, with the reasoning shown, instead of searching a database for a sandwich that does not exist there.

Leftovers are the best part of the holiday, and the numbers are friendlier than they look once you see that turkey is the lean part. Type Friday's sandwich into Nouri in one sentence, check Thursday against Thanksgiving dinner calories, and when December comes around, Christmas dinner calories has the next plate.

Sources

USDA FoodData Central (checked Nov 5, 2026): turkey light meat roasted 171491, turkey dark meat roasted 171091, turkey light meat and skin roasted 171089, turkey dark meat and skin roasted 171489, bread stuffing 2707687, cranberry sauce canned 173961, turkey gravy canned 171568, mashed potatoes with whole milk and butter 168555, green bean casserole 2710040, pie pumpkin 2708011, pie pecan 2708015, pie apple 2707995, whipped cream pressurized 170860, dinner rolls 172793, white bread 174924, French or Vienna bread including sourdough 172675, mayonnaise 171009, romaine lettuce 169247, egg whole raw 171287, Greek yogurt nonfat plain 2705424, butter salted 173410, white rice cooked 168878, egg noodles cooked 169732, chicken broth 174536, carrots raw 170393, celery raw 169988, onions raw 170000, turkey noodle soup canned 174562

Food safety: USDA FSIS, Leftovers and Food Safety (the page blocked our automated check on Nov 5, 2026, so we link it without quoting specific times)

Portion weights are USDA's own household measures where USDA gives one; sourdough slices are 2 oz each by USDA's ounce weight. Per-item values are USDA per-100g figures times the gram weights listed, rounded to whole calories and 0.1g protein, and every total is the sum of the rounded rows, checked with a script. Your slices and scoops will vary, so treat these as solid estimates.