5+ Easy Ways to Use Up Leftover Chicken

Chicken is one of the easiest things to cook any time you need an easy and warm meal. But most packages of chicken from the store come with more than enough for one person! 

I always find myself with leftovers, and just eating chicken by itself or with ketchup or ranch is a little lame. I am always wanting to find creative ways to use up the leftover chicken. I thought I would share the meals I make to add the leftover chicken so dinner time is a little more creative. 

So without further ado, here are some great ways to use up your leftover cooked chicken.

Chicken Salad

This one is a classic. Take some of your leftover chicken, cut it into cubes or slices, and warm them up either in a pan on the stove or in the microwave.

While that is heating up, take your favorite salad mix and toss your salad together. I prefer to do a Caesar salad because those go great with almost any seasoning on the chicken. Once you have made your salad and the chicken is warmed up, put the chicken on top of the salad, add your dressing, and you are good to go!

This is also a really easy meal to do at the end of a long day and, as you can see, super easy to prep!

Pasta

This one is basically like homemade chicken parmesan. Get your favorite noodles and start prepping them. While waiting for the water to boil, get your chicken, cut some slices of cheese off of a block (this is important so the cheese melts nicely), and lay them on top of your chicken. 

Now put the chicken into a hot pan on the stove and cover it up until the cheese has melted over the chicken. Take your pasta noodles, strain them, mix them with your favorite sauce, add your chicken on top, and voila!

This and the next meal are great for any sort of large meal. If you happen to be hosting people, I highly recommend preparing something like either of these.

Tacos

This one is easy peasy! All you need are some tortillas, shredded cheese, salsa, and any other toppings you like! Warm up your chicken whichever way you wish. You can shred it or dice it, and then put a bit into your tortilla with all of your toppings! 

If you want to be a little extra, you could even lightly heat up the tortillas in a pan or in a toaster oven. This goes great with a bit of rice too, and as I said above, this is another great option for big meals if you are ever hosting people!

Quesadillas

Warm up your chicken similarly to tacos, I recommend shredding it with a couple of forks for this one. You'll want either one large tortilla that you can fold in half or get 2 tortillas. 

You can either make this in a pan on the stove (I prefer this option) or in the toaster oven. Make sure you use nonstick spray or butter to prep your pan. Put a layer of cheese onto your quesadilla, add your chicken, and add a little more cheese on top before adding the second tortilla. Cook on both sides until it is to your liking, and there you go!

I used to not enjoy quesadillas as much, but once my partner introduced me to breakfast quesadillas, I realized that they are just way too easy to prepare! 

You could even make the quesadilla the night before and have it for breakfast in the morning. They are very easy to heat up after being refrigerated.

Sandwiches and Wraps

This one is also super easy! I recommend heating up your chicken as normal so you aren’t eating a cold chicken sandwich (unless that's the way you want it). Some toppings I like to add to any sandwich are lettuce, tomato, and mayo, but add whatever you want! 

Another thing, shredding the chicken works great here. For wraps, it’s very similar, same ingredients except for the exterior. 

I like making sandwiches for lunch because they are super easy. I will pack them in my lunch box with an ice pack and heat them up in the toaster oven in the break room at work. Enjoy!

Pizza/Flatbread

My partner and I love making flatbreads. One of our favorites is bacon, chicken, and ranch! We use the ranch as the sauce, bits of bacon, and shredded chicken, with mozzarella cheese on top. 

If that is too much for you through, you could even take a frozen pizza, add chicken and a little extra cheese and throw it in the oven! Very easy dinner (and lunch if there are leftovers). 

I have been cooking just for myself a lot lately, and I find that I end up with leftovers nearly every time when it comes to pizza. How many of you here enjoy cold leftover pizza for lunch? I know I am not the only one.

Now you have nearly a whole week of meals to try! So next time you are cooking chicken, think about using these leftover meals to avoid eating plain leftover chicken for any of your meals. I hope you enjoyed these easy leftover chicken meals!