Leftovers That Didn’t Feel Like Leftovers
How Greg turned two restaurant leftovers into a family meal
We are notoriously bad at leftovers. I always joke that we’re just taking them home so we can throw them away there instead. Most of the time, it’s not enough to feed all of us again, and since we all eat at the same time, it just doesn’t make sense to save a half-portion of this or that.
But this time was different.
We’d gone out to a Mexican restaurant and ordered all different things. Mine was basically a mess of lettuce and sour cream, so that one didn’t make the trip home. What we did bring back was half a burrito and another dish with rice, veggies, and a chicken breast.
For dinner the next night, Greg took one look at it and got to work. He chopped up the chicken and mixed it with the rice and veggies, pulling everything together into one mixture. He even kept the chorizo from the burrito separate - just in case it was too spicy for the girls. Then he grabbed some leftover wonton wrappers we still had from the viral dumplings we’d tried earlier that week.
Using a mini muffin pan, he pressed the wontons into little cups, filled them with the rice, chicken, and veggie mixture, topped them with a little cheese, and baked them at 375 until the wontons were golden and crispy.
We served them with the leftover restaurant salsa and some crema we already had in the fridge.
What started as leftovers from two people turned into a brand-new meal that fed our whole family and honestly, it was so good it deserved more than just a quick post on Instagram.
Leftover Wonton Cups (The Not-a-Recipe Recipe)
Ingredients (use what you have):
- Leftover cooked chicken
- Leftover rice and veggies
- Optional: chorizo for us was mixed and used on the adult(spicy) side of the pan
- Wonton wrappers
- Shredded cheese
- Salsa, crema, or any sauce you love
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Chop leftover chicken and mix with rice and veggies.
- Press wonton wrappers into a mini muffin pan.
- Scoop filling into each wonton cup.
- Top with shredded cheese.
- Bake until wontons are golden and crispy (about 10–15 minutes).
- Serve with salsa, crema, or whatever you have on hand.
Why This Works
This wasn’t about following a recipe - it was about looking at what we already had and letting it become something new. Mixing everything together made the portions stretch, the wonton wrappers made it feel intentional (and fun), and suddenly leftovers didn’t feel like scraps or repetitive.
It fed our whole family, kept food out of the trash, and reminded me that sometimes the simplest meals - the ones you don’t plan at all - end up being the ones you remember.
If you’re not usually a leftover family either, this might just change your mind.
