I Tried Ree Drummond’s Waffle Maker Sandwich Technique on Thanksgiving Leftovers, and I’ll Never Eat Them Another Way
The Pioneer Woman star Ree Drummond always puts a creative slant on reusing leftovers to give them a new purpose. In one episode, she used a waffle maker to create perfect, crispy sandwiches, and now, our Thanksgiving leftovers have new meaning. I tried this method, and I’m sold; I’ll never eat them another way again.
Ree Drummond creates fabulous sandwiches using her waffle maker
The Pioneer Woman star has used her waffle maker, a hero of breakfast kitchen tools, to create many fabulous, warm sandwiches. Over the years, Ree has made pizza, hash browns, and many wonderfully melty sandwiches with the kitchen tool.
She dedicated an entire episode of Food Network’s The Pioneer Woman to creating tasty waffle maker sandwiches, which she called “wafflewiches.” Ree paired turkey and bacon with red onion and cheese for that particular installment. She followed with a Rueben containing Rye Bread, Thousand Island dressing, swiss cheese, pastrami, and other tangy sides.
A roast beef sandwich followed, beginning with spicy mayonnaise, Provolone cheese, roast beef, and Italian pickled peppers. Finally, she gathered cinnamon raisin bread, sliced banana, peanut butter, and marshmallow cream to finish the meal with a sweet treat.
“Wafflewiches! Panini, but in a waffle maker. Just add spinach, and you can call it a salad,” Drummond joked.
I tried Ree Drummond’s Thanksgiving leftover sandwich in a waffle maker, and I’ll never eat them any other way
Ree Drummond once made a Thanksgiving panini for her Pioneer Woman viewers. It contained all the leftovers from her family’s Thanksgiving dinner, pressed into a panini maker. So I decided to put it her recipe, with my own tweaks, to the test using my waffle maker.
Ree’s version used sourdough bread spread with Dijon mustard, swiss cheese, turkey, cranberry sauce, dressing, and gravy. However, an individual can tailor this sandwich to their tastes and what they have left in their refrigerator.
However, I decided to skip the Dijon mustard. My version included plain white bread and sliced turkey breast from the previous night’s dinner. Homemade stuffing, canned cranberry sauce, turkey gravy, and mashed potatoes, which added a creamy center, topped the sandwich.
I spread the outside of my bread with butter, using Ree’s technique for a crispy exterior. However, while delicious, I overstuffed my sandwich, and some of the fillings spilled out into the waffle maker. Therefore, I would suggest not piling on the fillings, so the edges of the bread seal correctly.
‘The Pioneer Woman’ star has many other ways you could utilize Thanksgiving leftovers
Traditionally, there are many recipes utilizing Thanksgiving leftovers. Ree has made leftover turkey the star of the show in Turkey Tetrazzini and turkey soup and pot pie.
She even made Turkey Spring Rolls, a combination of crunchy vegetables and leftover turkey. Ree seasoned the meat with spices typically found in Asian cooking and wrapped in rice paper roll wrappers one can find in the supermarket.
Don’t forget about the sides, which can be used in a pumpkin smoothie, roasted butternut squash mac and cheese, and stuffing stuffed mushrooms.
The Pioneer Woman airs new episodes Saturdays at 10 a.m. EST on the Food Network.
