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3 recipes · 21 Oct 2026

What to make with leftover mashed potatoes

Leftover mash is a head start, not a leftover. Three things to turn it into.

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Cold mashed potato is firmer than fresh, which is exactly what you want for frying into cakes, binding fishcakes or rolling into soft gnocchi.

Each recipe below started from a different fridge. Cheffify picked the dish and listed what is worth adding.

Cheesy Potato Breakfast Cakes
AI-generated photo. Your dish will look a little different.

Cheesy Potato Breakfast Cakes

  • 20 min
  • Serves 2
  • 420 kcal a serving
  • Easy
  • British

Crispy, golden potato cakes packed with melted cheddar and fresh spring onions, topped with a fried egg for a hearty and comforting start to the day.

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Made with Cheffify’s AI from these ingredients

In the fridge mashed potatoes, eggs, cheddar, spring onions, plain flour

Used from the fridge
mashed potatoeseggscheddarspring onionsplain flour
From the pantry
saltblack peppercooking oilbutter

Ingredients

  • 500g mashed potatoes
  • 4 eggs
  • 100g cheddar
  • 3 stalks spring onions
  • 3 tbsp plain flour

Allergens: contains milk, egg, gluten (wheat). Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes.

Calories
420 kcal
Protein
18 g
Carbs
35 g
Fat
22 g

Per serving, estimated by AI.

Method

  1. In a large bowl, mix the mashed potatoes, grated cheddar, finely sliced spring onions, 1 egg, and the plain flour until well combined. Season generously with salt and pepper.
  2. Shape the mixture into 4 equal-sized patties. If the mixture is too sticky, add a little extra flour.
  3. Heat a splash of oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the potato cakes and cook for 4-5 minutes per side until they are crispy and golden brown.
  4. Remove the potato cakes to a plate. In the same pan, add a small knob of butter and crack the remaining 3 eggs into the pan. Fry until the whites are set. Note: If serving eggs with runny yolks, please note that young children and pregnant people should have eggs cooked until firm.
  5. Serve the crispy potato cakes topped with the fried eggs.

Tip If your mashed potatoes are a bit too soft to hold their shape, chill the mixture in the fridge for 10 minutes before forming the patties to make them easier to handle.

Crispy Potato Gnocchi with Sage Butter
AI-generated photo. Your dish will look a little different.

Crispy Potato Gnocchi with Sage Butter

  • 30 min
  • Serves 2
  • 450 kcal a serving
  • Easy
  • Italian

These simple homemade gnocchi use your leftover mashed potatoes as a base, pan-fried until golden and tossed in a classic, aromatic sage butter sauce.

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Made with Cheffify’s AI from these ingredients

In the fridge mashed potatoes, plain flour, eggs, parmesan, butter, fresh sage

Used from the fridge
mashed potatoesplain floureggsparmesanbutterfresh sage
Worth buying (optional)
  • + crusty bread great for mopping up sauce
From the pantry
saltblack pepperolive oil

Ingredients

  • 500g mashed potatoes
  • 150g plain flour
  • 1 large eggs
  • 40g parmesan
  • 50g butter
  • 10 leaves fresh sage

Allergens: contains milk, egg, gluten (wheat). Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes.

Calories
450 kcal
Protein
15 g
Carbs
55 g
Fat
20 g

Per serving, estimated by AI.

Method

  1. In a large bowl, mix the cold mashed potatoes, half the flour, the egg, and half the grated parmesan until a soft dough forms. Add more flour only if the mixture is too sticky to handle, but be careful not to overwork it, or the gnocchi will become tough.
  2. Turn the dough onto a floured surface. Divide it into four pieces and roll each into a long rope about 2cm thick. Cut the ropes into 2cm pieces. You can press each piece lightly with a fork if you like, but it is optional.
  3. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Drop the gnocchi in batches; they are cooked once they float to the surface, which takes about 2-3 minutes. Remove them with a slotted spoon.
  4. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat with a little olive oil. Add the boiled gnocchi and fry for 3-4 minutes until they have a lovely golden crust.
  5. Add the butter and fresh sage to the pan. Cook until the butter is foaming and smells nutty, and the sage leaves are crisp. Toss the gnocchi in the butter sauce for 1 minute.
  6. Serve immediately topped with the remaining parmesan. Note: Since this dish uses egg, ensure the dough is cooked thoroughly in the boiling water and pan-frying steps.

Tip If your mashed potatoes were quite wet, you might need a little extra flour, but try to use as little as possible so the gnocchi stay light and fluffy.

Crispy Tuna and Potato Fish Cakes with Lemon Peas
AI-generated photo. Your dish will look a little different.

Crispy Tuna and Potato Fish Cakes with Lemon Peas

  • 30 min
  • Serves 2
  • 420 kcal a serving
  • Easy
  • British

These golden, crispy fish cakes use your mashed potatoes as the perfect binder for the tuna, served alongside bright, lemony peas for a satisfying dinner.

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Made with Cheffify’s AI from these ingredients

In the fridge mashed potatoes, canned tuna, eggs, breadcrumbs, lemon, peas

Used from the fridge
mashed potatoescanned tunaeggsbreadcrumbslemonpeas
Worth buying (optional)
  • + fresh parsley adds essential fresh herb brightness
  • + mayonnaise perfect creamy dip for cakes
From the pantry
saltblack peppercooking oilgarlic powderonion powder

Ingredients

  • 400g mashed potatoes
  • 2 cans tuna
  • 1 large eggs
  • 100g breadcrumbs
  • ½ fruit lemon
  • 200g peas
  • 2 tbsp cooking oil
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp black pepper
  • ½ tsp garlic powder
  • ½ tsp onion powder

Allergens: contains egg, gluten (wheat), fish. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes.

Calories
420 kcal
Protein
28 g
Carbs
45 g
Fat
14 g

Per serving, estimated by AI.

Method

  1. In a medium bowl, combine the mashed potatoes, drained canned tuna, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Mix well until combined.
  2. Shape the mixture into 4-6 patties. Place the breadcrumbs on a plate. Whisk the egg in a separate shallow bowl.
  3. Dip each patty into the egg, then coat thoroughly with breadcrumbs.
  4. Heat the cooking oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the patties and cook for 4-5 minutes per side until golden brown and hot throughout.
  5. While the cakes cook, boil or steam the peas until tender. Drain them and toss with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, salt, and pepper.
  6. Serve the hot fish cakes immediately alongside the lemony peas. For an extra touch, you might enjoy serving these with a dollop of mayonnaise or a sprinkle of fresh chopped parsley.

Tip If your mash is very soft, chill the shaped patties in the fridge for 15 minutes before breading; this helps them hold their shape perfectly when frying.

Swaps

Missing something, or cooking for a different diet? These work in the recipes above.

Very buttery or loose mash
Add a little more flour, a spoon at a time, until it holds its shape.
Leftover sweet potato mash
Works for the cakes; it's softer, so chill the shaped cakes for 15 minutes first.
Canned salmon
Swap it for the tuna in the fishcakes one for one.

What to buy to finish it

Every recipe works with what it lists. These optional extras are what Cheffify suggested to lift each one.

Pantry basics these recipes assume

saltblack peppercooking oilbutterolive oilgarlic powderonion powder

Good to know

  • Keep leftover mash covered in the fridge and use it within 3 to 4 days. Cook it until steaming hot all the way through. FoodSafety.gov: cold food storage chart
  • Chill shaped cakes or fishcakes for 15 minutes before frying: they hold together much better.

Got something else?

Tell Cheffify what’s in your fridge. It picks what goes together, writes the recipe and tells you what it left out. Your first recipe is free, with no account needed.

Open your fridge

How these recipes were made

Each recipe started as the fridge list shown with it. Cheffify’s AI (the same Chef’s Pick you get in the app) chose what goes together and wrote the recipe on 21 Oct 2026, and an image model made the photo. We read every recipe before publishing, but they haven’t been tested in a test kitchen. Times and nutrition are estimates, and the allergen notes only cover the listed ingredients.

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