10 Bentos Based on Leftovers

Leftovers don't have to be depressing. Here are 10 examples of ways they can be pretty amazing. 

You may see a lot of the same ingredients here, but I make no apologies for it--I go through big bags of clementines sometimes, for example. But like anything else, they can be served in a variety of ways, so I never get bored. Plus, this is a great way to show you my lunches, even though you've already seen another version of each meal--so neither one of us gets bored.

1. Leftover Singapore Noodles

This one starts with a container of leftover Singapore noodles with tofu and veggies. Then, a second tier in my bento box has cherry tomato halves, slices of Persian cucumber, a little cup of flaky sea salt for the tomatoes and cucumber, segments of clementine, and some homemade non-dairy blueberry cream cheese to dip the mandarin in. Vibrant, colorful, and also: delicious!

2. Leftover Paprikash

Here's a virtually identical lunch, without the blueberry cream cheese (because I was out) and substituting soy curls paprikash over eggless noodles. Just as delicious as the one before it!

3. Leftover Corn Casserole

Here, leftover rectangles of leftover corn casserole are layered in with avocado-cucumber-tomato salad. There's flaky salt in the little chicky cup because the salad is better if you don't salt it until you're ready to eat it. This was great! I realize there has been a cucumber-tomato theme so far but I regret nothing. (Also, it's realistic--I have to eat them anyway.)

4. Leftover Pasta Salad

I made a berry salad to go with my leftover pasta salad and leftover carrot salad. It was a trio of salads! And it was delicious, colorful, and deeply satisfying. (The cup holds the salad dressing, in case that wasn't obvious.)

5. Leftover Soba Noodles

This was an assortment of leftovers very similar to the original meal--sesame soba noodles with roasted purple cauliflower (with a lime wedge to squeeze over before serving), some cucumber salad, marinated tofu, and one non-leftover addition: A cup of clementine segments with a few squares of dark chocolate. This was fun, because it was so colorful!

6. Leftover Brown Rice and Lentil Bake

I sprinkled some flaky sea salt on my leftover brown rice and lentil bake because I felt it needed a bit more seasoning. I had that with clementine segments and a raid-the-fridge salad of green leaf lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, bell pepper, onion, and hemp seeds. For the salad dressing, I used the end of some plain non-dairy yogurt (unsweetened, of course) to make a creamy cilantro dressing, which was utterly delicious.

7. Pasta Salad Made from Leftovers

If you start with a pasta dish that doesn't reheat super well, it can become pasta salad! This one was leftover Annie's shells in a creamy sauce, mixed with leftover Tofurky ham roast, peas, carrots, scallions, the end of a jar of Spanish olives, vegan mayo, a splash of unsweetened soy milk, and some seasoned salt. This was perfectly delightful! I had it alongside some sliced cucumber, clementine segments, and a homemade chocolate sunbutter oatmeal cookie. (The cookie was from this recipe by Vegan Richa, using chocolate sunflower seed butter. I found these cookies super addictive. I will be making them again for sure.)

8. Leftover Potato Salad and Leftover Hummus Bento

There is a multiplicity of leftovers here, actually--the leftover mashed leek and potato salad made with tofu mayo, leftover olive hummus (served with carrot sticks), and a ranch salad dressing made from the end of the leftover tofu mayo. The dressing goes on a salad of green leaf lettuce, broccoli, cucumbers, and red onion with some crunchy Salad Toppins on the side ready to be dumped on top at lunchtime. This was a great meal.

9. Leftover Penne Bake Bento

Here I serve leftover penne bake with leftover yellow squash and leftover tomato braised mushrooms, but also have a not-leftover simple salad of arugula and cucumbers to go with a little cup of balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, and olive oil as a dressing. I really love balsamic vinegar on arugula and cucumbers, so that was great--all of this was really delightful, overall!

10. Leftover Sesame Ginger Vegan Meatballs and Rice Bento

Finally, I present some leftovers you saw on this blog as recently as last week: Steamed rice, beet greens stir fry, and sesame ginger vegan meatballs served with clementine segments (what else) and a simple Japanese-style salad of lettuce, tomato, cucumber, red onion, and sesame seeds with homemade carrot miso dressing. It took longer to make this in the morning than I had anticipated, so I should have made the salad dressing the day before, but the lunch was still great, and I wasn't late for work, so it's fine.

I don't eat out anymore at all--COVID killed that for me, even for takeout, not because I couldn't get take out, but because I lost interest--but I don't mind.