The Best Fast Food Items To Keep As Leftovers

Much of the time, fast food is best straight off the grill and not great as leftovers after becoming cold and changing flavor and texture. However, some fast foods work well as leftovers. Believe it or not, some may even taste better on the second day. So, you may have been eating that Chipotle burrito or Panda Express takeout the wrong way all along. 

The key to ending up with good fast food leftovers is knowing which have revival potential, how to reheat them, and how to repurpose them. While you may not be able to revive some fast food items to their former hot-from-the-fryer glory, there are plenty that taste pretty good or even amazing on day two. So, get ready to rethink the way you approach fast food by learning which ones you can transform into fast food indulgences that you'll look forward to eating the next day.

If you ordered far more barbecued meat than you can eat, it's no problem — it makes fantastic leftovers. So, go ahead and order multiple Arby-Q sandwiches or sandwiches from a local BBQ food truck because the meat will still taste just as smoky and amazing the next day. The best way to reheat barbecued meat is to wrap it in foil and bake it with a teaspoon of water or broth at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 to 20 minutes.

There are lots of ways to repurpose barbecue. It makes an excellent sandwich, a meaty topping for homemade pizza, and a great burrito or quesadilla filling. We especially like it as a topping for loaded nachos and a meat filling for omelets. It substitutes well in any dish that calls for meat and some that don't (like grilled cheese), elevating ordinary recipes with a smoky and sweet undercurrent.

If you've avoided burrito leftovers because you were worried about dried-out or soggy tortilla wraps, we have news for you: Burritos make excellent leftovers. Redditor u/Angelfan23 said, "Chipotle burritos are better cold. The way the sour cream tastes cold is incredibly satisfying!" If that doesn't sound appealing on its own, there are several ways to revive them.

The first step to any burrito revival is to deconstruct the burrito, removing any parts that shouldn't be heated like lettuce and guacamole. Then, refold it to heat. The absolute best way to reheat burritos is in a 350-degree-Fahrenheit oven for 30 minutes, wrapped in foil. This method will give you a soft rather than dry burrito. 

If the tortilla seems like a lost cause, you can always scrape the ingredients out of the burrito and place them in a fresh tortilla after reheating them. Another option is to reuse the burrito innards for another Mexican dish. For example, you could warm up the inside ingredients and serve it over rice with salsa and shredded cheese.

One of the best things about ordering Chinese food is remembering you have leftovers the next day. On some occasions, all the flavors meld together to make the dishes taste even better than they did the first time around. The more time fat-soluble spices have to mix with any fats in the dish, the more you can taste them. Redditor u/Peppa_D says they like "Panda Express orange chicken ... better cold, it firms up the batter and the sauce gets thick and syrupy, but the chicken is still crispy somehow." If you don't scarf them down straight from the container, the best way to reheat Chinese leftovers is in a 325-degree-Fahrenheit oven for two to 10 minutes, covered with foil.

Beefy leftovers can transform into a cheesesteak sandwich, chicken leftovers make interesting quesadilla stuffing or can go into a salad, leftover pork can become a barbecue sandwich, veggies can go into an omelet, and shrimp can reboot as shrimp scampi. There are a couple of ways you can repurpose fried rice leftovers. You can mix it with egg and flour to turn it into rice cakes. Another option is to turn your fried rice into Japanese omurice, which is an omelet stuffed with fried rice and topped with ketchup.

Biscuits make perfect leftovers. You can store them in the fridge in an airtight container for up to five days or in the freezer for a month wrapped in foil and plastic wrap. The best way to reheat them is in the oven, wrapped in foil for 12 to 16 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, opening up the foil during the last half of cooking. 

There are several ways to repurpose biscuits, which comes in handy if a restaurant gives you a lot or you're not a big biscuit fan. The most obvious option is to turn them into bread pudding or use them as a topping for chicken pot pie. You can also turn them into breadcrumbs or croutons to use later. Redditor u/whoUcallinP1nhead turned their leftover Popeyes biscuits into strawberry shortcake. In their words, they "microwaved the biscuit halves with some butter, brown sugar, honey, and salt. Then topped with some strawberries and whipped cream." 

If you end up with leftover mashed potatoes from somewhere like KFC, you'll be glad you brought some home. They won't be as creamy as they were on day one unless they contain a lot of incorporated fat like butter or cream, but they'll still be good. You might see a layer of water develop on top, but that's because retrogradation is causing some of the water absorbed during the cooking process to separate again. Just stir the liquid back in to help moisturize the potatoes while reheating. You can reheat mashed potatoes on the stovetop, in a 350-degree-Fahrenheit oven for 15 to 20 minutes or covered in the microwave for 30-second bursts. Adding more dairy products like butter or serving them with gravy can help make them nearly as creamy as they were originally.

If you're feeling experimental about your potatoes, you can turn mashed potatoes into a variety of fun dishes. Some options include fried mashed potato balls, latkes (potato pancakes), tater tots, or potato waffles. You can also use them to thicken potato soup or as a topping for shepherd's pie.

Roast beef sandwiches make delicious leftovers and tend to hold up pretty well in the fridge. So, go ahead and take advantage of an Arby's five for $5 deal and get enough extra beef to eat later. It can help to separate the bun and meat so that juices from the sandwich don't soak through the bun. If the bun is too soft, you can try toasting it. The best way to reheat the meat is in a 300-degree-Fahrenheit oven, wrapped in foil, with broth until heated through. 

If you're looking for a way to use up the leftover roast beef without eating it the same way twice, you can use it anywhere you'd normally use beef. That means you can turn it into an Italian beef sandwich, pepper steak stir fry, boeuf bourguignon, or bulgogi, or serve it with potatoes and carrots like a pot roast.

If it turns out you can't manage to eat that whole Footlong Chili Dog from Sonic, you'll find out that hot dogs are just fine as leftovers. You'll want to remove the bun and toast it while you're reheating the hot dog. You can warm up a wiener quickly in the microwave as long as you cover it with a moist paper towel first. However, the best way to reheat a hot dog is by cooking it in a little butter or oil in a skillet on the stovetop for three to four minutes.  

There are tons of ways to repurpose hot dogs. Probably the most obvious is to slice them and use them as the meat in pork and beans. However, there are other options, like roasting them with potatoes and veggies in the oven, adding them to fried rice, putting them in a tater tot casserole, or adding them as the meat for spaghetti. You can also wrap whole hot dogs in croissant dough to make pigs in a blanket.

Queso is another fast food leftover item that can be reborn with just a little work. The queso won't have the same consistency as it did when you were dipping your nachos in it at a restaurant like Taco Bell, but it will still be just as yummy. You can reheat it on low heat on the stovetop or in 10-second bursts in the microwave, but you have to watch it carefully so that it doesn't split, stirring often. You may also want to add a little cream or milk to help with the moisture content. 

Leftover queso is great for dipping tortilla chips, but you can also use it pretty much anywhere you need cheese. So, use it as the sauce for macaroni and cheese, pour it over a baked potato, or use it as the cheese sauce for enchiladas, or even use it to add to and bolster the existing cheese in your grilled cheese.