One of the best Italian recipes, Turkey Tetrazzini is a great turkey casserole created with a cream sauce, fresh mushrooms, and tender meat from a whole turkey. It is the perfect way to use Thanksgiving leftovers and make the best Italian-American dish.
What Is Turkey Tetrazzini?
This is an Italian recipe that is made with turkey leftovers in a creamy sauce with thick, tender noodles, parmesan cheese, mushrooms, and more, with golden brown, melty cheese.
What You’ll Love About This Recipe
This simple Turkey Tetrazzini recipe is the best way to make a delicious dinner out of leftovers. You can even use this recipe with a rotisserie chicken, so you don’t have to wait for Thanksgiving, and turn it into chicken tetrazzini.
No white wine is needed for this comfort food dish. Just simple ingredients for this easy turkey tetrazzini recipe to make the perfect main dish for any dinner.
Fun fact about this recipe is that it is named after a famous opera singer, Lusia Tetrazzini, who enjoyed fine dining at hotels with the best chefs and was the inspiration for this creamy pasta dish combination.
Key Ingredients
This is one of our amazing leftover recipes, so you will need baked or cooked turkey from Thanksgiving dinner (or any dinner) to create the protein for this dish.
The creamy base of this pasta recipe is made up from a combination of chicken stock, flour, butter, and half-and-half (or heavy cream).
Then add in fresh mushrooms and any veggies like peas or chopped broccoli for added flavor.
Tagliatelle is the pasta used in this dish, but you can use whatever pasta you prefer.
Equipment Needed
For this recipe, you only need a few simple kitchen tools. We recommend using the following equipment:
How to Make Turkey Tetrazzini
- Cook your desired type of pasta in a large pot of salted water according to the package directions. Make sure your pasta is al dente and not overcooked, or the pasta will get mushy once it bakes.
- Preheat oven to 350°F and prepare a 9×13-inch baking dish.
- Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Then add shallots and celery, and cook, stirring for 5 minutes.
- Add garlic and cook until fragrant, adding the mushrooms as well, and cooking until just tender.
- Create the roux for this heavy cream base by stirring in flour and cooking it for 1 minute.
- Pour in the chicken stock and half cream, cooking it for 1 minute.
- Stir in cream cheese, sour cream, and Italian seasoning to create the creamy base. Then remove it from the heat.
- Make sure the sour cream is well mixed; otherwise, lumps of sour cream may form after baking.
- Mix the cooked pasta, turkey, and ½ cup of mozzarella with the prepared sauce in a large skillet.
- Transfer the mixture into the baking dish. Top with the remaining mozzarella and parmesan cheese to create an easy, crunchy topping.
- Bake for 25 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly.
- Cool for 10 minutes before serving.
- Serve garnished with basil or chopped parsley.
Expert Tips
- Use whatever mushrooms you like for this leftover turkey tetrazzini.
- Use condensed cream of mushroom soup or cream of chicken soup in place of the cream cheese.
- Shallots have a less pungent flavor, but you can always use onions if you like.
- Add red pepper flakes or a shake of paprika to the creamy sauce for a little kick.
- Linguine or egg noodles are great options for this casserole dish.
- Add some of the pasta water to the sauce if it seems a little too dry once all the ingredients are mixed together.
Enjoy More Delicious Turkey Main Dishes
Turkey doesn’t have to be only for Thanksgiving; make delicious turkey dinners throughout the year. Explore our comprehensive list of turkey main dishes here.
- Easy Turkey Meatloaf
- Glazed Ground Turkey Meatloaf
- Ground Turkey Greek Tacos with Tzatziki
- Instant Pot Ground Turkey Teriyaki Rice Bowls
- Tex-Mex Ground Turkey and Rice Skillet
- Turkey and Rice Taco Bowls
- Turkey Enchiladas
- Turkey Mexican Casserole
- Zucchini Taco Casserole
- Turkey Cranberry Spinach Casserole
Turkey Tetrazzini Recipe
Ingredients
- 10 oz. Long pasta, I used tagliatelle, but you can use spaghetti, linguine, fettuccine…
- 2 Tablespoon butter
- ½ cup chopped shallots or green onions
- ½ cup chopped celery
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 10 oz. brown mushrooms, sliced
- 2 Tablespoon flour
- 2 cups chicken stock
- ½ cup half-and-half cream, half cream
- 6 oz. cream cheese, mine was with chives for extra flavor
- ¼ cup sour cream
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 ½ cup leftover turkey, cubed or shredded (mine was cubed)
- 1 ½ cup grated mozzarella cheese
- 2 Tablespoon Parmesan cheese
- Fresh basil or parsley, chopped, for garnish
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
Cook the pasta:
- Cook your desired type of pasta in a pot of salted boiling water according to the package directions. Make sure your pasta is al dente and not overcooked.
- Preheat oven to 350°F and prepare a 9×13-inch baking dish.
Prepare the base:
- Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Add shallots (or green onions) and celery and cook, stirring for 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant.
- Add mushrooms and cook until just tender. Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute.
Add the liquid:
- Pour in the chicken stock and half cream. Cook for 1 minute. Then stir in cream cheese, sour cream, and Italian seasoning. Remove from the heat. Make sure the sour cream is well mixed; otherwise, you will end up with lumps of sour cream after baking. Season to taste with salt and pepper, if needed.
Assemble:
- Combine the cooked pasta, turkey, and ½ cup of mozzarella with the prepared sauce.
- Transfer the mixture into the baking dish and top with the remaining mozzarella and parmesan cheese.
Bake:
- Bake for 25 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly.
- Cool for 10 minutes before serving.
- Serve garnished with basil or chopped parsley.
Notes
Nutrition
Did You Make This Recipe?We’d love to hear your thoughts! Leave a review or a question in the comment section below the post.
This recipe is almost the same as mine! I add sliced black olives (drained well) to mine as well as goat cheese, I’ve used plain, but the herbed is really good too. Then on top, I mix panko breadcrumbs with grated Parmesan cheese and melted butter then brown in the oven
I was looking for a recipe to use up leftover turkey that didn’t just taste like thanksgiving dinner 2.0, This is perfect!
Great recipe!