Use that leftover turkey from Thanksgiving with this classic turkey tetrazzini recipe. This easy-to-make casserole has chunks of turkey in creamy homemade sauce, pasta, vegetables, and wonderful parmesan topping—the mouth just waters.
Introduction
Many of us (me usually) end up with too much turkey, and you can only do so many turkey sandwiches. So let's do something great with it. Leftover Turkey Tetrazzini is an excellent choice for those leftovers haunting you.
I try not to use a "can of soup" in recipes, which is not needed here. Fresh from scratch is better.
I loosely based this recipe on Turkey Tetrazzini on Allrecipes.com. There were issues: no salt, no pepper, no taste. These and others were pointed out by over 600 comments, which fixed the problems and gave it 5 stars anyway.
My Rating
A 4.5 from the wife and a straight four from me.
What is Tetrazzini?
While we Americans think of this as a classic Italian dish, it is all American. Named after Italian opera star Luisa Tetrazzini, it first appeared in San Francisco in the early 20th century, where Tetrazzini was a long-time resident.
There is no exact definition, so the recipes do vary a lot. It is usually poultry or seafood with a Parmesan sauce, and usually mushrooms served over linguine or spaghetti. There can be some wine involved in the cooking, and it is frequently baked as a casserole.
The sauce found in most versions of Tetrazzini is very similar to Alfredo sauce.
SO... I'm still calling it Italian.
🦃Ingredients
Turkey
Turkey is the obvious answer, but what turkey? It should be previously cooked and can be either dark or white meat cut into cubes or shredded.
Pasta
Linguine is the perfect pasta for this dish. Some will use spaghetti, and any other standard type of pasta cooked al denta will work well.
Egg noodles are suggested in some recipes, but I don't find them a good fit for casseroles.
Vegetables
Celery, onion, mushrooms, and peas are very typical additions. The celery, mushrooms, and onion need some precooking since the casserole doesn't cook that long. The peas are better if added frozen.
Other suggestions I have seen are sliced green beans, black olives, broccoli, and red or green peppers.
Topping
There is only one topping acceptable in our house—a mixture of Panko bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. But feel free to top as you want.
👨🍳How to Make Leftover Turkey Tetrazzini
- Cook pasta al dente.
- Prepare meat, topping, and casserole dish.
- Chop onion and celery. Crush garlic.
- In a large pan, melt better and saute onion and celery until starting to clear then add the garlic briefly. Add seasoning.
- Sprinkle with flour, stir to make a roux, and cook a few minutes.
- Add broth and whisk until thickened. Add in the milk and cheese. And continue to stir and thicken.
- Add meat, frozen peas, and cooked pasta. Mix well and move to casserole dish.
- Add topping and bake until golden brown and bubbling.
👨🍳Make It Half Size
This is an easy recipe to cut in half, but I usually cook for leftovers and company, so I always do full size.
You can adjust the number of servings in the recipe card below. It will calculate the ingredient adjustments for you but not change the instructions. You will need to do those yourself.
A half-size recipe fits in a 6 by 9 or an 8 by 8 baking dish. Cooking time will only be slightly less. You are cooking to a nicely browned topping. All the ingredients are already cooked and safe.
❓FAQs
Previously cooked meat like rotisserie chicken or other poultry is a good substitute. Also, leftover ham works excellent. There are seafood recipes, but I'm not going there with this recipe.
The sauce is made by using a traditional roux method of thickening for sauces or liquids. It mixes flour with fat, is cooked briefly, and then combined with liquid and whisked until thickened.
See How to Make Gravy from Scratch for more information.
You can make this ahead in an oven-safe pan. Prepare up to the cooking point but seal well and freeze for 3-4 months. Be sure to defrost the frozen casserole overnight in the refrigerator before cooking.
Once cooked, this casserole is good refrigerated for 3-4 days or frozen for 3-4 months.
📖Leftover Turkey Recipes
While this Turkey Tetrazzini is my personal favorite, here are a few other choices.
Simple Chicken Pot Pie - Includes Turkey Pot Pie
Cheesy Chicken, Broccoli, and Rice Casserole - Leftover turkey substitution included.
Part of the Leftover Ham and Turkey Recipe Roundup
📖Other Leftover Recipes
Crock Pot Ham Bone and Bean Soup
Old Fashion Scalloped Potatoes and Ham
What to Do With Leftover Beef Tenderloin? Philly Sandwiches
This recipe is listed in these categories. See them for more similar recipes.
🖼️Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350° convection or 375° conventional.
Cook 1 pound of linguine or spaghetti to al dente per package instructions. Cube about 4 cups of leftover turkey.
Dice 1 small onion, crush four cloves of garlic and dice two ribs of celery.
Melt one stick of butter (½ cup) over medium heat. Add onion, celery, and mushrooms if used. Cook about 3-4 minutes until the celery is clearing. Add the four cloves of crushed garlic and cook one more minute. Add one teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper.
Add ½ cup flour. Stir until browning some, about 2 minutes.
Add one 14 oz can of chicken or turkey broth while continuously stirring. Bring to a boil, and when starting to thicken, add three cups of milk and one cup of shredded or grated Parmesan cheese. Continue to simmer and stir while thickening — about three more minutes.
Remove from heat, and add four cups of cubed turkey, one pound of cooked pasta, and one cup of frozen peas. Mix well and pour into a 9 by 13 inch baking dish that has been coated with PAM or butter.
Mix one cup of Italian Panko breadcrumbs with ½ cup of shredded or grated Parmesan cheese and sprinkle over the top of the casserole.
Bake for about 35 minutes until golden brown and bubbling.
📖Recipe
Leftover Turkey Tetrazzini
Ingredients
- 4 cups diced turkey - about
- 1 onion - small
- 2 stalks celery
- 1 cup sliced mushrooms - optional
- 4 cloves garlic
- ½ cup butter - one stick
- ½ cup flour
- 14 oz chicken broth
- 3 cups milk
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 1 ½ cup Parmesan cheese - shredded or grated - divided
- 1 pound pasta - spaghetti or linguine preferred
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 cup Italian Panko bread crumbs
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° convection or 375° conventional. Coat a 9 by 13 baking dish with PAM of butter.
- Cook 1 pound of pasta to al dente per package instructions—use Linguine or spaghetti. Cube about 4 cups of leftover turkey.
- Dice 1 small onion, crush four cloves garlic, dice two stalks celery.
- Melt one stick butter (½ cup) over medium heat. Add onion, celery, and mushrooms if using. Cook about 3-4 minutes until the celery is clearing. Add the four cloves of crushed garlic, and cook one more minute. Add one teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon pepper.
- Add ½ cup flour by sprinkling over the pan. Stir until browning some about 2 minutes.
- Add one 14 oz can chicken broth while continuously stirring. Bring to a boil, and when starting to thicken, add three cups of milk and one cup Parmesan cheese. Continue a light boil and stirring while thickening — about three more minutes.
- Remove from heat, add four cups cubed turkey, one pound cooked pasta, one cup of frozen peas. Mix well and transfer to a 9 by 13-inch baking dish that has been coated with PAM or butter.
- Mix one cup Italian Panko breadcrumbs with ½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese and sprinkle over the top of the casserole.
- Bake for about 35 minutes until golden brown and bubbling.
My Private Notes
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
- You can use light or dark meat. I prefer cubed, but shredded is OK. You can also use precooked chicken, like rotisserie chicken, or even ham.
- This recipe moves a bit fast. Please read and understand the recipe before starting. And have the ingredients out and ready to go.
- Use pasta of your choice, but spaghetti or linguine are preferred.
- This is an easy recipe to cut in half. Adjust the servings under the ingredient list. It will do the calculations for you in the ingredient list but the instructions will not adjust. You can handle that.
- If doing the half recipe, use a 6 by 9 or 8 by 8 baking dish. Also, the cooking time may be a bit less.
- I skipped the mushrooms as usual due to family food allergies. Toss about 1 cup in with the celery if you wish.
- Good refrigerated for 3-4 days or frozen for 3-4 months.
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
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Nancy Malburg
Hi, my name is Nancy and I live in northern Illinois. I found your recipe on the internet, it just looked better than all the rest. It is very good!! I used left over boneless turkey and stir fried the onions celery, carrots, and broccoli prior to adding the milk and the chicken broth, I used lower salt broth. I also added mozzarella shredded cheese when adding the linguine. I did use the panko crumbs and the Parmesan cheese in the top. It was very good and I will make this again. I would like to try this recipe with shredded chicken. I also like that no canned or awfully salty canned sauce was used in this recipe. Thank you and I will try your other recipes in the future. Have a good new year.
Melissa
I love this recipe and have made it a couple times. I was wondering if I can just use the meat I cooked off the bone. Just a variety of shredded light and dark. I think it will be fine, ousted wanted some input .
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Melissa,
Welcome to the blog.
Yes, any turkey or chicken meat will be fine. But I want to point out that leftovers over 4 days of age should be discarded.
Dan
Ed
Thank you for the perfect “Turkey-day” leftover recipe!
I halved the recipe because there are only three of us and we all enjoyed it very much BUT found it to be on the dry side. I have two “vegetable adverse” eaters so I omitted the peas and mushrooms but followed everything else as written. I’m pretty good at following a recipe but still a novice in the kitchen so I’m not that great at “tweaking” them yet. I’m thinking the missing moisture from the veggies might be the reason it came out dry? Maybe?? What would you suggest to adjust the recipe so it won’t be dry next time? Just up the broth and/or milk? Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks again for the recipe... will definitely be making again!
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Ed,
Welcome to the blog.
If it was too dry, another 1-2 oz of broth in the sauce will be fine. The real question is why? The veggies can release a bit of fluid but not that much. I suspect the turkey was a bit dryer and absorbed some liquid. Or the pasta... we will never know.
Thanks for the note, question, and the rating.
Dan
Ed
So, yeah. Can I change my rating to 5 ⭐️‘s? Was my first turkey and now that you mention that it might have been ‘a bit dryer’ I’m pretty sure is was Cooker Error, lol.... I way over cooked that poor bird for fear of not cooking it enough! The ‘popping’ thingy in the turkey never did ‘Pop’ and it cooked waaaayyyyy longer then the times listed on the tag 🤦♂️ Cook and learn, lol.
Thanks again and Happy New Year!
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Ed,
Rating fixed. I do have a turkey breast "how to" that gives excellent results. https://www.101cookingfortwo.com/how-to-roast-a-turkey-breast-the-easy-way/ I don't have a full turkey recipe. Never trust those pop up timers.
Dan
Allen Arthurs
All went Well until combining the liquid mixture with the turkey and spaghetti. I went to a large deep skillet, saw that it was not big enough so went a big chili pot. Made it early in the day so covered and refrigerated until supper time. Not sure how long to bake but will bake until bubbly and brown. May suggest to use a big pot to begin with to save having to wash so many dishes. Of course, I am a somewhat old and lazy man. Ask my wife. Lol
CG
I really enjoyed this easy recipe. It is a great way to use up leftover items and very family friendly with the ingredient multiplier at the top that adjusts ingredient amounts automatically. Thanks for posting it !
Katherine Aust
I made this recipe, but had to omit the mushrooms because my husband doesn't like them. I added a couple of tablespoons of dry sherry to the onion/celery/butter before stirring in the flour. Accidentally grabbed angel hair pasta and used shredded Swiss. The dish was fabulous and even better the next day. Thanks!
Dawn
I am confused about the salt. You show a picture of kosher salt but don’t mention kosher salt in directions. Also, your pictures used to always show Morton’s kosher salt. This picture is a different brand and even when I enlarge the picture I can’t tell what it is. I have been reading lately that Morton’s and Diamond Crystal are the two major brands and they measure differently. What brand are you now using?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Dawn,
Welcome to the blog.
Sorry for any confusion. Here is a link to my discussion about salts. https://www.101cookingfortwo.com/abbreviations-salts-and-oven-temperature/
--------------------------
This is from that page:
All recipes on this blog have nutritional estimates. With salt, if it says “salt”, it is table salt. If it say Kosher salt, it will be Diamond Kosher salt or the equivalent of Morton Kosher salt.
If the recipe says “to taste” for the amount of salt, it is my estimate of average usage.
1 teaspoon table salt = 1 1/4 teaspoon Morton kosher salt = 2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
If a recipe called for Kosher or coarse salt, it is using Diamond Crystal as a reference. I usually buy Diamond Crystal and adjust accordingly.
Also, things like sea salt etc. usually are in the Morton salt range.
BUT since salt is mostly to taste, use what you want.
____________________
So this recipe is 1 teaspoon salt (table salt) or the equivalent in what you have. 1 1/4 teaspoon of Mortan Kosher or 2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal.
I frequently use less salt for my taste. And since Diamond Crystal is the least "salt" of the salts, it is what I usually buy but I now have to get 3 pound boxes. A real bummer.
Dan
Trish
I dont know if it's just me and not feeling well, but I didnt care for the recipe and I love every ingredient.
DrDan
Hi Trish,
Welcome to the blog.
Sorry, it didn't work well for you.
Dan
Jeanne Tomlin
How is a dish that serves twelve 'servings for two'? Talk about deceptive advertising.
DrDan
See https://www.101cookingfortwo.com/recipes-not-two-servings/
KJill
Thank you for the timely reminder that milk, butter, flour and seasonings makes the perfect comfort food out of leftover meat, veg and starch. I didn't follow your recipe very closely other than the proportions for the 'gravy' and procedure - good basic technique is always a safe starting point. Leftover turkey, roast carrots, broccoli, brown rice, added finely chopped very mild chili to onion/garlic/celery, reduced the cheese to topping only. I always enjoy the dog pictures. Thanks
DrDan
Hi KJill,
Welcome to the blog.
A recipe is just "guidelines" anyway (see https://www.101cookingfortwo.com/so-how-is-recipe-like-pirate-code/). It is always good to remind the readers that these things should be adjusted to your needs at the time.
Thanks for the note.
Dan
Kari
Hi Dr Dan
If I have shredded turkey How can i measure it to be cubes?
DrDan
Hi Kari,
Welcome to the blog.
Use about the same volume with shredded or cubed. With casseroles, soups, stews, and chili, I view the amount of meat as a bit variable, a little more or a little less is fine.
Dan
Debbie
Why is your website called Cooking for Two when I have yet to find a recipe for just two people??? I'm confused....
DrDan
Hi Debbie,
You are not the first to ask so I have it discussed in this page. https://www.101cookingfortwo.com/recipes-not-two-servings/ .
The recipes are generally for smaller households and most non-meat recipes will be for more than two with leftovers. Many are cut down for other massively big recipes.
Most of the meat recipes are for two or can be easily done with two servings and you will see that.
Also, the recipe card can adjust the quantities of ingredients to the number of servings you want. It does not adjust the instructions.
Hope that helps.
Dan
Jo
Can you freeze the leftovers?
DrDan
It should be good in a refrigerator for about 3 days and freezer for 2-3 months.
Dan
George
Thanks for the great recipe.
It really made a large amount of food and we enjoyed the leftovers from this the rest of the week as well. The taste was fantastic!
Also fairly easy to make, even for a novice like me.
Ellise
Best tettrazinni recipie I have made thus far!
Chris
One of our holiday favorites! One of my relatives always served this at our family homecoming the Sunday after Thanksgiving each year and I loved it.