Use up your Thanksgiving leftover turkey in this classic Turkey Tetrazzini casserole.
I may be a few days late with this post. Especially since everyone should have discarded all the leftover turkey by now. But, I’m posting it anyway because, well, it’s really good and I’m thinking perhaps a few of you may have frozen some turkey for later? Besides you can always substitute leftover chicken.
But before I start the recipe, I want to share a photo with you. This is a very special, very rare photograph of five generations in the same place at the same time. And it was taken on my back deck on Thanksgiving afternoon.
I almost can’t find the words to tell you what it’s like to have your grandmother, mother, daughter, and two granchildren all at the Thanksgiving table with you. The uniqueness of having family ranging in age from 4 to 95 all present and all enjoying each other is pretty incredible. I just don’t believe there are many families that have this many living generations.
Over the years, we’ve been together lots and lots of times but somehow no one ever remembers to take a picture. And I meant, by golly, that this occasion was not going to slip by without getting a shot of us. I appreciate my Mama so very much for driving all the way here so that she and Polly could spend Thanksgiving day with us. It was so much fun! And I’ve almost recovered from all the cooking now :-)
(On a personal note: This post was originally written in 2010 and since that time, our wonderful Polly passed away. She was almost 102 years old and she lived every single day of her life to the fullest. She was an incredible person and we all miss her more than we can say.)
Use up your Thanksgiving leftover turkey in this classic Turkey Tetrazzini casserole. Click To Tweet
How to Make Turkey Tetrazzini
So, on with the recipe. This Turkey Tetrazziniis my standard after-Thanksgiving, use-up-the-turkey casserole. Its ingredients are so different from the flavors on the Thanksgiving menu and that makes it quite welcome. I serve this with garlic bread and a fresh mixed salad with a classic vinaigrette dressing.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Cook the spaghetti according to the package directions. Set aside.
Coat a large pan with cooking spray and place over medium-high heat. Add butter or margarine. When melted, add mushrooms, onion and celery. Cook, stirring frequently until tender.
Whisk together the flour and milk until smooth.
Add the flour-milk mixture along with the chicken broth, salt and pepper to the sautéed vegetables. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Remove from the heat and add cream cheese, stirring until melted. Stir in half the Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, pimiento, turkey, spaghetti and parsley.
Or stir in the parsley after you’ve mixed everything together if you’ve almost forgotten it, like me :-)
Spoon the mixture into a shallow baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle evenly with the remaining Parmesan cheese. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until thoroughly heated.
Enjoy!
More Casserole Recipes on Never Enough Thyme:
Tetrazzini Recipes from Other Bloggers:
- Martha Stewart’s Chicken Tetrazzini
- Turkey Tetrazzini from Simply Recipes
- Chicken Tetrazzini from Genius of a Cook
- Spend with Pennies’ Turkey Tetrazzini
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Turkey Tetrazzini
Great way to use up those Thanksgiving turkey leftovers!
Ingredients
- 8 oz. package spaghetti
- Cooking spray
- 1 tblsp. butter or margarine
- 3 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
- 1 small onion, minced
- 2 ribs celery, minced
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 1 can chicken broth
- 3 oz. cream cheese
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. pepper
- 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
- 1/4 cup diced pimiento
- 2 cups chopped cooked turkey or chicken
- 1/2 cup chopped Italian parsley
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Cook the spaghetti according to the package directions. Set aside.
- Coat a large pan with cooking spray and place over medium-high heat. Add butter or margarine. When melted, add mushrooms, onion and celery. Cook, stirring frequently until tender.
- Whisk together the flour and milk until smooth.
- Add the flour-milk mixture along with the chicken broth, salt and pepper to the sautéed vegetables. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Remove from the heat and add cream cheese, stirring until melted. Stir in half the Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, pimiento, turkey, spaghetti and parsley.
- Spoon the mixture into a shallow baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle evenly with the remaining Parmesan cheese. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until thoroughly heated.
Notes
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 285Total Fat: 12gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 71mgSodium: 499mgCarbohydrates: 23gFiber: 2gSugar: 3gProtein: 20g
Nutrition information is calculated by Nutritonix and may not always be perfectly accurate. Use your own judgment.
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Lana Stuart is the author, photographer, cook, and occasional traveler at Never Enough Thyme. A former IT professional, she enjoys time in the kitchen and the art studio.
Barbara | Creative Culinary says
You are so lucky Lana, my mom died before I ever had kids and my grandmother shortly after my first daughter was born. My kids simply never had the childhood I did of family gatherings with generations present. How special!
Turkey Tetrazzini is a given for us after the holidays but I do dress it up a bit. There is BACON! :)
Lana Stuart says
We are lucky, Barb. Very. My grandmother is now 100 and still going strong.
Liz says
A beautiful family and a beautiful recipe. Thanks so much.
Pam says
This is the sweetest story of all time. I got a little weepy at the picture of your family together on Thanksgiving. I’m absolutely going to try the recipes. Thank you for sharing your story.
Debbie says
Beautiful family! I’m glad you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I enjoy all your recipes.
Nisrine | Dinners & Dreams says
What a wonderful casserole. I am loving this dish.
Barbara @moderncomfortfood says
What a joy to have five (count ’em five) generations together for Thanksgiving dinner, and how I envy you for that. And what a joy your turkey tetrazzini recipe is too! For some reason, I ALWAY associate this dish with the southern part of the US and find myself wondering how and why it became such a dinnertime favorite here. My version, which I make often, is similar to yours except for your superb idea of including cream cheese. That is such a good idea and one I plan to adopt pronto.
Lana says
I agree, Barbara, that tetrazzini is a decidedly southern casserole but have no idea why that is so. Unless it started with homemade noodles or thin dumplings at the beginning and gradually evolved to the more easily prepared dried pasta. Just a guess.
Alicia says
Lana, I love the picture of your family — how amazing! What a great way to use up turkey! I love casseroles!
Nutmeg Nanny says
I love turkey tetrazzini. I haven’t had it in a very long time. Yours looks great!
Drick says
now Lana, that is something to be proud of, having all in one place, and what a beautiful picture… nothing better than family photos and nothing better that being able to spend time with the ones you love… hey, this recipe is out of sight, Momma taught me to do a chicken version many years ago and is it very similar…. reminds me to git out my cookbook and start cooking family favorites…
Miss P says
Those are my Peeps!
Miss P
Lana says
Sho’ nuf.
Teri says
Beautiful picture, beautiful family. 5 generations is really something. You must have had a terrific holiday!
Your recipe looks delish as always ;)
Lana says
It was a fine day, Teri. Wouldn’t take anything for having family all together.
Susan Mallery says
I adore the picture of your multigenerational family. What a wonderful tribute to them! Our turkey is gone, but I’ll remember your recipe for next time. It sounds delicious and homey.
Happier Than A Pig in Mud says
What a great photo, I’m so happy for you, I know you’ll treasure it! Your turkey tet looks mighty good too:@)
Lana says
Thanks! It’s a pretty tasty recipe.
Wenderly says
Wow! What a beautiful family! And FIVE generations?…that’s impressive! We would brag about 4 generations until we lost grandmother at 93 1/2 a few months ago! You come from a dandy stock lovely lady!
Lana says
Thank you, Wendy. We are so very fortunate to have each other!