This Turkey Tetrazzini recipe is the perfect way to enjoy leftover turkey. Tender turkey chunks, mushrooms and pasta are smothered in a rich and creamy sauce and topped with cheese. Everything is baked until hot and bubbly for a dish hearty enough to satisfy a crowd and tasty enough to get everyone excited about leftovers like never before.
© SpendWithPennies.com
Turkey Tetrazzini is one of those recipes that has been around forever and ever and yet another recipe found in my vintage recipe box.
A delicious pasta casserole with turkey in a creamy mushroom sauce is topped with cheese and baked until hot and bubbly.
Serve this up with a garden salad and some crusty bread for a perfect meal!
I use fresh mushrooms in this recipe and you can add in any other veggies you’d lke, carrots, peas, and peppers are some of our favorites.
This easy tetrazzini recipe uses no “cream of” soup but instead gets some extra richness from spreadable cream cheese. While you can certainly use the plain variety, we love to use an herb and garlic or garlic and chive flavor to add a little bit of extra flavor.
This is a great recipe for making use of the leftover turkey around the holidays, but it is equally delicious year round. If you don’t have turkey on hand, you can use rotisserie chicken or cook up a couple of chicken breasts!
This dish reheats well so you can make it ahead of time or serve it another night for a delicious dinner of leftovers! Make sure to cook the pasta al dente so it doesn’t get mushy and if needed, add a little splash of milk when reheating.
REPIN THIS RECIPE HERE
Turkey Tetrazzini
Ingredients
- 12 ounces spaghetti
- 3 tablespoons salted butter
- 1 onion diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 12 ounces mushrooms sliced
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 ¼ cups reduced sodium chicken broth
- 8 ounces spreadable cream cheese garlic flavor
- 1 ⅓ cups half and half or light cream
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 2 cups cooked chopped turkey
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese divided
- ¼ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Cook spaghetti al dente according to package directions.
- Cook butter, onions and garlic over medium heat until softened. Add mushrooms and cook an additional 3 minutes. Stir in flour and cook 1 minute.
- Add broth and cream all at once. Cook until thick & bubbly, let boil 1 minute. Stir in cream cheese until melted. Add parsley and seasonings
- Combine spaghetti, turkey, 1 cup of mozzarella cheese and sauce. Pour into a greased 9×13 pan. Top with remaining mozzarella, cover and bake 20 minutes. Sprinkle with parmesan and bake an additional 10-15 minutes uncovered until hot & bubbly.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Main Course
Cuisine Italian© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
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I just cooked the extra turkey I got at Thanksgiving and used the leftovers to make your recipe. Absolutely delicious, and my family loved it too! I added a wee bit more Parmesan cheese on top. It’s definitely going to be a keeper, thanks for sharing!
Wondering if it freezes well?
Sometimes dairy does not freeze well, but I haven’t tried Missy so I can’t say for sure. If you try it I would love to hear how it turns out!
Just made this for the first time. Used almond milk instead of cream. It was very liquidy when I put it in the oven, but it all got soaked up nicely, Also made broth from Thanksgiving turkey leftovers. It was really good. Only thing I would change is to keep it covered for last 20 minutes. The top was a little too crunchy for our taste. My version was also gluten-free.
I put my left over turkey from Thanksgiving in the freezer. I used it to make turkey tetrazzini for Christmas dinner. I followed the recipe measurement by measurement. Which by the way was absolutely delicious. This recipe is a keeper for me as I will be making this dish again using chicken.
Day after Christmas, 2024 I had leftover turkey and had not made a Tetrazzini before. Your recipe was excellent. I think I’ll go a little heavier on the Parmesan cheese and I diced up a carrot and fresh broccoli to the cream cheese mixture. Being half Hispanic I’m going to try pickled jalapeños with everything else.
Oh my. I love this dish. I cut the recipe in half. I used leftover Thanksgiving turkey and my homemade stock. Added a rich brown color. Cut the mozzarella back a bit and used fat free half and half. Lightened it up a bit calorie wise but rich and creamy tasting. Delicious. I’m excited about the leftovers
Wonderful! I added a bag of frozen peas, but other than that, I followed the recipe exactly. Some family members added crushed potato chips to their servings and they said that little extra reminded them of their childhood versions!
My family LOVED
This was a huge hit! Checked the comments and added peas, halved the cheese and topped with breadcrumbs. Will definitely make again with chicken!!
I made this today using half and half and Chicken Better Than Boullion plus hot water for my broth. The sauce didn’t want to thicken so I had to add a bit of a cornstarch slurry. It still needed something after adding salt and pepper. I added peas, some onion powder, some garlic powder, extra garlic cream cheese and a couple Tbsp of lemon juice. This was in addition to everything in the recipe. Then everyone liked it.
Disappointing recipie considering the effort. Fussy prep and disappointing result. Sauce is like glue. Better tecipies out there.
your my go to for recipes there all delicious thanks for all your hard work
So glad you’ve enjoyed the recipe Cliff!
Was absolutely delightful! Thank you for sharing!
This was superb! I used chickpea pasta for it!!
The best turkey tetrazzini I have ever made!