Get ready to make this amazingly easy Turkey Tetrazzini recipe. This original one-pot casserole is such a great family dinner. We love making this with leftover Thanksgiving turkey for a creamy homemade dish!
Why This Recipe is the Best
Turkey Tetrazzini is the ultimate comfort food-creamy, cozy, and the perfect way to use up leftover turkey from the holidays. This homemade version skips the canned soup and frozen shortcuts, delivering a from-scratch baked pasta dinner that's rich, flavorful, and totally satisfying.
It's one of our go-to meals after Thanksgiving, but we love it year-round using frozen turkey from the freezer. Whether you're feeding a crowd or packing it in a thermos for school lunch, this creamy spaghetti bake is a guaranteed hit.
For simpler dinners, you have to try our other pasta dishes. Four Cheese Pasta, Million Dollar Spaghetti, and Rattlesnake Pasta are some of our favorite weeknight dishes.
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Key Ingredients
This dish uses staple ingredients you probably already have at home. That's what makes it so easy to put together! You can also use a lot of various substitutions to make it your own.
- Crushed red peppers - the ¼ teaspoon in this dish is not enough to add heat to the dish, so don't be scared of it. We found while testing this recipe that the flavor was so much better with a hint of crushed pepper. It ties the other ingredients together so nicely. To be able to taste the spice, we recommend ¾ -1 teaspoon instead of ¼.
- Mushrooms- one of the hallmarks of this dish is mushrooms. This has quite a few mushrooms; for fewer mushrooms, simply use 4 oz instead of 8 oz.
- Noodles- Spaghetti noodles are traditionally used for tetrazzini dishes. That's what we use for this recipe. You can easily use other types of noodles like bow tie, rotini, and ziti.
- Onion- Minced onion gives this dish a deeper flavor without having large chunks of noticeable onion, if you aren't an onion lover. You don't want to miss out on the flavor, though!
- Broth- We try to use turkey broth to pair nicely with the turkey, but we've also made this dish several times with chicken broth because it's what we often have on hand.
- Cheese- Shredded mozzarella cheese is in the sauce and also on top of the casserole, so make sure to divide it before using. You will also need Parmesan cheese.
- Turkey- Shredded turkey is a staple of this dish. Make sure it's shredded as it mixes and serves better with the pasta.
How To Make Turkey Tetrazzini
Follow the step-by-step photos for the best cooking experience. This is a simple diy recipe that is great for beginning cooks.
- Melt the butter and sauté the onions. Cook until they are soft.
- Add in the chopped mushrooms and minced garlic. Cook for three minutes.
- Stir the flour into the cooked vegetables and pour in the broth. Stir until smooth.
- Next add in the shredded turkey and sour cream. Add in the cheeses. Keep stirring until it starts to thicken
- Add the prepared turkey and sauce with the cooked noodles to a casserole dish.
- Top with mozzarella cheese and panko bread crumbs and bake until the cheese starts to brown and bubble.
Hint: You can use any part of the turkey for this dish, light or dark meat! We personally love the tenderness of the turkey breast.
Common Mistakes
I grew up eating this meal and have always really enjoyed it. It's a very nostalgic dish. As I've gotten older I wanted to make a lighter dish than the original recipe. Through recipe testing, this is a lighter recipe than most!
Don't worry, you still get all the same amazing flavors with a wide variety of ingredients.
Top tip
This isn't supposed to be a super flavorful dish but is meant to highlight creamy turkey. If you want a more intense flavor, use sharp cheddar instead of mozzarella, and add some of your favorite vegetables.
Recipe
Turkey Tetrazzini
Equipment
- Baking Dish
Ingredients
- 1 lb spaghetti noodles
- 3 Tablespoons butter
- ½ large onion minced
- 8 oz mushrooms chopped
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- ¼ cup flour
- 3 cups turkey or chicken broth
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 ½ cups mozzarella cheese divided
- 1 ½ teaspoons Italian seasoning
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper optional, for more heat up to 1 teaspoon.
- 1 ½ Tablespoon fresh parsley
- 3 cups turkey shredded
- 1 cup panko
- ½ cup parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Cook spaghetti (or other pasta) al dente according to package directions. Butter a 9x13 pan or large casserole dish. Preheat oven to 350° F.
- While spaghetti cooks, in a large heavy bottom pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add onions and cook until they just start to soften, about 3-4 minutes. Add mushrooms and garlic and cook 3 minutes. Stir in flour until fully incorporated. Add about half of the turkey broth and stir together well, until no flour lumps remain and the mixture begins to simmer. Add the rest of the broth, then stir in the sour cream, about ¾ cups of mozzarella cheese, Italian seasoning, crushed red pepper and parsley. Bring to a simmer and simmer for about a minute, stirring to make sure the veggies don't stick to the bottom of the pot.
- Stir in the shredded turkey and cooked spaghetti. Place in baking dish. Top with Panko crumbs and remaining mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese. Bake for 20-25 minutes until topping is a light golden brown and the casserole is bubbly.
Video
Notes
- Use any part of the turkey you desire. This works great with turkey breast, or thighs or really any part!
- While stirring in the first addition of broth, it is very important to make sure the flour is fully incorporated. A whisk can make this easier.
- This dish is not meant to be super flavorful, instead highlighting the turkey with a delicious creaminess. For a fun variation with more flavor, double the Italian seasoning, garlic and red pepper flakes. Add ½ teaspoon thyme and make with sharp white cheddar cheese instead of mozzarella.
- We love this recipe and eat it every Thanksgiving. Sometimes we experiment with different changes. We all love it with sharp white cheddar!
- This is also delicious with added vegetables. For a version with lots of veggies, reduce the pasta to 12 oz. Add in 1 cup celery and 2 cups chopped green beans at the same time as the onion. Stir in 2 cups peas at the same time you add the sour cream. Otherwise make as directed.
- Make with your favorite type of pasta! We love it with bowtie pasta. For egg noodles, use 12 oz egg noodles instead of 16 oz.
- Sometimes when I add the mixture to the baking dish, I find that the turkey and mushrooms aren't evenly distributed. If this happens, use some tongs to more evenly distribute the ingredients.
- If you don't like a lot of mushrooms, feel free to use 4 oz instead of 8 oz.
Nutrition
Storing Turkey Tetrazzini
Store baked casserole in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. When ready to reheat, dish the portion you would like to eat onto a microwave-safe plate. Microwave about 1-2 minutes until heated through. If you are serving dinner again as a dinner you can reheat it in the oven.
This is a great freezer meal dish. Simply freeze the baked casserole in a freezer-friendly container or bag for 2 months. Thaw in the refrigerator and reheat when ready to eat.
Substitutions
- With egg noodles- Instead of using spaghetti noodles, you can use 12 oz egg noodles instead.
- Ground turkey- Substitute 3 cups of ground turkey for shredded turkey. I like to buy the big pack of ground turkey from Costco and freeze portions of it for various meals.
- With cream cheese- Use 8 oz full-fat cream cheese instead of sour cream. Add at the same time. Chop into small cubes and stir until melted.
- With peas- This is a great dish to get my kids to eat vegetables! Add 1 ½ cups of peas and stir in before adding to the noodles.
- Chicken- While traditionally this is made with turkey, you can make this a creamy chicken pasta bake by using shredded chicken instead.
How To Serve
This is a great home-style meal the whole family will love. When we serve this dish, we often serve it with a vegetable like air fryer green beans, or air fryer brussels sprouts. We also like to serve it with a side of bread, like air fryer garlic bread to keep things simple yet delicious.
You can even personalize this dish by adding extra vegetables into the casserole, like sautéed celery, peas, more onions, and chopped green beans.
FAQ
Turkey Tetrazzini is a comforting casserole dish made with diced turkey, mushrooms, and pasta, all baked in a creamy sauce and topped with cheese. It's a tasty, hearty meal.
Tetrazzini sauce is typically made from a combination of butter, flour, chicken broth, cream, and Parmesan cheese, seasoned with salt, pepper. This recipe uses sour cream instead of cream.
Turkey Tetrazzini is named after the Italian opera star Luisa Tetrazzini. The dish was reportedly created in the early 20th century in the United States as a way to honor Tetrazzini, who was known for her love of pasta.
Andrea says
I grew up eating this creamy mushroom turkey tetrazzini and I love this light recipe. It's so good and made the perfect casserole dinner.