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.
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Turkey Tetrazzini
Ingredients
- 12 ounces dry spaghetti
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 onion diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- ¾ pound mushrooms sliced
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 2 ¼ cups chicken broth reduced sodium
- 8 ounces spreadable cream cheese garlic flavor
- 1 ⅓ cups half & half or light cream
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 2 cups turkey cooked and chopped
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese divided
- ¼ cup 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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Can you prepare this ahead of time (3hours) and bake later?
Thanks!
I have not tried prepping it ahead of time but other readers have with great results. I hope you love it, Shell!
Love your recipes! I made the tetrazini last night. My husband smoked a Turkey breast. And we used it in the recipe. I used half as much cream cheese, and it was awesome.
Looking forward to using this time honored version of a favorite casserole!
Wondered what the actual size pan would be for 1/2 the recipe, 8 x 8 ” perhaps?
Thanks!
Yes, for a half recipe I would try an 8 x 8-inch pan. Enjoy Robert!
Yummy. Love this recipe. Have cooked it numerous times. It is always a hit. I use rotisserie chicken.
I have made this recipe twice. For me it did not have allot onions and garlic in it. When it was done and I ate it I couldn’t taste either one of them The second time I made it I increased them but still did not taste them. I will try it again but will leave the garlic whole. I put 6 cloves in it. Onion will be in larger pieces. The 2nd. time I used 1& 3/4 onions.
Just made this. Great recipe. I used regular cream cheese and added more garlic and Italian seasonings. Actually made the whole pound of pasta and whole pound of mushrooms (who needs those extra dribs and drabs hanging around in fridge and pantry)?). I added some fresh spinach I needed to use up, and used Chardonnay instead of chicken broth. Raves!!
OMG!
I hate turkey, but using chicken, outstanding!
Thank you for this recipe!
I used an 8oz block of cream cheese (Cuz that’s what I had on hand) cut into cubes.
Outstanding!
Delicious even though I had to improvise ingredients and amounts as I was only making it for two.
Delicious! Made exactly as the recipe reads. I made two, hoping I can freeze one. I’ll update how that turns out after defrosting a reheating.
Made this with leftover turkey from thanksgiving and froze I casserole dish. Turned out GREAT! My picky brother in law claiming to only like “tomato based” sauce dishes had seconds! This is a keeper and not only for leftover meat(s). Took it out of freezer for a day the added a little milk as per prior suggestion. Baked it about an hour on 350 then added parm cheese and baked additional 15 minutes. Deeeeeelish! Than you!
You’re so welcome! So happy to hear that you love this tetrazzini so much! Great to hear that your picky family member loved it too!
Made this for a staff party. Big hit! Makes enough to feed a crowd. Who can resist golden cheesy goodness and pasta. Easy to make ahead of time and cook the day of the event. That’s my goal in sharing food. Make it easy and fabulous! This can be doctored up for a slightly healthier version such as lentil or veggie noodles and Ghee instead of butter but this recipe is perfect just the way it is also.
Easy, creamy and so good. I added more seasonings and will add peas, green/red peppers and bacon (?) next time…
I am not fond of turkey, but this a terrific recipe. So flavorful, especially with fresh grated Parmesan. Thank you.
Way too cheesy to use an entire block of cream cheese and all the mozzarella mixed in. I could have used half the cream cheese and half the mozzarella, just the topping only. Felt kind of gross eating. If you’re used to eating leaner meals, you’ll want to use less cheese. Other than that it was a good way to use up some Thanksgiving turkey, which was the goal.
Very good. Made with leftover Thanksgiving turkey. I didn’t have cream cheese, so I used sour cream instead and it was still very good.
So so good! I actually look forward to this recipe the day after thanksgiving more than the roast turkey on the actual day. Thank you for sharing!
Delicious…fresh mushrooms made this dish! We didn’t have mozzarella cheese; it was still delicious! I enrolled my husband to chop and stir!
Loved the recipe and only made 2 modifications. Used left over turkey gravy as part of the broth ingredient and used only one cup of cheese. It was outstanding!!!
This is a keeper.