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Turkey Tetrazzini Recipe

Filed under Casserole, Comfort Food, Main Course, Pasta, Thanksgiving, Turkey

Turkey Tetrazzini

Tetrazzini is an American pasta dish that includes a cream sauce, mushrooms, and either chicken, turkey, or seafood. It is thought to have been invented in San Francisco and named after the famous opera singer of the early 1900s, Luisa Tetrazzini, who lived there for many years.

To my mother however, Turkey Tetrazzini is just another way of saying turkey casserole. In her opinion casseroles are passé; she hasn't made one in twenty years. (Note to readers - my mother is anything but a snob, although she can sound like one at times. Note to my mother's friends - she loves your casseroles.) Fortunately, neither my father nor I could care less if something is "in" or "out"; all we care about is whether or not we like it (and by the way, mom used to make a wicked good tuna casserole, God only knows what happened to that recipe). I made this for them the other night and judging by my dad's three servings, it passes with flying colors. It's a great way to use up turkey leftovers.

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Turkey Tetrazzini Recipe

Ingredients

  • 12 oz egg noodles, spaghetti, linguini or other pasta
  • 12 ounces mushrooms, sliced (about 4-5 cups)
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter
  • 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 cups of milk
  • 1/4 cup cream
  • 2 cups chicken broth
  • 1/4 cup dry sherry, vermouth, or dry white wine
  • 3 cups coarsely chopped cooked turkey
  • 1 cup cooked peas
  • 2/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan
  • 1/3 cup shredded Swiss cheese
  • 1/3 cup fine fresh bread crumbs
  • Salt and Pepper

Method

1 Cook the pasta according to the package directions, al dente; drain well and set aside. After you've started with the pasta, proceed to the next steps.

2 Preheat oven to 375°F.

3 Cook the mushrooms in 3 Tbsp of the butter over moderate heat, stirring, until all of the liquid they give off has evaporated, about 10 minutes. Set aside.

4 In a large, heavy saucepan, melt 1/4 cup of butter. Stir in the flour, and cook the mixture over low heat, stirring, for 3 minutes.

5 Gradually stir in the milk, cream, broth, and the wine or sherry. Bring to a simmer and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, for about 5 minutes.

6 In a large bowl combine well the pasta, the sauce, the mushrooms, the turkey, the peas, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir in 1/3 cup of the Parmesan and the 1/3 cup of Swiss cheese, and transfer the mixture to a buttered shallow 3-quart casserole.

7 In a small bowl combine well the remaining 1/3 cup Parmesan, the bread crumbs, and salt and pepper to taste, sprinkle the mixture evenly over the Tetrazzini, and dot the top with the remaining 1 tablespoon butter, cut into bits.

8 Bake the Tetrazzini in the middle rack of the oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until it is bubbling and the top is golden.

Serves 4 to 6.

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Posted by Elise on Nov 23, 2005 and indexed Casserole, Turkey, Turkey Leftovers

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Comments

Hi Elise...I love Turkey Tetrazzini! I usually make the one from Cook's Illustrated, but I'll have to give yours a try- it sounds great.

Posted by: Moira on October 28, 2005 1:48 AM

This sounds like a great recipe. As a single person, I rarely make a whole turkey. Are there some options for finding 3 cups of turkey without having to make an huge quantity of turkey?

Posted by: Kate on October 28, 2005 9:07 AM

Hi Moira - Cook's Illustrated has a tetrazzini recipe? I'll have to check it out.

Hi Kate - easy. You can get turkey thighs and legs at the grocery store for $1.40/lb. That's what we did for this batch. This recipe took about 2 1/2 lbs of turkey parts. I rubbed the pieces with olive oil, salt and pepper, and roasted them in the oven at 300°F for 1 hour 20 minutes. Use a meat thermometer - get the turkey pieces to 180°F. After I removed the meat from the bones I saved and froze the bones and drippings for future turkey stock. Yum!

Posted by: elise [TypeKey Profile Page] on October 28, 2005 9:17 AM

Elise, I agree with you, who cares what you call it, it's the taste that counts. Turkey Casserole is one of my favorites!
All my best,
Tina

Posted by: Tina - ThePantry on October 28, 2005 12:08 PM

Yum. I have two decent recipes for tetrazzini and haven't tried either. This looks good and easy to make. Perhaps I'll give it a shot some night soon. I think my little one will love it too - has all his favorites in it.

My mother used to make a wicked good tuna casserole too. She hasn't made it in 20+ years. I believe her recipe was from an old Betty Crocker Casserole book. *sigh* I miss that tuna casserole and crave it on chilly nights like tonight.

Posted by: eljae on October 28, 2005 6:58 PM

Do you have any suggestions for how to replace the mushrooms? My high maintenance kids won't eat them, and they play such a prominent role in this recipe that I don't think I can eliminate them entirely without throwing off the other measurements.

I have many, many fond memories of turkey tetrazzini as a child, cooked by my mother who was a food snob, but still appreciated the occasional comfort food :)

Posted by: Wendy on October 29, 2005 1:13 PM

I love Turkey Tettrazini too. Unfortunately the French turkeys here in France have less meat than their US cousins and there's never leftovers...except the sweet potatoes and marshmallows, which no one (but me) will eat.

Posted by: David on November 4, 2005 11:45 PM

I grew up in the "golden age" of casseroles
and television - 1950's, 60's. My mom used to
make this dish. It's a bit of work,
and uses up a lot of pots and pans, so
get an early start on it.

I used an already roasted chicken from
Safeway, and plain dry bread crumbs to save time. And added some left-over fresh tarragon from a dish I made the night before. Also used spaghetti for the pasta as that was how my mom made it.

Every one liked it, including my 11 year old
son who usually is not a big fan of
casseroles. All you need is a salad to go
with it. Will make it again soon.

Posted by: RD on November 10, 2005 3:35 PM

I made this for dinner tonight with leftovers from thanksgiving. I got the email just as i was pondering what to do with my leftovers, so it was perfect!! my husband loved it. Next time I need to remember to cook the noodles a little less than I did this time... I didn't really take the baking time into account. But it was still delicious and we both had seconds :)

Posted by: Erin on November 25, 2006 9:04 PM

My first culinary success was Turkey Tettrazini, made in cooking class in Jr.High (of course, no vermouth!). What a wonderful memory! Thanks for the reminder, I'll make some this week.

Wendy: Hint to get mushroom flavor past picky kids: Buy freeze-dried mushrooms (on-line or at Sam's club, in a big container... don't worry, you'll use them!), and run some through a spice grinder (coffee grinder kept just for spices works best). Use the resulting powder in gravy, or to add a wonderful something in the background flavors of just about anything!

Posted by: Michelle on November 27, 2006 7:16 AM

I like to make a related dish which uses spaghetti squash in place of spaghetti. The recipe is in "Green on Greens", and it is very good made with leftover turkey.

Posted by: Katie Mankins on November 27, 2006 9:40 AM

This recipe is the same as the one I've used since the 70's with the exception of swiss cheese. I tried this and must say the swiss is a great addition. I never use peas but often add cooked bell pepper, and we prefer chicken to turkey. If you simmer a whole chicken you have your broth, enough chicken for a large dish, and skin and bits for the poor dog's dinner.

Posted by: Marcia on December 9, 2006 6:54 PM

I made this dish, and it was definitely DELICIOUS! One thing - it makes a TON of tetrazzini. My family of 4 couldn't finish it all, and there's enough for an entire 2nd night of it. People who aren't big eaters may need to keep it in mind so they don't end up with a ton of leftovers.

Posted by: Caroline on January 18, 2007 6:21 PM

My fiance and I really liked this dish. I used chicken breasts instead of turkey (mostly to save time), skim milk, fat-free half&half, and panko crumbs instead of fresh bread crumbs (I just didn't have time to make my own bread crumbs). Even with all the substitutions (I couldn't call it "Turkey Tetrazzini" anymore, I refer to it as Chicken Noodle Casserole) it was still great. I too thought casseroles were passe, a relic of the fifties, but this one we really loved! Thanks for being such wonderful inspiration. I've made a bunch of your recipes but seldom take the time to comment on how wonderful they turn out. Props!

Posted by: Andi on January 23, 2007 4:29 PM

Hi Elise,

I made this last night. I had made a turkey a few days ago..so we'd have healthy, low-fat meat around for sandwiches.

I used cut asperagus instead of peas, as Dave hates peas. It was so very good.

Posted by: Melody Elliott-Koontz on March 15, 2007 10:56 AM

I tried this recipe the other night with a few substitutions and it turned out wonderfully. Instead of the swiss I used an Asiago-Romano blend , and in place of the turkey I used on of those rotisserie chickens that you can pick up from the grocery store. Everyone loved it! I even got my EXTREMELY picky daughter who lives on salmon and grilled cheese to try it.

Posted by: Christine Dietz on November 8, 2007 6:25 AM

E,

This was awesome. My whole fam loved it. Thanks.

K

Posted by: KaTe on November 28, 2007 6:05 PM

I know this probably sounds funny in a turkey tetrazzini recipe, but today I`m making it without the turkey. I`m really not a big meat-eater, but just love mushrooms! Last time I made this, I doubled the recipe and still the whole thing disappeared in a minute. Tonight, I`m making it with no meat, only the mushrooms. Mmmmm, yummy!!! Thank you for the recipe, Elise! It is simply perfect!

Posted by: Agota on December 11, 2007 5:36 PM

Elise, I made this dish for my wife's birthday last night and it was a huge hit. We had some leftover turkey and turkey broth. I only had 8oz of mushrooms and will definitely double that next time. I used 1% milk and half-and-half. Thanks for the wonderful recipe (and website).

Posted by: Dave H on January 16, 2008 7:03 AM

Hi, Elise!

Loved the Turkey Tetrazzini recipe. Made it for friends the other night and it was a huge success!

I did note one mistake (or typo) in your recipe: in the Ingredients list, you call for 1/3 cup of Swiss cheese, but in the Prep section, you mention adding the 1/2 cup of Swiss. So which is it?? I used a 1/2 cup and liked it!! [BTW, James Beard's recipe for Chicken Tetrazzini uses only Parmesan, but more wine (dry Sherry), a 1/2 cup, which I think adds to the moistness of the dish.]

Thanks for the great website. Keep it up!!
––Bob K

Thanks for pointing out the inconsistency Bob, correction made (1/3 cup). Cheers, Elise

Posted by: Bob K on May 7, 2008 1:23 PM

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