Nov 20

Nov 20 Tetrazzini Casserole

Chicken, Dairy Free, Dinner, Gluten Free, Healthy Kids, Keto / Low Carb, Party Food, Turkey, Vegan

Turkey Tetrazzini is the ultimate comfort food leftover makeover dish for Thanksgiving turkey. I wanted to make it my way, loads of vegetables and options to make it perfect for your table. So the traditional just has peas and mushrooms, I added the whole garden in this. The crunchy topping is brought to the next level with some crispy onions and cheese. Lots of ways to make this perfect for your family and dietary requests, below are the breakdowns, reference when you are doing the recipe below. I just named it Tetrazzini Casserole because you can make it vegan, use chicken, make it vegetarian, or even low carb so it seemed fitting to not call it Turkey Tetrazzini.

Vegan - leave out the turkey, use plant-based plain yogurt in place of sour cream, and make vegan creamy sauce with plant-based milk, nutritional yeast, and butter. Top with vegan cheese shreds.
Vegetarian - leave out the turkey and swap cream of chicken for cream of mushroom soup.
Low carb - use a low carb pasta or some zucchini noodles.
Dairy free - Use plant-based plain yogurt in place of sour cream, and make vegan creamy sauce with plant-based milk, nutritional yeast, and butter. Top with vegan cheese shreds.
Gluten Free - use GF pasta, make a creamy sauce with arrowroot or tapioca flour as the thickener.
Out of Turkey - swap for chicken!

This is perfect to feed a crowd, most casseroles are that way, in addition, it freezes very well. So make a couple of these and eat one with the family and save one for another day!

Tetrazzini Casserole

3/4 pound spaghetti noodles, cooked
3 cups turkey, cooked and cubed
8 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced
1 large onion, diced
4 carrots, sliced
5 stalks celery, sliced
2 cups broccoli florets
1 cup frozen peas
1 can cream of chicken
3/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup crispy fried onions

- Preheat the oven to 400. Make sure you have cooked spaghetti and turkey and place them in a large bowl.

- Heat a pan at medium-high heat, once hot, add some oil and saute the mushrooms, once browned, season with salt and pepper and then move to the bowl with the pasta and turkey. In the same pan, drizzle some more oil and add the onions, celery, and carrots. Sprinkle some salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally until soft and browned. Scrape into the bowl, add in the broccoli and peas and toss.

- In a small bowl, combine the cream of chicken, sour cream, and grated parmesan. Then toss with the pasta and vegetable mixture. Spray a baking dish with oil and spread the pasta mixture into the dish.

- Sprinkle the cheese and then the crispy onions on top. Bake for 20 minutes or until it is bubbly and browned on top. Wait a few minutes before serving.

All those vegetables make this a healthy dinner the whole family will love.

I cooked my pasta ahead of time. You can use gluten free pasta or zucchini noodles as alternatives for your preference.

Leftover turkey is perfect to use but so is chicken or omitting it altogether for a vegetarian dish.

Perfectly sautéed mushrooms add huge flavor, I like to keep mine in quarters so they have more substance.

Add in your aromatics, onion, celery, and carrot, sautéed in the same pan as the mushrooms.

Grab your broccoli and frozen peas and get ready to toss this together. Your creamy sauce is cream of chicken, sour cream, and parmesan.

If you want to make it dairy free, vegan, or gluten free - use my suggestion of making a plant-based creamy sauce with yogurt, almond milk, and tapioca or arrowroot as thickeners.