Warm your tummies on Black Friday with this kid-friendly Skinny Turkey Tetrazzini:
For the first time in the 15 years I’ve known my now-husband, we get to host Thanksgiving dinner this year! Which means we get to benefit directly from the second-best part of Thanksgiving dinner, after the meal itself: enjoying the leftovers!
But since my girls aren’t so keen on leftover meat unless it’s pork, we have to reinvent our leftover meat products into other things. And since they love Turkey Tetrazzini, but I’m not as keen on the heaviness of most versions, I reinvented this Thanksgiving leftovers classic into a version that’s lighter and healthier (but just as tasty!).
This recipe takes a bit longer to plan than the 30 minutes I prefer for a quick weeknight meal. But it’s perfect for putting together during the long Thanksgiving weekend, and is a great way to feed those out-of-town guests who are visiting for the holidays.
Add a nice salad, like my Easy Caesar Salad, and some leftover pie (or my Oven Baked Apples) for dessert, and you’re set!
Kid-Friendly Skinny Turkey Tetrazzini with Thanksgiving Leftovers
Prep time: Approx. 45 minutes / Serves 8-10
What you’ll need for this healthy Turkey Tetrazzini (see below for alternatives to * items):
- 8 oz pasta (spaghetti, egg noodles, fetuccine, elbows, etc.)*
- Nonstick cooking spray
- 4 T (1/2 stick) butter, divided*
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 stalk celery, chopped
- 8 oz fresh mushrooms, cleaned/sliced (or 2 4-oz cans, drained)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1/4 c. white wine (optional)
- Approx. 2 cups leftover cooked peas, diced carrots, corn, frozen mixed vegetables, etc.
- 1/4 c. flour*
- 1-2 cans (14.5 oz) low-sodium chicken broth*
- 1 1/2 t nutmeg
- 2 t dried (or 2 T fresh) thyme
- Approx. 2 pints light sour cream*
- 2-3 c. cooked leftover turkey, chicken, or tofurkey, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
- 1/2 c. panko bread crumbs*
- 1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese
Making Turkey Tetrazzini Healthy – The basic idea:
- Set oven rack to middle position. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
- Spray a 9×13 glass casserole dish (or two smaller casserole dishes, if you prefer) with nonstick cooking spray; set aside.
- Heat pasta water, and cook pasta according to directions. (If you’re using spaghetti or other long noodles, break into half as you’re putting it into the water.) Drain pasta (saving 1-2 cups of the cooking water as you do so), rinse, and set aside.
- While pasta is cooking, heat 2 T only butter in nonstick skillet. Sauté onions, celery, and (if using fresh) mushrooms over medium heat, stirring frequently, 12-15 min. until softened. (If using canned mushrooms, add in toward the end.) Add in white wine toward the end as well. Add salt/pepper to taste. Remove vegetables from cooking pan, into a large mixing bowl.
- While the pasta and onions/celery are cooking, reheat cooked vegetables slightly for a few minutes in a microwave-safe dish. (Or, if you don’t have enough leftover cooked vegetables, cook some raw diced carrots, frozen peas, and/or frozen mixed vegetables in the microwave.)
- Melt remaining 2 T butter over low heat. Gradually stir flour into melted butter to form a roux. With a whisk, slowly stir in one can of broth. Slowly add approximately 1 c broth from the second can (OR that reserved cup of pasta water, if you only have one can of chicken broth on hand). Cook for a few minutes, until the sauce starts to thicken slightly. Remove from heat; stir in nutmeg and thyme.
- Stir 1 1/2 pints (3 c.) light sour cream into the sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste. If the sauce seems too thick, stir in a little more broth. If it seems too runny, stir in a little more sour cream.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine sautéed vegetables, reheated vegetables, and turkey. Using kitchen shears, coarsely cut cooked pasta into bite-sized pieces if needed; stir into mixing bowl.
- Pour sauce over turkey-pasta-vegetable mixture; stir thoroughly to coat. Check seasonings one last time; adjust as needed.
- Spread mixture evenly in greased casserole dish**.
- In a small bowl, combine panko and Parmesan. Sprinkle evenly over surface of casserole. Spray the surface evenly with a light coat of cooking spray.**
- Bake at 450 degrees 18-20 minutes, or until casserole is bubbling around the edges and top crust is starting to brown.
- Serve warm; cool and refrigerate any leftovers.
Skinny Turkey Tetrazzini Gluten-Free, Vegetarian, Vegan – Mix it up:
- Truly, any pasta or noodle should work fine for this recipe. I really wanted to do fetuccine or linguine, but when I surveyed the cupboards (as part of my No-November efforts to eat from our pantry), all I found was spaghetti. Lots and lots of half-used packages of spaghetti. So spaghetti it was!
- *Can’t do gluten? Substitute your favorite gluten-free pasta alternative and flour alternative. (Or even better yet, cook up some spaghetti squash and use that instead!) Vegetarian? Add in your leftover tofurkey and use vegetable broth instead. Need dairy-free? Substitute margarine for the butter, and your favorite dairy-free sour cream alternative.
And **one final tip for making this healthy Skinny Turkey Tetrazzini:
If you’re going to split the contents in half and freeze one for later, DON’T put that second one in the oven right now!
- Just ✅cover it, and date/label it with reheating instructions (reheat at 450 degrees F until heated through, bubbly around the edges, and topping is lightly browned).
- When you want to eat it, thaw it in the refrigerator overnight, or on the counter if you remove it day-of.
- Depending on whether it’s thoroughly thawed or not, you’ll need to heat it in the oven for anywhere from 30-60 minutes.
- Keep an eye on it while it’s warming in the oven, and cover the top loosely with foil if the top starts to get too browned before the casserole is hot in the center.
Like this kid-friendly recipe for Turkey Tetrazzini made healthy?
Then please share with others by pinning this Skinny Turkey Tetrazzini image!
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This turkey tetrazzini looks yum and it’s a great way to use up the leftovers.
Yes on both of these!
This is a great way to use up holiday leftovers. I always have tons of pasta in the larder too! Will keep it in mind!
Do give it a try sometime 🙂
Love such recipes where you can use the leftovers to make a new dish .Looks so delicious!
Those dishes are our favorites, too! 🙂
I love Tetrazzini, I’ll have to give this recipe a shot.
Hope you like it as much as we do! 🙂
O my yum!!! This sounds Rather tasty!! Might just have to make this with left over turkey!!! Yum
It is DELICIOUS!
That looks delicious. What could be better than cheese and pasta. Love this!
LOL exactly! 🙂
My belly already feel warm and happy with this recipe! I think the kids would like it too
Mine LOVE it for breakfast! 🙂
Gotta remake leftovers! This sounds like a great “clean out the fridge” kind of recipe.
It totally is! 🙂
What a great way to use the leftovers we usually have so much it goes bad.
This sounds amazing! I am for sure adding it to my meal planning for next week!
THANK YOU 100 times over for this recipe, lol! I always wonder what to make with that leftover turkey that the family will actually eat! This looks like it will be a winner!
This looks delicious! I’ll definitely be coming back to this recipe with my leftovers.
Enjoy! 🙂
This is very helpful for our new journey of getting the family healthy! Thanks for sharing.
This is great!! I love doing pantry cleanouts! Thank you for sharing!! I am so making this this weekend!
Hope you enjoy it as much as we did! 🙂
I have never made a tetrazzini before. This sounds like a delicious dish and a great way to use up leftovers.
The only thing better than Thanksgiving dinner is Thanksgiving leftovers. This recipe looks like a delicious way to use them!
This looks so delicious! I give this to my mom because she always has turkey leftovers! (I live in Japan and we don’t get turkey leftovers as I usually have to eat my turkey dinner at a restaurant).
What a delicious dish for those leftovers! We host a lot of holiday parties and have to deal with leftovers too. Definitely saving this.
I love recipes that use leftovers! This looks very easy and totally yummy. I will have to give it a try!
Great idea to make a good use of the leftovers. We always tend to do this every occasion because we always host the dinner meal.
What an awesome way to use some of the leftovers! I’ve done the same pantry clean out before and I always find so much pasta, too! Why is it that we have so much extra pasta??