Classic Chicken Tetrazzini Casserole

Chicken Tetrazzini is a classic casserole dish everyone loves!  Budget friendly and the perfect way to enjoy a weeknight meal with your family. Pasta, chicken, mushrooms in a creamy, cheesy sauce topped with buttery bread crumbs.  Comfort food at it's best!

This week's #SundaySupper theme is "Budget-Friendly Meals" and I can't think of a better dish to represent this theme than Classic Chicken Tetrazzini. For me, tetrazzini is synonymous with leftovers. Have leftovers = make tetrazzini. What I love about re-purposing leftovers is no waste. What I love the most about tetrazzini, is that you can use whatever leftover meat or veggies you have. Since we are almost in the thick of the holiday season, there will be leftovers and this recipe is so great for your holiday leftovers!  I've made this with chicken, turkey and even ham...all resulting in a delicious family-friendly meal! 

According to Wikipedia, tetrazzini is not an Italian dish.  It is an American creation named after the famous Italian Opera Star, Luissa Tetrazzini.  Some short cut recipes rely on cream of "whatever" soups, but not this version. It is not that much more work to make your own cream sauce and, to be honest, it tastes so much better than the canned stuff.  And guess what? Penny for penny, it's also more economical to skip the canned soup too! 

In my version, I do use veggies: fresh mushrooms, frozen peas, red bell pepper, and sweet onion.  I use leftover rotisserie chicken for the meat. You can use sherry in the sauce (I did) or just replace the sherry with more chicken broth, it will still be delicious. 

This is pure comfort food that won't break the bank to make, it feeds a crowd, and makes a great pot-luck dish.  If you've never made tetrazzini, what are you waiting for?  I promise it will be a new favorite! A nice garden salad on the side and dinner is done! 

Classic Chicken Tetrazzini

By Renee's Kitchen Adventures

Classic budget-friendly comfort food casserole. A great way to use up leftovers!

Ingredients

• 8 oz. dried linguine, broken in half
• 4 TBS unsalted butter, divided
• 20 oz. fresh mushrooms, sliced
• 1 1/2 cups red bell pepper, small diced
• 1 small sweet onion, diced
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 2 1/2 cups low sodium, fat free chicken broth
• 1 1/2 cups 2% milk
• 1/2 cup dry sherry (or additional chicken broth)
• 4 cups cooked shredded chicken, turkey, or ham
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 tsp. dried parsley
• kosher salt and black pepper, to taste
• 10 oz. frozen peas
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs, mixed with 2 TBS grated Parmesan cheese and 1 TBS olive oil

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9" x 13" glass casserole dish with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. Break the pasta in half to shorten the strands. Cook pasta according to package directions, but undercook by 2 minutes. Drain and rinse (to keep from sticking). Add the pasta to the casserole dish.
3. In large skillet, melt 1 TBS butter. Add in onion, red bell pepper and mushrooms. Cook on med-high for 5 - 6 minutes or until vegetables begin to get tender. Add the veggies to the casserole dish. Add in the frozen peas. Stir.
4. In same skillet you cooked the veggies in, melt remaining butter. Whisk in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Whisk in the broth, milk, and sherry (if using). Lower the heat. Add in the chicken, Parmesan, and parsley. Cook until thickened and bubbly. Season with salt and pepper. Pour onto pasta/veggie mix and stir to combine. Cover casserole loosely with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil, top with bread crumb mixture and bake another 10 minutes. If desired, brown the crumb mixture under the broiler for a few minutes right before casserole is done. Remove from oven and allow to sit for 5 minutes before serving.

Yield: 6 - 8 servings
Prep Time: 00 hrs. 15 mins.

Cook time: 00 hrs. 30 mins.
Total time: 45 mins.
Tags: casserole, #sundaysupper, chicken, pasta, dinner, main dish

Adapted from Southern Casseroles 

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