This leftover turkey casserole recipe is the perfect way to use up your holiday extras with a few fresh partners mixed in.

Who doesn’t love a good casserole? While I’m sure that these people exist, my family loves casseroles. They are comfort food at their best, and they are great when you have extra food from a party or holiday dinner. You may remember I used extra cheese wedges to make leftover mac and cheese, which is kind of like a casserole itself. This time I’m creating a nice leftover turkey casserole.

On Thanksgiving, we cooked a 19-pound turkey and had a lot of leftovers. That’s great and it made some excellent sandwiches, and some of us had a second Thanksgiving dinner plate the next day. Still, I hated seeing all that yummy turkey go to waste, so I made a casserole with thin egg noodles, porcini mushrooms, and fresh English peas. I haven’t cooked with fresh peas before and they really were not that different than frozen, but when I saw them in the produce section of Trader Joe’s, their freshness and bright color caught my eye. So did a box of baby porcini mushrooms which added a nice meatiness to the dish.

 You could substitute any veggies you like. The sauce is a basic white sauce much like the one I used in the tuna noodle casserole recipe. I didn’t add cheese to this one, (but I thought about it). My husband didn’t think it needed cheese, and it turns out that he was right.

Leftover Turkey Casserole

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Ingredients

• 2 cups diced turkey meat
• 6 oz. egg noodles (cooked)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1 tablespoons worchestershire
• 1/2 cup fresh peas
• 1 cup fresh porcini mushrooms - sliced
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 2 tablespoons fresh chopped flat leaf parsely
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Saute onions and mushrooms in 2 tablespoons of olive oil
2. Add peas and continue cooking for about 2 additional minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
3. Create a sauce by making a roux first. This is simply done by melting 2 tablespoons of butter and sprinkling 2 tablespoons of flour on top. Whisk together to make a paste.
4. Add milk to the roux and continue whisking on low heat.
5. Then add the chicken broth, and Worcestershire sauce.
6. Combine the sauce with the noodles, turkey, peas and mushroom mix, and stir well.
7. Add parsley, salt and pepper and red pepper flakes. Mix well.
8. Pour into a buttered 8 inch round casserole dish and cook at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
9. Serve with a nice side salad. It's good leftover too. 🙂