Vickie’s creamy chicken or turkey pasta
A flexible white-sauce casserole with poultry, pasta, vegetables, and Vickie’s practical tips for feeding a group.
Cook:
Vickie
TJU approved · recipe contributor
Vickie shared this large-batch recipe and her tips for preparing it in one day or two. Thank you for contributing to the Team Just Us kitchen.
Batch details
Sauce batch: 3 quarts. Use about 12–16 oz dry pasta per quart of sauce. Exact servings, meat quantity, oven setting, and baking time: to confirm with Vickie.
Ingredients
3 quarts total liquid: milk, reconstituted pantry milk, or a combination of milk and stock. Vickie also suggests canned soup diluted with water; use less flour if it already thickens the sauce.
1½ cubes butter (confirm the package size) or ¾ cup margarine.
¾–1 cup flour.
Salt and pepper: Vickie starts the sauce with 1 tablespoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper, then adjusts to taste. Take account of salt already in stock or soup.
Optional: 1 medium-to-large onion, chopped; garlic to taste.
Cooked chicken or turkey, including ground turkey. Quantity: N/A in the supplied notes.
Pasta: 12–16 oz dry pasta for each quart of white sauce. Wide noodles or corkscrew pasta are Vickie’s preferences.
Vegetables to suit the batch: carrots, celery, mushrooms, broccoli, canned corn, or mixed vegetables. Vickie recommends frozen petite peas, added near the end.
Optional cheese or another casserole topping. Butter or another suitable fat for greasing the pans.
How to make it
Prepare the sauce. Melt the butter or margarine. Stir in the flour, salt, and pepper. Cook while stirring until the raw-flour taste has gone; watch the roux carefully so it does not burn. For a mild onion or garlic flavor, sauté these with the fat and about half the flour, then stir in the remaining flour.
Add the liquid gradually. Stir in about 2 cups at a time, allowing the sauce to thicken between additions. Add about 8 cups this way. Remove from the heat and stir in the final quart, then adjust the thickness with reserved stock or water as needed.
Prepare the poultry. Simmer chicken breasts until safely cooked, then slice into long, narrow pieces; the cooking liquid can be used as stock. Alternatively, sauté sliced chicken or ground turkey with seasoning. Use a food thermometer and follow the food-handling note below.
Prepare the vegetables. Sauté or blanch firm vegetables separately. Vickie suggests using leftover pasta water for blanching. Reserve frozen peas for the final mixing stage so they keep their texture.
Cook the pasta in batches. Boil 12–16 oz at a time in salted water. Vickie’s starting point is 2 tablespoons salt in 2 gallons of water; replenish water and seasoning between batches as needed. Drain each batch into a greased, preferably high-sided 9 × 13 inch pan.
Assemble. Mix each pan of pasta with roughly one quart of sauce, a share of the cooked meat and vegetables, and the frozen peas. Optional cheese can go into the sauce or be added during assembly. Add a topping if desired.
Bake and check the center. The supplied notes do not specify an oven temperature or baking duration. Confirm those details with Vickie or the team. Poultry casseroles and reheated portions should reach 165°F (74°C), checked with a food thermometer.
Kitchen notes
Same-day option: combine the cooked poultry with the finished sauce off the heat. Add the prepared vegetables and mix with the freshly cooked pasta in the pans.
Make-ahead option: refrigerate the sauce, cooked poultry, and prepared vegetables in shallow containers. Divide into portions for easier assembly. Pasta can be cooked the next morning, or the assembled casseroles can be refrigerated. Follow the cooling and reheating guidance below rather than leaving a large batch on the counter to warm up.
Stock idea from Vickie: simmer clean onion or garlic peelings with celery and/or carrots. Use appropriate cooked meat juices if desired. Reserve some stock to adjust the sauce’s thickness.
Community recognition: the TJU badge is a thank-you for sharing a recipe and helping the group. It is not a food-safety certification or professional credential.
Food-handling guidance (USDA): cook poultry and reheat casseroles to 165°F (74°C). Divide large batches into shallow containers and refrigerate promptly, within 2 hours (1 hour above 90°F). Keep refrigerated food at 40°F or below. Use a thermometer.
Check with the cook
Check milk, wheat, and possibly egg in the pasta, plus ingredients in any stock, canned soup, cheese, or topping. Confirm product labels and substitutions with the cook.