Turkey Casserole
This Turkey Casserole is the perfect way to enjoy leftover turkey! This wild rice casserole is loaded with tender turkey, vegetables, and cheese for a comforting family dinner.
This easy Turkey Casserole is the perfect answer to leftover Thanksgiving turkey! While we all love holiday food, there are usually leftovers. This casserole is perfect because it is a dump and bake casserole with minimal ingredients!
A creamy, cheesy sauce makes this easy casserole recipe the perfect comfort food meal. It’s packed full of vegetables, making it a great healthy dish, too! It does use cream of chicken soup, but I’ve included a homemade, gluten-free cream of chicken recipe you can use instead.
If you don’t have turkey on hand you can easily use chicken for a year-round delicious meal. This wild rice casserole recipe can be assembled ahead of time and cooked fresh, so it’s a great time-saver, too!
Ingredients
As always, here is a quick overview of the ingredients used in our Turkey Rice Casserole. For the complete recipe, just scroll to the bottom of the page.
- Cooked Wild Rice Blend: you can use a seasoned version, or an unseasoned blend like this.
- Cooked turkey: this is the perfect use for leftover roasted or slow cooker turkey. You can also sub cooked chicken in this recipe with great results.
- Vegetables: frozen peas and carrots as well as onion, bell pepper, and celery. The instructions indicate to sauté the vegetables before mixing, but this is an optional step. It purely depends on your personal preference. (P.S. Garlic lovers, throw a few cloves in as well! We were just out after all of our holiday dishes.)
- Sour cream: this adds the perfect creamy texture. You can use full or reduced fat sour cream.
- Cream of Chicken Soup: if you are gluten free or prefer a homemade version, there are instructions listed below in the FAQ section.
- Shredded Cheese: sharp cheddar pairs perfectly, but colby jack or gruyere also works really well.
How do I make Turkey Rice Casserole?
This Turkey Rice Casserole is super easy! First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. While the oven is preheating, sauté your onions, peppers, and celery until softened (it took about 5-6 minutes for mine). This step is optional and can be skipped if you prefer a quicker casserole. It reduces some of the moisture in the vegetables, but it’ll be fine if you toss them in raw.
Take your cooked turkey and add it to a bowl with your cooked rice. If your rice was refrigerated and stuck together, just separate with your hands. Next, add all of your vegetables (both frozen peas and carrots as well as fresh or cooked veggies). Toss in the cream of chicken soup, sour cream, and half of your shredded cheese, them mix very well. You want to make sure that the ingredients are well distributed so that creamy sauce is in every bite!
Finally, add your mixture into a 9×13 greased casserole dish, then top with the rest of your cheese. Bake until it’s heated throughout, about 25-30 minutes, then serve! If you are using a different sized casserole dish, you will need to adjust your cooking time accordingly.
What should I serve with this cheesy rice casserole?
One of the great things about this casserole is that it’s packed with vegetables, so you really don’t need many sides with it! But if you wanted a few options on what to serve, I would recommend Jalapeno Cornbread, Easy Keto Biscuits, or Cheddar Cornbread Muffins for an easy bread dish. Cheddar Ranch Au Gratin Potatoes or Instant Pot Mac and Cheese are also always a hit! For dessert, try Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake Brownies or Easy Baked Apples!
Tips for the Best Wild Rice Casserole
- I used a wild rice blend in this recipe- I think it gives the best flavor and texture. But if you don’t prefer wild rice, that’s fine. Brown or white rice will also be fine in this meal. Check your casserole early as using a different rice can change the amount of time needed.
- You can easily prepare this casserole about a day ahead of time and store in the fridge until you’re ready to bake. If your fridge is especially cold, I would add a couple of minutes to the cooking time.
- Cooked wild rice can be frozen! You could easily meal prep this by freezing your cooked wild rice, turkey, and sauteed vegetables, then freeze them all in bags. When you’re ready for a casserole, simply thaw, toss into a bowl, and add in your creamy sauce ingredients… You’ll be ready to bake in no time!
Gluten-Free Turkey Casserole FAQ’s
You can make an amazing cream of chicken soup with 3 simple ingredients! Grab a small saucepan and melt 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat. When it is completely melted and bubbling, add 2 tablespoons of flour, stir mixture and let it simmer for about 1 minute, stirring occasionally. Slowly pour in 1 cup of chicken broth into the flour mixture, stirring as you go. Let your cream of soup simmer for a couple minutes until the mixture thickens. This usually takes me 3-5 minutes.
If you’re interested in cooking a full turkey, check out my Smoked Whole Turkey — This one has AMAZING flavor and is fantastic for a crowd. For a smaller group or yourself, consider a turkey breast instead! This How to Cook a Turkey Breast tutorial can help you roast it in the oven or in the slow cooker for a super juicy meal.
First, allow your casserole to completely cool. Skipping this step can lead to more moisture, changing the texture of the casserole. To keep this casserole fresh, store in an airtight container (or right in the casserole dish if your has a tight-fitting lid). It will stay fresh 3-4 days. I do not recommend freezing this casserole as the sour cream will separate and mess with the texture.
You can reheat this casserole by microwaving single servings in 30-second bursts until it’s hot throughout. To reheat the entire casserole (or several servings), place it in a baking dish, cover with foil, and bake at 350 degrees F for about 10 minutes (or until it’s hot throughout). If you’re worried it may dry out, add a few teaspoons of water to the dish before reheating.
Recipes for Leftover Turkey
Several of these recipes call for deli turkey or leftover chicken, but you could easily substitute your delicious turkey leftovers!
- Turkey Bacon and Avocado Taquitos are the perfect idea for when you need something quick. Use your leftovers in place of the deli turkey for a fun swap!
- Cheesy Jalapeno Soup calls for shredded chicken, but the flavors would work amazingly well with turkey meat!
- Leftover Turkey Wraps were born the day after Thanksgiving for a reason! All those flavors meld together perfectly in whatever tortilla you like best.
- Sour Cream Enchiladas also uses shredded chicken, but it’s so good (and so different!) right after all that traditional Thanksgiving food. Try it with turkey instead!
- Lightened Up Tater Tot Casserole usually calls for ground turkey, but you can skip that and add your leftover turkey to the sauteed veggies! Perfect comfort food.
More easy casserole recipes
Get the Recipe: Turkey Casserole
Ingredients
- 3 cups cooked wild rice blend
- 3 cups cooked turkey
- 1 cup peas and carrots, thawed
- 1/2 cup onion, chopped
- 1/2 cup bell pepper, chopped
- 1/2 cup celery, chopped
- 1 10.5 ounce can cream of chicken soup
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 2 cups shredded cheese, divided
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Sauté the onion, peppers and celery in a skillet over medium heat until softened, about 5-6 minutes.
- In a large mixing bowl combine the cooked rice, turkey, sautéed vegetables, peas and carrots. Mix in the cream of chicken, sour cream and half of the shredded cheese.
- Spoon the mixture into a greased 9×13 casserole dish and top with the remaining shredded cheese.
- Bake 25-30 minutes until heated through.
This turkey casserole was super flavorful and cheesy! I will definitely make this recipe again. Thanks!