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Pasta night just got easier and tastier with this Turkey Bolognese Sauce recipe! Serve it over your choice of pasta, spaghetti squash, or zoodles for a delicious meal.
A pasta lover since birth, I’m all about a classic meat sauce. Whether I’m making spaghetti, ragu, rigatoni, or lasagna, I lean toward Bolognese the majority of the time.
Classic Bolognese sauce includes ground beef, homemade tomato sauce and fresh herbs. We simply swap the ground beef for lean ground turkey for a high protein sauce with minimal fat for a lighter version.
I keep this easy turkey Bolognese recipe super simple using a jar of store-bought tomato sauce, but you can easily make a homemade tomato sauce following my recipe in the recipe card below, or using your cherished family recipe.
Toss it with your favorite pasta noodles, spaghetti squash, or zucchini noodles for a hearty, healthy dinner!
Let’s discuss the simple ingredients for this easy ground turkey Bolognese sauce.
Ingredients for Turkey Bolognese Sauce:
Lean Ground Turkey: The star of the show! We’re making a meat sauce using ground turkey instead of the classic ground beef.
Avocado Oil: Used to sauté the onion and brown the turkey, we need a quality cooking oil that can withstand heat. I prefer using avocado oil over olive oil because olive oil can burn at higher temperatures.
Yellow Onion and Fresh Garlic: While the store-bought pasta sauce already includes onion and garlic, I love adding more fresh onion and garlic for a big bold flavor. All pasta sauces are built on these ingredients!
Store-Bought Pasta Sauce: Pick your favorite jar of tomato-based store-bought pasta sauce! I go with classic marinara sauce, garden vegetable sauce, vodka sauce, or spicy arrabiata sauce.
Homemade tomato sauce requires either fresh tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, or canned diced tomatoes (or canned tomato sauce), tomato paste, onion, garlic, and a combination of fresh herbs and dried herbs.
Recipe Customizations:
- For a homemade tomato sauce recipe, make this Balsamic Roasted Tomato Sauce.
- Add in any fresh vegetables to hide veggies into the sauce for kids or general nutrition. Finely chopped broccoli, carrots, baby spinach, cauliflower, and zucchini are all great options.
- Kick up the heat by adding 1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes, or to your personal taste.
- If you enjoy cooking with wine, add 1/4 cup of a dry red wine such as cabernet sauvignon.
- For a creamy texture, add 1/2 cup to 2/3 cup of heavy cream.
- I make my Bolognese sauce very meaty, with a high ratio of meat to sauce. If you prefer the opposite (more sauce), simply double the amount of tomato sauce you use.
Now that we’ve covered the basic ingredients, let’s make it!
How to Make Turkey Bolognese Sauce:
Heat the avocado oil in a large skillet or a thick-bottomed pot such as a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Sauté the yellow onion until softened until it begins turning golden brown, about 8-10 minutes.
Add in the ground turkey and fresh garlic. Use a spatula or a wooden spoon to break the ground turkey into small chunks. Brown the meat until it is nearly cooked through.
Pour the pasta sauce into the skillet with the meat and onions and stir well. Bring the sauce to a full boil.
Immediately reduce the heat and cover the skillet. Cook at a controlled bubble for a minimum of 10-15 minutes, ideally 1 hour if you have the time to develop more depth of flavor.
Taste the sauce for flavor and season it to taste with salt and black pepper. You can also stir in fresh herbs like fresh parsley, fresh basil, and/or grated parmesan cheese.
Serve turkey Bolognese over your choice of pasta noodles, rice, spaghetti squash, zucchini noodles, cauliflower rice, etc.
This recipe makes enough sauce to accommodate a 12-ounce package of pasta noodles. Simply cook your favorite pasta using the package directions until al dente and stir the cooked pasta into the sauce.
Taste the pasta for flavor and add fresh herbs, lemon zest, sea salt and black pepper to your personal taste. Serve pasta with fresh grated parmesan cheese on top with some crusty garlic bread.
The best part about this delicious dinner recipe is the sauce tastes even better the next day.
Store leftover sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 7 days.
How to Serve Turkey Bolognese:
Looking for easy recipes to put your ground turkey pasta sauce to use? Here are some of my favorite applications.
- Rigatoni Pasta with Bolognese Sauce
- Spaghetti Squash Bolognese
- Mushroom Bolognese Spaghetti Squash Casserole
Recipe Tips:
- For saucier sauce, double the amount of tomato sauce (two jars, or 50 ounces).
- Prepare your own tomato sauce several days in advance if you prefer making it from scratch.
Enjoy this Italian classic any night of the week! Make a double batch or a triple batch if you’re serving a big family or if you enjoy batch cooking for meal prep.
Looking for more healthy Italian recipes? Here are some of my favorites.
More Italian Recipes:
- Butternut Squash Lasagna
- Creamy Sun-Dried Tomato Chicken Pasta
- 30-Minute Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Chicken Pasta
- Marry Me Chicken Pasta
- Gluten-Free Chicken Marsala
Enjoy this healthy turkey meat sauce the next time pasta is on the menu!
Turkey Bolognese Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp avocado oil
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 pound lean ground turkey meat
- 25 ounces tomato sauce*
Instructions
- Heat the avocado oil in a large skillet or a thick-bottomed pot such as a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Sauté the yellow onion until softened until it begins turning golden brown, about 8-10 minutes. Add in the ground turkey and fresh garlic. Use a spatula or a wooden spoon to break the ground turkey into small chunks. Brown the meat until it is nearly cooked through.
- Pour the pasta sauce into the skillet with the meat and onions and stir well. Bring the sauce to a full boil. Immediately reduce the heat and cover the skillet. Cook at a controlled bubble for a minimum of 10-15 minutes, ideally 1 hour if you have the time to develop more depth of flavor. Taste the sauce for flavor and season it to taste with salt and black pepper. You can also stir in fresh herbs like fresh parsley, fresh basil, and/or grated parmesan cheese.
- Serve turkey Bolognese over your choice of pasta noodles, rice, spaghetti squash, zucchini noodles, cauliflower rice, etc. This sauce makes enough to accommodate one 12-ounce package of pasta noodles.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this recipe? Rate and comment below!
Thank you for this recipe! Just clarifying-I can use a can of plain tomato sauce or a jar of Marinara/Pasta Sauce??
Thanks!
Hi Lora! My apologies for the confusion! You need a jar (25 ounces or more) of a store-bought pasta sauce, such as marinara sauce, vodka, sauce, etc. The jars of pasta sauce are usually in the same aisle as the dried pasta noodles. Here’s an example of what I mean: https://amzn.to/4mJvjg3