This Baked Pasta recipe utilizes whole wheat pasta, ground turkey and plenty of cheese. Watch the short video down a ways in the post showing you how to make this recipe, then scroll all the way to the bottom of this post and print out a clean copy of the recipe so you can make it at home.
There’s an old saying in our house… “If there is nothing for dinner, then pasta is what’s for dinner.” Seriously, sometimes I get caught at 5 o’clock without any plans to feed my family a good dinner, and pasta is an acceptable fallback. I try to keep things like ground beef, turkey and sausage in the freezer, jars of marinara and different varieties of pasta in the pantry, some veggies in the crisper, and plenty of cheese in the much-loved cheese drawer. If I have these basics available, whipping up a quick pasta meal is not a problem.
This simple recipe was created by checking out my refrigerator to see what was available so I didn’t have to get in my car and drive to the store! I spotted some ground turkey in the freezer (score!), and I decided to try using shredded Monterey Jack since I didn’t have any mozzarella cheese.
What’s the best kind of pasta?
A friend of mine recommended that I try her favorite brand of whole wheat pasta: Delallo. I hadn’t tried it before (my boys usually say they don’t care much for whole wheat pasta) so I picked up their whole wheat shells at my local market and decided to give them a shot. Delallo carries a lot of varieties of pasta, but I chose the shells since it’s nice for the meat and melted cheese to be able to sneak inside the shell cavities while baking.
What’s a good dish for baking pasta?
You don’t need anything fancy for making a baked pasta dish. If you have one of those 9×13-inch pans (a deeper one works best), then that should work just fine. Homegoods and Target carry good, inexpensive options for prettier casserole dishes. I’m always picking those kinds of things up when I see a good deal!
It turns out the whole wheat shells work perfectly in this recipe- combined with sautéed onions, ground turkey, marinara and a very flavorful Monterey Jack cheese. I asked my boys if they liked the pasta, and they actually said that they LOVED the pasta. Then I broke the news that it was whole wheat. They enthusiastically agreed that I can make Delallo whole wheat pasta for them any time.
I’m so happy I found this brand. Oh yeah, and this isn’t a sponsored post or anything, I’m just sharing a brand that you might like to try too. I recently found that Delallo makes a pretty decent gluten-free pasta too.
The Best Pasta Recipes:
- Chicken Pasta Primavera
- Sundried Tomato Pasta
- Creamy Gruyere and Shrimp Pasta
- BLT Pasta
- Tomato- Beef Pasta
- Greek Chicken Pasta Toss
- Italian Sausage Pasta
- Skillet Pasta Carbonara
- Cheesy Beef and Pasta Casserole
Baked Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 large garlic cloves, minced
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 12 ounces ground turkey (90% lean)
- 4 cups cooked whole wheat pasta shells (see Recipe Notes below)
- 2½ cups marinara sauce (bottled or homemade)
- ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1½ cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese, divided
- ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375℉. Spray a 3-quart casserole dish with nonstick spray.
- In a large pan, heat the oil over medium-heat and add onion, garlic and red pepper flakes. Saute until onions have softened, about 4 minutes. Crumble in the ground turkey and cook until the turkey is browned, about 5 minutes. Stir in the pasta, marinara sauce, parsley and 1 cup of the cheese. Spoon the pasta mixture into the prepared dish. Sprinkle remaining ½cup of cheese on top and the Parmesan cheese too.
- Bake until cheese is melted and bubbly, about 20 minutes.
Notes
- I'm not always such a fan of whole wheat pasta, but I really like the Delallo Foods brand- we used their whole wheat shells for this recipe. Delallo is in select stores, but you can always find it at Whole Foods Market.
- 4 cups of cooked pasta equates to about 2 cups dried.
- Use a good cheese for this recipe- I used a very flavorful Monterey Jack. Sometimes Jack can be quite mild. You can also use Swiss, Provolone or Mozzarella (or a blend!)
This looks excellent! My only question is that you seem to have left out the step for when to add the parsley (unless I’m totally blind). I’m assuming you’d add it at the same time as the pasta and marinara sauce, correct? I’ll definitely be making this soon!
Thank you for spotting that- I added it in the directions. Appreciate the heads-up!
What is the nutritional info? Weight watchers points?
Not sure- but you can put the ingreds into a recipe calculator to figure it out- I like to use Spark People Recipe Calculator.
I loved baked pasta dishes 🙂 this looks delicious!!
This is a recipe I can get behind! The only way i can eat ground turkey is in Italian dishes. Hubby and I like it as much or better than beef! ..plus this looks like a great recipe. 🙂
Made this bake last night, very easy and really really good! Good one for an informal dinner party too. To keep!!
I bought some Delallo whole wheat pasta as a result of your comments and cooked it today. It is delicious. It’s the brand I will use from now on. I actually like it better than “regular” pasta.
I made this for dinner tonight using organic ground beef. My husband had two servings – and he rarely takes seconds.
I can’t even move right now.
This looks like total comfort food! And I need it in my life asap.
This is such a great weeknight meal! I always need great last minute ideas.