The Best Baked Ziti with Ground Turkey

Black oven proof dish filled with baked pasta with a wooden spoon off the side.

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The Best Baked Ziti with Ground Turkey

The simple homemade sauce is combined with ground turkey, pasta (ziti), and then topped with cheddar cheese and mozzarella for a golden cheesy finish.

Prep Time15

Cook Time40

Total Time50

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American, Italian

Servings: people

Calories: 658kcal

Author: Emily Roz

Ingredients

For the homemade sauce

300g baby tomatoes
2 shallots, peeled and halved
1 garlic bulb, head chopped off, revealing the cloves
Thyme large sprig
2 tablespoon olive oil
300ml single cream
300ml stock
5g fresh basil
2 tablespoon grated parmesan

For the rest

400g ground turkey
250g ziti or a substitute like rigatoni or casarecce.
300g mozzarella
2 tablespoon grated cheddar

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 200C/390F. Grab an oven-proof baking dish and add in your cherry tomatoes, garlic bulb (with the head chopped off to reveal the cloves), thyme, and shallots. Sprinkle over some pepper and salt, then drizzle with olive oil. Give everything a mix and then place in the oven for 20-30 minutes until soft.
Meanwhile, place a frying pan on medium heat and drizzle with 1 tablespoon of oil. Add in your ground turkey and fry for 5-10 minutes, stirring frequently until the turkey is cooked. Also, cook your ziti pasta to packet instructions. Drain and set aside.
When your tomatoes are soft, add them to a blender. Squeeze out the garlic cloves and add them into the blender too, followed by your shallots and thyme leaves. Add in single cream, basil, stock, and parmesan. Blend until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Pour your blended tomato sauce into your oven-proof dish followed by your cooked turkey and pasta. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then give everything a good mix.
Tear ¼ of your mozzarella into little pieces and scatter them into your pasta. Mix and combine so that the mozzarella pieces are combined into your pasta. This will make the pasta super cheesy inside too. Then, top with the remaining mozzarella and grated cheddar cheese. Place in the grill for 10-20 minutes or until bubbling and golden.
Once your baked ground turkey pasta is ready, remove from the grill, and plate up. Top with parsley and enjoy!

Notes

Step-by-Step Photos: My blog post includes helpful step-by-step photos to help guide you through making this recipe.

To double quantity: This recipe can be doubled to make the dish for 6-8 people.

Top Tips!

If you want to speed up the process: you can buy store-bought chopped tomatoes and add them to a blender with 2 garlic cloves, 300ml single cream, 200ml stock, basil, thyme, and parmesan (as stated in the recipe).
Use leftover pasta: If you've got leftover cooked pasta in the fridge, you can use that in this recipe.
Prep-ahead: You can make the homemade tomato creamy sauce ahead of time. You can even make it in big batches and freeze it, so then you can make the dish whenever you fancy!

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