Turkey Spaghetti

This turkey spaghetti sauce recipe is lightened up with ground turkey, but homemade and so flavorful you'd never know it's turkey!

Course dinner, Main Dish

Cuisine American, Italian

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 1 15

Total Time 1 30

Servings servings

Calories 472kcal

Author Christy Gurin

Equipment

2 Dutch oven or large pot one for spaghetti sauce and the other for the noodles
1 Cutting board
1 Chef knife
1 Measuring cups and spoons set
1 Spatula or wooden spoon

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs. lean ground turkey
2 turkey sausage links casing removed and discarded (can substitute extra 1/2 lb. of ground turkey instead)
1 Tablespoons olive oil
2 bell peppers seeded and chopped
1 large onion chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 large carrots peeled and finely minced
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons Worcestershire
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon fennel seed
28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
28. oz. can stewed tomatoes
15 oz. can tomato sauce
12 oz. tomato paste Two 6 oz. cans
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup fresh chopped basil or 1 1/2 Tbsp. dried (adjust to taste)
2 teaspoons fresh chopped oregano or 1 tsp. dried
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
1 teaspoon sugar optional
32 ounces Spaghetti noodles see notes for quantity and meal prep

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Heat oil in a large dutch oven or pot over medium heat. Add onion and peppers and cook for 2 - 3 minutes to soften.
Add carrots, garlic, ground turkey, and turkey sausage and cook while breaking into small pieces with a spatula.
While turkey is finishing browning, add salt, pepper, worcestershire, red pepper flakes, and fennel.
Add crushed tomatoes, stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low and let simmer uncovered for 45 minutes to 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
During the last 15 minutes of cooking time, add chopped fresh herbs. If sauce is too acidic, add sugar to taste (normally 1-2 teaspoons but I often leave it out). This is the time to boil the noodles too!
If serving with pasta, drain and plate al dente pasta as the sauce finishes cooking.
Ladle sauce onto pasta and garnish with additional chopped parsley and parmesan cheese if desired.

Notes

Quantity: This recipe was developed for meal prep and makes enough sauce to cover approximately two lbs. of uncooked spaghetti noodles. To make less sauce, simply use the serving size button to reduce in half by entering 6 servings instead of 12. This will reduce the quantities automatically.

To make low carb: serve over roasted spaghetti squash.

Storage: Let sauce cool before plating in a tightly sealing container and storing in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Freezing: To freeze, allow sauce to cool completely and then ladle into airtight freezer safe containers and place in freezer. Sauce can be frozen for 3-6 months depending on the container type.

Nutrition