This Easy Penne Pasta with Ground Turkey recipe is a delicious 20 minute dinner that is sure to satisfy. The pasta is tossed with lean ground turkey and spinach and smothered in a creamy tomato sauce for a healthy and easy weeknight dinner the whole family will love.
Pasta dishes are a weeknight favorite in our home. They’re quick, easy, and delicious. A pasta dinner can be made using basic ingredients that we have on hand and in minimal time too. That makes it the perfect weeknight meal
This Easy Penne Pasta with Ground Turkey recipe is one of those meals. It’s quick, easy, and full of great flavor. The best part? This easy ground turkey pasta is considerably healthier than many other pasta dishes.
We love healthier pasta recipes here, especially with lightened up creamy sauces like in my Healthy Tuscan Chicken Pasta recipe, Creamy Penne Pasta with Peas, and Lightened Up Creamy Seafood Pasta.
The creamy tomato sauce is a combination of cream sauce and traditional tomato sauce. If your family is divided like mine on whether cream sauce or tomato sauce is better, this sauce is the perfect compromise and sure to satisfy everyone.
Ingredients in Easy Penne Pasta with Ground Turkey
- Penne pasta: Penne rigata is one of my favorite short pasta shapes to use. Those tiny grooves grab onto the sauce and make each bite creamy and delicious. If you don’t have penne on hand, you can substitute another small pasta shape like shell pasta, rotini pasta, bow-tie pasta, etc. You can even use a long noodle like spaghetti, linguine, or fettuccine. Whole wheat pasta is another way to make this dish a bit healthier.
- Olive oil: extra virgin olive oil
- Ground turkey: lean ground turkey is used in this recipe. I love using this healthy lean turkey in dishes but if you don’t have it on hand, you can replace it with other great options like ground beef or ground Italian sausage.
- Veggies: Onion and fresh spinach. Instead of or in addition to the spinach, you can add in other vegetables like sun-dried tomatoes or green peas. You can even use up your frozen veggies if you don’t have fresh on hand!
- Flour: all purpose flour is added to the browned meat to coat it and essentially work as a thickener for the sauce.
- Tomato sauce: use your favorite tomato pasta sauce or a homemade version like this Roasted Tomato Sauce.
- Milk: You can use any type of milk for this including 1%, 2%, or whole milk. I opt to not use heavy cream in my creamy pastas but if you do want to make this richer, you can.
- Parmesan cheese: adds delicious flavor to the sauce. I also highly recommend adding extra on top of the dish when serving! You can also use a different cheese like Romano.
- Seasoning: Italian seasoning, salt and black pepper. Red chili flakes are an optional topping when serving if you want to add a little heat to this dish. I opted for dried herbs (the Italian seasoning) as they are simply something I have on hand all year round but fresh herbs can also be used. Fresh basil works especially well in this dish.
**Note: Ingredient quantities and full instructions are in the recipe card at the end of this post.**
How to make Easy Penne Pasta with Ground Turkey Recipe
- Cook the pasta. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the penne pasta until al dente, according to package directions.
- Cook the turkey. Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoon of olive oil in a large pot or dutch oven over medium-high heat and add the ground turkey. Cook the turkey being sure to break apart any large pieces to ensure thorough cooking.
- Season. When turkey is almost cooked, add the onion and continue to cook until the onion is soft and the turkey is completely cooked through. Season with Italian seasoning, salt and black pepper.
- Make the sauce. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the turkey and sprinkle it with the flour. Stir it in and then add the tomato sauce and milk, cooking until the sauce begins to thicken.
- Combine all the ingredients together. Add the spinach and cook until it begins to wilt. Drain the al dente pasta, reserving a 1/2 cup of pasta water. Add the cooked pasta to the pot along with the spinach and the Parmesan cheese, stirring to combine everything and until the spinach has wilted. Add the reserved pasta water if needed. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed. Serve with extra Parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes for heat (optional).
Storing leftovers and reheating
Once cooled, leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge. To reheat them, place the leftover pasta in a saucepan and add a little water. Heat it over medium heat until warmed through and you can enjoy this delicious meal all over again.
This easy recipe is a weeknight favorite of ours for its simplicity. When we have ground turkey (which is almost always in our freezer), all we need to add is fridge and pantry staples and we have a complete easy meal in minutes. Absolutely perfect for busy weeknights!
I hope you enjoy this dish as much as we do!
-Cathy
You may also like:
Ravioli with Spinach, Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Artichokes
Lemon Parmesan Pasta with Spring Peas
Healthy Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo
Easy Penne Pasta with Ground Turkey
Ingredients
- 3 cups penne pasta uncooked (or pasta of choice)
- 3 tablespoons olive oil oil divided
- 1 lb ground turkey
- 1/2 small onion diced
- 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 2 1/2 cups tomato pasta sauce store-bought or homemade
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 2 cups spinach roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese + more to top (optional)
- salt and black pepper to taste
- red chili flakes optional, for serving if you like a bit of heat
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the penne pasta until al dente, according to package directions.
- Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoon of olive oil in a large pot or dutch oven over medium-high heat and add the ground turkey. Cook the turkey being sure to break apart any large pieces to ensure thorough cooking.
- When turkey is almost cooked, add the onion and continue to cook until the onion is soft and the turkey is completely cooked through. Season with Italian seasoning, salt and black pepper.
- Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the turkey and sprinkle it with the flour. Stir it in and then add the tomato sauce and milk, cooking until the sauce begins to thicken.
- Add the spinach and cook until it begins to wilt.
- Drain the pasta, reserving a 1/2 cup of pasta water. Add the pasta to the pot along with the spinach and the Parmesan cheese, stirring to combine everything and until the spinach has wilted. Add the reserved pasta water if needed. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Taste and adjust seasonings if needed. Serve with extra Parmesan cheese and red chili flakes for heat (optional).
Note: Metric ingredient measurements are provided as a courtesy using a third-party calculator and are rounded to the nearest unit. The recipes provided on this site have not been tested with metric measurements and their accuracy cannot be verified.
Nutrition
The nutritional information provided is based on third-party calculations and is an estimate only. Accurate nutritional facts will vary based on the particular brands used, portion sizes, measurement accuracy and more.
I happen to come on your website looking for mini penne recipes and your’s looks good.
can I use mini penne pasta? that’s what I have.
You definitely can. Just adjust the cooking time for your pasta type.