This Easy Penne Pasta is made ground turkey and spinach and smothered in a creamy tomato sauce! Best of all, this delicious dish comes together in under 20 minutes!
We love a good pasta dish around here! My husband and I are both carb lovers and so pasta dishes tend to make their way to the dinner table pretty often!
As someone who loves to be in the kitchen experimenting, pasta is the perfect canvas. There are so many varieties and so many ways you can dress them up!
The other reason I love pasta- how quick it can be! On days that I am low on time and low on ingredients, it’s the perfect, quick option to get something delicious on the table.
This recipe is one we love. I love a good creamy pasta (that’s why I have several “healthified” (made up word??) creamy dishes on my site. My husband prefers tomato sauce on his pasta. So this creamy tomato sauce is a happy middle. Compromise right? We both end up happy this way!
Ingredients in Easy Penne Pasta with Ground Turkey
- Penne pasta
- Oil
- Ground turkey
- Onion
- Flour
- Tomato sauce
- Milk
- Spinach
- Parmesan cheese
- salt and pepper
Substitutions for Easy Penne Pasta with Ground Turkey
While this pasta dish is simple in ingredients that you likely have on hand, if you don’t, don’t worry!
- Don’t have ground turkey? No problem! Substitute ground beef or even canned chickpeas for an alternative protein source!
- You can also swap out the penne for another pasta. Pretty much any pasta shape I can think of would work here!
- Use up your frozen veggies if you don’t have fresh on hand! Or swap in another leafy green (kale or swiss chard work well here too)!
- If you are dairy free, you can swap in your favourite milk (like coconut milk) instead.
Hope you give it a try! Bon appetit!
You may also like:
Creamy Sundried Tomato Pesto Pasta
Lemon Parmesan Pasta with Spring Peas
Healthy Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo
Easy Penne Pasta with Ground Turkey
Ingredients
- 3 cups penne pasta uncooked
- 3 tablespoons oil divided
- 1 lb ground turkey
- 1/2 small onion diced
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 3 cups tomato sauce
- 2 cups milk
- 2 cups spinach roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook penne pasta according to package directions.
- Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoon of olive oil in a large pot or dutch oven 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 salt and pepper.
- Add 1 tablespoon of 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 penne and add it to the pot with the Parmesan cheese, stirring to combine everything. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
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.