This easy Baked Ziti with Ground Turkey is comfort food at its finest. The creamy tomato sauce is better than any other sauce because it's homemade and super simple to make. The sauce is combined with ground turkey, pasta (ziti), and then topped with cheddar cheese and mozzarella for a golden cheesy finish.
This ground turkey bake with ziti pasta is honestly so delicious. It's super creamy, full of flavour, and simple to make. It's perfect for when you've got a busy week and you need something you can serve out of one pan.
Ground turkey pasta bake is one of my favourite meals, but if you're looking for more pasta recipes, you've got to try out my Sweet Potato Pasta Sauce recipe, Lemon Boursin Pasta, Gnocchi Lasagne with Gochujang, or my Roasted Tomato Feta Bucatini.
Jump to:
- Why You'll Love This Recipe
- What is Ziti?
- Ingredients & Substitutions
- Step By Step Instructions with Photos
- Top Tips!
- How Do I Store Leftover Ziti Pasta Bake?
- How To Heat Up Leftover Ground Turkey Pasta Bake?
- Side Dish Ideas
- FAQs for this recipe
- Some more recipes you might enjoy!
- The Best Baked Ziti with Ground Turkey
Why You'll Love This Recipe
Homemade: Don't get me wrong, a store-bought pasta sauce is great, but homemade is better. This dish is all made from scratch but is really simple and low maintenance.
Comforting: Baked pasta dishes are always so comforting, and this ground turkey pasta bake is even more warming, gooey, and cheesy than other ones I've made. Another one of my favourite comfort foods is my ground beef and sweet potato recipe topped with a delicious cheese sauce, nduja, and fresh basil pesto.
Crowd-friendly: This dish serves 4 people, so it's great for a feast with friends or family. You can double the recipe and choose a bigger oven-proof dish if you'd like, to serve more people!
What is Ziti?
Ziti, is a type of pasta originating from Campania and Sicily, southern Italy. They are shaped into long, wide tubes, about 25 cm long, that need to be broken by hand into smaller pieces before cooking. Ziti have similarities to bucatini, but are much thicker. This pasta variety is quite difficult to find outside of Italy, so some great substitutes are bucatini (broken by hand into little pieces), rigatoni, penne, or casarecce.
Ingredients & Substitutions
For the homemade tomato sauce:
Cherry tomatoes: any small tomatoes will work for this recipe. I used cherry but you could use baby. If you only have large tomatoes, that's fine too.
Garlic bulb: You want to use a whole garlic bulb for this sauce. Roasting it milds the flavour, making it creamy and aromatic. If you don't have fresh garlic, you can just garlic powder when adding it to the blender.
Shallots: These add a lovely sweetness. You can also use white or red onion.
Thyme: Fresh thyme adds a wintery feel to the dish. Dried thyme can also work, just add it into the blender after roasting.
Basil: Fresh basil, for when you're blending the sauce.
Single cream: any single cream works, whether it's vegan or dairy.
Stock: Chicken, beef, or vegetable stock works, just to add a bit of extra umami and flavour.
Parmesan: Fresh, non-grated parmesan is perfect.
If you're looking to speed up the process of making this dish, you can buy store-bought chopped tomatoes and add them to a blender with 2 garlic cloves, single cream, stock, basil, thyme, and parmesan (as stated in the recipe).
For the rest of the dish:
Ground turkey: This lean ground meat is perfect for a healthier meat alternative. This meat is great to make my air fryer turkey meatballs and my Turkey Mac and Cheese is another turkey pasta recipe I love, as well as my leftover turkey ramen! You can however, choose beef mince, chicken mince, or pork mince if you'd like. For a vegan alternative, I'd recommend using oyster mushrooms and tearing them up to fry them.
Ziti: As I mentioned above, ziti is a type of tubular pasta but it's quite difficult to find outside Italy. If you can't find it, your best bet is to either use bucatini (broken by hand into 2 inch pieces), rigatoni, penne, or casarecce.
Mozzarella: This makes the pasta dish super cheesy and stringy. Feel free to use a vegan alternative.
Cheddar: Grated cheddar adds a richness and umami flavour to the pasta. It's optional, but I'd recommend it! Use a bit of vegan cheddar cheese or nutritional yeast to add that extra cheesy flavour.
See the recipe card below for full list of ingredients.
Step By Step Instructions with Photos
Step 1: 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), 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.
Step 2: 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.
Step 3: 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.
Step 4: Pour your blended tomato sauce into your oven-proof dish followed by your turkey and pasta. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then give everything a good mix.
Step 5: Tear ¼ of your mozzarella into little pieces and scatter them onto 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 20 minutes until bubbling and golden.
Step 6: Once your baked ground turkey pasta is ready, remove from the grill, and plate up. Top with parsley and enjoy!
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, single cream, 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!
How Do I Store Leftover Ziti Pasta Bake?
Once you've cooked your baked ziti with ground turkey pasta bake and you have leftovers, transfer them into a container and leave to cool. Then, add on the lid so it's airtight, and place in the fridge for up to 4 days.
How To Heat Up Leftover Ground Turkey Pasta Bake?
The quickest and easiest way to heat up your ziti pasta bake is by adding a dash of milk into your container and then placing it into the microwave for 3-5 minutes (stirring half way) until piping hot.
If you've made the pasta bake ahead of time and now want to heat it up ready to eat. Preheat your oven to 200C/390F and place your turkey pasta bake into the oven, covered with tinned foil or with an oven-proof lid. Bake for 30 minutes until heated through.
Side Dish Ideas
- I love a fresh green salad to go with this pasta bake.
- Garlic bread is also a great one as this dish is similar to a lasagne in flavour.
- Roasted vegetables e.g. green beans.
FAQs for this recipe
Yes, you can use bucatini (broken into 2 inch pieces), rigatoni, penne, or casarecce.
Absolutely, substitute the ground turkey with torn pieces of oyster mushroom. Then, the cream and cheese can be replaced with plant-based substitutes.
Because we want an extra crispy and golden cheesy top, I've opted not to cover the baking dish with tinned foil. I've ensured that the sauce is saucy enough to cover any evaporation that occurs in the oven.
Some more recipes you might enjoy!
If you tried this Baked Ziti with Ground Turkey recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thank you!
The Best Baked Ziti with Ground Turkey
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
- 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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