Turkey Meat Sauce
on Mar 02, 2020, Updated Feb 14, 2024
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When you have extra containers of meat sauce in the freezer, all is right with the world.
This makes WAY more turkey meat sauce than you will need for a pound or two of pasta, but there’s a reason you’re being presented with a recipe this large. First, of course, you can cut this in half. But ground turkey and turkey sausage are usually sold in one-pound packages, so if you buy one of each, this is what you will end up with.
Table of Contents
This makes about 20 cups of turkey meat sauce (whoa!). Here’s what I like to do 1) Make one pound of pasta and serve several cups of the sauce with that the night I make it; 2) The next day, make a lasagna with several more cups of the meat sauce and bake that for later in the week; 3) Freeze the rest of the sauce in two or three containers, so that pasta with homemade meat sauce is an option any night I’m in a pinch, and another lasagna is halfway there.
When you have extra containers of meat sauce in the freezer, all is right with the world.
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Ground Turkey Pasta Sauce
This recipe calls for a combination of ground turkey and turkey sausage. I like to brown them together for two reasons. One, it’s easier and faster. Two, I have the impression (based on no scientific fact) that when they are cooked together, the seasonings from the much more flavorful turkey sausage season up the plain ground turkey, and that the two become one in a more delicious way than they would if they were cooked separately and simply met up later in the sauce. You are welcome to argue with me on this, though I’m sure we all have better things to do.
Slit the thin casing around the sausage, which makes it much easier to get the sausage out, and sautéthe inside sausage up into small browned bits, which combine with the ground turkey and then meld into the sauce.
Make Ahead Turkey Meat Sauce
The sauce will last for up to 4 days in the refrigerator and 6 months well sealed in the freezer. Money in the bank, am I right?
Meat Sauce Variations
You are more than welcome to use ground beef or pork with pork sausage and make this a full-on red meat sauce if you like. This is a little lighter, and for us almost-vegetarians (eg, non-red meat eaters) a very satisfying meat sauce.
Wine in Meat Sauce
The wine adds something, and the alcohol off in cooking, so it won’t affect the kids (and yeah, I know it’s horribly politically incorrect to even have a fleeting wish that it might. Shame on you for even thinking that.) Almost any wine is good, really red or white, adding another layer of flavor, unless it is sweet or has a very intense unusual flavor.
What Pasta to Serve with Turkey Meat Sauce
You can pick from a variety of pasta shapes, from chunk shapes like penne, ziti, rigatoni, orecchiette, or cavatappi to long strands like spaghetti, linguine, or bucatini. Very thin pastas like angel hair might get a bit overwhelmed by the thick meaty sauce, as would tiny shapes like orzo or ditalini.
What to Serve with Turkey Meat Sauce:
- Winter Salad
- Roasted Honey Mustard Brussels Sprouts
- Kale Crunch Salad
- Autumn Salad with Cranberries and Goat Cheese
- Brussels Sprouts, Pecorino and Apple Salad
More Delicious Pasta Recipes
- One Skillet Tuscan Tortellini
- Chicken Parmesan Baked Ziti
- Creamy Four-Cheese Pasta
- Simple Baked Pasta with Bolognese Sauce
- Instant Pot Ziti Lasagna with Bolognese Sauce
- Penne alla Vodka
- Baked Ziti
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Turkey Meat Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil (divided)
- 1 pound ground turkey (don’t buy the ultra lean)
- 1 pound fresh hot turkey sausage (squeezed from the casing)
- 1 pound fresh sweet turkey sausage (squeezed from casing)
- 1 ½ cups chopped onion
- 3 shallots (finely chopped)
- 1 tablespoon finely minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons dried basil
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper (to taste)
- Big glug or two of red or white wine (if you have a bottle open)
- 4 (28-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes (preferably in puree)
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
- 1 pound penne, rigatoni or ziti rigate (optional) (rigate means ridged, and those ridges help catch the sauce in the pasta)
Instructions
- In a large saucepot, heat one tablespoon of the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add both the ground turkey and the turkey sausages together and cook, stirring frequently and breaking up the meat so that it’s very crumbly and browned throughout, about 4 to 6 minutes. Turn it into a strainer and let the fat drain off.
- Add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the same pot over medium heat (don’t clean it! All those little bits of flavor from the meat will season the sauce). Add the onion and shallots, and cook, stirring frequently, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, oregano, and basil and cook, stirring for 2 more minutes, until you can smell the garlic and herbs. Add the wine, if using, and stir for one more minute, scraping up any bits stuck to the bottom, until the wine pretty much evaporates.
- Add the canned tomatoes and red pepper flakes, if using, and stir to combine everything. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. Add the cooked turkey and sausage, lower the heat to medium-low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes. Taste and season gently with the salt and pepper (the sausages provide a whole lot of seasoning).
- Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add a tablespoon of coarse salt, and return the water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook according to package directions. Drain, and toss with as much sauce as desired.
I also make this with a combo of ground beef and Italian sausage. Quarts live in my freezer and save me weekly from schedule colliding crazy nights.
Out standing !
I used ground beef with hot and sweet sausage.
2 teaspoons oregano
1 tablespoon basil
Pino Grigio 1cup or so
2 teaspoons sugar at the end!