A healthy twist on a family food favourite, this Easy Turkey Mince Bolognese is much lower in saturated fat and calories than a standard spaghetti bolognese, and packed full of goodness… but there’s no compromise on flavour – this turkey Bolognese is just as delicious as a regular beef mince bolognese!
Turkey is not just for Christmas!
I always think it’s funny how turkey is by far the favourite meat at Christmas (and, of course, also hugely popular at thanksgiving in the US), but often all but totally ignored the rest of the year.
It’s such a shame, because turkey is really a delicious and nutritious source of protein – it’s rich in B vitamins and minerals like selenium, zinc, phosphorus and iron, while being relatively low in fat and calories.
One of the best ways to incorporate turkey into your weekday meals is by using turkey mince in meals where you would normally use beef mince – like in this delicious Turkey Mince Bolognese!
A really easy recipe
This Turkey Mince Bolognese is really quick and simple to make. All you need to do fry onions, carrots, celery, turkey mince and garlic in a little olive oil. Then add chopped tomatoes, chicken stock, tomato puree, oregano, soy sauce and black pepper. Simmer for 10 minutes, then serve with spaghetti, grated cheese and fresh basil. Easy peasy!
(See the recipe card below for the full recipe.)
Healthier than beef bolognese
This Easy Mince Turkey Bolognese is much lower in saturated fat and calories than a standard beef Bolognese. Better still, this bolognese features 5 different veggies! (Not quite big enough quantities to hit all your 5 a day, but variety is important too – health experts are now saying we should eat at least 30 different plants per week for good gut health. Herbs, olive oil and even grains count, so this meal gives you 8 plants!)
If you want to make this bolognese even healthier, you could serve it with wholewheat spaghetti.
What to serve with turkey bolognese
I like to serve this Easy Peasy Turkey Bolognese with spaghetti – either regular white spaghetti or wholewheat spaghetti. Alternatively, it also works well with other pasta shapes, such as fusilli or penne.
You could also add a simple salad and/or garlic bread if you want to add extra sides.
What to drink with turkey bolognese
Chianti and Montepulciano d’Abruzzo pair well with turkey bolognese. Sauvignon blanc also goes surprisingly well, if you prefer white wine.
What to do with leftover turkey bolognese
Turkey bolognese is one of those many, many recipes that actually tastes BETTER the next day, so a great make ahead option!
(I should add, I mean the bolognese sauce only, not the spaghetti! I would always recommend you cook the spaghetti right before you need it.)
Put any leftover (or ‘made ahead’) bolognese sauce in a lidded container and place in the fridge, where it will keep for up to 3 days.
To reheat, simply tip the sauce into a saucepan with a splash of water. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes or until piping hot all the way through.
Alternatively reheat this bolognese sauce in the microwave until piping hot all the way through.
Can you freeze turkey bolognese?
I don’t recommend you freeze the spaghetti – cook that fresh! But yes, the turkey bolognese sauce freezes very well. In fact, I recommend you make double the quantity and freeze half for some time in the future when you are super short on time, but still want to eat well!
Simply put the cooked and cooled bolognese sauce into a lidded container and place it in the freezer, where it will keep for up to 3 months. Defrost overnight in the fridge and reheat as above.
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Easy Turkey Mince Bolognese
Ingredients
- 280 g spaghetti
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small onion very finely diced (See Note 1)
- 1 small carrot very finely diced (See Note 1)
- 1 stick celery very finely diced (See Note 1)
- 500 g turkey breast mince
- 2 cloves garlic grated or crushed
- 400 g tin chopped tomatoes (Ideally one of the better quality brands, like Cirio or Napolina)
- 200 ml chicken stock (from a cube is fine – I use ½ a Kallo organic chicken stock cube, but ½ an Oxo Chicken stock cube also works well – See Note 2.)
- 1 tablespoon tomato puree
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce, if you prefer
- Black pepper to taste (See Note 3)
- Grated parmesan or cheddar to serve (optional)
- Fresh basil leaves as a garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Cook the spaghetti according to packet instructions / your own preferences. Drain when cooked.
- Meanwhile, place the olive oil, onions, carrots and celery in a large frying pan, with a lid on, over a low heat for 3 minutes, until softened but not brown. Stir occasionally.
- Turn the heat up and add the turkey mince, break up with a spatula and fry for 3 minutes, until lightly browned, stirring regularly.
- Turn the heat back down again and stir in the garlic. Fry for 1 minute, taking care not to burn the garlic.
- Add the chopped tomatoes, chicken stock, tomato puree, oregano, soy sauce and black pepper. (See Note 3.) Stir everything together and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down to medium and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Divide the spaghetti between 4 plates, top with the bolognese sauce and sprinkle over the grated cheese.
- Garnish with fresh basil leaves.
Notes
- Personally I prefer very finely diced onions, carrots and celery in this recipe (this is called a soffritto in Italian). But if you prefer you veggies chunkier, by all means cut them less finely. Alternatively, if you want to make life even easier for yourself, you can sometimes find ready chopped soffritto mix in the supermarket freezer section.
- I realise a recipe which uses half a stock cube is annoying! I would never normally do that, but I feel using a whole stock cube is too overpowering in this recipe. An easy fix for this problem is to make a double quantity of the sauce and freeze half!
- I only add black pepper, not salt, to this recipe as I feel the stock cube plus the soy sauce makes this salty enough, but feel free to add salt at this point too, if you wish.
- Suitable for freezing. (Bolognese sauce only.)
- Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.
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Bob says
This is an excellent twist on a classic. It seems like lean turkey is a trend that is not going away. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Eb Gargano says
Aw, that’s so great to hear! You are very welcome 😀