Ground Turkey Baked Rigatoni

• servings: 6 servings
• active time: 15 minutes
• total time: 35 minutes

Ingredients

1 pound rigatoni

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter

1 pound ground turkey (can substitute ground beef or Italian sausage)

1/2 cup onion (chopped, add more, if you prefer)

1 Tablespoon garlic (minced)

4- ounce canned mushroom stems and pieces (can substitute fresh sliced mushrooms)

1-24 ounce jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce (or your favorite homemade sauce recipe)

2 Tablespoons sweet or Italian basil (chopped)

8 ounces mozzarella (shredded and divided)

Fresh parsley (optional, for garnish)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Cook pasta according to the directions on the box until al dente, and drain. Coat in 1 tablespoon butter while it's still hot, and set aside.

While the pasta is cooking, heat a drizzle of oil in a large pan. Crumble the ground turkey into the pan and cook on medium heat until it’s no longer pink. Salt and pepper to taste.

Add onion and garlic, cook for 3 minutes.

Add mushrooms, cook for another 3 minutes.

Turn heat down to low. Add the sauce and basil, stir, and cover. Cook an additional 3-4 minutes. Stir occasionally if you see the sauce start to bubble, otherwise keep it covered.

In a 9"×13" glass baking dish (sprayed generously with cooking spray), pour in half the pasta, then all of your sauce and meat mix. Stir to mix, and then add the rest of the pasta and stir some more.

Once you feel like it’s all adequately combined, top with the cheese, cover with foil, and pop it in the oven for 15 minutes on the top rack. For the last 5 minutes, uncover and broil (on low, if you have a setting for it) to brown the cheese on top.

Remove carefully, top with parsley (if desired), grab a serving spoon and dish it out. Enjoy!

Nutrition

• Calories: 535 kcal
• Total Fat: 13 g
• Saturated Fat: 7 g
• Unsaturated Fat: 5 g
• Trans Fat: 1 g
• Cholesterol: 76 mg
• Sodium: 956 mg
• Total Carbohydrate: 66 g
• Dietary Fiber: 5 g
• Total Sugars: 8 g
• Protein: 38 g