Recently my mother-in-law gave me a lovely supply of tomatoes fresh from her garden. There were big bright red ones and small orange cherry ones and a couple of different sizes in between. After enjoying some in a fresh salsa and popping a couple cherry tomatoes in my mouth like, umm, cherries … I thought I should use the rest while they were at the peek of freshness. They turned into this scrumptious Turkey Lasagna.
Make Turkey Lasagna For Dinner:
- 1 lb. ground turkey
- 1 onion, chopped
- 5 cups tomatoes, diced
- 1 6 oz. can of tomato paste
- 4-5 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 cups mushrooms, chopped
- 3 tbsp. olive oil
- 2 tsp. salt
- 1½ tsp. dried oregano
- 1 tsp. Italian seasoning
- 2 tsp. dried parsley
- 2 tsp. dried basil
- 1 tsp. ground black pepper
- 2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
- 3½ cups grated mozzarella cheese
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese
- 1 15 oz. container ricotta cheese
- ½ package of oven-ready lasagna noodles
- In a large pot heat olive oil on med-high and add ground turkey.
- Stir until browned.
- Add onion, stir and cook until onions become tender (3-4 min.)
- Then add the garlic and mushrooms and continue to cook (2-3 min.)
- Next add the tomatoes, tomato paste, and dried seasoning and stir until well combined.
- Add red pepper flakes if desired.
- Allow the pot to come to a boil then reduce heat and simmer on low for 30-60 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a 9" x 13" baking dish, spoon some sauce to cover the bottom.
- Place noodles over sauce to cover.
- Over noodles, dab spoonfuls of ricotta cheese.
- Sprinkle about 1 cup of the grated mozzarella for the cheese layer.
- Proceed with another two layers starting with sauce, then noodles, then ricotta and mozzarella cheese.
- For topping, add one last layer of sauce to coat, sprinkle the remaining ½ cup of mozzarella cheese, then the Parmesan cheese.
- Bake in oven for 30 minutes until noodles are cooked through and cheese on top is bubbly and golden.
Preparation:
In a large pot heat olive oil on high, reduce to medium-high and add ground turkey. Stir until turkey browned. Add onion, stir and cook until onions become tender – about 3-4 minutes. Then add the garlic and mushrooms and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Finally, add the tomatoes, tomato paste, and dried seasoning and stir until well combined. Adjust or omit crushed red pepper flakes depending on whether you like a little spiciness or not.
Allow the pot to come to a boil then reduce heat and simmer on low for at least 30 minutes but up to an hour.
Preheat oven to 350°F. In a 9″ x 13″ baking dish, spoon some sauce to cover the bottom.
Place noodles over sauce to cover. I use the oven-ready variety of noodles so that I don’t have to pre-cook them (or fresh lasagna when available). If you have traditional dry lasagna noodles be sure to pre-cook them.
Over the noodles, dab spoonfuls of ricotta cheese. Then, sprinkle about 1 cup of the grated mozzarella for the cheese layer.
Proceed with another two layers starting with sauce, then noodles, then ricotta and mozzarella cheese. For the topping, add one last layer of sauce to coat, sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese, then sprinkle the 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese.
Bake in oven for 30 minutes until noodles are cooked through and cheese on top is bubbly and golden. There you have it- scrumptious Turkey Lasagna.
Servings: 10
Calories Per Serving: 290