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Sure, with ground turkey you can make some easy tacos or pasta—but why not surprise your family with an absolutely Delicious Turkey Lasagna, instead?
Growing up, one of my absolute favorite dinners that my mom made was her lasagna. When it was lasagna night, everyone was happy and everyone left the table full, smiling, and ready to wind down for the night. Now that I am a mom myself, I realize how much joy there is in feeding your family a meal that everyone enjoys and is left satisfied.
When you’ve got ground turkey on hand, it’s easy to make an amazing family meal that’s better for you but still full of flavor. Here, I’ve done just that. With inspiration on feeding my family from my own mom, I’ve made a fantastic turkey lasagna that… no kidding, will make everyone come back for seconds! In fact, my oldest (and pickiest) eater had 3 servings of this Turkey Lasagna recently, and it’s quickly become her most requested dinner.
Using Shady Brook Farms 93% Lean/ 7% Fat Ground Turkey in your sauce is the perfect, easy way to add lean protein to your lasagna. While I am waiting on my pot of water to boil and my lasagna noodles to cook, I can easily prepare my sauce and ricotta mixture for layering into the lasagna. After that, it’s layering time…
This is also a great meal to make ahead on a Sunday and have it on hand for a busy weeknight. When I am prepping this ahead of time, I will layer everything and instead of baking it, I simply cover it with foil and pop it into my fridge. When I’m ready to make it, I then pop it into my oven and dinner is ready in about 45 minutes, giving me just enough time to help my kids with their homework, and whip up a simple side salad. Winning.
Watching my entire family devour this dish makes me so happy and also brings back so many memories of my own childhood around the family table. I hope you and yours enjoy it as much as I do.
Delicious Turkey Lasagna
Ingredients
- 9-12 lasagna noodles NOT no boil!
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup finely diced yellow onion or 1 small onion
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 1 lb Shady Brook Farms 93% Lean/ 7% Fat Ground Turkey
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- ½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes optional
- 2 [14-oz] cans crushed tomatoes
- ½ cup dry red wine
- ½ cup water
- 2 tbsp minced fresh basil leaves
- 1 tsp minced fresh thyme leaves
- 1 [15 oz] container ricotta cheese
- 1 egg lightly beaten
- ¼ cup freshly chopped parsley leaves
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 1 cup freshly shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Once boiling, add the lasagna noodles and cook according to package directions, drain, and set aside.
- Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large sided skillet over medium heat. When hot, add the onions, garlic, salt and pepper and cook, stirring, until the onions are translucent, 3 to 5 minutes.
- Increase the heat to medium-high and add the turkey, oregano and pepper flakes (if using). Cook, breaking up the turkey with the edge of a wooden spoon until it is no longer pink and cooked through, about 6 minutes. Add in the crushed tomatoes, wine, water, basil and thyme and stir to combine. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce has reduced just slightly. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- Meanwhile, in a medium bowl combine the ricotta, egg, parsley, lemon zest, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper and using a fork, stir until well combined. Set aside.
- To assemble the lasagna, pour 1 cup of the turkey/tomato mixture into the bottom of a 2.5 quart oval baking dish and spread to evenly coat the bottom. Top with 3 of the lasagna noodles. Next, carefully spread ½ of the ricotta mixture over the tops of the noodles to coat evenly. Then, sprinkle with ⅓ of the mozzarella. Top with 1 cup of the turkey/tomato mixture.
- Repeat once again by layering 3 more of the lasagna noodles, spreading the remaining ricotta mixture evenly over the noodles, sprinkling â…“ of the mozzarella, and topping with 1 more cup of the turkey/tomato mixture.
- For the last layer, top with the 3 remaining lasagna noodles. Spread the remaining turkey/tomato mixture over the top. I like to use a rubber spatula to tuck any of the noodles (should they be sticking out) into the sides so they are no longer poking out. Sprinkle the top with the remaining mozzarella cheese.
- Cover the baking dish with foil and transfer to the oven and bake, covered, for 45 minutes. Uncover and continue baking until the sauce is bubbling, about 15 more minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Can I make this using no boil lasagna? I need it to be GF and I only see no boil GF lasagna.
Can I prep this ahead of time (like the day before) then pop into the oven the next day?
Hi! Can I use a 2.2 quart rectangular baking dish if I don’t have a 2.5 quart oval one?
Yes that should work just fine.
This was really good! I usually do the easy recipe on the back of the Skinner noodles box which uses a jarred sauce, and sub out cottage cheese because that’s what my mom did (I guess ricotta might have been harder to find in the 70s?) Really nice though to make the sauce myself, especially since i grow fresh herbs. First time for me making it without the no boil noodles and everyone said they thought it made a difference. Loved the addition of lemon zest and red pepper flakes. Definitely will make again. Unfortunately my kids now think cottage cheese is the norm so may have to stick with that for them 😂.
This is how I make turkey lasagna, come out great every time. I would suggest adding a tiny pinch or nutmeg to the ricotta. I’ve always done that to any dish I use ricotta cheese in and that tiny bit adds something, but just a tiny pinch goes a long way. I’d love to know what you think. My MIL, learned this from her FIL who was a wonderful Italian cook.