Getting back into the kitchen is rough, except not really. Cause look at that cheese.
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Seriously so delicious. I was blown away with how tasty this recipe is! Definitely a great way to make ground turkey delicious!
Camille Schaffner
Somehow I moseyed my way through making this over the course of three days. I mean, three.days. 72 hours. FOR REAL. Don’t run away – it’s not going to take you three days to make this because you’re focused and on-task and normal. But wowzers. Apparently I am not. During these long Food Blogger Pro recording days, I’ve gotten way too comfortable with frozen pizzas and Pad Thai takeout and possibly had my brain sucked out of my head by those massively hot buzzing video lights.
The good news is that this cozy deep-dish baked rigatoni is less about my distracted cooking abilities and more about the inexplicable goodness of Provolone cheese.
PS. I felt compelled to show you that I had to keep my shredded cheese in the freezer to keep it from turning into fondue on the cutting board. Photographic reasons why this took me three days to make, exhibit A.
Being that it’s the new year, I thought I’d start out with one of my all-time favorite so-healthy-but-actually-tastes-amazing tricks.
I call it “whole wheat pasta drowning in creamy squash sauce”.
Also healthy – eating spinach. Which I honestly haven’t done since we left America six months ago. There’s a 99% chance that I’ll cry when I take my first bite of salad again. Ugh. SALAD. Read: RANCH DRESSING.
Is it weird that when I finally found spinach I immediately stirred it into pasta and cheese?
Or is it the best idea I’ve had in the last three days?
Definitely a good idea.
Can I tell you about New Years? –> a bacon cheeseburger with a fried egg and a whole side of french fries for dinner last night, a few bites of Bjork’s deep fried Monte Cristo with raspberry jam, and an unfair amount of his fries. OMG. How was I just talking about salad? It was so, so good. By the way, what do regular people do on New Year’s day? Mysteries.
Bottom line. I really need healthy things to taste good.
This pasta? This healthy pasta? I’m LOVING it on this second day of the new year. I didn’t even really notice the squash sauce, which could be good or bad depending on your feelings for squash, and it could also have something to do with my taste buds being permanently desensitized to the flavor of squash after it being my only liked vegetable of the last 6 months, but it doesn’t even matter. In 2013, we need to be thinking about what really matters.
Like melted Provolone cheese cascading over this gorgeous healthy-ish pasta.
Really, though.
Do it for the Provolone.
Baked Rigatoni with Spinach, Provolone, and Turkey
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 10 1x
Description
This baked rigatoni is loaded with healthy stuff: creamy squash sauce, fresh spinach, ground turkey, and Provolone.
Ingredients
- 2 yellow onions
- 6 cloves garlic
- 1 medium kabocha or butternut squash, peeled and cubed, about 4–5 cups
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- salt + pepper + dried oregano
- 1/2 cup cream or half and half
- 1 lb. ground turkey
- 2 cups packed fresh spinach
- 1 cup grated Provolone cheese
- 1 lb. whole wheat rigatoni
Instructions
- Mince the onions and garlic. Combine in a small bowl and set aside.
- Bring the vegetable broth to a boil; add half of the onion/garlic mixture and the prepared squash. Cook for 10 minutes or until squash/onion/garlic are fork-tender. Transfer the cooked squash combo with 1/2 cup of the vegetable broth from the pot to a blender and puree until smooth, adding salt, pepper, and dried oregano to taste. Stir in cream and set aside.
- Brown the turkey over medium high heat with the remaining onion/garlic mixture. Season generously with salt, pepper, and oregano. Drain out any excess liquid so that the meat will get a browned, almost crispy look.
- Cook the rigatoni in a large pot. Undercook the pasta slightly to avoid mushy noodles – I boiled mine for about 6 minutes. Drain the water; add the sauce, sausage, and spinach to the pot with the noodles. Stir until combined. Transfer to a large baking dish (any shape), stopping half way to add a layer of cheese (about 1/2 cup of cheese). Pour remaining pasta mixture in and sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese on top. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or until the top is beginning to brown and everything is heated through.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 45 mins
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: Italian
Keywords: baked rigatoni, turkey rigatoni, spinach rigatoni
OUTSTANDING !!!!
Even though this is an older recipe, I just made it this week, and it’s so tasty! It looks like it might be boring because there are few ingredients, but the flavor surprised me! I substituted the mozz cheese for parmesan and it turned out great. 5 stars!
Could you please provide an estimate of how much salt, pepper and oregano you use??
This came out so good. Definitely a keeper and at the top of the rotation file. I didn’t use oregano, I used 2 types of All Purpose Seasoning which really infused the flavor giving it a comfort food feel. I also used 1/4 cup half and half, and 1/4 cup heavy cream. Next time though I’ll probably use ground beef because the turkey was way too dry. Even lean beef is juicier, more flavorful than using breasts of any foul. Maybe if I have more time I’ll grind some chicken thighs. The difference in calories is negligible. I also used way more than 2 cups of spinach. Not fond of Provolone as it’s one of the least tastiest of the Italian cheeses. Great for sandwiches, but if you want a bold tasty flavor, Parmesan, Asiago, Romano – any of those really brings this dish up a notch. So I used the Asiago cheese I had in my fridge instead. I also used rigatoni noodles, like the recipe called for. Your picture looks like penne rigate or ziti noodles. Rigatoni are a much wider, bigger noodle than the one pictured above. All in all, I had a great great meal and can’t wait to have more tonight. Thanks so much Lindsay. Oh, and there’s no way this will serve 10 people. 6 tops.
I’ve had this recipe bookmarked for probably the whole five years since you posted it! I finally made it tonight. For those of you who are making it in the future: I highly recommend using just one onion.
My gut was telling me not to use TWO onions, but my brain said, “What if there is some sort of magic that will happen when the onions are blended into the sauce?” I used small-ish yellow onions, the kind that typically come in the bulk bags.
Sadly, my gut was right. The final product is overwhelmingly onion-y. It’s sad, because underneath the taste I can tell that there is a delicate sweet/savory flavor going on from the squash and the sausage I used, and the wheat-y goodness of the pasta underneath all the cheese.
As a whole, I will make this recipe again! Of all the squash sauce recipes I’ve tried (and I love squash sauce), this one was the best with the least effort. And it has So. Much. Potential. But unless you looooove onions–just use one.
Wow! This was so delicious. My boyfriend and I both loved and even had to go back for another bite. Such a wonderful comfort food for this fall season. Your recipes never cease to amaze. Thank you
Seriously so delicious. I was blown away with how tasty this recipe is! Definitely a great way to make ground turkey delicious!
This is an amazing recipe! The squash sauce is so creamy and flavourful. I gave this a bit of a Tex mex feel and used chili powder, chipotle and cayenne for my seasonings, and pepper jack cheese.
Instructions mention to transfer 1/2 c broth to the blender. What do I do with the rest of the broth? 4 cups seems like a lot. Is that what I cook the pasta in?
Hi, Annie. Step 2 instructs you to cook all of the vegetables in the broth. Once you’ve cooked the veggies and transferred the 1/2 c to the blender, you won’t need the rest of the broth anymore.
Lindsay – you’ve inspired me to make a squash-based sauce for the first time…but given that I haven’t worked with it before (beyond just enjoying squash roasted..yum!), I am wondering whether I can make this midday and just stick it in the fridge until I bake it. Will the sauce firm up or thicken too much if I do that? I suppose I could add some extra broth to it just before baking if you think it might get too thick. Any thoughts? Thank you!
Yes, I think so! Just add a little water or broth if you need to make it a little saucier later on.
Thank you! My day fell all to pieces so I was only able to make this about an hour before putting it in the oven. The sauce was still nice and gooey, and it worked just fine. I never told the fam what was in it and managed to get humbs up from all…you should have seen their faces when I told them what was in it 🙂 Next time I may jazz up the meat with a sausage just to add some zing! but otherwise this was FAB!
OMG, this dish is amazing! I made it last night not too sure what to expect but it was fantastic! I did cheat and buy the frozen butternut squash but it’s still delicious.
Glad you liked it Ashley!
I’m making this right now & the sauce is delish all by its lonesome. My 1yr old & I are eating some like soup as I type. I can’t wait until the whole thing is done!
I’m such a sucker for baked pasta dishes…this looks amazing!! You had me at provolone…
Aggie! Hahah, it makes me laugh seeing you comment on this old post. 🙂 Hope you and the new baby are getting along well! XO
Oh my goodness!!!! I just made this….with just a few minor changes based on what was in my house…..soooooo yummy!!!!!
This is amazing! I love it:)
Please clarify on the amount of squash. Perhaps by cups or pounds. Thank you.
About 4 cups.
Just made this again with some sausage instead of turkey. My supper guests finished every last mouthful. A keeper. Thank you.
I loooove sausage! I would make this with sausage in a heartbeat if I could find some higher quality stuff here. I bet yours was amazing!
This looks absolutely fabulous! And cheesy!
Another great recipe – how have I lived this long without your blog!?? Not only was this a healthy cozy meal on a cold snowy night I had enough leftovers to divide up for lunches for the rest of the work week. Glad you’re feeling better!
I hope you are feeling better!! It would be so disconcerting to be sick like that in a different country!! Best wishes, my friend! This dish looks delicious, btw! I’m already craving it. . . .
Thanks Sara!