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Imagine a healthier, quicker but just as equally delicious recipe for bolognese that you can make any night of the week to the delight of the whole family. Enter this Healthy Turkey Bolognese recipe, which is rich, meaty and the perfect hearty meal. We’ve also included options to make it Paleo and Whole30 friendly.
Easy Turkey Bolognese Recipe
A good bolognese sauce is pretty remarkable. It typically consists of ground beef, with some aromatic vegetables, tomatoes and often wine and cream thrown in for good measure. The whole thing is cooked over a very low flame for several hours. Sometimes we are really into cooking a recipe like that, but more often than not, we’re stretched for time yet still want to be able to enjoy that memorable meal. This Turkey Bolognese recipe solves that problem by making a few swaps of ingredients and technique to yield for an umami-packed meaty sauce that is so good.
Aside from the reduced cooking time, we also make this sauce just a bit lighter by using ground turkey and omitting the heavy cream altogether. Instead, it relies on some white wine and tomato paste to extend a punch of flavor. And at the very end, we recommend adding in a tablespoon of butter to get that rounded flavor that is traditional. If needed for dietary restrictions, it’s fine to leave this out.
Because we’re using turkey, it doesn’t need as much cooking time. This dish cooks in under an hour, which means, you can have enough time to clean up the kitchen, boil the pasta and maybe have a glass of wine yourself before dinner is done.
To Make this Paleo and Whole30 Compliant
We’ve already skipped the cream in this. But if you need this to be made without alcohol, simply omit the step of cooking down the wine. It’ll be fine, just substitute in extra chicken broth! And of course, leave off the parmesan cheese and butter for the garnish. This would be great served over zucchini noodles or spaghetti squash!
Skip the chopping!
This recipe calls for onions, celery, and carrots to be very finely diced. Instead of spending your time doing it, just toss them in the food processor. This also helps them disappear into the sauce, which can be helpful for picky kids.
Our biggest tip: Don’t cook this over high heat. Make sure to use a simmer for this recipe. When you boil ground turkey it can result in tougher meat, which is the opposite of what you want for this sauce.
Best Way to Serve Bolognese
It just feels classic to serve this with fresh pasta. But honestly, save that for your weekend project. We are so lucky that we live in a time when store-bought fresh pasta is easily found. And even luckier that there are a few gluten-free fresh pastas available, if you need. We used a gluten-free fresh Fettucine for our tests of this recipe, and it was so good.
We enjoyed putting a bit of fresh parmesan and parsley on top of this as a garnish, but feel free to omit the cheese (and the wine, as mentioned above) for a fully Whole30 and paleo meal and serve over compliant veggie noodles.
Can this be frozen?
Most defintely! Meat sauce is great for freezing. Simply cool down the bolognese fully, and then transfer to a freezer-friendly container. When you are ready to use, it’s best to let it defrost overnight. If that’s not possible, place your container in a bowl of warm water, until the outside of the sauce defrosts and you can remove the frozen bolognese from the container. Place the bolognese in a pot with 1/4 cup water, and cook over low heat until it reaches a simmer. Let simmer for 5 minutes, and then serve.
If you like this healthy Italian inspired recipe, check out these others:
- Spinach Basil Pesto
- Chopped Antipasto Salad with Chicken
- Spaghetti Carbonara (Gluten-Free)
- Zucchini Spaghetti with Homemade Meat Sauce
Healthy Turkey Bolognese
Ingredients
- 1 medium yellow onion peeled
- 1 medium carrot peeled
- 1 medium celery stalk
- 1 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 lb. ground turkey
- 1-1/2 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ cup dry red or white wine
- ½ cup +1 tablespoons tomato paste or ½ slightly heaping cup
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 tablespoons butter optional12 ounces gluten-free fresh fettuccine (or pasta-of choice)
- Parmesan cheese for garnish
Instructions
- Place onion, carrot and celery in a food processor and process until very fine pieces. Alternatively you can dice them very fine.
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium pot. Add onion mixture and salt cook for 5 minutes, until sweated down.
- Add turkey, salt, and pepper and cook, breaking up the turkey, until no pink remains, about 5 minutes.
- Add wine and cook until reduced, about 5 minutes.
- Add tomato paste, bay leaf and chicken stock and bring up to a gentle simmer.
- Simmer for 30-35 minutes, until the liquid has reduced and the sauce is slightly thickened.
- Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package instructions.
- Once bolognese is finished, turn off heat and mix in (optional) butter. Taste, and adjust seasoning.
- Toss pasta with 1 cup of bolognese and divide into 4 bowls. Divide remaining bolognese on pasta and sprinkle with (optional) parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.
Notes
- For Whole30 omit wine, butter and parmesan cheese. Replace the wine with an equal amount of extra chicken stock. Serve with zucchini noodles or spaghetti squash.
- For Paleo omit cheese and butter and serve with zucchini noodles or spaghetti squash.
Amazing dish. So easy, and the taste was incredible. My husband raved that it was as good as any Italian restaurant. Will definitely be making this again. Thanks Lexi!
I made this for the first time tonight. While my family enjoyed it we felt it needed a tad more salt. After checking the recipe again I see I neglected to add the salt and pepper in the ingredient list as it was not mentioned in the recipe instructions. Just a suggestion you may want to add that step in. Otherwise a great recipe and it was delicious served over pappardelle noodles with a garden salad on the side.
I finally made this today! Had been eyeing it for awhile. I did add a minced garlic with the mirepoix. And I also added about a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce with the tomato paste/broth. It is delicious! I can’t wait to make it again!
This recipe was so easy and delicious! My husband said “this is definitely a make again recipe!”
Thanks Lexi!
This is so ridiculously good! I’ve made it with turkey and ground beef and loved it both ways. I also have added mushrooms because I had them on hand and needed to use them up- so delicious! My kids (2&5) also gobbled it up and I love that I snuck veggies into them! Once again, you nailed it!
What kind of turkey did you use… 99% lean or 97% or 85% ? Thanks
We used ButcherBox Ground Turkey, and it doesn’t specify. But I’d recommend if possible dark ground turkey, or a mix of dark and white meat ground turkey.
Everyone needs to make this recipe right now, it is SO DELICIOUS. My husband and I couldn’t get enough of it! Definitely adding this to our regular dinner rotation!
Made this tonight! DELICIOUS. Looking forward to leftovers tomorrow!
This was my first time making bolognese, and I was SO happy with it. My kiddo loved it too!!! It was really easy to make; I served it with zucchini noodles and added chopped laccianato kale to the sauce at the very end. So happy to add this to the recipe box. Thank you!
This was fantastic ! I sent the recipe to several family/friends after cooking. I’ve tried several healthier bolognese recipes and this one is by far the healthiest and still has a lot of flavor! I used 1/2 tbsp of butter and also drained out about 3/4 of the turkey grease after cooking the turkey to lighten it up a little more. I served it over spaghetti squash (1/4 of the recipe as suggested in the serving size) and both my fiancé and I were super full and satisfied! We’ll be adding to our regular recipe line-up!
Just made this recipe tonight & it is absolutely amazing! So delicious! ????
So delicious! This will now be a weekly staple. Better than any restaurant bolognese!! x
On my god this recipe just as is was the best Bolognese recipe I’ve ever eaten!!
So happy it was a hit Joan!
Do you have this recipe for the InstaPot?
Not for this recipe, Jessica. Sorry!
I made this the other night and it was the perfect fall meal!! So easy and so yummy!
Amazing recipe as usual Lexi. I was wondering if this can be done using tofu? My husband can’t have poultry and we need to cut down on red meat. Thanks
We haven’t tried, but my instinct says that might work! If you try, let us know how it goes!
Well, that was yummy. I made this today for a late lunch and we loved it. Lexi, your recipes never disappoint. Your website is always my go to. Thanks for the good for you and yummy recipes.
Made this tonight and it was AMAZING!! My 5 year old said, “Mom this is the best think you ever made.” Will he making this a staple, thank you Lexi!!
I am so happy it was a hit!!
I have a 4 month old and this was easy for me to make after she went to bed and also healthy which are the 2 main things I look for when making dinner. It didn’t hurt that my husband loved it too! I served ours with cassava spaghetti and roasted delicata squash.
Sounds delicious! Thanks for sharing, Rachael!
So excited about this! We have a great source for free range ground turkey and it’s even on sale this week! I am going to try a bit of vermouth instead of wine…if it’s good enough for Julia Child, right?
Enjoy!!