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My family is not the biggest fan of ground turkey because, well, it tastes like turkey. They would much prefer beef to turkey, but I’ve slowly been trying to sneak in ground turkey to change things up a bit. It seems like that’s the way that I try a lot of new things… sneak it in and see if anyone notices. Even with my husband. He claims that he doesn’t like ranch or mustard, but I’ve been sneaking those things into recipes for years. I’m pretty confident that he only glances at my posts and doesn’t actually read them, so I think that I’m safe saying that here. Haha! I’m slowly trying to work up to getting him to try blue cheese and Gorgonzola. But let’s get back to this Ground Turkey Baked Ziti…

So while I am still trying to get everyone on board with some things, I certainly didn’t have to convince anyone to chow down on this Ground Turkey Baked Ziti- they were all happy to do it on their own.

Let me show you how I made this Ground Turkey Baked Ziti 👇🏻

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Start by preheating your oven to 375 degrees and spraying a casserole baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add the olive oil, ground turkey, and the onion. Break up the turkey as it cooks, cooking until it is no longer pink, about 5 minutes.

When the turkey is cooked through, add the garlic and cook about 30 seconds until the garlic is fragrant.

Now add the whole tomatoes, tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper and crushed red pepper flakes. Break up the tomatoes with a wooden spoon, reduce the heat to medium-low and let that sauce simmer for about 25 minutes. While the sauce is simmering, cook the pasta according to directions.

When the sauce has had a chance to simmer and get all kinds of lovely, add the softened cream cheese and let it melt into the marinara.

When the cream cheese has melted into the sauce and it’s nice and creamy, remove it from the heat and stir in the fresh parsley.

Now grab that casserole dish and let’s do some layering. Start with half of the cooked ziti and top the pasta with 1 cup of the shredded mozzarella.

Next, top with half of the turkey-marinara.

Repeat those layers: the rest of the ziti, another cup of mozzarella and then the rest of the turkey-marinara.

Finally, top with half a cup of mozzarella and 1/2 cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Bake in the oven for about 20-25 minutes until the cheese is melted and the sauce is hot and bubbly. Should look like this 👇🏻

Grab a big old spoonful and feel free to top with some fresh chopped parsely or some freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Enjoy!!

These are some of the recommended products that I used to make this delicious recipe. These are not only products that I use, but products that I love.

Have you tried this recipe? Thinking about it? I’d love to hear from you! Please leave me your thoughts below in the comment section.