Name: One Pot Pasta with Ground Turkey Meat Sauce
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 1 TBS olive oil; 1 medium onion (diced) ((1 ½ cups or 200 g)); 2 cloves garlic (minced); 1 lb Italian style ground turkey; 28 oz can crushed tomatoes; 1 tsp dried oregano; 1 tsp kosher salt; 2 ½ cups water; 1 lb rotini pasta; ½ cup grated parmesan; fresh basil ((optional))

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Looking for a quick and delicious dinner idea? This one pot pasta with ground turkey meat sauce is the answer.

This hearty dish combines pasta with a flavorful meat sauce, all cooked in a single pot for easy cleanup.

Say goodbye to complicated meals and hello to a satisfying, weeknight favorite!

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What you’ll love about this one pot pasta with ground turkey meat sauce

Flavorful, quick to make, and easy clean up are all things to love about this recipe.

It can be made in less than 30-minutes: With this easy recipe, you can have dinner made in less than half an hour.
It only takes one pot (less dishes!): Everything is added to one pot in stages to build flavor. The end result is a deliciously flavorful dish that leaves you with only one thing to wash at the end. That’s a definite win!
Accessible ingredients: This recipe doesn’t call for anything fancy or hard to get. I’m willing to bet you probably have everything in your kitchen right now.

Ingredients

It only takes a handful of pantry staples to make this delicious one pot pasta.

Olive oil – Just a touch is needed to sauté the aromatics at the start of the recipe.
Onion – Diced and sautéd at the start of the recipe to start building flavor.
Garlic – Added at the end of the onions cook time to prevent it from burning. Sautéd garlic gives a great depth of flavor and is a classic aromatic in pasta dishes. The amount added in this recipe adds flavor without being overpowering. No need to worry about garlic breath!
Ground turkey – Italian style ground turkey is the variety of choice for this recipe, but regular ground turkey works well too.
Crushed tomatoes – Canned tomatoes are a staple pantry item that make creating a delicious red sauce available to you year round. If you don’t have crushed tomatoes, canned diced tomatoes can be used instead, just be aware that the sauce will be chunkier and might set off a picky eater.
Dried Oregano – Adds that classic tomato sauce flavor.
Salt – For flavor.
Water – You’ll need water to add to the pot so you can cook the pasta.
Pasta – A short pasta with some ridges to it so that it can hold onto the thick, meaty sauce is the best option here. Rotini is what I prefer. A plus about short varieties of pasta is that it’s easy for kids and babies to feed themselves.
Parmesan cheese – Freshly grated parmesan cheese adds some more salt as well as delicious cheesy flavor to the finished dish. You can also garnish with some optional fresh basil leaves.

How to make one pot pasta with meat sauce

The real beauty of this meal is it’s simplicity. All it takes is one pot and less than 30 minutes, and you’ll have a dinner ready that everyone will love.

Here’s how to make this crowd pleasing one pot pasta:

Sauté aromatics. Heat your large pot over medium low heat. Add olive oil and the diced onion to the pot. Stir the onion occasionally and cook for about 5 minutes. Next, stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, that’ll take about 30 seconds.
Brown the turkey. Place the ground turkey in the pot. Cook the turkey until brown and cooked through, making sure to stir occasionally to help it cook evenly and to break up the meat into small pieces.
Add liquid. You need liquid to cook the pasta, so add in a large can of crushed tomatoes and some water. Also mix in some dried oregano and salt for flavor. Bring everything to a boil.
Cook pasta. Now that everything is boiling, it’s time to stir in the pasta! Stir the pasta throughout the sauce. Once the sauce returns to a boil, reduce the heat to low and cover the pot. Let the pasta cook, covered, for 8 – 10 minutes. Once or twice during the cook time, remove the lid and stir everything, loosening anything that may have stuck to the bottom of the pot.
Garnish and enjoy! When the pasta is cooked through, remove the pot from the heat and mix in freshly grated parmesan cheese to the hot pasta. Top individual servings with more parmesan and some fresh basil. Enjoy!

Tips for the best one pot pasta

Although the recipe is quite simple, here are some things to keep in mind while making this recipe. These tips will help you make the best one pot pasta for you and your family and friends.

Use a large pot with a lid. This recipe makes a large quantity of pasta and meat sauce. Make sure you use an appropriately sized pot! A 4.5 quart pot with a lid gives plenty of space for stirring everything together without the danger of liquid or pasta sloshing out the side.
Add in a pinch of salt with the onions. Adding salt in different stages of the recipe seasons the dish better. So, add a healthy pinch of salt when sautéing the onions. Not only will it season the dish well, but the salt will also help the onions release water and cook better.
Break up the ground meat into small pieces. You want the meat to be well distributed throughout the sauce. You can achieve that by breaking up the ground meat into small crumbles while it’s cooking.
Add crushed red pepper flakes if you like it spicy. If you love things spicy, add some crushed red pepper flakes at the same time as the garlic.
Stir once or twice while the pasta is cooking. To keep the pasta from sticking to the bottom of the pot while cooking, uncover and stir the pot once or twice as the pasta cooks, making sure to loosen anything up from the bottom.
Top with fresh grated parmesan and fresh basil. Fresh parmesan and basil turn this simple dish into something extra special.

Conclusion

To sum it all up, this one pot pasta with ground turkey meat sauce is a simple, delicious meal that is perfect for busy weeknights.

This dish combines the rich flavors of a ground turkey meat sauce with rotini pasta in a convenient one-pot cooking method, saving you time on both cooking time and cleanup.

It’s delicious, easy to customize, and sure to please the whole family. Try it tonight and enjoy a hearty meal that brings everyone together.