This ground turkey baked rigatoni is the ultimate comfort food dinner! This casserole is loaded with meat and mushrooms, topped with a melty layer of cheese, and ready in less than 45 minutes!
I present to you, the cheesy, meaty, nom-alicious ground turkey baked rigatoni.
The thing about baked rigatoni is that it’s easy to make and easy to customize.
- Don’t like meat? Swap it for a meat substitute, or just leave it out.
- Not a fan of mushrooms? Ditch ’em!
- Want it extra tomatoey? Throw some diced tomatoes in there!
Ingredients for baked rigatoni
- Rigatoni: Rigatoni is the ideal pasta for this dish because it’s thick, hearty, and has ridges on the outside that help the sauce adhere to the noodles. It holds up well to thick, chunky, meaty sauces. If you don’t have rigatoni, you can use penne, fusilli or rotini.
- Unsalted butter: You’ll use this to coat your cooked pasta while it’s still warm. You can also use olive oil instead of butter.
- Ground turkey: Don’t want to use ground turkey? Swap it for your favorite meat, or leave it out! Italian sausage or ground beef are great as well.
- Onion and garlic: Because… flavor!
- Mushrooms: You can use canned mushroom stems and pieces, or you can use fresh mushrooms. I call for canned in this recipe because it’s an easy thing to keep on hand in your pantry, and my goal is for this to be easy!
- Spaghetti sauce: If you keep jars of spaghetti sauce in the pantry, grab your favorite. If you’d prefer to spend some time making your own, try a recipe like this one.
- Sweet basil: I love the flavor fresh basil leaves add to a baked pasta dish. You could also use Italian basil, which has slightly larger leaves and can be more aromatic than sweet basil if you want a little oomph.
- Shredded mozzarella cheese: Because we’re making this a hearty, cheesy dish! You could also add parmesan cheese and asiago cheese for a nice cheese blend.
How to make baked rigatoni
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Cook pasta according to the directions on the box until al dente, and drain. Coat in 1 tablespoon butter while it’s still hot, and set aside.
Step 3: While the pasta is cooking, heat a drizzle of oil in a large pan. Crumble the ground turkey into the pan and cook on medium heat until it’s no longer pink. Add onion and garlic, cook for 3 minutes. Add mushrooms, cook for another 3 minutes.
Step 4: Turn heat down to low. Add the sauce and basil, stir, and cover. Cook an additional 3-4 minutes. Stir occasionally if you see the sauce start to bubble, otherwise keep it covered.
Step 5: In a 9×13 glass baking dish (sprayed generously with nonstick cooking spray), pour in half the pasta, then all of your sauce and meat mix. Stir to mix, and then add the rest of the pasta and stir some more.
Step 6: Once you feel like it’s all adequately combined, top with the cheese, cover with foil, and pop it in the oven for 15 minutes on the top rack. For the last 5 minutes, uncover and broil (on low, if you have a setting for it) to brown the cheese on top.
Substitutions and variations
- If you have the time and patience, shred the cheese yourself. It melts easier than the bagged, pre-shredded stuff.
- Want more veggies? Go for it! I love adding spinach, kale, artichoke hearts, or zucchini. If you’re leaving out the meat, adding more veggies is a great way to beef it up (pun totally intended).
- Want to add some spice? Add some red pepper flakes to the sauce for a little heat.
- You can assemble the dish ahead of time. If you want to prep ahead of time so all you have to do is pop it in the oven for dinner, you totally can. Prep everything in the baking dish and cover it with plastic wrap or aluminum foil and keep it stored in the fridge until you’re ready to bake it.
- Broil for a few minutes! At the end of the baking time, uncover the dish and let the broiler brown the cheese and get it all hot and bubbly.
- Add fresh parsley. It does add a little flavor, but topping the baked rigatoni just before serving is really more about presentation and adding a dash of color!
Can you freeze baked rigatoni?
You can! Cover the unbaked dish with foil and plastic wrap (make sure it’s tightly sealed) and keep it in the freezer.
When you’re ready to bake, you can either let it come to room temperature or bake it from frozen. If baking from frozen, add up to 30 minutes to the cook time.
What to serve with baked rigatoni
- You can’t go wrong with a side of Cheesy Garlic Bread
- Add a bowl of fragrant Rosemary Sea Salt Dinner Rolls
- Can anyone say no to Cheddar Bay Biscuits?
- A spinach salad on the side (with or without steak) is a winner
FAQs
It usually takes around 8 minutes to cook ground turkey in a saucepan or skillet over medium-high heat.
Since rigatoni is a heartier noodle, for authentic “al dente” pasta it should take 12 minutes.
Ziti and rigatoni are very similar! Ziti is straight cut like rigatoni, but is smooth on the outside, whereas rigatoni has ridges. I prefer rigatoni for this dish because the sauce and cheese clings to it better.
I know there are folks out there that swear by not boiling their pasta before baking, but I find the results inconsistent – so I like to cook mine to al dente before baking to ensure the best results.
You can! Cover the unbaked dish with foil and plastic wrap (make sure it’s tightly sealed) and keep it in the freezer. When you’re ready to bake, you can either let it come to room temperature or bake from frozen. If baking from frozen, add up to 30 minutes to the cook time.
After you’ve made this recipe, please consider coming back to share your experience with others by leaving a comment below with a star rating!
Description
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pound rigatoni
- 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 pound ground turkey, can substitute ground beef or Italian sausage
- ½ cup onion, chopped (add more, if you prefer)
- 1 Tablespoon garlic, minced
- 4- ounce canned mushroom stems and pieces, can substitute fresh sliced mushrooms
- 1-24 ounce jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce, or your favorite homemade sauce recipe
- 2 Tablespoons sweet or Italian basil, chopped
- 8 ounces mozzarella, shredded and divided
- Fresh parsley, optional, for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Cook pasta according to the directions on the box until al dente, and drain. Coat in 1 tablespoon butter while it's still hot, and set aside.1 pound rigatoni1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
- While the pasta is cooking, heat a drizzle of oil in a large pan. Crumble the ground turkey into the pan and cook on medium heat until it’s no longer pink. Salt and pepper to taste.1 pound ground turkey
- Add onion and garlic, cook for 3 minutes.1/2 cup onion1 Tablespoon garlic
- Add mushrooms, cook for another 3 minutes.4- ounce canned mushroom stems and pieces
- Turn heat down to low. Add the sauce and basil, stir, and cover. Cook an additional 3-4 minutes. Stir occasionally if you see the sauce start to bubble, otherwise keep it covered.1-24 ounce jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce2 Tablespoons sweet or Italian basil
- In a 9"×13" glass baking dish (sprayed generously with cooking spray), pour in half the pasta, then all of your sauce and meat mix. Stir to mix, and then add the rest of the pasta and stir some more.
- Once you feel like it’s all adequately combined, top with the cheese, cover with foil, and pop it in the oven for 15 minutes on the top rack. For the last 5 minutes, uncover and broil (on low, if you have a setting for it) to brown the cheese on top.8 ounces mozzarella
- Remove carefully, top with parsley (if desired), grab a serving spoon and dish it out. Enjoy!Fresh parsley
Notes
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition Disclaimer
The provided nutrition information is generated by an automatic API and does not take variations across specific brands into account. This information is provided as a general guideline and should not be treated as official calculations. Learn more here.
Subham
This is very amazing and helpful article for us thanks for sharing us.
Sheila marrow
Is it okay to use ground turkey and Italian sauce together in this casslerole
Leslie Kiszka
Definitely!
Paul Brown
Our two girls are grown now with a tiny one each of their own. Can’t wait to start cooking with the next generation.
Paul Brown
psnama
Thanks, Leslie, for this amazing turkey recipe! I really liked your writing skills.
Regards,
psnama
Leslie Kiszka
I’m glad you both liked it! Thanks so much for coming back to leave a comment and rating, I really appreciate it!
Kelly Hubbard
Why doesn’t this recipe include nutritional info, such as calories etc? I’ve noticed the same for other recipes…unless I am blind .
Leslie Kiszka
Hi Kelly, it’s at the bottom of each recipe card under the pink heading that says “Nutrition”.
Joseph Donahue
This is an awesome easy fall dinner! I love the contrasting textures and flavors.
Joseph Donahue
Leslie Kiszka
So do I! I swear, the pretty colors just make it taste better :)
Tiffany
Great flavor, nice amount of cheese to pasta to meat ratio!!
Thank you for this recipe!!
Leslie Kiszka
Thanks for letting a comment, I’m glad you liked it!
Harold Burton
This is an awesome easy fall dinner! I love the contrasting textures and flavors.
Harold Burton
Deep Web
These look delicious, love the fact you made these with turkey. I think using turkey makes a little softer meatball, perfect for this time of year.
Leslie Haasch
I agree!
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Cushman
This was fantastic! Fast and simple. I sauteed my own mushrooms first and threw them in when you said to. The broiling for the last five minutes was key. Thanks and I look forward to trying another recipe.
lesliehaasch
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
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