Turkey, Spinach Pasta Bake

A casserole dish with baked pasta and cheese shown from above. There's a kitchen towel next to the dish and the dish itself is garnished with fresh parsley.

This Turkey, Spinach Pasta Bake with penne pasta makes for a delicious, filling and easy to make family dinner. You can use turkey or rotisserie chicken to make this dish. Kids have no idea how many hidden veggies are in this dinner:).

Course Main Course

Cuisine American, Mediterranean

Keyword Baked pasta, baked pasta with turkey, penne pasta

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 30

Total Time 50

Servings servings

Calories 484kcal

Author Sonila

Equipment

1 Porcelain baking dish

Ingredients

16 ozs penne pasta or pasta of your choice
2-3 cups roasted turkey or chicken
3 cups spinach
1 yellow onion
3 garlic cloves
1 cup fresh parsley about 1 whole bunch
1.5 cups green peas frozen is ok
1 tsp Italian Seasoning
0.5 tsp crushed red pepper add more for a spicy dish
1 tsp sea salt
0.5 tsp black pepper
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup parmesan cheese
1 cup chicken or turkey stock
2 tbsps olive oil
2 tbsps tomato paste

Instructions

Dice or shred the leftover turkey or chicken.
Cook penne pasta to 3 minutes less than al-dente, so if instructions say 10 minutes for al dente, cook 7 minutes. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water, drain the rest.
While pasta is cooking, add olive oil to a large pot. Saute onions and garlic until translucent and aromatic at medium high heat. Use a wooden spoon to mix often so onions don't stick to the bottom.
Add turkey to onions. Mix then add tomato paste, parsley, salt and seasonings. Add green peas and mix really well.
Add 1 cup of pasta water and 1 cup of stock to incorporate all ingredients. Cook few minutes then add spinach.
Once spinach has wilted, add pasta into it and mix again.
Pour everything into the baking dish. Bake for 20 minutes covered at 350 degrees F. Uncover the dish as seen in the video, add both cheeses on top. Bake for another 10 minutes, this time uncovered.
Garnish with fresh parsley, wait 10 minutes before serving. Enjoy it with a big salad:).

Video

Notes

you can cook this dish in 50 minutes from start to end if you're using leftover turkey from Thanksgiving or rotisserie chicken.

Nutrition