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Dinners | Trader Joe's Meals
One-Pot Creamy Turkey Rigatoni
Who says you can't just cook the pasta noodles right in the creamy sauce? Not me!
Nothing says weeknight dinner like a one pot meal! This One Pot Creamy Turkey Rigatoni is another recipe in my series where I show you how to make high protein dinners in under 30 minutes with ingredients from Trader Joe’s. This pasta truly is a one-pot meal as the noodles cook in the creamy sauce. It will surely make its way into your weekly rotation, if not because it’s so freaking good then because it’s almost too easy to whip up. Plus, only one pot to clean up? Say less.
Watch Me Make One-Pot Turkey Rigatoni
Table of Contents
Ingredients and Substitutions
How to Make It
Storing
Tips
Reasons to Love It
Turkey Rigatoni Recipe
Ingredients and Substitutions
Ground Turkey
Easy pasta recipes like this are a great way to use ground turkey. I usually use 85% lean if I can find it, or 93% lean if not. More fat = more flavor. You can use ground chicken, ground beef, or ground sausage instead. To make it vegetarian while keeping it high-protein, use a plant-based ground meat alternative.
Pasta
I like a short tubular pasta shape for this recipe because the ground meat and creamy sauce gets all up in the noodle. You can also use penne or ziti for a similarly-shaped pasta or another short pasta with nooks and crannies like fusilli, cavatappi, or rotini.
Tomatoes
For the tomatoes, I use one can of San Marzanos or just regular canned tomato sauce. The whole San Marzano, either squished by hand (which is really fun and a little messy) or broken down with a wooden spoon in the pan, will give the sauce a little more texture. For a smoother sauce, I just blend the San Marzano tomatoes with an immersion blender as a delicious and cost effective alternative to using half a jar of tomato sauce. If using tomato sauce, I like the Tomato Basil Marinara from TJ’s or Rao’s from any other grocery store. Either works!
Broth
I always match the broth to the type of meat I’m using, so for this one, I use chicken broth. If you swapped the turkey for beef or sausage, use beef broth. If you’re making it vegetarian, use vegetable broth. I tend not to buy low sodium broth because I think it has less flavor, but you can choose whichever broth you prefer.
Cream
The sauce gets nice and creamy with the help of half and half, but you can also use heavy cream, which is a bit thicker. You can use whole milk in a pinch, but it won’t be as rich or creamy.
Spinach
I also add spinach as an easy way to sneak in some healthy greens. You can omit it if you don’t like spinach.
Cheese
Grate some fresh parmesan cheese (or pecorino) on top of your pasta before serving.
How to Make One-Pot Turkey Rigatoni
Step 1
Heat the oil in a deep skillet or Dutch oven with a lid over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and stir until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
Step 2
Add in the turkey and mash with a meat masher or wooden spoon. Add the Italian seasoning, rosemary, salt and pepper and continue to stir occasionally until the meat is just browned.
Step 3
Add the pasta, broth, half and half, and tomato sauce. Stir to combine and raise the heat to medium high until boiling.
Step 4
Cover, reduce heat to low and cook for 13-15 min, stirring every 3-4 minutes, until the pasta is tender and you’re left with a creamy sauce.
Step 5
Turn off the heat and stir in the spinach. Season to taste, it needs a good amount of salt!
Step 6
Top with grated parmesan cheese and red chili flakes if you like a little spice!
Storing and Reheating Turkey Rigatoni
Store pasta leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. To reheat, portion into a microwave-save bowl and add a sprinkle of water before microwaving in 30-second increments. Stir in between to make sure it heats through evenly. Top with fresh parmesan!
Tips for Making the Best One-Pot Turkey Rigatoni
- Save prep time by blitzing the garlic and onion in a food processor instead of chopping and mincing by hand. It saves so much time!
- Make sure your pot is big enough to fit everything. I’m obsessed with my Dutch oven.
- For a creamy sauce using whole San Marzano tomatoes, blend them until smooth with an immersion blender or in the food processor or blender.
- Because you’re cooking the pasta in the cream and broth with the other ingredients, the pasta gluten will help thicken the sauce as it cooks. Feel free to add more broth if it seems too thick, or keep reducing it if it seems too watery.
- I like topping my pasta with fresh parmesan cheese and chili flakes (or chili crisp!), but drizzling some high-quality olive oil also adds a little extra flavor, too. If you have fresh basil, you can tear a few leaves and sprinkle on top as well.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- You can find all of these ingredients at Trader Joe’s! For more high-protein recipes like this that use all Trader Joe’s ingredients, check out this recipe roundup.
- Everyone loves a one pot meal. For this recipe, we’re not even cooking the pasta separately, so you don’t have to wait for the water to boil. It literally couldn’t be easier.
- This recipe requires very little chopping, especially if you blitz the garlic and onion in the food processor instead of chopping by hand.
- This One Pot Creamy Turkey Rigatoni is a super affordable meal using mostly pantry staple ingredients. Blending canned tomatoes makes it even more affordable than using a jar of tomato sauce.
One of my favorites, in the rotation! So easy, minimal effort just requires some patience. Usually do add a bit more broth/sauce. Also delicious with a little ricotta to top
Delicious and easy! I add a little extra chicken broth to make sure the pasta cooks all the way through – more like 1.75 cups instead of 1.5 cups. I love how much food this recipe makes! always at least 5 servings between my husband and I.
Was such a delight! Added hot honey drizzle to the top and it was so cozy and fall. Yummy! Adding spinach last minute was a great tip.
10/10 cannot wait to make this again and again!!
I make this pasta ALL. THE. TIME. Because it’s so good. Sometimes I use Italian sausage from Costco (leaving out the seasonings when I do) and/or sub kale for the spinach (adding it in halfway through cooking the pasta so it gets tender) to change it up. Tonight I made it with mushrooms a couple minutes before adding the onion/garlic. It’s always amazing! So easy and delicious!!!
This was excellent and very easy to throw together on a busy weekday. I took the advice of several others and added water when cooking the pasta.
So tasty! I used almond milk, and it turned out plenty creamy enough. My picky hubby always goes back for seconds!
I made this for dinner tonight using canned coconut milk in place of half and half to make it non-dairy. My husband couldn’t tell! (Note: he did drown his in Parmesan cheese). I put some nutritional yeast on mine. Olivia’s review was right on in suggesting to add water to cook the pasta more efficiently. I found that I added more water multiple times. This is no problem, just worth noting! We really enjoyed this entree and will be adding it to my rotation. True to 4 generous servings, maybe more.
Super easy and delicious. I omitted Rosemary all together… never been a fan of Rosemary. It tasted so good 😊
Very delicious end product!
Major note: add 1.5 cups of water to the sauce at the start – otherwise, Pasta will take 25+ minutes to cook.