Bolognese sauce is just too good, am I right? I love how comforting it is with its tomato-y flavour. This turkey bolognese sauce is a healthier version but that doesn’t mean it’s bland because of it. Many people have had it at home and they are complete fans so let’s get to it :)!
I used ground turkey breast for this recipe but you could also go for thigh meat or even a mix. The nice thing about turkey breast is that it’s super lean and makes this sauce a bit lighter.
An important ingredient in this recipe are the dehydrated mushrooms. It’s what helps us give the recipe more depth of flavour given that there’s no beef in this turkey bolognese. The other thing that I recommend is that you make your vegetable stock yourself. It’s done really quickly and it’s much more natural than a bouillon cube.
Ingredients
For the stock
- 100 g brown onion in cubes
- 100 g carrots in cubes
- 100 g celery in cubes
- 1 bayleaf
- 1.5 litres water
For the turkey bolognese sauce
- olive oil
- 2 bayleaves
- 120 g brown onion in tiny cubes
- 2 cloves garlic pressed, finely grated or chopped
- 4 tbsp tomato paste
- 100 g carrots cut in cubes
- 5 g dehydrated mushrooms
- 150 g ground turkey meat I used turkey breast
- 8 tomatoes, peeled, deseeded and chopped really small
- vegetable stock from above
- 3 basil sprigs
- rind from a good Parmesan cheese optional
Instructions
For the stock
- Place everything in a pot over medium heat and time half an hour from the moment it comes to a boil. In the meantime we can chop everything to have the ingredients ready. Once the stock is ready, reserve.
For the turkey bolognese sauce
- Cover the dehydrated mushrooms in boiling water and let them rehydrate for 10min. Chop up the mushrooms and keep the liquid.
- Heat up a deep pan or pot over medium heat. Add the olive oil, onion and bayleaves and sautée until the onion becomes really soft and translucent. Its smelt should change from strong to sweet and mild.
- Add the garlic and cook it for a minute while stirring constantly. Add the tomato paste and cook it for a minute also to reduce its acidity.
- Add the carrots and dehydrated mushrooms along with the ground turkey. Use a spoon or spatula to break apart the meat so you have small pieces of it. Add the tomatoes, the liquid from the mushrooms and 500ml of the stock.
- To add even more flavour to your turkey bolognese add a sprigs of basil and a chunk of Parmesan rind that we’re then going to pull out.
- Let it simmer on medium-low heat until the tomato starts to disintegrate and there’s almost no liquid left. This will take about 30-40min.
- Serve with fresh oregano and Parmesan cheese or keep in the fridge for 5 days of in the freezer for up to 5 months.
Notes
