You are going to love this healthy turkey manicotti! It's made with 6 different types of cheeses and it's lightened up using ground turkey vs. traditional beef.
Melts in your mouth
I still remember the first time I enjoyed this awesome manicotti at my friend Heather's house. I couldn't believe how melt-in-your-mouth delicious these were. That night I asked her for the recipe and she happily wrote it down for me. Of course, I promptly lost it like I tend to do with anything on paper. Doh!
After getting to know her a little better, I decided it would be okay to ask for it a-gain and of course she happily gave it to me a-gain because she's awesome like that.
You can use ground turkey or beef, or both
When I recreated her recipe I decided to lighten it up a bit by replacing the ground beef with ground turkey. Choose whichever you prefer. Turkey's just a bit leaner. You could also do a mix of beef and turkey together. I do that a lot as well, just depends on what I have handy usually. Both are good!
This healthy turkey manicotti can be made ahead and frozen
You can prep this in advance for busy weeknight and store it in the fridge for up to 3 days as long as the meat is cooked. Or you can freeze it and then bake it when you're ready.
Just bake it a little longer if you're putting it into the oven frozen. Probably about 10-15 minutes longer. You can loosely cover the top with a piece of foil coated in cooking spray if you're worried about the cheese on top burning.
What kind of baking dish is best for this manicotti recipe?
I use a large casserole dish. A 9x12 casserole dish (or larger) works best.
Need one? Shop large casserole dishes on Amazon
Other ground turkey recipes
Looking for ways to use ground turkey as a healthier alternative to beef? Check out my spinach and turkey stuffed shells. They always get rave reviews!
More easy dinner recipes
This healthy turkey manicotti recipe was featured on Foodie Friday!
Healthy Turkey Manicotti
Ingredients
- 16 oz manicotti pasta
- 48 oz spaghetti sauce
- 1 lb turkey or ground beef
- 16 oz shredded mozzarella
- 15 oz ricotta cheese
- 24 oz cottage cheese
- 15 oz asiago, parmesan and romano cheese blend
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
Instructions
- Prepare manicotti in large stock pot according package. Al dente is ideal so that they stay sturdy enough to stuff.
- Brown turkey (or beef) in a skillet. Drain any excess fat.
- In a very large bowl, mix together all packages of cheese except one of the mozzarella packages.
- Fold cooked turkey (or beef), garlic and basil into cheese mixture.
- Put thin layer of spaghetti sauce on bottom of two 9 x 13" baking dishes.
- Gently stuff manicotti with turkey and cheese mixture using a spoon. Place stuffed manicotti in the baking dish. If a manicotti noodle rips, don't worry, place the noodle rip-side down in the baking dish.
- Pour spaghetti sauce over the manicotti, then put mozzarella over top.
- Bake at 350˚ for 30 minutes.
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