There are SO many recipes out there for Baked Ziti. I had yet to find a baked ziti recipe I was truly in love with – so after scouring some of my favorite recipe sites, I ended up combining a couple Ziti recipes, added a few ingredients and came up with this little gem – 21 Day Fix Turkey & Veggie Packed Baked Ziti!! I think I hit the mark! Whenever Basili compares a meal I make for our family to his favorite dish at a nice restaurant we go to occasionally, I know we have a winner!! He said this was BETTER than the ziti he had at the restaurant – ‘It’s so FRESH! So full of FLAVOR!’ were his exact words. He has already requested this dish be added to our dinner plans for this upcoming week – safe to say he enjoyed it! Zachary, our 3 year old, was a little unsure of the veggies but ended up eating all of his dinner while Noah, our 1 year old, couldn’t eat it fast enough and was grabbing the ziti by the fist-full and shoving it in his mouth! (bath night!)
Make this meal the night before and store it covered in the refrigerator to make dinner time quick and easy! Just allot 30 minutes for it to sit at room temperature before baking!
Enjoy!
- 1 8oz box uncooked Quinoa Penne or Ziti
- 1 T Olive oil
- 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 zucchini, diced
- 1 T Italian seasoning
- 1 T Basil
- 1 T Oregano
- 16 oz lean ground Turkey
- 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
- 2 cups fresh spinach
- 8 oz Ricotta cheese
- 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- 1 3/4 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese, divided
- Sea salt & pepper, to taste
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees and spray a 9x13" baking dish with olive oil or cooking spray
- In a large pot, boil water and cook pasta according to instructions until al dente. Drain and return to the pot.
- In a 12" skillet, add olive oil, onions, garlic, zucchini and all seasonings. Saute until onions are translucent.
- Add ground turkey and brown until meat is no longer pink. Mix well. Add tomatoes and spinach, mix and cook until spinach leaves are wilted.
- Combine the pasta and meat mixture. Stir in Parmesan cheese, 3/4 cup Mozzarella and the Ricotta. Mix well and spread evenly in your baking dish. Top with 1 cup Mozzarella.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until cheese is melted and lightly browned. Let baked ziti set for 5 minutes after taking it out of the oven and cut into 8 equal portions.
- 1 Green, 1 Red, 1 Yellow, 1 Blue, 1 tsp
- Prepare this dish the night before you bake it! Store it, covered, in the refrigerator. Let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before baking.
I love your recipes! I have tried 2 and can’t wait to try the rest. love having realistic meal options during the 21 day fix
Thank you so much Aleshia! I am so happy you enjoy my recipes! 🙂
This sounds delicious! How many servings does this make? Do you know how many calories per serving?
Hi Jen! This is one of our favorite recipes! I cut it into 8 equal portions (in a 9×13 pan). I am not sure of the calorie count per serving because I typically just count containers vs calories. 🙂 Let me know what you think of it!
Excited to try this tomorrow! Just curious, how did you come up with the container count for this recipe? Did you just take all ingredients and divide it by the amount of servings?
What did you think!? Yes – that is exactly what I did. 🙂
This was incredible! I can’t believe how good eating clean can taste 🙂 I can’t wait to try your other recipes. I am so grateful that you put in what must be an enormous amount of work into this website. Are you available as a coach?
Thank you Michelle! I am so happy you enjoyed it! 🙂 I just emailed you. 🙂 Yes – I am happy to be your coach! 🙂
Made this tonight. It was amazing! Thank you so much for all your recipes.
Where do you buy quinoa pasta?? I cannot find it anywhere! I usually use brown rice pasta from Trader Joes, but couldn’t get there, so I just ended up using regular penne this time.
I bought mine at Kroger. I found that brown rice pasta is better for you – so stick with that! 🙂
Does the T stand for tablespoon or teaspoon
Tablespoon
Can I use whole grain rotini? That’s what I have on hand…
Delicious! Everyone in the family liked it which NEVER happens. Thanks for a great family recipe. 🙂