This is a simple Mexican turkey casserole that uses everyday ingredients.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 50 mins |
| Servings: | 10 |
| Yield: | 1 9×13-inch casserole |
Ingredients
- 1 (16 ounce) package whole wheat rotini pasta
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 (15 ounce) can yellow corn, drained
- 1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes and green chiles, undrained
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 celery stalk, diced
- 1 carrot, diced
- 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
- 1 (8 ounce) package pepper Jack cheese, shredded
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil; cook the rotini at a boil until tender yet firm to the bite, about 10 minutes; drain.
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add ground turkey and break it up with a wooden spoon. Add chili powder, garlic, cumin, cayenne pepper, oregano, and black pepper; mix thoroughly. Cook and stir until turkey is browned and crumbly, 5 to 7 minutes. Add corn, diced tomatoes and chiles, green bell pepper, onion, celery, and carrot; mix thoroughly.
- Place lid on skillet. Cook until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Add tomato sauce; let simmer until thickened, about 5 minutes. Transfer turkey mixture to a 9×13-inch casserole dish and add the cooked pasta. Mix everything together. Top with pepper Jack cheese.
- Bake in the preheated oven until cheese is melted, about 10 minutes.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 402 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 49 g |
| Cholesterol | 58 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 7 g |
| Protein | 23 g |
| Saturated Fat | 6 g |
| Sodium | 631 mg |
| Sugars | 4 g |
| Fat | 15 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
It tasted great. I didn’t have any pepper Jack cheese so I used some Mexican shredded cheese. Didn’t any celery so I substituted a green apple. Only problem I had was the recipe says to use 16 ozs of pasta. Is that 16 ozs dry or cooked? It definitely is not cooked because I cooked 16 ozs and it way too much. The turkey mixture fills a 9 x 13 casserole half way so you can only put in about 3 cups of pasta before the cheese on top.
I prepared this recipe exactly as written. I like the spicy bite which probably comes from the cayenne pepper. I also appreciate that it is a low-fat, heart healthy recipe. I cooked the ground turkey/vegetable/spice mixture in a wok. The only problem is that the final product came out too dry. Though I can’t say definitively how much, I will consider adding more tomato juice, or tomato soup to prevent the casserole from being too dry next time. With that fix, this dish could easily move from three to four stars.