Italian Turkey Lasagna | Easy No Boil Recipe (2024)

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This recipe for Italian Turkey Lasagna is simple, delicious, and so easy to make. Featuring ground turkey, no boil lasagna noodles, ricotta, and mozzarella, it's a great weeknight dinner that's tasty enough to entertain with.

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Ground turkey is a delicious healthy substitute for ground beef or pork in typical lasagna dishes. The meaty flavor gives all of the texture you love without all of the grease and fat.

This recipe for Italian Turkey Lasagna is guaranteed to be your new favorite way to make this classic Italian dish. Plus, it's easy to make from scratch and only takes minutes to put together.

With all of the delicious lasagna flavors you love, this recipe features ricotta, parmesan, a meaty sauce, and so much cheese! It's the ultimate comfort food.

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You can assemble this dish in less than 30 minutes and bake immediately, or refrigerate and bake later. Read on for how to make the BEST ground turkey lasagna recipe out there!

How to Make a Healthier Lasagna

There are many ways to cut calories and boost protein in your lasagna recipe. With only 379 calories per serving, this Italian Turkey Lasagna recipe is lower in fat and calories than most classic lasagna recipes.

Here are some more great ways to reduce calories when making lasagna:

  • Substitute lean ground meat for traditional beef or pork. Using ground chicken or turkey is a great way to cut calories while keeping the texture.
  • Add veggies to your sauce. In this Easy Vegetable Lasagna recipe, the veggies are pureed into the sauce, so you'd never even know they are there. Great trick for getting kids to eat more vegetables too.
  • Substitute cottage cheese for ricotta cheese. A good way to do this and keep the ricotta texture you love is by pureeing the cottage cheese in a food processor. Additionally, you could use part-skim ricotta or do half ricotta, half cottage cheese.
  • Use thinly sliced zucchini in place of traditional lasagna noodles. This is a great trick to cut calories and carbs from your recipe.
  • Half the amount of mozzarella in the recipe. You'll find by doing this you really don't miss the cheese at all. As long as you don't omit the cheese altogether.

And, if you just have to have the traditional lasagna, pair it with a healthy side or starter salad like this Italian Tomato Onion Salad. You may find that half a portion of lasagne is sufficient if you have a hearty salad to begin with.

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Are No Boil Lasagna Noodles Tasty?

They can be! No boil lasagna noodles have really come along way since their inception. Initially, these noodles were gummy and just didn't taste good. However, these noodles are much better now and truly make lasagna so much easier to put together.

After trying various different types of no-boil noodles, here are the best oven-ready lasagna noodles:

If you only have traditional noodles on hand, you can still use them for this Italian Turkey Lasagne recipe. Just cook until al dente and build the lasagna as usual.

Another tip for easily cooking lasagna noodles is to place the noodles in a large baking dish or casserole dish. Pour boiling water over the noodles, cover, and let sit for 10 minutes. Carefully drain and you'll find that you have perfectly al dente noodles for your lasagna.

So no more getting out that huge pot and waiting for water to boil for lasagna noodles. Give the no-boil noodles a shot and you will be pleasantly surprised.

Italian Turkey Lasagna Recipe

The key to making this recipe easy is to gather all of the ingredient and assemble the components ahead of time. The ground turkey lasagna consists of four layer components:

  • Ground turkey meat sauce
  • Ricotta parmesan mixture
  • Shredded mozzarella
  • No-bake lasagna noodles

Once you have all of these prepared, assembling the Italian turkey lasagna is easy. It's just a matter of layering and repeating until you reach the top of the pan.

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Firstly, you will need to prepare the sauce. This simple ground turkey meat sauce comes together quickly and only requires ground turkey, spices, canned tomatoes, and onions and garlic.

Next, the ricotta mixture is simply a blend of ricotta cheese, parmesan, and eggs. You could part-skim or whole milk ricotta cheese for this lasagna. Also, you could use a parmesan reggiano blend or all mozzarella if you like.

How to Assemble the Turkey Lasagna

Once you have your components ready, you can begin assembling. I recommend using a deep casserole pan with high sides, like this Emilie Henry Large White Baker. This is a 4-layer lasagna, so you will need room to layer.

Start with about half a cup of the sauce spread thinly on the bottom of the baking pan.

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Next, layer on the no-bake lasagna noodles. If necessary, snap the noodles to into smaller sizes so they fit in the pan.

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Spread on ⅓rd of the ricotta mixture so that it covers the top of the no-boil lasagna noodles.

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Then, spoon on about a cup of turkey meat sauce and sprinkle on ¼ of the mozzarella overtop of the ricotta.

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Repeat the layers, ending with sauce and the remaining mozzarella. Use non-stick foil or a sheet of foil sprayed with non-stick cooking spray to cover the lasagna.

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Bake for about an hour. Then, uncover and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the lasagna is bubbly.

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If desired, place the lasagna under the broiler for about a minute to lightly brown the cheese. Let the lasagna rest at room temperature for at least 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Hope you love this recipe! Be sure to comment below and let me know what you think. Enjoy!

Italian Turkey Lasagna

This simple and delicious recipe for Italian Turkey Lasagna comes together fast and is perfect for a weeknight dinner or entertaining. Made with ground turkey, ricotta cheese, mozzarella, and no boil lasagna noodles.

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: healthy lasagna, italian lasagna, turkey lasagna

Servings: 12 servings

Calories: 379kcal

Cost: 9-11

Equipment

  • 9 x 13 casserole dish

Ingredients

Turkey Meat Sauce

  • 2 teaspoons olive oil
  • 1 pound ground turkey
  • ½ large onion, diced (about a cup)
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • ½ teaspoon dried oregano
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
  • 2 15 ounce cans crushed tomatoes
  • 2 15 ounce cans tomato sauce

Ricotta Filling

  • 2 15 ounce containers ricotta cheese (part-skim or whole)
  • 1 cup shredded parmesan
  • 2 large eggs, beaten

Lasagna Layers

  • 1 12 ounce package oven ready lasagna noodles (about 16 noodles)
  • 16 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese (about 2 cups)

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray baking dish with cooking spray; set aside.

  • Heat oil in a large skillet or pot over medium high heat. Add in the ground turkey and onions and cook until the turkey is no longer pink, breaking up the turkey meat with a spoon as it cooks. Stir in the garlic and cook for one minute. Add in the tomato paste, oregano and salt, and stir for another two minutes. Pour in the crushed tomatoes and tomato sauce and bring to a simmer. Let simmer for five minutes; set aside.

  • To make the ricotta filling, stir together the ricotta, parmesan, and eggs; set aside.

  • To assemble the lasagna, spoon about half a cup of sauce on the bottom of the baking dish. Place four of the lasagna noodles on top of the sauce, breaking the noodles to fit if necessary. Spread on ⅓rd of the ricotta cheese mixture, ¼ of the mozzarella, and about a cup of meat sauce. Repeat layers, ending with the last layer or lasagna noodles, sauce, and topping with remaining mozzarella cheese.

  • Cover the lasagna with nonstick foil and bake, covered for an hour. Remove foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Let rest for at least 5 minutes before serving.

Notes

This Italian Turkey Lasagna recipe can be assembled in advance and just baked before serving. Be sure to add about 10 extra minutes to the bake time.

Nutrition

Calories: 379kcal

Italian Turkey Lasagna | Easy No Boil Recipe (12)
Italian Turkey Lasagna | Easy No Boil Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Is there a trick to no boil lasagna noodles? ›

Skip Boiling and Soak Noodles Instead to Make Lasagna Prep Quick and Easy. Her genius hack is to briefly soak your regular lasagna sheets in hot water. This softens them slightly, completely omitting the need to boil.

Can you use regular lasagna without boiling? ›

Boiling lasagna noodles is really overrated. There really isn't any reason to do it. And you don't need those newfangled "oven ready" noodles. Just let the regular type noodles soak up liquid from the sauce and cook in the oven - Presto!

What's the difference between boil and no boil lasagna? ›

“[No-boil noodles] are par-cooked for convenience, but because they're pre-boiled, they lose their residual surface starch,” explained recipe writer and blogger Jim Mumford of Jim Cooks Food Good. “When you boil lasagna noodles, they will have a thin layer of starch on the outside from the cooking.

Why do you put milk in lasagna? ›

Milk. It tenderises the meat, to leave you with the most tender ragù.

What happens if you don t boil lasagna noodles before baking? ›

But boiling them first, even just submerging them in hot water for 5 minutes prior to lasagna assembly changes the texture of the noodle. It plumps it up. Unboiled noodles, while tender, are not as plump. Just gives it a slightly different texture.

What not to do when making lasagna? ›

In the spirit of learning and lasagna, here are the top mistakes everyone makes with lasagna.
  1. Overcooking the noodles. ...
  2. Boiling noodles without oil and salt. ...
  3. Letting your lasagna get too soupy. ...
  4. Using the wrong protein. ...
  5. Overloading the layers. ...
  6. Substituting cottage cheese for ricotta. ...
  7. Using preshredded cheese.
Aug 30, 2022

What is a good substitute for lasagna noodles? ›

When it comes to keto lasagna, there a many different foods you can use to substitute for real lasagna noodles. Some people use zucchini noodles (slices) or cabbage. I've even seen people use fathead dough rolled out super thin, baked and then used as a keto lasagna noodle.

Who makes no boil lasagna? ›

Barilla® Oven Ready Lasagne does not require boiling the pasta before baking -- simply add it directly to your pan and bake. Barilla® Oven Ready Lasagne is made with non-GMO ingredients.

Do oven-ready lasagna noodles expand when cooked? ›

The lasagne will expand to the edges of the pan during baking. Top with filling or sauce as directed in your recipe on every layer, spreading each to the edges of the pan to seal in and cook the lasagne during baking.

Do I have to put egg in ricotta cheese for lasagna? ›

Eggs help prevent the ricotta from drying out and serve to bind the ricotta so it doesn't become runny. One or more eggs are recommended whether you add the other ingredients mentioned here or not.

Why add tomato paste to lasagna? ›

A good tomato paste helps to thicken but also adds a sweet and savory umami flavor. Lean Ground Beef: Lean beef adds a robust and hearty meatiness that's essential in a classic lasagna recipe.

What happens if you don't add egg to ricotta for lasagna? ›

Adding egg to ricotta cheese helps to bind the cheese for lasagna so that it doesn't ooze out of the casserole when you cut it. Basically, the egg helps all the cheesy goodness stay intact. So what happens if you don't put eggs in your lasagna? It'll just be a bit runnier, but omitting the egg won't affect the taste.

Should I soak dried lasagne sheets? ›

If you are eating soon after making, say in 2 hours time, pre soak the lasagne sheets in hand hot water for about 10 minutes before layering. This softens the pasta. If you are making it 12 hours ahead you could use no cook dry lasagne.

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