Ground Turkey and Zucchini Casserole

I don’t know about you, but I’m ALWAYS looking for recipes that I can add into my weekly meal rotation. What’s even better are recipes that I can prep ahead of schedule, so once it’s time to eat I can just GRAB AND GO!

When I first saw Kevin aka @fitmencook post his recent meal prep rotation on Instagram I thought this recipe looked like a winner and I was right! After a successful trial run I will be adding this into my weekly meal prep rotation FOR SURE!!

I only made a few tweaks to his original recipe which you can find over on BodyBuilding.com.

Ground Turkey and Zucchini Casserole

Ingredients:

32 oz. uncooked lean ground turkey* (93% lean)
8 oz. (1 box) Quinoa pasta shells (or your preferred pasta)
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (optional)
1 cup chopped red onion
2 cups chopped zucchini (around 2 smallish zucchini)
1 chopped medium yellow bell pepper
14.5oz. can petite diced tomatoes
1 cup + 1/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
2 x 6oz. cans tomato paste
garlic salt
5 x mini disposable tin foil pans (only needed for meal prepping)

*For the ground turkey I used a 20oz. package of the Italian seasoned Jennie-O brand and then used a food scale to measure out 12oz. from another package. If you don’t have a food scale you can just eye-ball half of the second package. I set aside the extra 8oz. for breakfast burritos.

Directions:

1. Set oven to 375F.
2. Cook pasta according to box directions. Rinse with warm water and set aside.
3. Set the largest skillet you own on medium-high heat and cover the bottom with a very thin layer of water or 1/4 cup chicken broth (no need to use cooking oil if you don’t have to!). Toss in red onion and a sprinkle of garlic salt. Cook in the skillet until the onions are nearly translucent.
4. Add in the ground turkey meat. Stir and cook with a wooden spoon or spatula. Chop the turkey and separate it as it cooks. Once the turkey is nearly finished cooking, add zucchini, tomato paste, tomatoes, bell pepper, and one cup chicken broth. Stir slowly and reduce heat slightly. Cover and cook until the mixture begins to simmer.
5. Evenly divide the pasta among the five mini pans. Pour the mixture on top of the pasta.
6. If needed, pour the remaining chicken broth over the individual pans to ensure moisture. (I actually forget to do this step, and they still turned out great!)
7. Top each with 1/8 cup shredded mozzarella.
8. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes at 375F. Once finished, allow to cool. Cover with lids and frig/freeze until you’re ready to eat.
9. Reheat in the oven or dump into a different container to reheat in the microwave. Do NOT put the tin foil containers in the microwave!!

If for whatever reason you don’t want to divide into separate containers you could probably dump everything into a 9×12 dish and slightly increase the cooking time. You’ll know it’s done when the cheese melts and starts to turn light brown.

So what’s the nutritional breakdown?

Here’s the nutritional info according to Kevin and BodyBuilding.com:

If you’re doing the 21-Day Fix this is my best estimate on the containers…2 yellow, 1 red, 1 green. And depending on how much cheese you use it will be 1/4 or 1/2 blue. It may even be 2 red containers, but I’ll have to pay better attention the next time I make it. 🙂

If you want to cut back on the carbs and calories a little, I recommend using spaghetti squash instead of the noodles. In fact, that’s what I plan on doing the next time I make this recipe!!

You can also find a PDF version of this recipe HERE.