healthy bolognese

Slow Cooker Turkey Mushroom Bolognese- a lightened up version that is packed with flavor and depth. Simple easy healthy recipe!

Slow Cooker Turkey Mushroom Bolognese

¼ turkey

onion -diced

garlic- rough chopped

mushrooms-

carrots- diced

Celery stalks – diced

salt,

cracked pepper

oregano

chili flakes

nutmeg (optional)

fennel seeds

tomato paste

¼ Cup Red Wine

sauce

1Bay leaf

Parmesan Rind (optional)

In a very large dutch oven or saute function of a slow cooker, saute the ground turkey and onion in the olive oil, for 3 minutes until lightly browned.  If there is a lot of liquid, drain. Add the garlic, carrots, celery and mushrooms. Continue sauteeing and stirring cooking the veggies until tender, about 5  minutes.

 Make a well in the pan and add tomato paste, frying it for 1-2 minutes, which will give the sauce depth. Mix it all together then add the wine, scraping up all the brown bits.

Let simmer on medium heat until wine is reduced, about 5 minutes. Add the can of tomatoes and their juice, breaking them up with the metal spatula. Stir in the soy sauce. Toss in the parmesan rind (optional) to add even more depth and a bay leaf.

Place this in a slow cooker on its lowest setting for 6 hours (or medium heat for 3 hours). Adjust seasonings, add more salt to taste, discard parmesan rind and bay leaf.

Alternately you can continue to simmer in the dutch oven on the stove, covered, for 1-2 hours, on lowest heat, adding chicken stock if necessary ( if it gets too dry). Taste, adjust salt to your liking.

Serve over cooked pasta, quinoa or roasted spaghetti squash with grated parmesan, sprinkled with fresh basil or Italian parsley.

Been looking for this for ever!! My grandma made this...only with sausage and hamburger. She had a stroke and cant find it or remember it. For ever I just thought is was Reeeaaally good spaghetti... but it wasnt! It was this! I remember the nutmeg and cream and carrots etc.I'm making it now and it is a constant craving for my family and me! Love your explanations in the directions and how you cook with love!! Thank you soooooh much!!! It is beyond delicious!!

This recipe is a complete winner.   I've made it several times and it always turns out amazing.  It freezes beautifully too and comes out tasting as good as when it went in.  It takes some prep on the front end, but all that flavor development pays off when you taste it.

Delicious!!  Cooked it on the stove top and ate it a couple of days later.

Made this for family and received raves! It was fantastic! I know the soy sauce sounds strange but it gave the sauce such a great flavor. Thank you for a great recipe! I will be coming back to your site for more!

Hello. I have commented before on how priceless this recipe is to me. I have made it MANY times. I am noticing this time that the cream or half and half is no longer on the ingredient list. I know you had it the same time as the soy sauce,..but I can't remember how much? Thank you!?

Wow, this is such a wonderful &amp; yummy recipe! Thank you so much for posting it :)
I used this recipe as a base &amp; used what I had available... which was pretty much everything except a few items.
I substituted zucchini for celery &amp; also added canned beans and a handful of gluten free quinoa penne so it was all in the same pot &amp; not separate.  Sooo good!!

The recipe looks beautiful but I have a problem with yeast so no wine. Is there a way to adapt it?

Sylvia, I make something from your website about three times a week and am never disappointed. This recipe is another great addition to my Feasting at Home file. I didn't have any celery, so I subbed a small fennel bulb. Sometimes when I cook with turkey, it's a little bland...Not this recipe! It has so much flavor!! We ate it with spaghetti squash for a super healthy dinner. Even the broth that separated out from the bulk of the sauce was delicious!

This was delicious.
I used fresh tomatoes because I had lots, and I used fresh oregano as it's going crazy in my garden at the moment.

A really gutsy and rich bog sauce.
I added a few finely chopped chicken livers as well: trying to win over some entrenched red meat eaters.
I learnt the frying of the tomato paste some years ago. It works well and I suggest that bay leaves are also improved by frying at the beginning of a recipe. I actually pick fresh leaves for this technique. 😎

Epic fail with the instant pot choice. With the small amount of liquid vs other ingredients, you will generate a BURN message on your Instant Pot. You do NOT use the high setting. 

If you want to use your instant pot, you must use the meat/stew setting for 35 minutes or manual LOW pressure for 35 minutes followed by  natural release for 5 minutes.

If I don’t have Parmesan rind, can I just add grated parm? If so, how much?

I had some turkey and mushrooms so I googled it, and found this recipe! I was impressed at the intentional ingredients to create that umami flavor. I’m sure it would have come out fantastic, but unfortunately it turned out to be incredibly salty. I felt like 2.5 tsp of salt was kind of a lot with the soy sauce but I followed the seasoning measurements to a T for once. Ultimately it turned out so salty that I had to add a bunch of half n half, more tomato, a teaspoon of sugar, and then made a slurry with cornstarch to thicken it back up. Even with all that, still a bit too salty for my taste. I can’t imagine what went wrong unless my taste buds went awry since no one else seems to have had the same experience. The only thing I did differently was add a quarter pound of ground lamb because I only had a pound of Turkey. I also used a prechopped mirapeaux so it may have had a few less veggies. Otherwise, I know this is a great recipe and it really did taste good once I was able to tone down the salt. I’ll have to go back to the drawing board - but just in case I’m not crazy, I recommend adding salt as needed since the meat is cooked by the time it’s ready to season. Will update when I try again.

This Healthy Chicken Bolognese swaps out ground beef for lean chicken thighs. The chicken thighs are slow-cooked in a red wine and vegatable tomato sauce and tossed with aldente whole-wheat spaghetti noodles for a healthy take on a classic bologonese sauce.

Chicken Bolognese

olive oil

lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs

onion

carrot

celery

garlic cloves

tsp kosher salt,

red wine (I

tomatoes

water

tsp sugar

basil

cheese rind

lb whole-wheat spaghetti

Heat a large dutch oven over a medium heat. Add oil. Season chicken thighs genrerously with salt and pepper on both sides. Once the oil is hot, add the chicken to the pot. Sear until golden brown, flip and sear on the other side. Remove from the pan and set aside. Leave any residual fat in the pan.

Add onion, carrots, celery, garlic, and 1/2 teaspoon salt to the pot. Saute over a medium heat until slightly soft and fragrant, about 3 minutes.

Pour in red wine and use a wooden spoon to scrape up all the bits at the bottotm of the pan. Stir in tomato paste. Stir in strained tomatoes, water, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, sugar, basil, and parmesan cheese rind. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Place the chicken back in the pot, turn down to low and cover with a lid. Continue to cook for another 25 minutes.

While the sauce cooks, bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil.Season with salt. It should be as salty as sea water.

Once the sauce has simmered for 25 minutes, drop the pasta in the water. Give it a stir.

While the pasta cooks, remove the chicken from the pot, use two forks to shred. Add back to the pot and give it a stir.

Once the pasta is just under aldente, use tongs to transfer the pasta to the sauce. Reserve pasta water. Add 1 cup of the pasta water to the pasta and sauce. Remove the parmesan cheese rind. Toss everything together over a low heat. Season with salt and pepper.

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