How to Make Turkey Puttanesca? [Easy Recipe]
You may have heard of puttanesca, and if you even tried it, you are one lucky person! It’s easy to fall in love with its robust flavor. This pasta sauce usually contains chopped tomatoes (what a surprise for an Italian dish), garlic, olives, olive oil, capers, and anchovies. Some of the optional ingredients are onions, chili flakes, parsley and oregano.
As you can guess, this sauce is really quick and easy to make. But, I like to complicate things sometimes, so I decided to add turkey. It is easy to make ground turkey taste good, but I also needed to adjust some ingredients and omit others. Keep reading to see which is which!
How to Make Quick Turkey Puttanesca?
First of all, ground turkey and anchovies don’t go too well together, so I omitted them. I also didn’t include capers. Not because they wouldn’t go well with this type of puttanesca, because they would go just fine. It’s just I really don’t like them.
The first step in making many tomato sauces is chopping the vegetables and heating the olive oil. So, when your garlic cloves and onion are ready for sauteing, warm up the oil and saute them for about 5 minutes.
In the meantime, chop the black olives into smaller pieces.
Turkey should be seasoned with some salt, pepper, chili flakes and parsley. When onion and garlic start getting brownish edges, add seasoned turkey.
Cook for 5 minutes while constantly and slowly stirring. Now add one can of chopped tomatoes and half of the cup of tomato sauce. Add a little bit more chili flakes, salt and pepper. Cook for another 8-10 minutes. Remember to stir it once in a while.
It is time to add olives into the meat sauce. Stir well to combine everything.
I served turkey puttanesca with mafalda pasta since I had some leftovers from making bolognese the other day. You can serve it with spaghetti or any other mafalda pasta substitute.
Some shredded hard cheese also goes great on top.
How to Store Turkey Puttanesca?
You can safely store cooked turkey puttanesca for 3 months in the freezer. Alternatively, you can place it in an airtight container and eat it within 2 days.
The fastest reheating method is microwaving it, but you will get the most delicious result by reheating it on the stove in a non-stick pan. Of course, make sure it is cooled at room temperature before placing it in the fridge.
Turkey Puttanesca
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 can chopped tomatoes
- ½ cup tomato sauce
- 15-20 black olives
- 18 oz ground turkey (510 grams or 1.12 pounds)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp parsley
- dash of pepper
- dash of Cayenne pepper
- chili flakes to taste
Instructions
- Cut the vegetables in small pieces and heat up the olive oil in one deep dish. Saute garlic and onion for about 5 minutes.
- In the meantime, chop the black olives into smaller pieces. If they have pits inside, remove them carefully.
- Turkey should be seasoned with some salt, pepper, chili flakes and parsley. When onion and garlic start getting brownish edges, add seasoned turkey.
- Cook for 5 minutes while slowly stirring. Now add one can of chopped tomatoes and half of the cup of tomato sauce. Add a little bit more chili flakes, salt and pepper. Cook for another 8-10 minutes. Remember to stir it once in a while.
- Now add olives to the meat sauce. Stir well.
- Serve with some grated hard cheese on top.
