Easy Turkey Ragout Recipe – simple and delicious ~ Macheesmo

I love a big pot of pasta and gravy as much as the nearest half-Breed American Italian, but finding the time to get it right can be difficult. Good news! This easy turkey ragu (or turkey bolognese) recipe takes less than an hour to make, is packed with flavor, and is a little healthier than a classic pork and ground beef ragu.

I was honestly surprised at how much flavor this turkey stew ended up having. My family loved it and sipped it high on top of spaghetti.

To spice up the flavor a bit, I recommend adding turkey bacon to the mix, which adds a slight smokiness that’s similar to a classic ragu, but a bit healthier. If I’m honest, and I always am, I’m usually not a fan of turkey bacon, but it works Yes, really good in this recipe.

Of course, if you want to substitute regular bacon or pancetta, I will get in touch with you and fully support you in this endeavor.

Like most Italian sauces, this turkey stew keeps well and is easy to reheat, so feel free to make it ahead of time.

It freezes great too, so double it!

Turkey Ragu vs Turkey Bolognese

There is a technical difference between these two sauces. In general, a stew contains fewer tomatoes than a Bolognese. Personally I think people use these pretty interchangeably these days so you can name it and I won’t yell at you.

To me, it felt more like a ragu than a bolognese, but there’s no hard and fast rule here in my opinion. call it what you want I call it good food.

Turkey bacon is the key to turkey stew

Normally for a meat sauce like this I would start by browning some pancetta or bacon as a good base layer for the sauce. It adds some smokiness and fat to the dish and just makes the flavors more interesting and complex.

I tried turkey bacon for this version and was surprised at how great it turned out.

I’m not usually a fan of turkey bacon when all I eat is bacon, but it works well in this turkey stew recipe.

One thing: turkey bacon is super lean. It needs some fat, so add a good drizzle of olive oil while you cook it.

Making the Turkey Ragu Base

I kept the basis for this turkey ragout very classic. Onions, carrots, celery, garlic. Add this to the bacon and let it cook down a little in a large saucepan or Dutch oven.

Boom.

Then remove this mixture from the pot and you’ll likely be left with a fairly dry pot. Add a little more olive oil and add the ground turkey. Again, ground turkey is very lean, so it needs the extra fat. Trust me!

Finish the turkey ragout

Once the turkey is cooked through (about 6-7 minutes), add the red wine to deglaze the pan, and then you can add the vegetable and bacon mixture back in. Plus the marinara. Yummy!

Simmer everything together for about 10 minutes and then taste! It might need a pinch of salt and pepper, but probably not much more.

Serve this turkey stew in large balls over your choice of cooked spaghetti or pasta. Garnish with parmesan cheese as you do.

I was skeptical that I would like this turkey stew but it turned out better than expected and my family loved it.

Try it once!

Can you make this sauce in the slow cooker?

Sometimes ragout is easy to make in a slow cooker. I like to make ragout in a slow cooker when using really hearty cuts of beef that need to cook for a while and break down completely before they’re good in a sauce. For example, this slow cooker version with beef stew is a great example.

While you could put all of these ingredients in a slow cooker and it would 100% cook and serve well, I think it’s a bit unnecessary. The recipe takes under an hour to prepare and benefits from cooking the ingredients differently so they all brown properly. You can’t do that in a slow cooker.

If you plan to cook it in a slow cooker, you’ll likely need to add an extra cup of liquid or mashed tomatoes to the mixture so there’s enough liquid to slow cook it. Much luck!

My easy turkey ragout recipe

Here are some other great Italian recipes!