Creamy Tomato Cottage Cheese Pasta with Ground Turkey

The cottage cheese pasta everyone's making: a blush-pink, vodka-sauce-style tomato cream made by blending cottage cheese and Parmesan, tossed with garlicky turkey, spinach and protein pasta.

Ingredients

• 8 oz 93% lean ground turkey
• 1 lb 99% lean ground turkey
• 2 cups 2% cottage cheese
• ¼ cup grated Parmesan
• 9 oz protein rigatoni or penne
• 1¾ cups crushed tomatoes
• ½ onion, finely diced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• ⅓ cup chicken broth
• 5 oz baby spinach
• fresh basil

From your pantry: 1 tbsp olive oil, 2 tbsp tomato paste, 1½ tsp Italian seasoning, ¼ tsp red pepper flakes, salt, pepper.

Instructions

1. Boil the pasta in salted water until al dente. Reserve 1 cup cooking water and drain.
2. Heat the oil in a large deep skillet over medium-high heat. Brown both turkeys with the onion, Italian seasoning, ½ tsp salt and pepper, 6 to 8 minutes.
3. Add the garlic, pepper flakes and tomato paste and cook 2 minutes until the paste darkens. Add the crushed tomatoes and broth and simmer 5 minutes.
4. Blend the cottage cheese and Parmesan until smooth, then stir it into the sauce off the heat.
5. Add the pasta and spinach and toss over low heat until the spinach wilts and the sauce coats the pasta, adding pasta water as needed. Serve with basil.

Tip: Add the blended cottage cheese off the heat and keep it below a simmer afterward so it stays creamy and doesn't curdle.

Nutrition per serving

Good for

Adapted from Skinnytaste.

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