Turkey and Vegetable Brown Rice Bake
I’ve made this dish so many times on Instagram stories that it has become a highly requested recipe for the blog! I haven’t had the time to make this and photograph it, so for now, the image is just something I took at night time after serving it up to my family. One day I’ll update this post with prettier photos, I promise. Pretty or not, this dish is a crowd pleaser. And… it’s not spiralized!
What I love most about this dish is that it takes my popular turkey meat sauce and turns it into something new. So, if you have leftovers of my sauce, you can transform it into this bake, using brown rice and more vegetables! Basically, you make my turkey meat sauce, stir in an additional vegetable (I love frozen green beans or peas because they’re… easy and cheap!), stir in cooked brown rice (I’m all about Trader Joe’s frozen organic brown rice right now), top with mozzarella cheese and bake until melted and gooey.
I was making this pretty much all of August and would walk to the farmer’s markets every Monday to grab fresh green beans to use. Lu and Luca loved this so much, there weren’t many leftovers, but any leftovers got gobbled up by me for lunch the next day! You can serve it with some crusty bread or a refreshing greens salad for dinner or just have it as is! The brown rice is hearty enough to make this dish filling and nutrient packed.
You’ll love making this over and over again and you’ll find new vegetables to sneak in there yourself. I’ve done bell peppers, which are awesome too! And note, this photo was taken on a night that I didn’t have any whole carrots, so I had to use some shredded ones I had leftover and it worked just as well and had a slightly different texture.
Nutritional Information & Recipe
Turkey and Vegetable Brown Rice Bake
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- ½ cup diced red onion
- ½ cup diced carrots
- 1/3 cup diced celery
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- salt and pepper
- 1 24oz jar tomato basil sauce (I like Rao’s)
- 2/3 cup frozen peas or sub any other vegetable, such as green beans or broccoli
- 4 cups cooked brown rice
- 1 cup or more shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Heat the oil in a large and deep skillet over medium heat. Once oil is shimmering, add the onions, carrots, celery, and garlic and cook until vegetables are soft, 5-7 minutes. Push the vegetables to one side of the skillet and add the turkey meat, breaking up with a spatula. Season with oregano, salt, and pepper and keep cooking, breaking it up with a spoon. Cook the meat until it’s no longer pink, combine with the cooked vegetables in the pan, and then add in the tomato sauce and peas (or other vegetable.) Stir well to combine.
- Transfer the mixture to a 9 x 13 baking dish along and fold in the rice. Stir together until well combined. Top with mozzarella cheese and bake for 7 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbling. Serve.
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