Million Dollar Ground Turkey Casserole
This Million Dollar ground turkey casserole is a rich, creamy, and cheesy baked comfort dish made with lean ground turkey, cream cheese, sour cream, and melted cheese for a lighter twist on the classic million dollar chicken casserole. Baked until bubbly and golden, it delivers all the signature creamy, indulgent flavor of the original while using ground turkey as a lean protein swap.
Recipe Highlights
- How does it taste: Million dollar ground turkey casserole is perfect for turkey lovers. The base is a mix creamy cottage cheese and cream cheese that’s blended with ranch seasoning. This base is what surrounds every bite of the ground turkey and pasta. The topping has the classic buttery flavor of Ritz crackers but extra toasty and a satisfying crunch in every bite.
- Skill level: A very beginner friendly recipe. Nothing tricking in the prep and following the directions you’ll be able to nail the recipe every time.
- Storing: Million dollar ground turkey casserole will store perfectly for a few days covered in the fridge. Note, the crispy topping will no longer be crispy after refrigeration and/or freezing.
Ingredient tips
- Turkey: The casserole calls for ground turkey but ground chicken can work. To add, if it’s the holiday season you can also sub the ground turkey for leftover turkey as well. Just make sure the weight is equal to avoid disturbing the overall texture too much.
- Pasta: Small shell pasta is used in the million dollar ground turkey casserole to avoid overpowering the sauce. Pasta will absorb all the sauce, so the bigger the pasta or more volume can leave the interior dry, especially when reheating. Alternatives that could work would be macaroni or even rotini but in a small volume. If you start playing with the pasta this will effect the overall creaminess of the recipe.
- Cheese: The million dollar theme uses cottage cheese. In the situation you aren’t a fan of that cheese you can sub with something like ricotta, sour cream or even more cream cheese. But, replace it with something if you choose to skip that ingredient.
- Milk: If dairy-free milk is your choice that will be fine. The milk is mainly to loosen up the sauce, technically water would work or a broth to be honest.
Prep tip
In the photos an 8×8 baking dish was used. However, for the recipe you will need something a bit larger. A 13×9 baking dish will be perfect and is recommended.
Serving suggestions
Million dollar ground turkey casserole is meal on it’s own, a side dish such as biscuits or an appetizer to start crockpot meatballs are great. An easy dessert to pair with the meal like a dump cake or Biscoff Rice Krispy treats are perfect.
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Million Dollar Ground Turkey Casserole
This million dollar ground turkey casserole is a blend of turkey in a creamy sauce with pasta and topped with buttery Ritz crackers.
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Servings: 12 serving
Calories: 272kcal
Equipment
- 13×9 baking dish
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 8 ounces pasta small shelled pasta
- 8 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 1 cup cottage cheese 4% milk fat or sub with whole milk ricotta cheese
- 1.5 cup milk
- 1 packet ranch seasoning
- 2 sleeve ritz crackers crumbled
- 6 tablespoon butter melted
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- First, brown the ground turkey in a frying pan. Season the turkey lightly with salt and pepper.
- Now, in a bowl combine the cream cheese, cottage cheese milk and ranch together. Taste for salt and pepper here because this is the main sauce.
- Next, preheat the oven to 350℉ and cook the noodles according to the package. While the noodles are boiling crush the Ritz crackers and mix them with the melted butter.
- Then, once the noodles are drained mix together the noodle, ground turkey and the sauce from earlier. Add half the ritz crackers for a bottom layer in the baking dish. Spread everything on top of the crackers. Lastly, top with the rest of the buttered crackers.
- Bake in a preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until top is golden brown.
- Lastly, allow to cool a bit before serving.
Video
Nutrition
Calories: 272kcal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 16g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 62mg | Sodium: 368mg | Potassium: 244mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 512IU | Calcium: 77mg | Iron: 1mg
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Step 2 says you’re mixing the ranch in with other ingredients but ranch isn’t listed. Is this a dry ranch packet, liquid ranch, something else…?
That was a typo, you are correct because the ranch seasoning should be listed. I just fixed, my apologies.
Very tasty! I added mushrooms and I think next time I would add cream of mushroom soup or condensed chicken soup to make creamier as it was pretty thick.
Any idea on nutrition facts?