Rich and hearty Turkey Ragu makes a wonderful family meal. It’s simmered with tomatoes, herbs, and a splash of red wine for deep flavor. Serve over your favorite low carb noodles.
Comfort food is so named for a reason. It refers to meals that please our palates, fill our bellies, and make us feel cared for. It’s not gourmet, it’s not fancy, but it reminds us of coming together with friends and family for really good food.
Comfort food may not solve all of our problems, but it can make things easier to bear for a little while. And this Turkey Ragu is one such meal.
We’ve had a tough few months in my house, so I created this flavorful keto meat sauce for a family meal. While it didn’t solve all of our problems, it did bring us together and give us some comfort.
Healthy low carb comfort food
Comfort food does not have to be heavy, unhealthy, or full of carbs. It can be wholesome, nutritious, and keto friendly too. I have many recipes I rely on when I need comfort food, like Keto Beef Stew, Keto Chicken Pot Pie, and Buffalo Chicken Soup.
This Turkey Ragu was such a hit with the kids, so I know it will become a staple recipe. They had theirs over pasta, but I served mine with noodles made from Egg Life Wraps. It was the prefect low carb base for soaking up the rich, delicious sauce.
This is also an excellent low carb high protein recipe. With 22.6g protein and only 5.4g, it’s healthy and hearty at the same time. It also stores and freezes really nicely so go ahead and make a double batch. You will thank me later!
Ingredients you need
- Onion: As always with low carb recipes, keep the onion to a minimum. It still provides plenty of flavor, but keeps the carbs lower.
- Celery: Classic ragu often includes both carrots and celery. But for this lower carb version, we skip the high carb carrots and keep the celery.
- Seasonings: Fresh garlic, Italian seasoning, and red pepper add great flavor.
- Ground turkey: Obviously a turkey ragu recipe is going to use ground turkey. But you can also make this with ground beef.
- Red wine: Use a dry red wine or chicken broth, if you prefer.
- Diced tomatoes: I used some I canned myself this summer, but any good brand of diced tomatoes will do.
- Low carb marinara: Read the labels on the marinara bottles as many contain added sugar. Rao’s makes a terrific low carb marinara sauce.
- Pantry staples: Olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Step-by-step directions
1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan or dutch oven over medium heat. Once hot and shimmering, add the onion and celery and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sauté until tender, about 4 minutes.
2. Add the garlic, Italian seasoning, and red pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute more.
3. Add the turkey and cook 7 minutes, stirring frequently, until mostly cooked through. Stir in the wine and continue to cook until evaporated by about one-third.
4. Stir in the marinara sauce and diced tomatoes. Simmer another 15 minutes, to allow the flavors to meld.
5. Serve over cauliflower rice or your favorite keto noodles.
Expert tips
If you choose to do this recipe with ground beef, you may want to drain some of the fat before adding the wine. Otherwise it can be a little greasy, but that’s also entirely up to you!
Red wine deepens the flavor of the ragu, but you can use some broth if you don’t use alcohol. It won’t reduce as well as wine, so you may need to cook it a little longer.
The Egg Life wraps make perfect keto noodles. But you can also use zucchini noodles, shiritake noodles, or Palmini. You can even serve this ragu over my easy sautéed vegetables or mashed cauliflower.
Frequently Asked Questions
Jarred tomato sauce and pasta sauce often contains added sugars and isn’t appropriate for low carb or keto diets. But there are several good brands like Rao’s and Yo Momma’s that you can use. My rule of thumb is that the sauce should have less than 6g of carbs per 1/2 cup serving. Make sure you check the serving size too, as some are listed as only 1/4 or 1/3 cup.
This Easy Turkey Ragu recipe has 6.6g of carbs and 1.2g of fiber per serving. That comes to 5.4g net carbs per serving.
Leftover turkey ragu can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 4-5 days. You can also freeze it for up to 4-6 months. Thaw overnight or transfer to a pot and heat on the stove.
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Turkey Ragu Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/4 cup (40 g) chopped onion
- 2 medium celery ribs, chopped
- Salt and pepper
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 1/2 lb (680.39 g) ground turkey
- 3/4 cup red wine or chicken broth
- 1 cup (245 g) low carb marinara, like Rao's
- 14 ounces (396.89 g) diced tomatoes
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large saucepan or dutch oven over medium heat. Once hot and shimmering, add the onion and celery and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sauté until tender, about 4 minutes.
- Add the garlic, Italian seasoning, and red pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute more.
- Add the turkey and cook 7 minutes, stirring frequently, until mostly cooked through. Stir in the wine and continue to cook until evaporated by about one-third.
- Stir in the marinara sauce and diced tomatoes. Simmer another 15 minutes, to allow the flavors to meld.
- Serve over cauliflower rice or your favorite keto noodles.
Notes
Nutrition
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I don’t see a note on what low carb noodles you use. I see many online but don’t want to try and waste my money. Yours in the picture look yummy.
In the tips section, it states: The Egg Life wraps make perfect keto noodles. But you can also use zucchini noodles, shiritake noodles, or Palmini. You can even serve this ragu over my easy sautéed vegetables or mashed cauliflower.
hi Laurie I use qetoe noodles 85% less carbs and they are yummy
I’m not familiar with Egg Life Wraps. Did you cut them up in the shape of noodles? Do you have to cook them before adding to the ragu?
Yes, they are just egg white wraps and I sliced them into noodles. Then I put the hot sauce over them without cooking them. It was perfect! You can see them here: https://amzn.to/3ydTPSN
I have made this several times as is and it is quite tasty comforting and easy to make. Only thing that I did different was to use white wine because I can’t drink red.
Wondering what noodles you used? They look amazing in the photo!
I look forward to trying the recipes.