Combine zoodles with tomato sauce, ground turkey and quinoa for a meal that’s full of vegetables, fiber and protein, and low in saturated fat.
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Building a balanced plate is easier said than done. Many people turn to foods that are high in sugar, sodium and saturated fat, yet low in essential nutrients like fiber. Between busy lifestyles and convenience food that’s cheap and tasty, it’s no surprise that prepared and processed foods beat out more wholesome meals.
One thing we can all learn from registered dietitians is that nutrient-rich foods don’t have to be complicated. To give you some inspiration, we spoke to dietitians on the one dinner recipe they’d like to see more people making.
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Their suggestion? You don’t have to ditch your favorite meals, but you can try to build upon them. For example, our dietitians recommend taking inspiration from classic spaghetti and meatballs. Here, we explore why zucchini noodles (aka zoodles) topped with tomato sauce, ground turkey and quinoa is a dietitian-approved dinner.
Why Dietitians Love Zoodles With Meat and Grain Sauce
This nutrient-packed dinner idea comes from Jenna Volpe, RDN, an Austin-based registered dietitian. She recommends swapping out traditional pasta noodles for noodles made from zucchini as a way to sneak in more veggies.
And no pasta dish is complete without a hearty sauce, so Volpe recommends whipping up a tomato-based sauce packed with protein-rich ground turkey and complex carbohydrate-rich quinoa.
How to Make This Meal
This meal comes together in three simple steps, and there are plenty of shortcuts (like using store-bought sauce and zoodles) that’ll help speed up your prep time.
- Use a vegetable spiralizer to make your own zoodles or buy them pre-cut. You can either enjoy them raw or warm them up.
- Combine tomatoes, cooked ground turkey and cooked quinoa for the sauce. You can make a batch of homemade sauce or purchase a store-bought spaghetti sauce, such as Rao’s.
- Combine zoodles and sauce together and serve.
How to Make This Meal
Tackle these three simple steps to make zoodles topped with tomato sauce, ground turkey and quinoa, and voila! You’ve got a dinner dietitians love. Here’s why they praise this meal:
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1. It’s High in Protein
Americans aren’t likely to be deficient in protein, but that doesn’t mean you should skimp out on the macro. “Getting enough protein at meals helps with feeling more satiated and more energetically sustained for more time after the meal,” Volpe says.
Traditional spaghetti dishes tend to be lower in protein, Volpe says. Fortunately, that isn’t the case with this recipe. Both the ground turkey and quinoa serve as protein sources in this meal. A 3-ounce serving of ground turkey provides nearly 27 grams of protein, per the USDA. Plus, each cup of cooked quinoa adds 8 grams of protein, according to the USDA.
“Quinoa is a complete plant protein, and combining it with turkey helps unlock its non-heme iron,” says Maggie Moon, RD, a registered dietitian in Los Angeles.
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