Can Ground Chicken be substituted for Ground Beef?

Most of the time, yes! Ground chicken is leaner than ground beef and can dry out faster, so it really depends on the recipe. If you're cooking tacos or pasta sauce, the substitution works well. Even in burgers, ground chicken is suitable, but you want to make sure you're adding egg to keep it juicy.

How to Make Ground Chicken Juicy?

There are two answers to this question. First off, don't overcook it. Once it's no longer pink, it's fully cooked. Second, I like to use sauces when cooking ground chicken to keep it very juicy, whether that's marinara sauce like in this recipe or enchilada sauce for tacos.

Allow the sauce to cool completely and store separately from the leftover pasta in sealed containers in the fridge for up to 3 days.

How to Reheat Marinara Sauce?

Add the ground chicken marinara sauce back into a pot over medium low heat and warm up for a few minutes, stirring a few times. Add in the leftover spaghetti right to the sauce and cover and cook for another few minutes. It tastes even better if you make fresh spaghetti, but that's up to you.

Ground Chicken Spaghetti - Simply Made Eats

Description

Ground Chicken Spaghetti is ready in under 30 minutes and so delicious with hearty marinara loaded with seasoned ground chicken. This Ground Chicken and Pasta recipe will turn into one of your go to weeknight dinners. Plus, it's healthy and affordable to make for the family.

Ingredients

Scale

1/2 of a 1 lb package of thin Spaghetti (8 ounces), if you have big eaters you may want to cook the whole pack (all 16 ounces)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small yellow onion, diced fine
1/2 teaspoon salt
16 ounce package of ground chicken
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
20-24 ounce jar of store-bought marinara sauce
1 dried bay leaf
1 cup parmesan cheese, shredded fine

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Instructions

Bring a large pot of water to a boil on the stovetop for the pasta. Prepare a dutch oven or deep skillet on medium low heat over the stovetop. Pour in olive oil and allow to warm up for a minute. Toss in diced onion and a pinch of salt. Cook for a few minutes until softened.
Add the ground chicken to the dutch oven and break up the meat with a meat masher or wooden spoon until no longer pink.
Once the ground chicken is almost no longer pink (about 7-8 minutes into cooking), toss in the minced garlic, dried parsley, basil, oregano and red pepper flakes. Stir to combine. Reduce heat to low.
Stir in the marinara sauce and bay leaf. Cover and simmer on low heat.
Add the pasta to the boiling water with a drizzle of olive oil and pinch of salt and cook according the package instructions. Once it's finished, strain the pasta. Note: My family likes it about 2 minutes past al dente.
To serve, add the pasta to a bowl and ladle over the ground chicken spaghetti sauce. Top with parmesan cheese, if desired. Serve and enjoy!

Equipment

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Notes

Don't overcook the ground chicken before adding the sauce. As soon as it's no longer pink, pour in the marinara and simmer in the sauce to keep it nice and juicy.
If you have picky kids, chop those onions and garlic really fine to avoid them from whining "what's in this sauce?"
I like to cook my spaghetti about 1-2 minutes past al dente, meaning firm when bitten into. It's not too firm for anyone in the family this way.

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Category: Pasta
Method: Stovetop
Cuisine: Italian