Juicy Ground Turkey Tacos {Such Easy Recipe} - iFoodReal.com (2024)

These Ground Turkey Tacos are saucy, flavorful and oh so easy in 30 minutes. Even if you are more of a ground beef tacos family, everyone will ask you to make this ground turkey taco recipe again and again!

We absolutely love healthy taco recipes around here. Instant Pot shredded chicken tacos, grilled chicken street tacos and even healthier fish tacos recipe, we love them all!

If you are looking for a 30 minute dinner idea, ground turkey tacos are IT. By no means these tacos are authentic but it doesn’t mean we can’t eat them!

I am sure no one in Mexico grew up with my buffalo chicken taco recipe or one skillet with radishes ground chicken tacos. But regardless, tacos are most requested for healthy dinner in our house!

My ground turkey taco recipe consists of lean ground turkey meat and just a few pantry staples. Wondering what else to do with ground turkey? Check out these 45 best of ground turkey recipes!

Why This Ground Turkey Taco Recipe Works?

• Low sodium vegetable broth or chicken broth helps keep the turkey meat juicy rather than dry.
• A little bit of tomato paste adds another layer of flavor to otherwise bland poultry taste.
• Homemade ground turkey taco seasoning mix comes together quickly and results in low sodium healthy turkey tacos.
• 30 minute total time and flexible toppings means you can make these for dinner any night of the week, especially comes in handy on a busy weeknight.

Ingredients and Substitutions

You literally just need a tray of ground turkey and simple pantry staples. If you want leftovers I highly recommend to double the recipe.

• Ground turkey: Look for 93% lean ground turkey. 99% fat free meat will result in dry tacos.
• Onion and garlic: These aromatics add a lot of flavor and extra juice. So I do not recommend to use dry onion and garlic powders. Stick to fresh here.
• Turkey taco seasoning: I used 2 tbsp of my no sodium homemade taco seasoning mix. If you use store-bought and not low sodium taco seasoning, reduce salt by 1/4 tsp.
• Other seasonings: Onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper. For spicy turkey tacos, double or triple amount of cayenne pepper.
• Tomato paste: You will need half a regular size 6 oz low sodium can of tomato paste. Ketchup would work too. Also tomato paste and broth can be replaced with 1 cup low sodium tomato sauce.

How to Make Turkey Tacos

• Saute onion and garlic with spices first to make them fragrant. If you add meat at same time, it will “boil” the veggies instead of frying them until aromatic. Need 3 minutes of your precious time here.
• Cook ground turkey for approximately 10 minutes. You will have to break it into pieces, stir constantly and you will see meat juices that you don’t have to drain.
• Make taco meat juicy with tomato paste, broth and a touch of sugar– watch dry meat crumbles transform into glossy taco meat you can’t wait to eat. A touch of sugar helps to offset acidity in tomatoes.

Recommended Taco Toppings

• Diced avocado or super easy guacamole
• Diced red onion
• Shredded lettuce
• Shredded cheddar cheese
• Whole milk yogurt or sour cream
• With Instant Pot refried beans.

This turkey taco meat is great to make healthy taco salad – add corn, beans, tortilla chips and veggies. Make turkey taco healthy lettuce wraps with Romaine lettuce, swiss chard leaves or boston lettuce. Stir in with cooked pasta, veggies and salsa for easy taco skillet.

Leftoverbrown riceorquinoa?Stir it in and make bowls with produce from your drawers. Sprinkle with cheese and I can assure you it will be glorious!

FAQs

Making Turkey Tacos in Advance

You can double or triple turkey taco meat recipe or even freeze for easy weeknight dinner because it reheats beautifully.

• Fridge: Refrigerate leftover or cooked taco meat in a glass airtight container for up to 5 days.
• Freezer: Leftovers also freeze beautifully without freezer burns if stored properly. I love glass or reusable silicone bags even more.
• Instant Pot freezer meal: And last but not least but we turned turkey taco meat into a freezer meal in one of our Youtube videos. All you have to do is this and detailed instructions are located in a recipe card notes:
  • Add all ingredients, except water, swoosh them around and freeze.
  • Then cook from frozen on high pressure for 12 mins.
  • And then thicken with slurry.

Check out my full list of 20freezer meals. I’m obsessed!

More Favorite Mexican Recipes

• Carne asada tacos
• Turkey taco soup
• Shrimp tacos
• Healthy taco pasta
• Bang bang shrimp tacos

Browse all our favorite healthy taco recipes!