Ground Turkey Tacos
Posted May 02, 2025
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Ground turkey tacos are a lighter twist on classic tacos! They’re made in 15 minutes with 8 ingredients including ground turkey, onion and bell pepper.
We make tacos weekly in our house, and this ground turkey taco recipe is a lighter version of our ground beef tacos.
They are easy to make in 15 minutes and we always have the ingredients on hand (including homemade taco seasoning) – making it a go-to meal when I’m short on time.
Serve ground turkey tacos with your favorite Mexican recipes like Mexican corn salad, homemade guacamole, easy salsa, cilantro lime rice and refried black beans for a delicious taco night. Or, keep it simple and use store-bought toppings.
Ground Turkey Tacos: Ingredients & Substitutions
- Ground Turkey. For different varieties try ground chicken tacos, ground beef tacos or crockpot chicken tacos.
- Olive oil. avocado oil or canola oil are good substitutes.
- Onion. sweet white, yellow or red onions are all great choices.
- Minced Garlic. freshly chopped or jarred are both great!
- Homemade Taco Seasoning. I always have a jar of this homemade taco seasoning on hand. My entire family agrees it’s the best. If you prefer to use store-bought, I suggest making sure you chose an organic variety without fillers/artificial ingredients. Two of our favorites are Siete Foods and Simply Organic.
- Lime Juice. Choose an organic bottled lime juice or use freshly squeezed.
How to Make Ground Turkey Tacos
We’ll walk through how to make ground turkey tacos step-by-step, and don’t forget to watch the video.
Begin by combining the ground turkey, 2 Tablespoons olive oil, onion, bell pepper and minced garlic in a non-stick fry pan or cast iron skillet.
Then, cover and cook over medium-high heat until the turkey is no longer pink in the center, stirring often.
When the turkey is no longer pink, add the additional 1 Tablespoon olive oil, lime juice, taco seasoning and cilantro and stir until evenly distributed.
Then, cover the pan and cook until the mixture is lightly browned, stirring occasionally.
Serve
Serve the ground turkey tacos garnished with cilantro and an extra squeeze of lime juice.
The most common way to serve them is on tortillas with your favorite toppings. Or you can use it to make the best homemade nachos, a delicious taco salad or enchiladas, etc.
I recommend serving ground turkey tacos with a dollop of sour cream and cheese of course, along with some of our favorite Mexican recipes, especially:
- This easy homemade guacamole.
- Homemade blender salsa takes 5 minutes to prepare! Also try pineapple salsa.
- Cilantro lime rice is a delicious addition, especially if you want to make burritos!
- Skip the can and make your own homemade refried black beans, they only take 10 minutes to prepare!
- I always make this sweet potato and black bean taco filling to go with our meat tacos for extra veggies.
- Mexican corn salad or black bean and corn salsa.
Store/Freeze
Store leftover turkey taco meat in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 2 months. Reheat in the microwave or on the stovetop.
Ground Turkey Tacos Recipe FAQS
Yes, this recipe is easily scaled to serve as many (or few) people as needed.
Use olive oil to brown the turkey, cover it while you cook, and be sure not to over-cook it.
Yes, you can use ground turkey instead of ground beef, however some modifications need to be made (like cooking the meat in oil instead of the fat it releases). Which are accounted for in this recipe.
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Ground Turkey Tacos Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil divided
- ½ onion diced
- 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 green bell pepper finely diced
- 2 Tablespoons taco seasoning
- 1 Tablespoons lime juice
- 1 Tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
- 10 tortillas
Toppings
Instructions
- Combine ground turkey, 2 Tablespoons olive oil, onion, minced garlic and bell pepper in a non-stick fry pan or cast iron skillet.
- Cover and cook over medium-high heat until the turkey is no longer pink in the center, stirring often.
- Once the turkey is no longer pink, add the additional 1 TBS olive oil, lime juice, taco seasoning and cilantro and stir until it’s evenly distributed.
- Cover and cook until the mixture is lightly browned, stirring occasionally.
- Fill taco shells with meat and toppings, as desired.
Video
Notes
- Ground Turkey. For different varieties try ground chicken tacos, ground beef tacos or crockpot chicken tacos.
- Olive oil. avocado oil or canola oil are good substitutes.
- Onion. sweet white, yellow or red onions are all great choices.
- Minced Garlic. freshly chopped or jarred are both great!
- Homemade Taco Seasoning. I always have a jar of this homemade taco seasoning on hand. My entire family agrees it’s the best. If you prefer to use store-bought, I suggest making sure you chose an organic variety without fillers/artificial ingredients. Two of our favorites are Siete Foods and Simply Organic.
- Lime Juice. Choose an organic bottled lime juice or use freshly squeezed.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
