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These ground turkey tacos are quick, easy, and healthy. The ground turkey is cooked in a delicious spice blend and dinner is on your table in 20 minutes!
Since this recipe’s original publish date on October 12, 2015, I’ve updated the recipe, blog post, and photos to make it better.
This is my go-to tacos recipe. I also make a very similar version with beef (try my Super Easy Ground Beef Tacos). I don’t typically measure anything out since I’ve made these so many times, but I have all the quantities listed in the recipe card below.
The great thing about ground turkey is that it’s inexpensive, lean, mild flavored, and it easily takes on flavors of other ingredients. My homemade taco seasoning is a simple combo of chili powder, smoked paprika (one of my fav ingredients ever), onion powder, garlic powder, and ground cumin. You’re welcome to use pre-made taco seasoning if you have some, but I love being able to control the individual ingredients.
How to make ground turkey tacos
Add some olive oil to a skillet along with the ground turkey and spices. Cook it over medium-high heat, using your spoon to break up the meat, for 8-10 minutes or until it’s cooked through. I stir in the tomato paste when it’s close to being done. Meanwhile, warm tortillas in the oven or use a tortilla warmer (or carefully warm them over the flame if you have a gas stove like I do). I like to prep the toppings while the meat is cooking. (Full ingredients & instructions are below)
Ground turkey taco topping ideas:
- Sour cream or Greek yogurt
- Homemade guacamole or sliced avocado
- Chopped cilantro
- Tomatoes and/or salsa
- Hot sauce
- Fresh lime juice
- Cheese (try a spicy Tex-Mex cheese blend)
- Red onions or scallions
- Lettuce (try iceberg or butter leaf)
Recipe notes & tips:
- I add the tomato paste to give the turkey taco meat a bit of color. It isn’t totally necessary, and I’ll sometimes skip it if I’m in a hurry and just making these tacos for lunch for myself. If you prefer a more saucy taco recipe, you could always add extra tomato paste and a bit of water. I always load my tacos up with tons of toppings, so I don’t usually make the meat itself with a lot of sauce.
- You can definitely switch up the seasonings a bit and use more/less of spices as you figure out what you like. I sometimes switch it up and use Southwest Seasoning or Tex-Mex seasoning as well as part of my homemade taco seasoning blend.
- I typically prefer buying ground turkey thigh since it’s a bit more flavorful and tends to dry out less quickly, but ground turkey breast works great too.
More ground turkey recipes to try:
- Ground Turkey Soup with Vegetables and Pasta
- Turkey Sweet Potato Chili
- Easy Ground Turkey Burgers Recipe
- Ground Turkey Stir Fry
- The Best Ground Turkey Recipes
Will you try these easy ground turkey tacos? Questions? Talk to me in the comments below.
Ground Turkey Tacos
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound lean ground turkey
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 heaping tablespoon tomato paste optional
- Salt & pepper to taste
- For serving: flour or corn tortillas
- Toppings (optional, to taste): sour cream, guacamole, cilantro, salsa, hot sauce, onions, cheese, etc.
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 350F (for warming tortillas), stack tortillas and wrap them in foil and place in oven. Or use a tortilla warmer or warm the tortillas over a gas stove burner if you have one. You can prep the toppings beforehand or while the meat is cooking.
- Add the olive oil to a skillet along with the ground turkey and the spices. Cook, over medium-high heat, breaking the meat up as you go along, for about 8-10 minutes or until cooked through. When the meat is close to being done, stir in the tomato paste if using (I mostly add it for color, and I sometimes leave it out since I add a lot of toppings to my tacos for flavor/moisture anyway). Season with salt & pepper as needed.
- Top the tacos as desired and enjoy immediately.
Notes
- This recipe makes about 2-3 tacos/person (if you add plenty of toppings). I recommend doubling the recipe if you're feeding very hungry folks.
- Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy only and should be construed as an estimate rather than a guarantee. Ingredients can vary and Salt & Lavender makes no guarantees to the accuracy of this information. Nutrition for this recipe is just for the taco meat as toppings and the size/brand/ingredients of tortillas vary.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I’ve been cooking with ground turkey for so long that ground beef tastes off when I use it! Always make tacos with turkey, my taco seasoning mix is similar to yours. But I’ve also put in a can of black beans, low sodium, drained, and rinsed. and canned or frozen corn. It stretches the meat to another meal, usually nachos!
We used to use taco shells,🌮 but have switched to taco salad 🥗 style, with the fixings on top, tomatoes,🍅 black olives, green onions and cheddar cheese. And guacamole 🥑 to the side. 😋 (Now I’m hungry, lol)
My other trick is using Greek Yogurt instead of sour cream. I use 0% plain Fage. It’s never been “called out “, and you can use it for anything you would use sour cream.
Love this recipe!! A keeper!! I was wondering how many ounces is in one serving?
I’m so glad you enjoyed the tacos! 🙂 Re: serving size, I’m not sure… I just plug the recipe ingredients into the built-in nutrition calculator and it divides it by the number of servings (4 in this case). I’m no math whiz or nutritionist, so your guess is as good as mine haha. 1 pound of turkey = 16 ounces, so I suppose a bit over 4 ounces of the turkey mixture per serving?
Delicious! Love this recipe…so easy and tasty
Thank you!! So glad you enjoyed it, Alison!
These look DELICIOUS! I’ve enjoyed chicken tacos before but have never tried it with turkey. Looking forwards to trying out this recipe.
Thank you 🙂 Yeah, turkey is something a little different and a bit healthier than ground beef. Let me know how it goes!