This Seasoned Ground Turkey is the perfect addition to turkey tacos, taco bowls or salads. Cook it in 15 minutes with a few basic ingredients. It’s perfect for meal prep or a quick easy weeknight meal.
Forget buying prepackaged taco seasoning and make your own seasoned turkey taco meat at home. Seasoned ground turkey is always great to have on hand for taco night or any day of the week. It’s packed with flavor and easy to prep in 15 minutes!
Instead of using a store bought taco seasoning packet, you can season the ground turkey with a few basic seasonings to create your own homemade taco meat.
Serve as ground turkey tacos with corn tortillas or taco shells. Serve it on a bed of lettuce and your favorite taco toppings to make a taco salad. Or serve it with cooked rice and other taco toppings in a burrito or bowl.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It’s made with simple seasonings.
- It’s ready in 20 minutes or less.
- The ground taco meat is packed with flavor for a versatile addition to your favorite dish.
- You can easily adjust the amount of seasonings to make it your own.
Ingredients You Need
You will need ground turkey and a few simple seasonings to make seasoned ground turkey – that’s it!
- Ground Turkey: You can use any type of ground turkey meat, but I prefer lean ground turkey (93% lean / 7% fat) for the best texture and flavor. You can also substitute with ground beef or ground chicken.
- Spices: You will need chili powder, cumin, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder, kosher salt and black pepper for the turkey taco seasoning. You can substitute with taco seasoning, if desired.
- Chicken Stock: You can substitute with water, if desired.
Cooking Ground Turkey
Step 1: Heat a large skillet over medium heat. A nonstick skillet or cast iron pan works great. Add the ground turkey and cook until the turkey is fully browned, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon as it browns. (You shouldn’t need any oil on the pan, but you can use a small amount of olive oil to brown the turkey, if desired.)
Step 2: Once the meat is no longer pink, reduce the heat to low, then add the chicken stock and spices. Stir everything together until the turkey crumble is coated in the sauce. Bring the mixture to a simmer for 5 minutes until the liquid reduces and thickens a bit.
Serve the seasoned turkey meat in tacos, quesadillas, burritos, taco bowls, lettuce wraps, salads and more.
Delicious taco toppings include avocado, tomatoes, black beans, lime juice, cilantro, guacamole and cheese.
Recipe Tips
- Make a big batch: Double or triple the recipe to make a larger batch to serve 8-12 people.
- Meal Prep and Storage: Once cooked, you can store the meat in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Reheat in the microwave or on the stove top just prior to serving.
- Freezing: You can freeze ground turkey taco meat. Place in a freezer bag or freezer safe container. Seal and store in the freezer for up to 2 months. Thaw in the refrigerator before reheating.
- Add more flavor: This seasoned ground turkey tastes great on it’s own, but you can elevate the flavor by adding fresh salsa. Simply stir in the salsa after cooking and serve with your favorite dish.
FAQs
You can add flavor to ground turkey by using simple spices or seasonings. Use store bought taco seasoning or make your own. Even just using salt and pepper brings out the flavor of the turkey.
Taco seasoning like chili powder, cumin, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder, kosher salt and pepper taste great with ground turkey. Other herbs like paprika, dried oregano, basil and rosemary are a good choice too.
If you love ground turkey, then you will want to try a few of our other favorite ground turkey recipes. Enjoy stuffed peppers or turkey enchiladas with seasoned ground turkey. Or use ground turkey instead of beef in a delicious taco casserole. The options are endless!
Other Ground Turkey Recipes
- Ground Turkey Stuffed Peppers
- Turkey Taco Quinoa Skillet
- Turkey Enchiladas
- Italian Turkey Meatballs
- Taco Casserole
Did you try this seasoned group turkey recipe? Leave a recipe rating and review below.
Seasoned Ground Turkey
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 1/2 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 cup chicken stock, (or water)
Instructions
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the ground turkey, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon as it browns. Cook the ground turkey until browned and no longer pink.
- Reduce the heat to low, then add the chicken stock and spices. Stir together until the meat is coated in the sauce. Bring it to a simmer for 5 minutes until the liquid reduces and thickens a bit.
- Use in tacos or your desired recipe.
Notes
- Storage: Once cooked, you can store the meat in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Reheat in the microwave or stove top just prior to serving.
- Freezing: You can freeze ground turkey taco meat. Place in a freezer bag or freezer safe container. Store in the freezer for up to 2 months. Thaw in the refrigerator before reheating.
can you do this with ground chicken?
Yes, you can substitute with ground chicken. Enjoy!
I seasoned up a 3lb roll of ground turkey using your recipe. Then pattied them into quarter pounders. ( i pretested one, before wrapping them) it was perfect. Thank you!
I did triple the seasoning for the extra meat, i will do this again. 🙂
This seasoning is delicious!
This is so versitile anf flavorful! I like to make a big batch and use some for supper and then have the rest for easy meal prep!
This is absolutely delicious! I love that it’s such a crowd pleaser for the whole family