Who likes tacos?! 🙋🏻♀️🙋🏼♂️ If you don’t, I don’t know if I can trust you…kidding! Kind of. Today we are doing a fun twist on taco night and making a healthy turkey taco skillet!
Loaded with all your taco staples and topped with all the taco toppings, it’s one big taco meal made in one pan and ready in 35 minutes!
We love this taco skillet so much because it is a change from the typical way we eat tacos. Don’t get me wrong, any way you eat a taco is delicious – soft tortillas, hard shells, in a taco salad, in lettuce wraps…all ways are a solid choice.
But this skillet wraps it all up in a comforting and cozy one-pan meal. The addition of rice really makes it a comforting and cozy meal. We love having rice in our weekly rotation as an affordable, healthy, and easy carbohydrate for meals, especially because we are so active.
And then you can top it however you want. I love hot sauce, avocado, cilantro, and lime juice, and then serving it with some chips for some crunch. I always need some crunch with my meals!
Healthy taco skillet highlights
- comes together in 35 minutes
- made in just one pan
- 10 ingredients – the ingredients are pantry staples that you probably have on hand as well!
- a complete healthy meal with a good macronutrient breakdown – it has protein, complex and simple carbs, veggies, and 11 grams of fiber per serving. I love adding some avocado or cheese when serving to add some more healthy fats too.
- loaded with micronutrients too – it’s loaded with vitamin A and vitamin C (over 100% of your daily needs), vitamin B3 and B6, phosphorus, manganese, and selenium to name a few.
- something the whole family will love
- great for meal prep – the leftovers save great and it works well for meal prep
Turkey taco skillet ingredients
- ground turkey – I used 93/7
- onion
- white rice
- bell peppers
- fire-roasted tomatoes
- black beans
- taco seasoning – a mix of chili powder, garlic powder, cumin, paprika, cayenne, red pepper flakes, and little cinnamon
- broth
- garlic
- oil
- salt and pepper
- all the toppings your heart desires! – we love avocado, greek yogurt/sour cream, salsa, hot sauce, sliced jalapenos, cilantro, and even some tortilla chips!
How to make turkey taco skillet
- Cook your turkey. In a large cast-iron or nonstick skillet over medium heat, add oil and let it get hot, about 1 minute. First, add your onion and saute for 2-3 minutes until softened and browned. Then turkey, minced garlic, and salt and pepper and cook until browned, about 5 minutes.
- Add remaining ingredients. Next, add rice, tomatoes, black beans, peppers, taco seasoning, and salt and pepper, and stir to combine. Finally, pour in the broth and carefully mix. Cover with a lid and let simmer for 15-20 minutes until liquid is absorbed and rice is cooked through. Stir every so often so the rice doesn’t burn.
- Enjoy! Top with optional toppings or topping of choice and enjoy!
Make it cheesy
Cheese is always a nice addition to things. To make this a cheesy taco skillet, add shredded cheese once your rice is cooked and the liquid is absorbed. Then, put the lid back on and turn the burner down to low, and let melt.
Make it low carb
If you want to make this low carb, you can swap out the white rice for cauliflower rice. I have not tried this, but it should work well.
To do this, I would suggest using 3-4 cups of cauliflower rice. Add with the peppers, black beans, and fire-roasted tomatoes and saute for 3-5. I would suggest draining the liquid of the canned tomatoes as well as cauliflower rice doesn’t absorb liquid as white rice does. You also don’t need to add the broth.
You can also reduce the amount of rice if desired to make it lower-carb. If so, you will need to reduce the amount of liquid (broth).
Meal prep
This turkey taco skillet is a great meal prep option! The leftovers make the perfect easy lunch for the next few days. It saves great, reheats well, and the flavors get even better the longer it sits.
Here are a few ways to prep it:
- partial prep – make the turkey and veggie mixture (stop at where you would add the rice) ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator in an airtight container. When you are ready to eat, simply put everything into your cast iron and simmer until the rice is cooked.
- full prep – make it according to the instructions. Let cool and either store in a large resealable dish or divide it up and put it in meal prep containers. Reheat it in the oven or microwave depending on your setting.
Storage
- fridge – keep it in a tightly sealed glass container (we love these meal prep containers for easy use) and reheat it in the microwave when you are ready to eat. You can also heat it up in a skillet as well.
- freeze – I haven’t tried freezing this recipe, but it would work. You can either freeze the whole recipe in a large container or in individual servings. It should last up to 3 months in the freezer.
Substitutions
- ground turkey – ground chicken will work instead of ground turkey. You can also use ground beef, but it will change the flavor a lot. Feel free to use any fat percentage you like.
- white rice – you could try brown rice, but you may need to use a little more liquid and it will require a longer cooking time.
- fire-roasted tomatoes – if you don’t have canned fire-roasted tomatoes, you can use regular canned diced tomatoes.
- black beans – kidney or pinto beans will work the same
- taco seasoning – fajita seasoning will work the same as taco seasoning
- broth – veggie or beef broth will work the same. Water will also work if you don’t have any broth.
- oil – any kind of oil will work
More healthy ground turkey recipes
- jalapeno ranch turkey burgers
- ground turkey spaghetti squash casserole
- ground turkey sweet potato skillet
- turkey kale spaghetti squash boats
Turkey Taco Skillet
ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup diced onion (120 grams)
- 1 pound ground turkey (I used 93/7)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup white rice (uncooked)
- 1 can (14.5 ounces) fire roasted tomatoes
- 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained (230 grams)
- 3 cups diced bell peppers (340 gram/2 medium)
- 2 tablespoons taco seasoning
- 1 1/2 cups broth
- salt and pepper, to taste
- optional toppings: avocado, cilantro, lime juice, greek yogurt/sour cream, jalapenos, salsa, hot sauce…
instructions
- Cooke your turkey. In a large cast-iron or nonstick skillet over medium heat, add oil and let it get hot, about 20 seconds. Add onion and saute for 2-3 minutes until softened. Add turkey, breaking it up with a spatula, minced garlic, and salt and pepper, and cook until browned, about 5 minutes.
- Add remaining ingredients. Add rice, tomatoes, black beans, peppers, taco seasoning, and salt and pepper and stir to combine. Pour in broth and carefully stir, making sure it is evenly distributed and nothing is stuck to the bottom. Cover with a lid and let simmer for 15-20 minutes until liquid is absorbed and rice is cooked through. Be careful the rice doesn't burn and stir every so often.
- Enjoy! Top with optional toppings or toppings of choice and enjoy!
Monica says
Easy to throw together and tasted delicious. I used the rest of my leftover shredded chicken. Any protein would work in this dish. Highly recommend! Husband approved!
Kelly says
Love that you used what you had on hand! Glad you both enjoyed and thanks for trying it, Monica!
Sam says
Part of step one says “add onion and sauce for 2-3 mins”. What sauce? Does that mean to say saute?
Kelly says
Sorry about that, it should say saute. Thank you for catching it!
Audrey L says
Yummy, I was out of spices and just used taco seasoning, but it still turned out great. I meal prep for work and every time I heated this one up in the microwave my coworkers mentioned how good it smelled!
Kelly says
Haha, I love it! Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for trying it!
Casey says
This was so good! I made it tonight, and everyone liked it. One of my kids had three servings. The other two both had seconds.
I only put in half the rice and broth. I also added cauliflower rice, because I love cauliflower. We will definitely put this recipe into our regular rotation. Yum!
Kelly says
So glad it was a hit with everyone Casey! And love the addition of more veggies. Thanks for trying it out.
Megan Markoff says
This is super easy to make and has become one of our go-to’s for dinner! Absolutely delicious.
Kelly says
So glad to hear that Megan! Thanks for trying it!
Ashley K says
Love this recipe for an easy, delicious dinner! Made this for friends on a week night and was able to put everything together and still hang out while the ingredients did their thing in the pan. It was a crowd pleaser!
Kelly says
Love hearing that – it really cooks itself most of the time. Glad everyone enjoyed it too!
Carolyn says
My husband and I both love this recipe. I made it last week and my husband actually requested that I make it again and double the recipe so he could have more for lunch this week. Your taco seasoning recipe is amazing in this recipe. Highly recommend!
Kelly says
So happy to hear that Carolyn – love when it’s a hit with the husbands too! Thanks for trying it and glad you guys enjoyed!
Dan says
It was tasty and easy
Kelly says
Happy to hear you enjoyed it!