Hi everyone! HAPPY FRIDAY! I am unbelievably excited to share this Turkey Taco Bowl recipe with you guys! Brendan and I have eaten this for dinner about 10 times over the last two weeks. It is THAT good (and THAT easy).
This recipe is inspired my mom’s ground beef taco recipe she’d make for me while I was growing up. For taco night, my mom would cook the taco meat and lay out all the fixings (sour cream, lettuce, tomato, cheese, and flour tortillas). Make-your-own-taco night was always fun for us kids, but it was also easy for my mom, as it was a dish that could be customized by each of us into something we liked, no matter how picky we were at the time.
I have taken my mom’s taco recipe and modified it into a healthier, “adult” version that I know you guys are going to LOVE. These Turkey Taco Bowls have become a staple in my recipe arsenal – they are homey, healthy, and FAST.
Not convinced? Read below to see why this recipe is going to become one of your new favorites!
Easy and Fast – Whip Up Family Dinner in Under 10 minutes
The first reason why this recipe is GOLDEN is the minimal prep time. These Turkey Taco Bowls are the effort-equivalent of cooking scrambled eggs for breakfast. (Seriously – the motion of browning the meat is kind of similar to scrambling eggs 😂).
The only cooking involved in my Turkey Taco Bowls is the browning of the ground turkey. Other than that, simply chop your veggies (or buy pre-chopped veggies) and you’re done!
Everyone needs an easy dinner recipe like this in their back pocket to feed their guests/household when you just don’t feel like putting in a ton of time. Minimal effort, maximum results. You are happy (fewer dishes and more time spent relaxing) and your guests/family are happy because they have a hot, delicious meal ready and waiting for them. Wins all around.
HEALTHY SUBSTITUTIONS GALORE
The number two reason this recipe is fabulous is that it’s actually good for you. When 3:00 PM rolls around and my stomach starts to growl, I get so pumped knowing that I have a satisfying, HEALTHY meal to look forward to that evening. Makes my whole afternoon more bearable.
When Brendan and I used to make this recipe with ground beef, it tasted great, but afterwards, we both felt so heavy and blahhh. That feeling kept us from making the recipe for months… UNTIL we swapped the ground beef for ground turkey.
You guys… the taco meat tastes IDENTICAL but we feel 10000X better. Like literally the EXACT flavors, textures, everything. Sometimes I’ve found that when I substitute in leaner meat, the change makes the meal dry. In this case – Not. At. All. Once you add the taco seasoning and the water (the ratios for this are shown on the back of taco seasoning packets), the taco meat is covered in sauce and is the antithesis of dry. You will be shocked.
Great ways to make this healthy!Â
- Greek yogurt instead of Sour cream (health benefits to this in my Pepper Taco’s Post)
- Lettuce instead of flour tortillaÂ
- Turkey Meat instead of ground beef
SO. MUCH. FLAVOR.
My Turkey Taco Bowls are absolutely overflowing with flavor. Between the Picante sauce (don’t use salsa, only use picante sauce – TRUST ME), mashed avocado, Greek yogurt, and taco seasoning, each bite is an explosion of creamy, spicy, flavorful goodness. There’s a lot going on. And it works.
I can’t think of anything more difficult than eating healthy foods that taste bland. (Again – hyperbole. Occasionally life throws something at you that’s slightly more difficult. But you get my point.)
For me at least, it’s too easy to relapse into snacking on unhealthy food when I find myself stuck with meals that just don’t have any flavor. To really make permanent healthy changes to your diet, the food has to actually taste good or it will be too hard to stick with (too hard for me at least). Food should be good. Life is too short.
These Turkey Taco Bowls check all the boxes in terms of a weekday recipe I look for: they are fast, full of flavor, and make me feel good because I know I ate something healthy.
Next time you’re tempted to hit up Chipotle, resist the urge and make a Turkey Taco Bowl instead! I hope you guys enjoy! Let me know what you think in the comments below!
Turkey Taco Bowl
Ingredients
Bowl Components
- 1 head iceberg lettuce (or Romaine if you prefer)
- 1 large tomato (beefsteak tomatoes are easiest to chop!)
- 1 avocado (roughly 1/4 avocado per serving)
- 4 tbsp Greek yogurt (roughly 1 tbsp per serving)
- 4 oz shredded cheddar cheese (1 oz per serving, roughly 1/3 cup)
- 4 tbsp hot picante sauce (can also get mild or medium!)
Taco Meat
- 1 lb ground turkey (I use 85% lean)
- 1 cans black beans, strained (I like a lot of beans [see my picture above] if you like a smaller ratio, use half can)
- 1 packet taco seasoning (I get 25% low sodium!)
- 1/3 cup water
Instructions
Prep the fixings
- If you didn’t buy pre-chopped veggies, chop your iceberg lettuce into bite sized salad pieces and dice your tomato. (See video)
- Cut the avocado in half, remove the pit, and mash the avocado in the bowl.
- Set avocado, tomato, and lettuce aside.
Cook your taco meat
- Over medium heat, sauté your ground turkey until cooked through (Roughly 5-7 minutes).
- Once the ground turkey is cooked, add in your black beans, taco seasoning, and water. Stir over medium heat until the water and seasoning have thickened to a sauce.
Compile Bowl
- If you are serving turkey taco bowls for dinner, put all of the ingredients into bowls for everyone to self serve their bowl to their liking.
- I recommend you start with a cup of lettuce, a serving spoon or two of taco meat mixture, and some shredded cheese. (The shredded cheese will melt over the meat – WIN 😉 )
- Next, drizzle tomatoes, picante sauce, greek yogurt, and avocado to your liking. Stir it all together, and eat! Enjoy!
Love this one. So easy and so many variables to play around with. We did it with a quinoa base and it is fantastic.
A big thing we missed the first time was the shredded lettuce. Even though we aren’t using it as a base like your recipe says, adding it into ours gives it the crunch and texture that was missing the first time.
Great recipe and looking forward to trying more soon