Ground Turkey Enchiladas

Reasons You’ll Love This Recipe

• Easy to prepare. This is an uncomplicated recipe that uses simple ingredients. It doesn’t take long to assemble and cook these turkey enchiladas. And, if you have the components ready in advance, it takes even less time.
• Delicious. Ground turkey gets a bad rap for being dry and boring, but not in this recipe. There is so much flavor in every bite of these enchiladas.
• Healthier. Lean, high-protein, high fiber, and if you swap in a gluten-free tortilla, this can easily be made into a healthy gluten-free dinner.
• Make-ahead. An essential part of any recipe I make! You can prep these enchiladas in a few different ways to have a healthy dinner ready to cook or eat during the busy work week.

Ingredients

Here are all of the ingredients you need to make this easy ground turkey enchilada recipe.

• Ground turkey. For best results, purchase a high-quality organic lean ground turkey.
• Worcestershire sauce. When it comes to flavoring ground turkey, Worcestershire sauce is the secret ingredient. If you don’t have it, tamari (gluten-free) or soy sauce gives ground turkey a fantastic flavor. 
• Canned black beans. Adding black beans to ground turkey enchilada filling is an excellent way to stretch a pound of turkey and also add fiber and extra protein to the enchiladas.
• Taco seasoning. Use a high-quality store-bought taco seasoning or make this homemade Whole30 taco seasoning. It’s the perfect blend of garlic, onion, cumin, chili powder, and other Mexican spices. You can also use this homemade fajita seasoning.
• Enchilada sauce. I highly recommend making this easy enchilada sauce for these turkey enchiladas. I’ll often make a double or triple batch to freeze to have it ready for a quick pan of enchiladas. Can or jarred store-bought enchilada sauce works well too.
• Tortilla wraps. You can use flour or corn tortillas for enchiladas; corn is more authentic but use whatever you have on hand. Medium-sized 8-inch tortillas work best.
• Taco cheese. You can also blend pepper jack, Colby jack, and cheddar cheese.
• Condiments. We love cilantro, sour cream, or plain Greek Yogurt, chopped white onion, diced tomatoes, and avocado with our ground turkey enchiladas.

How to Make Ground Turkey Enchiladas

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
• Drizzle one to two tablespoons of olive oil into a large skillet over medium-high heat. You can also use cooking spray.
• Add the ground turkey to the pan and cook until the pink is almost gone. Break up into small pieces as the turkey cooks.

• Stir in the Worcestershire sauce, and then add the black beans.
• Sprinkle the taco seasoning over the turkey and bean mixture, pour in the water, and stir until combined. 

• Cook until the turkey mixture is cooked through and the liquid is absorbed.
• Taste the turkey and bean mixture for salt and pepper, then remove from the heat.
• Spread ½ cup of enchilada sauce over the bottom of a 9 x 13 casserole dish.
• Put together the enchiladas. 
• In the center of a tortilla wrap, place one full ⅓ cup to ½ cup of the ground turkey filling. 

• Drizzle on two tablespoons of enchilada sauce and two tablespoons of cheese.
• Roll up and place seam-side down in the casserole dish. Continue with the rest of the enchiladas.

• Spread the remaining enchilada sauce over the enchiladas, and then sprinkle on the remaining cheese.
• Tightly cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly.
• Remove from the oven and sprinkle with cilantro and then serve with sour cream or greek yogurt, diced avocado, chopped white or red onion, lime juice, and chopped tomato.

Tools for this Recipe

Cooking Tips

• A 15-ounce can of enchilada sauce is under 2 cups, so purchase two cans if that’s what you’re using. This homemade enchilada sauce recipe equals 2 ½ cups.
• If you have extra enchilada filling left, place it around the enchiladas and cover it with sauce and cheese.
• It’s important to cover with foil so the cheese doesn’t burn, and the tortillas don’t get hard and crispy as it cooks.

Variations

• If you don’t have enchilada sauce, then salsa also works.
• You can swap pinto beans or refried beans for black beans.
• Bulk up the fiber by adding brown rice or quinoa to the tortillas before cooking. ¼ cup of rice or less is a good amount to use.
• Use gluten-free tortilla wraps.
• Swap in ground beef for the turkey. Check out my favorite easy beef enchilada recipe.
• Or use ground chicken to lower the saturated fat.
• Add green chiles, jalapenos, or chipotle peppers to the filling for extra spice and flavor.

Serving Suggestions

• These ground turkey enchiladas stand alone as a main dish. Still, these Mexican potatoes or Mexican quinoa salad is tasty if you’re looking for a side dish to serve with enchiladas.
• You can also serve a side of brown rice or refried beans.
• Or instead of making enchiladas serve the black bean turkey taco filling over rice and make taco bowls.

Make Ahead & Storage Tips

You can make ahead these easy ground turkey enchiladas in a few different ways to have dinner ready during the week.

For the week: Leftovers reheat great, so you can make this recipe completely on Sunday and reheat it during the week.

Or, completely assemble the enchiladas, cover them, and refrigerate for up to 3 days. On cooking day, continue with the recipe. Because the enchiladas are cold, you’ll likely need to add extra cooking time.

You can also assemble the enchilada components ahead of time. For example, make the ground turkey black bean taco filling and red enchilada sauce ahead. Store in glass meal prep containers. Then on cooking day, assemble the enchiladas and continue with the recipe.

See all of my ground turkey meal prep tips.

To freeze: Completely assemble the turkey enchiladas in a disposable pan (or regular pan), cover, and freeze. You can cook from frozen, but it will take 20 – 30 minutes longer. I recommend taking the frozen enchiladas out of the freezer and letting it thaw overnight in the refrigerator.

Another option is to put together the enchiladas and, instead of putting them into a pan, flash freeze and, after they freeze, place them into a freezer bag. It’s helpful to assemble the rest of the enchilada recipe the night before and refrigerate it, giving the enchiladas time to thaw. On cooking day, continue with the recipe.

You can also freeze the ground turkey enchilada filling or sauce. Heat up on cooking day, assemble the enchiladas, and then continue with the recipe.

FAQs

Other Healthy Ground Turkey Recipes

• The Best Ground Turkey Chili
• Turkey Veggie Chili
• Turkey Cheeseburger Meatloaf
• Turkey Burgers
• Baked Turkey Meatballs
• Asian Turkey Lettuce Wraps
• Turkey Bolognese

See all of my healthy ground turkey recipes.

Did you make this recipe?

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