This Turkey Taco Bowl recipe is a super easy dinner and does well for meal prep. You can also swap the ground turkey for leftover turkey meat from Thanksgiving dinner.
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Who doesn’t love a good taco bowl? Filled to the brim with warm rice and beans, savory meat, spicy condiments, and creamy toppings, it’s one of my favorite meals. It’s also one of the best comfort foods and so easy to make.
This tasty recipe uses ground turkey, which is flavored with chipotle peppers in adobo sauce giving it a delicious smoked flavor that the whole family will love. Chipotle peppers are also great in my Smoked Chicken Enchiladas.
You can also adapt this recipe to use leftover turkey from Thanksgiving when you’re feeling tired of leftovers. Of course, this works for any type of ground meat or meat substitute as well.
Ingredients for Turkey Taco Bowls
Rice: You can use any rice you like, but to make this recipe even faster – you can use instant rice. You can usually find both white and brown rice in an instant form. It’s just rice that is parboiled, so it cooks faster (usually within 10 minutes) on the stovetop.
Lime juice: You’ll use some of the juice to season the fresh cilantro-lime rice, and you’ll use the remaining juice to season the turkey.
Cilantro: This gives the rice and the turkey a nice fresh taste that goes perfectly with the lime juice.
Turkey: This recipe calls for ground turkey, but you can also use leftover turkey from Thanksgiving to give leftovers new life. Of course, you could try other ground meat (like ground beef) or meat alternatives instead, if you prefer. If you chose a lean ground turkey such as ground turkey breast, you may want to increase the amount of olive oil in the skillet to avoid drying out the meat.
Chipotles in adobo sauce: Chipotle peppers are smoked jalapenos in a richly flavored adobo sauce. These come in a can in the Latin section of the grocery store. You’ll use one pepper from the can as well as a tablespoon of the sauce itself.
Seasonings: This recipe uses garlic cloves, chili powder, cumin, oregano, and salt/pepper. All of which are the basis of many Latin/Mexican-inspired dishes.
Toppings: Use whatever favorite taco toppings you like. My personal preference for toppings is a combination of black beans, pinto beans, corn, cheddar cheese, sour cream, salsa, creamy avocado or guacamole, fresh tomatoes (especially cherry tomatoes) and/or bell peppers, and extra limes for squeezing on top of the bowl.
How to Make Turkey Taco Bowls
Once you have your rice cooked according to its package’s instructions, you’ll season it with lime and cilantro. To cook the meat, you’ll start by sauteing the garlic and the chipotle pepper in its adobo sauce in a large skillet.
You’ll then add your ground turkey to cook and break it up with a silicone or wooden spoon into small pieces until it’s thoroughly cooked.
If you’re using already cooked leftover turkey meat, you’ll just need to cook it long until to become warm. The meat is also seasoned with garlic, chili powder, cumin, and oregano while it cooks in the hot skillet.
Once it’s done, you’ll squeeze the rest of the lime juice on top. After adding the base of rice in the bowl, add the ground turkey mixture on top, you’ll layer on any favorite toppings you want to use.
I like to serve each bowl with a lime wedge to squeeze extra juice on top. And that’s it – you have a Turkey Taco Bowl!
How to Meal Prep
If you’re using this recipe for your weekly meal prep, I would layer the rice, turkey meat mixture, black beans, corn, or anything you would want to reheat up in the bowl when the time comes in a microwave-safe airtight container.
I would put any dairy (like cheese or sour cream), avocado (or guacamole), jarred salsa, fresh tomatoes, and extra limes in a separate container to be added to the taco bowl once it’s reheated.
Of course, you’ll store everything in the fridge until you’re ready to reheat. The taco meat will keep for about 3-4 days in the fridge or up to 4 months in the freezer (see below for freezer tips).
Can You Freeze Turkey Taco Meat?
Yes, you can freeze turkey taco meat! To freeze the taco meat after cooking, you’ll need to:
- Allow the turkey taco meat to cool slightly and put it in a container in the fridge to completely cool.
- Once completely cool, add to a freezer-safe bag. Try to get as much air out as possible to keep it as fresh as possible.
- It can stay frozen for up to 4 months with minimal loss of quality.
To thaw:
- You can put the meat in the refrigerator to thaw overnight or you can use the defrost setting on your microwave.
- Reheat the ground meat by adding it to a skillet over medium high heat or microwave on high for intervals of 30-60 seconds until warm.
- If the meat looks dry, try adding some liquid such as salsa, water, or chicken broth during the rewarming process.
Variations of Turkey Taco Bowls
- Taco salads: Use a bed of lettuce as the base instead of the rice. I’m a big fan of having some sort of carbs with my salad for better energy levels, so you can still use the rice and/or beans or you can add tortilla chips on top.
- Regular turkey tacos: Put the rice on the side and add some corn or flour tortillas for a more traditional taco.
- Turkey burritos: Buy the extra large burrito tortillas and add the rice into the burrito. Roll up the burrito and sear in a skillet with a little oil.
📖 Recipe
Turkey Taco Bowl
Ingredients
- 1 cup rice cooked
- 1 ½ limes juiced, divided
- 1 handful cilantro chopped
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 chipotle pepper in adobo chopped
- 1 tbsp. adobo sauce from the can of chipotles
- 1 lb. ground turkey or leftover turkey meat, chopped
- 2 tsp. chili powder
- 1 tsp. cumin
- ½ tsp. dried oregano
- Salt/pepper to taste
- Toppings of your choice like black beans drained and rinsed, corn (drained and rinsed), cheese, sour cream (or Greek yogurt), jarred salsa, avocado, fresh tomatoes, and extra limes
Instructions
- Make rice according to packages instructions. Once the rice is done, squeeze the juice of half of a lime and fold in cilantro. Set aside.
- While rice is cooking, heat olive oil over medium-high heat, add garlic, chipotle pepper, and adobo sauce. Saute for about 1 minute.
- Add ground turkey (or leftover turkey meat) and season with chili powder, cumin, oregano, and salt/pepper. Sauté until ground turkey is cooked through (breaking it up as it cooks), or the leftover turkey meat is warmed. Squeeze the remaining half of lime juice over the meat and remove from heat.
- Layer a bowl with rice, meat, and toppings. Serve.
Notes
- Layer the rice, turkey, black beans, corn, or anything you would want to reheat up in a microwave safe bowl.
- Put any dairy (like cheese or sour cream), avocado (or guacamole), jarred salsa, fresh tomatoes, and extra limes in a separate container to be added to the taco bowl once it’s reheated.
- Store everything in the fridge until you’re ready to reheat.
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