Ground Turkey Taco Skillet, an easy one-pan weeknight dinner using ground turkey, corn, pinto beans and salsa topped with tortilla chips and cheese.
Ground Turkey Taco Skillet
This reminds me of one my most popular ground turkey recipes, the ground turkey skillet only topped with chips and cheese which is never a bad idea! It’s basically a deconstructed taco, perfect for weeknight dinner! If you want more dinner ideas for taco Tuesday try Slow Cooker Beef Tacos, Cod Fish Tacos or these low-carb, Turkey Taco Lettuce Wraps.
This recipe is adapted from Dash of Mandi’s new cookbook The Tex Mex Table. All the recipes in her book honestly look so good, it was hard to pick one to share – a must buy!! I slightly modified her recipe to make it a bit macro friendly. Like any taco, you can really top this with anything you like on your tacos. Some ideas you can try are sour cream, avocado or guacamole.
This skillet recipe is sure to please the whole family, plus its budget friendly and takes under 30 minutes to make.
What’s in ground turkey taco skillet?
This turkey taco skillet is basically a deconstructed taco topped with cheese nachos! Here’s what’s in it:
- Jalapeño – for spice
- Onion – for flavor
- Ground turkey – I like 93% lean but you can use 99% to make it leaner
- Corn – you can use frozen, canned or fresh
- Pinto beans – any bean will work here
- Jarred Salsa – or use an 8 ounce can of tomato sauce
- Tortilla chips – use your favorite type, blue chips or baked chips work great
- Shredded Mexican cheese blend
- Spices: Salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin, cayenne
- Optional Toppings: Cilantro, chopped tomatoes, pickled onions, lime wedges, and the optional sliced avocado, guacamole, and sour cream
Turkey Taco Skillet Variations:
- Swap ground turkey for lean ground sirloin or chicken.
- For a spicy taco skillet, don’t remove the seeds or ribs from the jalapeño and use a spicy salsa.
- This is a mild dish, if you prefer your meals milder, omit the cayenne, remove the jalapeño seeds and ribs, and choose a mild salsa.
- Sub black beans for pinto beans.
- If you don’t want to serve the turkey mixture with tortilla chips, serve it over rice, quinoa, cauliflower rice, or chopped romaine to make it a taco salad.
- If you don’t want to make pickled onions, use fresh red or green onions.
More Ground Turkey Recipes You’ll Love:
- Enchilada Turkey Meatloaf
- Easy Healthy Turkey Chorizo
- Baked Mexican Layer Dip
- Turkey Chili Taco Soup
- Turkey and Black Bean Enchiladas
Turkey Taco Skillet
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
- 1 jalapeno, seeds removed and diced
- 1 lb 93% ground turkey
- Salt and pepper
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- ¼ tsp cayenne
- 3/4 cup canned pinto beans, drained
- 3/4 cup corn kernels
- 12 oz jarred salsa, about 1 jar
- 32 tortilla chips, about 4 oz
- 1 cup shredded reduce fat Mexican cheese blend
- 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro, for topping
- Quick pickled onions, for topping
- 1/4 cup chopped tomatoes, for topping
- Lime wedges
- guacamole, sour cream, avocado, optional for topping
Instructions
- In a large skillet over medium heat, warm the olive oil. When heated, add the onion and jalapeño and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add the ground turkey and season with salt and pepper. Cook the turkey until it is browned, crumbling the meat into small pieces as it cooks.
- Add the chili powder, smoked paprika, cumin, cayenne, pinto beans, corn and salsa. Mix well. Let the mixture cook for 3 minutes.
- Lightly crumble the chips over the top of the turkey, then sprinkle the cheese over the top of the chips.
- Cover the turkey skillet with a lid and let it cook for 1 to 2 minutes, or until the cheese melts or place it under the broiler 2 to 3 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the heat and top the turkey skillet with chopped cilantro, pickled red onions, chopped tomatoes, plus optional toppings like avocado, guacamole or sour cream, if desired and serve with lime wedges.
Awesome and easy!
This comes together so quickly, and it’s very tasty!! It’s a family favourite in our house!!
This was delicious like nachos in a bowl. Definitely one of my favorites. I only wish I had doubled the recipe for more leftovers.
Family loved this one.
I made this tonight to rave reviews! And my husband gave this recipe a new name — Upside Down Nachos. 🙂
Lol, glad he enjoyed them!
Quick and tasty weeknight meal. Just the right amount of spice for us. If it’s too hot for you, check what kind of chili powder you’re using.
This was delicious! Just the right amount of heat. I was afraid it would have a turkey taste but you couldn’t tell it was ground turkey. I loved it!
This recipe is so quick and easy and it’s made with things I usually have on hand. We love this recipe so much in my house! Don’t skip the pickled onion, they are so good! This is def in our regular rotation.
This dish is definitely not mild like it says in the post, with 1 tbsp chili powder. You sure the recipe is right?
This was really good but 1 tablespoon of Chili Powder is a lot!!! Next time going to use less because it was almost too spicy hot. But still delicious!!! 😋 thanks for this wonderful recipe!! 😊💕👍
Love this! The only change I made was to eat the tortilla chips on the side instead of putting them in the dish. This has become a family favorite in our house!
This dish is a hit in our house!
One of my favorite week night dinners!! Easy and delicious.
My family loves this dish! It has become part of the regular rotation of favorite meals in our household. Quick, easy and yummy!
If anyone is hesitating to make this they shouldn’t! I thought it would be a simple and probably boring meal. It wasn’t! My whole family loved it and said it tasted a little like upside down nachos. I love how versatile it is too!
Absolutely delicious! Used black beans instead of pinto as that is what I had. Turned out great.
This recipe was absolutely delicious and will be a new staple in our house. This was probably one of the fastest skinny taste recipe I have ever made. I loved the ease of it being in one pan. We already had some pickled red onions in our fridge, and they were absolutely delicious in this. I wouldn’t skip them next time. Sooo good!
Wonderful recipe!
I made this tonight with the beans & chips on the sides ( for my teen) and we devoured it! I loved how easy it was to get on the table. Will be making it many more times.
Just made this! So yummy! I omitted the chili powder because I just can’t seem to get just a little bit of this stuff with making it too spicy for me! I also only put an 1/8 of a top of cayenne pepper. Came out perfect! Not spicy at all! Agree with another reviewer where have the pickled onions been all my life! It definitely puts the dish over the top! Super quick to make! I almost called for pizza tonight…but so glad I made this instead!
Would this be the same amount of points using 93% ground beef?
not sure
Ok, I made this tonight for my family and wow! It is delicious and so so easy for after a long day of work! Thank you!!
Another win! A great ground turkey dish that comes together super quick. This one will definitely make it back to the rotation!
Absolutely delicious! Quick and easy to make. Stores well too!
Amazing ! Was looking for a ground Turkey recipe and this fit the bill ! Easy and tasty!
made this with a little twist.. left out the chips and utilized it to make mini bowls & rice for meal prep. will def be staying on the menu.
Are you no longer using WW points system?
Super easy, quick meal on a busy night for the family. It’s all gone. Not a single leftover!
We liked this! Hits a lot of marks: easy, quick, inexpensive, decently kid friendly. It also lends itself well to leftovers or meal prep if you keep the chips separate until ready to eat.
I made this, and we all loved it! It’s so good, definitely going into rotation. The jalapeño didn’t make it to hot at all, it was just right.I followed other’s suggestions and put the chips on the side.my husband had two servings.
Where have quick pickled onions been all my life??
We loved this recipe but the onions put it over the top
The only thing I added was a little Tajin
Made it using ground beef(93% lean) the family loves it!
Delicious and comes together quickly! Family loved it and devoured. Thanks, as always, Gina. 🙂
This is a wonderful recipe. I feel like I’m having beef nachos ( in this case turkey 🙂 )from a restaurant!
Can someone please tell me the WW points? Thx!!
You need to hit the WW personal points button up near the top of the page.
This is delicious, but what is driving the calories and fat?
This calculated to 15 pp for me on the WW app. I halved the serving, so I could still enjoy it
So good! Only change I made was adding a diced red bell pepper at the beginning lol. I bet refried beans could work really well too.
This was delicious. My daughter even ate leftovers the next day (which is not normal for her). I used a can of rotel plus a little salsa because I didn’t have enough salsa on hand. Otherwise, followed recipe. It was great!
So good!!! We made this last night & it was delicious.
DELICIOUS!!!! Followed the recipe exactly and wouldn’t change anything. Can’t wait to make again!!!
awesome
Delicious!! Made it tonight and the family loved it! Lots of flavor. I will definitely be making this again! Very easy and super quick.
Loved this recipe but would recommend adding the tortilla chips as a condiment after the factif you anticipate leftovers.
Tried this tonight as written and was amazing! whole family loved it!
Really tasty!
There are just two of us, so we had leftovers. I lifted the chips off the leftovers and put them in fridge separately.
In the future, I will make the entire recipe, but only top 1/2 of it (likely on our plates) and then do the same in a few days.
Loved this but next time I would make just enough so there are no leftovers. The tortillas got soggy (which is no surprise) and didn’t warm up well for me (texture thing).
How much smoked paprika? It’s not listed in the ingredients.
it says 1 tsp
Made this for dinner tonight, and it was a big hit!! So flavorful! I only used black beans, as we are not big fans of corn, but it was still delicious. Topped with green onions and greek yogurt. So easy, and so good!
LARA asked in a reply to another message how to pickle the onions. Search for the Skinnytaste recipe for Air Fryer Roasted Cauliflower Tacos which includes pickled onion instructions.
What salsa do you use?
any chunky jarred salsa
How much smoked paprika should be added? The amount is not listed.
1 tsp, fixed now. 🙂
The smoked paprika still doesn’t show up in the print version of the recipe.
Try it now, it should show. 🙂
Smoked paprika is mentioned In the instructions but not on the ingredient list. How much would you suggest?
1 tsp
How do you pickle the onions?
What did you change from Mandi’s recipe? Thank you!
Can you make this ahead of time and refrigerate?
The meat yes, without the chips.
Looks so good! Saving this to make soon
2 questions:
What chips do you use?
Can we make ahead for lunch meal prep?
I used tostitos, you can make it ahead then add the chips later and melt the cheese. Yes!
Is there a recipe for “quick pickled onions”? I can’t wait to make this!
I was just going to ask that! 😂 good thing I looked in the comments first.