Turkey Tacos

The Best Everyday Taco

Delicious! 20 minutes, maybe? So good, and easy to keep turkey in the freezer for any time a meal is needed. These could be made of ground beef if you like. I make them out of ground turkey thigh meat. It has the right fat content and has the added bonus of being pretty inexpensive. 


When I do make it into Whole Foods, or a store that sells ground turkey meat in the meat department, I buy several separately wrapped 1 lb packets of meat to throw in the my freezer. (Make sure to ask them to not use plastic in the packet-this gets all squished with the meat and is a pain to remove when you want to thaw the meat.)

Turkey Tacos

download recipe here

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 lb of ground turkey thigh meat

¼-1/3 small onion (just enough to fit in a small chopper)

1 ½-2 tablespoons of taco seasoning (taco seasonings vary in heat, season to your family’s palate. See note below about taco seasonings.)

handful or two of frozen corn

oil

1 can of beans, black or pinto
tortillas and favorite taco fixings (shredded Monterey jack and cheddar cheese mixed, diced tomatoes, onions, lettuce, sour cream, salsa)

1.     Open the can of beans and empty into a small pot, add some seasonings (shake of cumin, chili powder and salt), plus ½ can water. Cook on low. Check from time to time for doneness. Canned beans often have some hard beans and some softer beans mixed, so don’t just check one bean. If they start to dry out, add another ½ can of water. If they are all well cooked, turn off and let them sit in the seasonings until needed for the tacos.

2.     Put the onion into a chopper. Pulse and tap on the counter, repeat until no large chunks of onion remain. While doing this, heat up a pan on medium high heat, then add about 1 ½ tablespoons of oil (I use olive oil). Scrape the onion out of the chopper with a rubber spatula into the pan.

3.     Cook for about 4 minutes, stirring every minute or so to keep from burning.

4.     Add the spices to the pan and toast them for 15-30 seconds, stirring.

5.     Add the meat. Using the sharp end of a spatula, chop and mix the meat into the onion and spices. Add some salt. Add oil if the pan is dry.

6.     Cook for another 10-15 minutes, or until the meat is almost cooked through. Add a couple of handfuls of frozen corn.

7.     Cook another couple of minutes, taste and adjust seasoning. Add more spices if it’s bland. Remove from heat.

8.     Heat up a skillet for tortillas, heat tortillas as needed for taco assembly.

9.     Assemble tacos.

A lot of premade taco seasoning packets has MSG and other added bad things. Here is a really great recipe for a taco seasoning mix. I use this mix in the fish tacos too.

Taco Seasoning Mix

 ¼ cup of ancho chili powder

1 tsp garlic granules

2  tsp ground cumin

1 tsp dry minced garlic

1 tsp of smoked hot paprika (optional, this adds some spice if the chili powder doesn’t have enough)

Keep in an airtight container and use as needed.

To see more of my work: http://www.smcintyre.com/