Ground Turkey Taco Bowls

Ground Turkey Taco Bowls are such a tasty dinner and for a low-carb version of the recipe just double the turkey and skip the black beans! And this turkey taco bowl recipe is absolutely a wow when it’s served with the avocado salsa!

PIN Ground Turkey Taco Bowls to try them later!

A few years ago I came up with the recipe for Sriracha Beef Cabbage Bowl that was the brilliant idea of my friend Jeanne, and it quickly become one of my favorite things to make for a quick dinner. And you know how my brain takes a good recipe idea and spins it off into another fun variation, so now I’ve taken the basic idea of a bowl meal that starts with Spicy Mexican Slaw (one of my absolute favorites!) and made a cabbage bowl variation with turkey and Mexican flavors.

These Ground Turkey Taco Bowls feature finely diced fresh Poblano chile pepper in the cabbage slaw and in the salsa, and everything about this combination is amazingly flavorful. Cabbage is one of the healthiest vegetables you can eat, and this recipe might become your favorite new way to get more cabbage into your diet!

What ingredients do you need for this recipe?

(This is only a list of ingredients; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)

• Olive Oil (affiliate link)
• onion
• Kalyn’s Taco Seasoning (or use any Taco Seasoning you have on hand)
• dried granulated garlic or Garlic Powder (affiliate link)
• ground turkey
• diced green chiles (affiliate link)
• canned crushed tomatoes
• canned black beans (or skip beans and double the turkey)
• fresh-squeezed lime juice, I used my fresh-frozen lime juice
• Poblano chile pepper
• red onion
• fresh cilantro
• avocado
• Vege-Sal (affiliate link), or use a smaller amount of regular salt
• green cabbage
• red cabbage
• mayo
• Green Tabasco Sauce (affiliate link)

What if you don’t want cilantro in the Ground Turkey Taco Bowls?

If you don’t enjoy the flavor of fresh cilantro, just replace it with thinly sliced green onion in the Mexican Slaw used in these taco bowls.

How can you make Ground Turkey Taco Bowls lower in carbs?

If you don’t want the extra carbs from the black beans, just double the amount of turkey and skip the beans and this will still be a delicious Mexican bowl meal.

Want more ideas for tasty bowl meals?

Check out 20 Amazing Low-Carb Bowl Meals for lots more tasty ideas for meals in a bowl.

How to Make Ground Turkey Taco Bowls:

(This is only a summary of the steps for the recipe; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)

1. Heat oil and then saute onion until it’s starting to brown. 
2. Add Kalyn’s Taco Seasoning and garlic and cook about a minute more.
3. Then add ground turkey and cook over medium high heat until it’s nicely browned, about 8-10 minutes. (If you’re wanting to make the low-carb version, double the ground turkey.)
4. Add diced green chiles, crushed tomatoes, rinsed black beans (if using), lime juice, and a little water, and let the meat mixture simmer until liquid has evaporated, about 30 minutes.  (You can turn up the heat if you need to speed it up, but the long simmering time builds flavor.)
5. When the liquid has evaporated, you’re ready to assemble the Turkey Taco Bowls.
6. While the meat simmers, prepare to make the avocado salsa and the slaw by finely chopping cilantro and dicing red onion and half a Poblano chile pepper for the salsa.  
7. Whisk together mayo, lime juice, Green Tabasco Sauce, and a little Vege-Sal or salt to make the dressing.
8. Finely dice the other half of the Poblano chile for the slaw. We used the Mandoline Slicer (affiliate link) I got from a student to thinly slice the cabbage, but you can also use a knife.
9. Add diced poblano and onion to the cabbage and when the meat is nearly done, toss the cabbage with the dressing.
10. Cut avocado into smallish pieces and toss with fresh lime juice, red onion, chopped cilantro, chopped poblano, olive oil, and salt or Vege-Sal  to make the salsa. (Blogger FAIL, I forgot to get a photo of the salsa mixed together; please use your imagination for that.
11. Put some of the spicy slaw into the bottom of each bowl.
12. Top that with about 2/3 cup of the meat mixture, or slightly more.
13. Top that with a generous scoop of the avocado salsa and enjoy!

More Healthy Mexican Dinners with Ground Turkey:

• Turkey Lettuce Wrap Tacos
• Turkey Enchilada Casserole
• Green Chile Turkey Enchilada Soup

Continue to Content

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Yield: 6 servings

Ground Turkey Taco Bowls

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 55 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 25 minutes

These Ground Turkey Taco Bowls are a delicious meal-in-a-bowl; just skip the black beans and double the turkey if you want a lower-carb version of this Turkey Taco Bowl meal.

Ingredients

Meat Mixture Ingredients:

• 1 T olive oil (divided)
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 1/2 T Kalyn’s Taco Seasoning (or use any Taco Seasoning you have on hand)
• 2 tsp. dried granulated garlic or garlic powder
• 1 lb. lean ground turkey
• one 4 oz. can diced green chiles
• one 15 oz. can crushed tomatoes
• one 15 oz. can black beans, rinsed with cold water, (see notes)
• 3 T fresh-squeezed lime juice (I used my fresh-frozen lime juice)
• 2 T water

Avocado Salsa Ingredients:

• 1/2 large Poblano chile pepper, finely diced
• 1/4 small red onion, finely diced
• 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 large avocado, diced into pieces about 1/2 inch square
• 2 T fresh squeezed lime juice, divided (I used my fresh-frozen lime juice)
• 1 T olive oil
• 1 tsp. Vege-Sal

Spicy Slaw Ingredients:

• 1/2 large head green cabbage, core removed and thinly sliced
• 1/4 large head red cabbage, core removed and thinly sliced
• 1/2 large Poblano chile pepper, finely diced
• 5 T mayo
• 3 T fresh-squeezed lime juice (I used my fresh-frozen lime juice)
• 1 tsp. Green Tabasco Sauce (or more to taste)
• Vege-Sal (or salt) to taste

Instructions

1. Heat 2 tsp. olive oil in a large frying pan and saute the onion until it starts to brown, about 4-5 minutes.
2. Add the taco seasoning and granulated garlic and saute about 1 minute more.
3. Then add the ground turkey and cook over medium high heat, breaking apart with the turner as it cooks, until the turkey is nicely browned. This will take 8-10 minutes, but don’t rush the browning step.
4. Add the green chiles (affiliate link) and juice, crushed tomatoes, rinsed black beans, 1/4 cup lime juice and 2 T water, stir to combine, turn the heat to low, and let the mixture simmer until most of the liquid is evaporated, about 40 minutes.  (You can turn up the heat if you need to speed it up, but the long simmering time builds flavor.)
5. While the meat simmers, chop the cilantro and finely dice the red onion and half the Poblano chile for the salsa.
6. Peel the avocado, remove the stem and cut the avocado into 1/2 inch pieces.
7. Put the avocado into a bowl and toss with 1 T lime juice.
8. Stir in the chopped cilantro, diced red onion, diced poblano chile, olive oil, and the other 2 T lime juice, and season with Vege-Sal (affiliate link) (or salt).
9. Set salsa aside until you’re ready to use it.
10. Thinly slice the red and green cabbage. (We used the mandoline I got from a student (affiliate link) to slice the cabbage, but you can use a knife)
11. Dice the other half of the Poblano chile pepper into small pieces.
12. Whisk together the mayo, lime juice, Green Tabasco Sauce (affiliate link), and Vege-Sal (affiliate link) to make the dressing.
13. When the meat mixture is about done, combine the green cabbage, red cabbage, and diced Poblano in a bowl and toss with the dressing.
14. To assemble the bowls, put some of the spicy slaw in the bottom of each bowl.
15. Top with about 2/3 cup of the meat mixture and a generous scoop of the avocado salsa.
16. Eat right away.
17. The meat mixture and the avocado salsa can be stored in the fridge for a day or two, but if this makes more than you can use for one meal I would store the extra sliced cabbage mixture and dressing separately and not mix the dressing with the cabbage mixture until just before you’re going to eat it.

Notes

For this recipe I used Kalyn’s Taco Seasoning, fresh-frozen lime juice, Poblano chile pepper, Vege-Sal, and Green Tabasco Sauce.

If you want a lower-carb Turkey Taco Bowl just skip the black beans and double the amount of turkey.

This recipe created by Kalyn with inspiration from Sriracha Beef Cabbage Bowls.

Nutrition Information

Yield

6

Serving Size

1
Amount Per Serving Calories 475Total Fat 27gSaturated Fat 5gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 21gCholesterol 83mgSodium 743mgCarbohydrates 33gFiber 11gSugar 9gProtein 29g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.

Did you make this recipe?

Did you make this recipe? Please leave a star rating (under the PRINT button in the recipe) or share a photo of your results on Instagram! THANKS!

Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
These Ground Turkey Taco Bowls would be suitable for any phase of the original South Beach Diet. Even though there are beans I would consider this a relatively low-carb meal because there aren’t a lot of beans in proportion to the other ingredients, but for a truly low carb version, just omit the black beans and double the amount of ground turkey.

Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Bowl Meals to find more recipes like this one. Use the Diet Type Index to find recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.

Historical Notes for this Recipe:
These taco bowls with ground turkey, black beans, cabbage slaw, and avocado salsa were first posted in 2014. The recipe was updated with more information and an option to make it a low-carb meal in 2024.

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