Ground Turkey Quesadillas
Introducing Ground Turkey Quesadillas that are easy to make, delicious and perfect for busy nights! These crispy and cheesy turkey quesadillas are generally a huge hit and can be enjoyed on their own or with a side of beans, guacamole or any of your favorite sides!
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If you love cooking with ground turkey, be sure to check out our Ground Turkey Spaghetti recipe or this collection of ground turkey soup recipes! And if you are looking for more Hispanic-inspired dishes, checkout our Chicken Fajita Tacos and Easy Red Cicken Enchiladas.
👍 Why We Love these Ground Turkey Quesadillas
✔️ Simple and quick– These turkey and cheese quesadillas are ideal for busy weeknights, as this recipe is quick and simple to make. Similar to all our recipes, this dish can be prepared in 28 minutes or less.
✔️ Fun for kids to make! Our kids loved building their own turkey quesadillas. They even made smily faces with their black olives!
✔️ Super customizable! Switch out the cheese or add veggies. Serve with rice, bean salad, chips and guacamole or whatever your kids like. There are so many ways to adjust this dish.
🛒 Ingredients
Notes on ingredients (full list of ingredients and quantities listed in the recipe card below):
- Onion– Peeled and chopped
- Mild green chilis– These add so much flavor!
- Ground turkey– In contrast to ground beef, ground turkey is lower in saturated fat, earning it the preferred meat for this dish. However, feel free to substitute with lean ground beef or sausage if you prefer.
- Taco seasoning– We love Ortega Taco Seasoning and keep it on hand in our pantry.
- Flour tortillas– You may also use corn trtillas, 7-8 inches in diameter.
- Shredded cheese – We liike to use a Mexican blend, but any cheese of choice will work! Other options include: shredded cheddar, mozzarella, provolone, Monterey Jack, or Gouda, gruyere or provolone.
- Black olives– We love the flavor olives add to our ground turkey quesadillas, but feel free to swap for any of your favorite veggies, like corn, beans or chopped tomatoes.
👩🍳 Instructions
Step 1: Cook the turkey and veggies until no longer pink.
🥄 Kid Steps: Help chop onion using these awesome Curious Chef kid-safe knives. Kids can also break up turkey as it cooks using a Potato Masher.
Step 2: Add taco seasoning and water. Mix over heat until water dissipates.
🥄Kids Step: Sprinkle taco seasoning onto meat. Kids can keep tasting the meat to see if it needs more seasoning.
Step 3: Assemble quesadillas by placing a couple spoonfuls of turkey mixture, a handful of shredded cheese, and a few black olive slices on each tortilla. Fold each tortilla in half.
🥄 Kid Step: Assemble tortillas! Kids can create smiley faces or other designs with black olives.
Step 4: Broil turkey and cheeese quesadillas for 1-2 minutes, flip, and broil for another 1-2 minutes.
Step 5: Add toppings!
Cut turkey quesadillas in half if you’d like. We like to serve our ground turkey quesadillas topped with sour cream and/or salsa and guacamole. We also keep tortilla chips handy to scoop up any extra meat!
✔️ Cooking Tips and Variations
- Use a potato masher to break up the turkey in the pan.
- Heat up the dish by adding a pinch of cayenne, red pepper flakes or a drizzle of hot sauce.
- Incorporate your favorite veggies, like beans, corn or chopped tomatoes.
- Swap flour tortillas for corn if preferred.
- Vegetarian – Swap the turkey for pea protein crumbles. I’m a huge fan of Beyond Meat Beefy Crumbles. I’ve used them for years to make vegetarian chili and it’s so delicious. Worth noting is that these crumbles are high in protein, vegan, and also gluten-free. You will cook these crumbles the same exact way as the ground turkey.
- Vegan– In addition to swapping turkey for pea protein crumbles, eliminate the cheese and sour cream from the recipe. You can add salsa and/or corn to the tortilla filling for extra flavor.
- Gluten Free! Use corn tortillas (instead of flour) and make sure the taco seasoning contains no traces of gluten.
🧊 Storing and Reheating
Store quesadillas in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2-4 days. Our turkey and cheese quesadillas are best when eaten crispy right out of the oven. However, they can certainly be reheated in the following ways:
Stovetop: Heat on a non-stick frying pan on medium-low heat until heated through.
Oven: Return to a baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted.
Microwave: The microwave may not yield a crispy finish, but it will certainly reheat your ground turkey quesadillas. Place on a microwave safe dish and heat at 20-30 second intervals until heated through.
🥗 Side Options
There are so many possibilities when it comes to choosing a side for these turkey and cheese quesadillas. Here are a few of our favorites:
- Chips and guacamole
- Bean salad or other side salads
- Chopped carrots, celery or cucumbers
- Vegetarian chili
👶 Tips for Picky Eaters
This is definitely a kid-friendly meal, but here are some tips to make it even more so:
🍅 Use the microwave. You don’t have to use the broiler. If you’re strapped for time, don’t have a broiler, or your kids don’t like browning marks on the tortillas, just pop the ground turkey quesadillas in the microwave.
🍅 Turkey on the side. Although this quesadilla is pretty simple, some kids will still only eat a cheese quesadilla! If this is the case, just plate the turkey on the side.
🍽️ Similar Dishes You May Like
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Ground Turkey Quesadillas
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 small yellow onion ((chopped))
- 4 ounce can mild green chilis
- 2 pound ground turkey
- 1/2 cup water, maybe more
- 1.5-2 tbsp taco seasoning
- 10 medium flour tortillas
- 8 ounce bag shredded Mexican cheese blend
- 2.25 ounce can sliced black olives
- sour cream (optional)
- salsa (optional )
- tortilla chips (optional )
Instructions
- Preheat a pan (my absolute fave!) on medium, and add olive oil. Combine chopped onion, green chilis and ground turkey in pan. Break turkey apart into smaller pieces and cook until no longer pink. Note: While cooking ground turkey, turn on your broiler to high heat. Give your broiler 5-10 mins to heat up before you’re ready to use it.
- Add ½ cup water and taco seasoning to pan mixture. Mix together in pan and cook until water dissipates. Add more seasoning and water as needed, by taste. Remove from heat.
- Assemble the quesadillas on the cookie sheet. On one half of the tortilla place a couple spoonfuls of turkey mixture, a handful of shredded cheese, and a few black olive slices. Fold in half. Repeat for each tortilla, as many as will fit on the cookie sheet.
- Put cookie sheet under broiler for 1-2 minutes. Take cookie sheet out and flip over the tortillas. Pop back under broiler for another 1-2 minutes. Repeat until all quesadillas are cooked.
- Add desired toppings! We like to serve our ground turkey quesadillas topped with sour cream and/or salsa and guacamole. We also keep tortilla chips handy to scoop up any extra meat!
Notes
-
- Use a potato masher to break up the turkey in the pan.
-
- Heat up the dish by adding a pinch of cayenne, red pepper flakes or a drizzle of hot sauce.
-
- Incorporate your favorite veggies, like beans, corn or chopped tomatoes.
-
- Swap flour tortillas for flour if preffered.
-
- Vegetarian – Swap the turkey for pea protein crumbles. I’m a huge fan of Beyond Meat Beefy Crumbles. I’ve used them for years to make vegetarian chili and it’s so delicious. Worth noting is that these crumbles are high in protein, vegan, and also gluten-free. You will cook these crumbles the same exact way as the ground turkey.
-
- Vegan– In addition to swapping turkey for pea protein crumbles, eliminate the cheese and sour cream from the recipe. You can add salsa and/or corn to the tortilla filling for extra flavor.
-
- Gluten Free! Use corn tortillas (instead of flour) and make sure the taco seasoning contains no traces of gluten.
Nutrition
The nutrition facts provided are calculated using a third-party tool and are estimates only. Actual nutritional content may vary based on the ingredients and brands you use, as well as portion sizes. For accurate results, please consult a registered dietitian or nutritionist.
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