Soft tortillas filled with tender turkey, smothered in piquant sauce and plenty of cheese? Yes, please. Add in warming spices that make your filling taste slow-cooked in minutes, along with a killer hack to keep your tortillas from getting soggy, and Ground Turkey Enchiladas is a recipe for the ages.
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Naturally, you don’t want to spend all day in the kitchen just to experience a simple and satisfying meal, which is why I turn to Ground Turkey Enchiladas so often. They’re a comfort food classic that mixes hearty with healthy, but doesn’t require six hours or someone’s grandma to get made. Combining lean ground turkey with smoky, spicy red enchilada sauce and Monterey Jack cheese is a great protein punch, but the flour tortillas make you feel like you’re really getting a treat. The best part is pan-frying said tortillas, which gives the dish its rich mouthfeel and prevents soggy tortillas, but doesn’t add that much fat to the mix.
Plus, it’s easy to customize. You can adjust the spices up or down, sneak in some sautéed veg, or add more protein in the form of black or pinto beans. It’s impressive enough for guests but easy enough for weeknights, and I guarantee you’ll be hitting it up again and again. The possibilities are endless, so feel free to customize it to your heart’s content!
Table of Contents
Recipe at a Glance
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 8 enchiladas
- Skill Level: Easy
Ingredients for Ground Turkey Enchiladas
- Ground Turkey: Lean ground dark meat turkey is your best bet for this dish, both flavor-wise and in terms of texture. It has the right amount of fat to keep the dish from drying out, while staying lean and healthy for weeknight protein.
- Flour Tortillas: You’re looking for soft, pliable 10-inch flour tortillas, not the big beasts you use to make burritos. If your tortillas aren’t quite that big, you might need a few more than the recipe calls for.
- Red Enchilada Sauce: If you’re into from-scratch recipes, you’ll want to try my easy homemade red enchilada sauce recipe. Otherwise, it’s fine to grab your favorite store-bought version. Either way, choose a sauce that has lots of complex flavor and spice.
- Monterey Jack Cheese: While you can certainly substitute for your fave cheese – think cheddar, pepper jack, or a Mexican cheese of your choosing – I personally love Monterey Jack for its failsafe creaminess and mild taste.
- Dried Spices: For a warm, savory filling with just the right amount of heat, you need the perfect blend of spices: chili powder, cumin, oregano (preferably Mexican oregano), salt, black pepper, and crushed red pepper flakes.
- Onion and Garlic: Don’t skip the aromatics! They add depth, complexity, sweetness, and umami that you can’t get from the other ingredients in this recipe.
How to Make Ground Turkey Enchiladas
Ready, set, preheat your oven to 375°F. Gently fry your tortillas in a pan with a small amount of oil, which both makes them easier to roll up and protects them from getting soggy when the meat and sauce hit them. When you’re done with that step, use the same pan to sauté the onion and garlic until they smell fragrant, but before you see any browning. Add the turkey and spices, cooking until the whole mess is browned and smells lovely, then taste and adjust your seasonings. Set the pan aside.
Next, brush a 9×13-inch baking dish with a light coating of oil. Spread ½ cup of enchilada sauce across the bottom, then start assembling and placing filled tortillas. Each tortilla will take roughly ½ cup of turkey mixture, plus a sprinkle of cheese. Roll the whole thing up, then place it seam-side-down in the pan so it will hold together. Once you’ve used up all the filling and tortillas, squeezing everyone in snugly, pour the rest of the enchilada sauce over the top and smother the whole thing in cheese.
Pop the pan in the preheated oven and bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes. Look for hot, melty cheese with a bit of sauce bubbling up from the sides. Let them cool a few minutes, set out your favorite toppings, and plate up!
Pro Tips
- Warm the tortillas first: If you try to fill tortillas cold, they may crack and will definitely get soggy when you fill them. To avoid this, lightly pan-fry each tortilla ahead of time.
- Don’t overstuff: Tortillas have limits, just like people. Stick to ½ cup of filling and 3 tablespoons of cheese per tortilla. That way, you won’t have a hard time rolling them up.
- Sauce the bottom of the dish: Instead of placing your tortillas straight on the bottom of the dish, spread a thin layer of enchilada sauce first. Most people forget this step, but it’s key to uniform flavor and easily removing enchiladas from the pan.
Substitutions and Variations
- Corn tortillas: If you love that milled corn flavor, use 6-inch corn tortillas instead of flour ones. Pan-fry them in oil just as you would with the flour tortillas, but understand that they’re a bit likelier to crack.
- Add beans: Want a super-easy boost of protein and fiber? Simply drain a can of black or pinto beans and mix them into the filling. This will also stretch the recipe to 10 enchiladas instead of eight.
- Add vegetables: You can’t go wrong with sautéed bell pepper, zucchini, or baby spinach mixed into the filling. It’s such an easy way to avoid having to prep a separate vegetable dish.
- Cheese: You can swap the Monterey Jack for pepper jack for more heat. Sharp cheddar offers a bit more bite, while crumbled Cotija on top gives the enchiladas real Mexican flair.
- Green sauce: Green enchilada sauce is a bit tangier than red, owing to the tomatillos it traditionally contains, but the spice blend in the filling still works well with it. Feel free to adjust your spices if the dish is a bit too mild but you love the flavor of green.
Make-Ahead, Storage and Reheating
Enchiladas are a prepared chef’s dream: You can make the entire pan a day ahead of time, cover it tightly with foil or plastic wrap, and refrigerate it. When you’re ready, pull it straight out of the fridge and place it into a preheated oven. Just make sure to add 10-15 minutes to the baking time.
If you have leftovers, store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days or freeze them for up to three months in a foil pan, tightly wrapped in plastic, then an additional layer of foil. When you pull them out, thaw them in the fridge overnight before reheating. From the fridge, place enchiladas in a baking dish, cover it with foil, and warm in a 350°F oven until heated through, about 15-20 minutes.
If you prefer to reheat them straight from frozen, cover them with foil and bake at 350°F for about an hour, then uncover and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes. As with the original bake, leave them in until they’re hot through and bubbly on top.
Serve With
More Must-Try Enchilada Recipes
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil divided, plus more for brushing baking dish
- 8 10-inch flour tortillas
- 1 1/2 pounds lean ground turkey (see recipe note)
- 1 small white onion thinly sliced into rounds
- 2 large cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano ideally Mexican oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt plus more to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper plus more to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 2 cups red enchilada sauce store bought or homemade
- 8 ounces shredded Monterey Jack cheese divided
Optional Toppings
- avocado slices
- sliced green onions
- chopped fresh cilantro
- sour cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 °F (191 °C).
- Warm a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add 2 teaspoons of oil, swirling to coat the pan. Place a tortilla in the skillet and fry for 10-15 seconds on each side until it turns lightly brown; transfer to a plate. Repeat with the rest of the tortillas, adding more oil as necessary; set aside.
- Add remaining tablespoon of oil to same skillet over medium heat; add onion and cook and stir until beginning to soften, 1 to 2 minutes. Add garlic; cook and stir until fragrant about 30 seconds. Add ground turkey; breaking up with a wooden spoon and add chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Cook and stir until turkey is browned on all sides and cooked through; let simmer until liquid evaporates. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed; remove from heat.
- Brush bottom and edges of a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with olive oil. Pour 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce into dish and spread into an even layer.
- Spoon a ~1/2 cup of turkey mixture down the center of one tortilla and sprinkle evenly with about 3 tablespoons of shredded cheese; roll up, and place seam-side down in the baking dish. Repeat process with the remaining tortillas.
- Spread remaining 1 1/2 cups of enchilada sauce evenly over the enchiladas. Sprinkle remaining cheese over the top. Bake enchiladas uncovered for 20 to 25 minutes, until they are hot all the way through and the cheese has melted. Serve hot with optional toppings as desired.
Notes
- I recommend using lean ground turkey, not ground turkey breast which is so too dry for this dish.
- Recipe makes about 4 cups of ground turkey filling.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Those enchiladas look so good! It’s not even 8am here right now, but I’m craving this one. Enchiladas for breakfast?? 🙂
Why not, right? Thanks so much, David.
What a hearty and delicious dish packed with great flavours and textures. And with all these toppings, they look so beautiful and elegant, too!
aww…thanks so much, Ben!