Ground Turkey Enchiladas
Last Updated on June 13, 2024 by Annie
Delicious and dairy-free, this Ground Turkey Enchiladas recipe makes the perfect dinner for any night of the week! Take your Tex-Mex to the next level with these healthier enchiladas made with ground turkey, corn tortillas, and red enchilada sauce.
2024 Update: This recipe was originally shared in January 2020. This post has been updated to include new photos, detailed directions, and additional dairy-free tips. I hope you enjoy this dairy-free turkey enchilada recipe.
Moving away from delicious Tex-Mex was the most difficult part of moving to Connecticut. You see, you can call your family, FaceTime, and text but enchiladas are inanimate objects. Their ability to write, call, or text is limited, and to travel here, forget it! They would spoil on the journey!
Being a native Houstonian meant every block you drove, you passed a Tex-Mex establishment. This made cooking Tex-Mex at home seem unnecessary. It wasn’t until after we moved I began craving traditional Tex-Mex foods because they could not be found at local restaurants. It also meant gorging on it every time I visited home.
Once I went dairy-free, most of the traditional Tex-Mex dishes I consumed changed DRAMATICALLY. No more queso, quesadillas, or cheese puffs (yes, I know I ate a very small variety of foods). Carne asada, chicken tacos al carbon, and guacamole became my new go-to’s.
Over a year after switching to a mostly dairy-free diet, the void left by enchiladas still had yet to be filled. Because my previous life experience with enchiladas meant they were stuffed and smothered with cheese, I didn’t dare try to replace them.
While flipping through the Magnolia Table Cookbook, however, I found a recipe for Beef Enchiladas. After reading through the recipe I knew a few changes could make it a perfect dairy-free enchilada recipe. The rest you can say is history.
Why We LOVE these Ground Turkey Enchiladas
From the spiced turkey filling to the enchilada coated tortillas, each bite of these ground turkey enchiladas is pure comfort! Some other reasons we love this dairy-free enchilada recipe include:
- Filling and delicious. These easy to make enchiladas are filled with a delicious ground turkey filling that is loaded with flavor.
- Great for meal prep. Making these enchiladas in advance is as simple as assembling now and baking later.
- Healthier than your traditional enchilada recipe. Made with a lean ground turkey and no heavy cream or cheese, these enchiladas will quickly become your favorite meat-filled enchilada!
Dairy-Free Changes to Turkey Enchiladas
Making enchiladas dairy-free at home is as simple as omitting or replacing cheese.
- Omit cheese from the meat mixture.
When you omit cheese from the recipe you will want to consider how the cheese was used originally to make sure your enchiladas don’t come out dry.
One of the changes I made to the original recipe was to increase the amount of enchilada sauce to ensure the enchiladas stayed moist.
If you cannot wrap your head around an enchilada without cheese, I totally understand. I would suggest using a vegan shredded cheese such as:
To add vegan cheese to the recipe: Add about 1/2 Tablespoon-1 Tablespoon of the vegan cheese in the middle of the tortilla before adding the ground turkey mixture.
How to Make Ground Turkey Enchiladas
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Ground Turkey– Used as the meat filling for these enchiladas.
- Onion– Adds a little flavor to the ground turkey base of the enchiladas.
- Olive Oil– For cooking the ground turkey and onion.
- Spices– A blend of chili powder, cumin, salt, and pepper help spice up the ground turkey.
- Diced green chiles– A small (4 oz) can of these can usually be found on the international food aisle at most grocery stores.
- Corn tortillas– Lightly fried in a little canola oil to make them easier to roll.
- Enchilada sauce– Homemade or canned, you will probably want to stick to a mild flavored sauce.
Directions for Ground Turkey Enchiladas
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Cook onion: In a large skillet, heat olive oil. One hot, add diced onion and cook about 5 minutes.
- Brown the turkey: Add the ground turkey into the pan. Brown and crumble to meat as you go and cook until no longer pink, roughly 5 minutes.
- Add seasoning: Stir in the chili powder, cumin, salt, and pepper. Cook an additional minute, then remove from the heat and stir in the diced green chilies. Set the ground turkey mixture aside.
- Fry the tortillas: In a medium skillet, heat canola oil. Once heated through, place a corn tortilla in the pan and fry for about 30 seconds, flip, and fry the other side.
- Drain: Lift the tortilla from the pan and allow the grease to drip off the tortilla, then place in a paper towel. Repeat with all corn tortillas.
- Prep the pan: Next, prepare a 9X13-inch baking dish by pouring about 1/4 cup- 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce along the bottom of the dish. Spread evenly to coat the entire pan.
- Fill the tortillas: On a small plate, pour another 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce. Place one tortilla on the plate, into the sauce. Scoop 1/4 cup of the ground turkey filling and pour down the middle of the tortilla.
- Roll the enchilada: Fold the sides into the middle, tuck any extra pieces of meat in and place the filled tortilla seam side down in the baking dish.
- Repeat this process until all 12 tortillas have been filled.
- Top with remaining sauce: Pour all of the remaining enchilada sauce on top of the enchiladas, including any sauce that might be left on the plate.
- Bake for 30 minutes, until golden. Garnish with cilantro and green onion.
Helpful Kitchen Tools
Stock your kitchen with these helpful tools to make this dairy-free ground turkey enchilada recipe.
- 9×13-inch Baking Dish (Amazon affiliate link)- Great for baking and taking your dish just about anywhere!
- Meat and Potato Masher (Amazon affiliate link)- This helpful handheld tool is great for breaking meat apart as you brown it on the stove.
Pro Tips for Turkey Enchiladas
As someone who has made these ground turkey enchiladas a time or two, there are a few things you should know before getting started.
- Wear an apron and prepare to get messy. This is one of those dishes that just happens to be a little messier than most.
- Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to fill the tortillas. It helps ensure you don’t overfill the tortillas and keeps each evenly stuffed.
- The newer the corn tortilla the easier it rolls. As the tortillas age, they dry out making rolling them up more challenging.
- Don’t skip the frying part for the tortillas. You might be tempted to skip frying the tortillas but it helps to make the tortillas easier to roll as well as prevents the tortilla from soaking up too much of the enchilada sauce resulting in soggy enchiladas.
What do you serve with Enchiladas?
There are a number of different starters and sides that make these turkey enchiladas into a delicious and filling meal. Here are a few ways you can dish out these delicious enchiladas.
- Pico de Gallo
- Guacamole
- A side of rice or beans
- Mexican Street Corn Dip
Storing, Freezing, and Making Ahead
Whether you are storing leftover enchiladas or wanting to prep these ground turkey enchiladas in advance, here is everything you will need to know about storing, freezing, and making these in advance.
- Storing: Keep fully cooked ground turkey enchiladas in a refrigerator safe container for up to 5 days. Reheat in the microwave.
- Freezing: Once cooked, allow the enchiladas to cool completely before storing in a freezer safe container for up to 3 months.
- Making Ahead: You can prep the enchiladas a day in advance of baking them or freeze them before baking for up to 3 months. To heat transfer the enchiladas from the freezer to the refrigerator overnight to thaw then follow the baking directions to heat and serve.
More Tex-Mex Recipes to Try Next
If you tried this dairy-free ground turkey enchilada recipe please let me know in the comments below!
You can also share a picture of it with me on Instagram by tagging @mylifeafterdairy so I can see all of your life after dairy adventures!
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Ground Turkey Enchiladas
Deliciously dairy-free ground turkey enchiladas made from ground turkey, diced green chilies, corn tortillas, and enchilada sauce.
Ingredients
- 1 pound Ground Turkey
- 1 Onion Diced
- 1 teaspoon Olive Oil
- 1 Tablespoon Chili Powder
- 1 teaspoon Cumin ground
- ½ teaspoon Kosher Salt
- ¼ teaspoon Black Pepper
- 4 ounce Diced green chilies can
- 12 Corn Tortillas
- Canola Oil to fry corn tortillas
- 19 ounce Mild Enchilada Sauce can
- Green onion chopped, to garnish
- Cilantro chopped, to garnish
Instructions
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Preheat your oven to 350°F.
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In a large skillet over medium heat, heat 1 tsp of olive oil. While the oil is heating, dice 1 onion.
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Place the onion into pan and cook about 5 minutes. Add 1 pound ground turkey into the pan, crumble the meat as you go and cook until no longer raw, roughly 5 minutes.
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Stir in 1 Tablespoon chili powder, 1 teaspoon cumin, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Cook an additional minute then remove from heat and stir in a 4-ounce can of diced green chilies. Set aside.
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In a medium sized skillet, pour about ¼ cup canola oil, enough to cover the bottom of the pan and cover a tortilla when placed in. Heat the oil. When the oil has heated through, place a corn tortilla in the pan for about 30 seconds. Flip with tongs and cook an additional 30 seconds. Lift the tortilla from the pan and allow the grease to drip off the tortilla then place on a paper towel.
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Continue this process until all 12 tortillas have been lightly fried. Stack tortilla then paper towel to allow the excess grease to be soaked up.
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Next, prepare a 9 X 13-inch baking dish by pouring about ¼-½ cup of enchilada sauce along the bottom of the dish. Spread evenly to coat the entire dish.
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On a small plate, pour another ½ cup of enchilada sauce. Place one tortilla on the plate, into the sauce. Scoop ¼ cup of the ground turkey filling and pour down the middle of the tortilla. Fold the sides into the middle, tuck any extra pieces of meat in and place the filled tortilla seam side down in the baking dish.
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Repeat this process until all 12 tortillas have been filled. I place 8 across the bottom and then the additional 4 along the top.
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Pour all of the remaining enchilada sauce on top of the enchiladas, including any sauce that might be left on the plate.
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Bake for about 30 minutes until golden. Garnish with cilantro and green onion.
Recipe Notes
Store in an air-tight container.
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