These ground turkey enchiladas are flavorful, spicy, and topped with perfectly melted cheese. They use a filling that is made with ground turkey, refried beans, and the most delicious seasoning! Serve them with sour cream and other toppings of your choice for a satisfying Mexican-style dinner at home.
These ground turkey enchiladas are lighter than classic beef enchiladas but taste just as delicious and flavorful! The enchiladas are made with deliciously seasoned ground turkey, tasty corn tortillas, creamy refried beans, a spicy homemade enchilada sauce, and melty cheese.
It's an amazing dish to prepare for your family or yourself when you are craving comforting Mexican food. Plus, you can store leftovers in your refrigerator to enjoy them the next day.
I love to make this dish using my easy red enchilada sauce that I often keep in my freezer so that I can quickly whip up a batch of enchiladas. But any type of enchilada sauce will work with this recipe, just make sure that it is delicious!
Ground Turkey Enchiladas Ingredients
To make these ground turkey enchiladas you'll need the following ingredients:
- Ground turkey: To make this dish, you'll need ground turkey or ground chicken. If you prefer beef, you can use ground beef instead of turkey.
- Tortillas: I recommend using corn tortillas or half-corn and half-flour tortillas. I often use the second option. If you don't like or can't find tortillas made from corn, you can use flour tortillas. They usually soak up more liquid and turn out a lot softer, so keep this in mind when preparing these ground turkey enchiladas.
- Red enchilada sauce: You can either use homemade enchilada sauce or store-bought enchilada sauce. I like to use homemade enchilada sauce as I find it more delicious.
- Shredded cheese: I recommend using both cheddar cheese and mozzarella cheese. It's the perfect combination for a layer of melty and flavorful cheese on top of your enchiladas.
- Refried beans: Refried beans are super delicious and perfect for making a creamy enchilada filling. If you prefer regular beans, you can use them instead of refried beans.
- Aromatics: You'll need garlic and onion to make your filling taste flavorful and delicious.
- Chili powder: You'll also need chili powder for the filling. Make sure to use the American spice blend and not ground chiles as your dish may turn out overly spicy with ground chiles.
How to make ground turkey enchiladas
Prepare the enchilada sauce. First, prepare a batch of homemade enchilada sauce or use store-bought sauce. You can find detailed instructions in the recipe post.
Sauté the aromatics and ground turkey. Next, preheat some olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and sauté until fragrant. Add the ground turkey and cook until it has fully browned.
Season the filling. Add some enchilada sauce, chili powder, salt, and pepper to the ground turkey. Sauté everything for another minute.
Add the refried beans. Now add the refried beans and continue to sauté for 1-2 minutes.
Roll up the enchiladas. Soften the tortillas in the microwave. Spread some enchilada sauce over both sides of the tortilla. Then fill it with the meat and roll it up tightly. Place the tortilla in your baking dish seam-side down. Then repeat with all tortillas.
Finish and bake. Pour the enchilada sauce over the tortillas and add the shredded cheese on top. Bake until the cheese has melted and the sauce is bubbly.
Serve. Serve the finished enchiladas with your favorite topping and enjoy!
Tips & Notes
- Prepare more than one batch of enchilada sauce if you prefer a lot of extra sauce. I love the recipe as is but if you prefer a lot of sauce with your enchiladas, you may want to use more than 2 cups for one baking dish. Keep this in mind when shopping for ingredients or when making homemade enchilada sauce.
- Use tortillas that are made from corn or corn and flour. Flour tortillas can turn quite soft and sometimes soggy when they are used to make enchiladas. Corn tortillas don't turn overly soft and taste really delicious. So if you can find tortillas made from corn, I recommend using them!
- Make sure that you soften the tortillas in your microwave before you use them. If you don't soften them, they are hard to roll and will break. You can use other methods like pan-frying them with some oil. I just like to use the microwave as it's very quick and easy.
Variations
- Add vegetables to your filling. Corn and bell pepper are great options for Mexican-style dishes! You could also use canned beans instead of refried beans.
- Chop up a fresh serrano pepper for your filling for some extra heat. If you like your food quite spicy, I recommend adding chopped fresh serrano pepper to your enchilada filling. It's super delicious and makes things extra spicy.
- Use some cheese when you fill the enchiladas. If you love cheese, you could add some to your enchiladas when filling them! It melts beautifully and tastes great with the ground turkey filling.
How to serve ground turkey enchiladas
- Garnish your enchiladas with chopped cilantro. If you like fresh cilantro, make sure to add some to your enchiladas! It's the perfect herb to use with Mexican dishes.
- Add some sour cream to your enchiladas. I always make sure to enjoy enchiladas with sour cream. It perfectly complements the flavorful sauce and enchilada filling!
- Slice up an avocado and serve it with these ground turkey enchiladas. Avocados are super nutritious and taste great with these enchiladas!
- Prepare a quick and simple side salad to go with your enchiladas. I love a simple salad made with lettuce, tomatoes, and a lime vinaigrette. You could also make my favorite black bean and corn salad that tastes great with enchiladas!
Frequently Asked Questions
These enchiladas are not an authentic Mexican dish. I would call them authentic American as this is how they are usually made in the US. Mexican enchiladas traditionally aren't baked with cheese in a baking dish. It's the American way of making enchiladas that is just as delicious and a must-make for anyone who loves Mexican flavors and cheese!
Mexican enchiladas use corn tortillas that are dipped in enchilada sauce and then pan-fried with some oil. The filling is added to these pan-fried tortillas before they are either folded or rolled up. Lettuce and Cotija cheese are classic toppings for Mexican enchiladas. American enchiladas are just like the ones in this recipe, they are filled, rolled up, covered with enchilada sauce, and then baked with some cheese on top. Both are delicious and a must-try if you love Mexican food!
I'd say that they are spicy but not overly hot. So if you can tolerate some spice, you'll love these enchiladas! Feel free to adjust the spice level to your personal preferences. If you check the sauce before using it, please keep in mind that it is going to taste less spicy and intense once you've used it with the other ingredients.
I'd recommend using corn tortillas as they don't turn too soft when baked in enchilada sauce. They also taste great and are a delicious way to switch things up when you are used to flour tortillas!
You can fry them to make sure that they don't absorb too much of the sauce so that they don't turn out soggy. I don't think that it is necessary when you use corn tortillas as they naturally don't turn out as soft. But if you want your tortillas to be as firm as possible, then frying them may be a method that you'd want to consider.
No, it's not necessary to cover enchiladas when you bake them. They are usually perfectly cooked once the cheese starts to lightly brown so you don't have to worry about the top burning. Plus, not covering your enchiladas makes your tortillas slightly crispy and gives them a chance to brown, too!
You can store leftovers in an airtight container in your refrigerator for 3-4 days. Reheat them in a microwave until the cheese has melted and the enchiladas are heated up!
More easy and delicious Mexican-style recipes
If you love Mexican food, I recommend checking out the following recipes. They are super easy to make and taste absolutely amazing!
- Cilantro Lime Chicken Tacos
- Spicy Mexican-Style Chicken Soup
- White Ground Chicken Chili
- Homemade Guacamole
- Shredded Chicken Tacos
Ground Turkey Enchiladas
Equipment
- 1 9x13-inch baking dish
Ingredients
- 2 cups enchilada sauce homemade (see recipe link) or store-bought
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 1 tablespoon chili powder American spice blend, not ground chiles
- salt and pepper
- 1 7-ounce can refried beans
- 8 small flour or corn tortillas
- 1 cup shredded cheddar and mozzarella cheese
- toppings of your choice (optional) cilantro, sour cream, avocado
Instructions
- Prepare the homemade enchilada sauce and set it aside. Alternatively, use store-bought enchilada sauce.2 cups enchilada sauce
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F (180 °C).
- Next, preheat some olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Then add the onion and garlic and sauté until fragrant. Add the ground turkey and cook until it has browned.1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, 1 pound ground turkey, 1 yellow onion, 3 garlic cloves
- Add ¼ cup of the enchilada sauce, chili powder, salt, and pepper. Continue to sauté for 1 minute.1 tablespoon chili powder, salt and pepper
- Now add the refried beans and continue to sauté for 1-2 minutes.1 7-ounce can refried beans
- Soften the tortillas in the microwave. Spread some enchilada sauce over both sides of the tortilla, fill it with the meat, and roll it up. Place the tortilla seam-side down in the baking dish. Then repeat until you have used all the tortillas.8 small flour or corn tortillas
- Pour the remaining enchilada sauce over the filled tortillas. Add the shredded cheese on top and bake until the cheese has melted and the sauce is bubbly.1 cup shredded cheddar and mozzarella cheese
- Serve the enchiladas with your favorite toppings and enjoy!toppings of your choice (optional)
Wendie
Great recipe! I very much appreciate how you incorporated the ingredient qualities into the directions!
Beri
Hi Wendie, thank you! I'm super happy that including the ingredients in the instructions is helpful and that you liked this recipe. 😊