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Ground turkey, quinoa, black beans, corn, tomatoes and Mexican spices all cooked together in just one skillet! This healthy and delicious Turkey Taco Quinoa Skillet dinner will become your family’s favorite weeknight dinner.
Mexican Quinoa
This recipe is one of the most popular meals on this site. Danae from Recipe Runner shares this recipe for an easy one pot meal made with ground turkey. It tastes delicious served on it’s own or in tacos to create an easy turkey taco recipe. We know that you’re going to love this easy healthy meal!
This skillet dinner comes together in 30 to 40 minutes, making it a great weeknight dinner option. Combine a few spices and ingredients to create an easy Mexican quinoa skillet in one pan.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Ground Turkey: You can substitute with ground chicken or beef, if desired.
- Seasonings: Onion, garlic, diced green chilis, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper add the perfect amount of Mexican flavors.
- Black Beans: You can omit or substitute with another type of bean.
- Tomatoes: Use fire roasted tomatoes for best flavor. Standard diced tomatoes work too.
- Corn: Use frozen or fresh corn kernels.
- Salsa: Fresh or jarred salsa adds flavor. Use hot salsa for additional heat.
- Quinoa: Use uncooked rinsed quinoa. Any variety works.
- Cheese: Use a mixture of Monterey Jack and cheddar cheese. You can omit the cheese to make this dairy free.
- Optional: Serve in taco shells and garnish with cilantro and sour cream.
How to Make Ground Turkey Taco Quinoa Skillet
This easy skillet dinner cooks in one pan in 30 minutes!
- Cook the diced onion over medium heat in a skillet for about two minutes.
- Add the ground turkey and minced garlic.
- Once cooked, stir in the spices and green chiles and cook for one minute.
- Add the black beans, corn, quinoa and other ingredients.
- Simmer for about 25 minutes then sprinkle with cheese and serve.
- Serve this quinoa dinner it in tortillas as tacos or on top of your favorite greens. The entire meal can be prepped in advance too!
Make Ahead: This meal can be prepped in advance and works great as meal prep. Reheat leftovers just prior to serving.
Variations
- To make it dairy free, omit the cheese or use dairy free cheese.
- Serve it in tortillas for tacos or on top of your favorite greens like a taco salad.
- Add sautéed onions or mushrooms for additional texture and flavor.
- Add a squeeze of fresh lime juice for additional flavor.
- Serve with your favorite toppings like chopped avocado, diced cilantro, sour cream and fresh salsa.
Storing and Freezing
- Storing: Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- Freezing: Store in a sealed air tight container in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw before reheating.
- Reheating: Warm leftovers in a skillet on a stove or microwave until warm. You can add a splash of water or vegetable broth when reheating.
Healthy Meals with Ground Turkey
We love adding ground turkey to any meal. You can often substitute ground beef for turkey. Below are a few of our favorite healthy recipes that use ground turkey.
- Seasoned Ground Turkey (for tacos and more!)
- Buffalo Chicken Sloppy Joes (use ground turkey instead)
- Ground Turkey Stuffed Peppers
- Southwest Turkey Breakfast Skillet
- Turkey Enchiladas
- Italian Turkey Meatballs
- Turkey Sweet Potato Chili
We know you’re going to love this Mexican Quinoa skillet with ground turkey and simple seasonings. It’s been tried and reviewed thousands of times and we hope you love it too.
Turkey Taco Quinoa Skillet
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound lean ground turkey, (I use 99% lean)
- 1/2 yellow onion,, diced
- 2 cloves garlic,, minced
- 4 ounce can diced green chilis
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- black pepper, , to taste
- 1 (15 ounce) can of black beans,, rinsed and drained
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can of diced fire roasted tomatoes
- 1/2 cup frozen corn
- 1/4 cup jarred salsa
- 1/2 cup rinsed quinoa
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
- 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- cilantro, , for garnish
Instructions
- Spray a large skillet generously with cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat. When the skillet is hot add in the diced onion and cook for about 2 minutes until it starts to soften. Add in the ground turkey and minced garlic and cook until the meat is almost cooked through, breaking it up into crumbles with a spoon as it cooks. Stir in all the spices and the diced green chiles, cooking for another minute. Add in the black beans, corn, fire roasted tomatoes, salsa and quinoa, stirring until everything is combined.
- When the mixture starts to bubble add in the water, cover the skillet with a lid and lower the heat to medium-low. Simmer for about 20-25 minutes or until the quinoa is cooked, it should still have a slight bite to it, but not be hard and crunchy.
- Sprinkle the shredded cheese on top and cover with the lid cooking until the cheese is melted. Serve as is, in tortillas for tacos, or on top of your favorite greens.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This recipe was originally published by Danae of Recipe Runner in January 2016. It was updated with new process photos and tips in April 2021.
This turned out great I used much less spices since that’s what we prefer Also omitting the green chili and fire tomatoes but put in diced tomatoes. Served on tortillas with sour cream. Very yummy
Delicious!!
If using pre-cooked quinoa, do you still recommend adding in the half cup of water, and then simmering for less time? Or adding the quinoa with no water, cooking until heated through, and moving to the next step?
If you use precooked quinoa, we recommend adding it with no water, cooking until heated through and moving to the next step. Enjoy!
I am interested in this recipe but need to know this: How much pre-cooked quinoa would you add? It has to be more than 1/2 dry quinoa as it expands to a lot of cooked quinoa! Would two cups of pre-cooked quinoa be enough? Thank you.
1/2 cup uncooked quinoa yields about 1 to 1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa. Two cups would be more than enough. Enjoy!
You need to be more specific with the quinoa. I followed your cooking instructions and added raw quinoa to the dish when it prompted but I feel like pre-cooked quinoa would have been more suitable for this dish, i have now been simmering this dish trying to fully cook the quinoa for about 45 min now, only way to make it edible at this point.
Thanks for your feedback, Josh! I’ve used a variety of types of quinoa and have never had an issue with this recipe. While some brands may require a longer cook time, you might also need to adjust the cook time down if you’re using precooked quinoa.
This would be perfect for meal planning. Adding the ingredients to my shopping list to try it this weekend!
I love how this recipe can get the whole family happily eating quinoa and black beans! I also love adding it to a soft shell taco to turn it into a wrap.
Made this for the first time tonight. Instead of doing tacos I scooped it into bowls and topped it with crumbled tortilla chips. It was a huge hit. I have two boys under age 10, and I can’t believe I got them to eat quinoa and black beans! My 9 year old actually gave an audible “mmmmm”!
Will definitely make again.
Thanks so much for your feedback, Brittney! This is one of our favorite recipes.
Turkey Taco Quinoa Skillet –
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I have made this recipe several times on the stove top, but I was wondering if this could also be done in a slow cooker? I have a potluck get together this weekend and was thinking about taking this. Thanks so much! 🙂
We live this dish, thank you. I have a question, does it freeze and reheat well?
Hi Kym! I haven’t tried freezing this dish, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work well. Let us know if you try it. Enjoy!