Ground Turkey Recipes

If you use turkey for meatloaf you'll probably want to use a binder like an egg since turkey tends to be dryer -

I use it in:
Lasagnas (I don't cook my noodles - if you use enough sauce and throw it in the oven it will cook itself - or you can do a crockpot one)
Enchiladas
Spaghetti Sauce
Tacos
Chili

Like you said, anywhere you use beef you can use it

I make spaghetti and I also make turkey burgers. Mix an egg and some bread crumbs and seasonings with the ground meat and I cook them in a greased pan on the stove. It is really yummy if you put avacado on the buns for avacado turkey burgers... mmmm.

Turkey and Stuffing Meatloaf

Ingredients
2 McIntosh or Gala apples, peeled and cut into small dice
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 pounds ground all-white turkey (or a mix of dark and white meat)
3 to 4 ribs of celery, finely chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon poultry seasoning
1 large egg
Salt and ground black pepper
2 cups chicken stock
2 cups stuffing mix
1 tablespoon EVOO - Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Preparation
Preheat oven to 400ºF.

In a large bowl, add apples and lemon juice, and toss together. Add turkey, celery, onion, poultry seasoning, egg, salt and ground black pepper.

In a medium-size bowl, add the stock and the stuffing. Toss around, letting the stuffing soak up the liquid, then add it to the bowl with the turkey. Mix everything together well, then turn it out onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and shape it into a loaf. Coat with EVOO, transfer to the oven and roast until brown and cooked through, about an hour.

Turkey Bolognese

Ingredients
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO)
3 pounds lean ground turkey
2 carrots, grated
2 onions, grated or finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, grated
Salt and black pepper
1 bay leaf, fresh or dry
2 cups chicken stock, regular or low sodium stock
2 28-ounce cans crushed tomatoes, regular or low sodium

Yields: about 8 cups
Preparation
Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat with 2 turns of the pan of EVOO, about 2 tablespoons. Add the turkey and break up the meat into small pieces using the back of a wooden spoon. Cook until brown, about 5-6 minutes.
Add in the carrots, onion and garlic, and cook another 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, deglaze the skillet with the stock, scraping the brown bits from the bottom of the pan, and add the tomatoes.

Bring up to a bubble then drop the heat down to low and simmer for another 5-6 minutes more.

We eat a lot of turkey taco's and turkey burgers. I also make a big batch of pasta sauce and use turkey for the meat.

I use turkey interchangeable with beef. It is real good in gouloush. My recipe is noodles obviously. and cook the turkey. then add 1 can cream of mushroom or chicken soup both work. ketchup worshershire sauce. These 2 I don't measure just throw it in till it looks good don't remeber what actual measurements are supposed to be. I add corn and green beans too.

Turkey works good in chili and tacosand spagetti. If you make turkey burgers out of it I would add worstershire sauce to them. It works in burritoes too. I've used it in many ways just don't remeber right now try allrecipes.com.

I always make tacos with turkey. With the taco seasoning, it tastes just the same!

I like ground turkey in soups, even more than hamburger.

One of my favorites includes:
ground turkey
chicken stock
lots of veggies (zucchini, carrots, potatoes, cabbage, onions, and celery are what I always start with, then whatever else is in the fridge - start carrots & potatoes earlier than other veg or pasta, because they take longer to cook)
pasta (corkscrews or something with a nice bite to it are nice - add near the end)
kidney beans,
and maybe a can of ro-tel or other diced tomatoes.
Season with LOTS of italian seasoning and parmesan cheese. McCormick makes an Italian spice grinder that has a little kick to it - super yummy in this soup.
I make a pot of this and eat it for days on end, and then freeze some too. I can usually get away with serving it to my kids 2-3 times. Not bad for a one-pot meal.

anything with a sauce like spaghetti because ground turkey taste dry and the sauces will cover up the taste.

turkey sausage taste better.

I personally like ground deer meat over ground turkey but unless you know someone that hunts you can't buy it at the store. My kids prefer deer over hamburger too.

Go to RachelRay.com and enter turkey meatloaf into the search window on her page. Her recipe is the only one I've tried that I actually like (so does my family). Sorry I have no other ground turkey recipes for you but if you enter "ground turkey recipe" into your search engine, you should get hundreds if not thousands of hits. Surely one or two of these recipes will be good! Good luck.

I make turkey speghitti and chili.

I use turkey as well. I add Worchestshire Sauce and other spices to cover up the taste and to have it mimic the taste of hamburger.
My best to you!!

I have found that if ground beef is the "main event" for the dish, as in meatloaf, ground turkey doesn't work as well as a substitution (better for ground turkey-specific recipes) but if it's incorporated in dishes such as casseroles, you can substitute it in pretty much anything. I've used it, as others have said, in tacos, chili, stuffed shells, Hamburger Helper, lasagna, etc. Make sure that you're buying the skinless ground turkey breast (either 97 or 99% fat-free), otherwise you're better off with lean ground beef (96/4).

Try mixing a pound of ground turkey with a pound of ground beef. After its cooked divided it up into differant recipes. You can basically use it for anything that call for ground beef, speghetti sauce, taco meat... I also agree with adding some spices. You can also freeze the meat after it is cooked. Or use a whole jar of speghetti sauce and then freeze part of it. I love making two meals at once and putting part of it away for the next week.

As other mamas have said--you can substitute it for just about anything. To get a closer taste to ground beef, get regular ground turkey, not ground turkey breast. We use it in chili, spaghetti, sloppy joes, burritos, turkey burgers. Now, the turkey burgers taste NOTHING close to a regular burger, but if you explain that to your family first and just don't expect a hamburger-y taste then they're great! We put them on whole wheat buns, with provolone cheese, carmelized onions, and a little dijon mustard. Mmmm....makes me want one now!! Good luck with your recipes!

I like to make my meatloaf the night before and just stick it in the oven when I get home. My recipe is:

2 lbs ground beef
1/2 of a 8 oz can of tomato sauce
meatloaf seasoning
1 sleeve of saltine crackers, crushed
1 egg

I mix it all together, put it in a loaf pan, then cover with ketchup. It bakes at 350 for an hour to an hour 15.

Another way to do it is put it in a muffin pan, so everyone gets individual meatloafs. It makes in about 20 minutes that way.

You are so right, ground turkey doesn't quite taste like beef, but if you eat it long enough you start to forget how different they are! ;) Sad, but true. You can use regular ground turkey but it has quite a bit more fat in it than the ground turkey breast, so if you're switching for health related reasons, keep that in mind. I also found that if you use it casseroles you don't notice the taste difference as much. We also really like it in tacos, b/c once you put the taco seasoning on with some lettuce and cheese, it's pretty delish!

My husband and son both love turkey burgers. I mix the ground turkey with some breadcrumbs, a little dried dill and a spoonful of mustard. They don't taste like hamburgers, but they are good. And I second the posters who have recommended turkey tacos.

Turkey tostadas
1lb ground turkey
1 can chili beans with sauce
romaine lettuce
mozerella cheese
small tortillas
tomatos
sour cream (optional)
Brown the turkey, add the chili beans with sauce, add 1tsp of chili powder let simmer for 5 minutes.
Preaheat the oven to 350 and put the tortillas on a cookie sheet and place in oven for the 5 minutes that the turkey mix is simmering. add the toppings. its good my kids love it!

we made a really yummy dish last month. We took ground turkey and browned it on the stove with some seasoning and made turkey enchiladas. We made it like it says on the back of the green enchilada can minus the chicken and turkey instead. it was really good~

All the recipes you have recieved are great. I just wanted to say that if you are trying to "eat right" and are trying to avoid ground beef, bison meat is another way to go. Bison gives you that "beef" taste without being dry. Its lean and not full of fat. Another alternative is free range beef (not corn-fed) Getting the free range 90/10 is just as healthy as turkey.

For anyone who will listen, I often recommend the documentary "Food, INC" it is terribly informative. It will make you think.
HTH,
Mag

P.S. Bison ALWAYS smells weird...just ignore it. Honestly, I havent bought ground beef in MONTHS!! I use bison for spaghetti, burgers, meatloaf....you name it.

I only use ground turkey now. I have found with meatloaf that if you use a good amount of ketchup and mustard in it, then it tends to be more moist and better. I also use torn up bread instead of bread crumbs. We make turkey burgers, and mix a packet of ranch dressing mix in with it (really good). I substitute ground turkey for anything that I used to use ground beef.