This southwestern ground turkey casserole recipe is a fantastic mix of spices, vegetables and lean protein. It all comes together in about 30 minutes for a healthy dinner.
This is not the first ground turkey casserole with rice I've made, and there's a very good reason for that. Each time I come up with a new version, I'm struck by how easy it is to throw in a different combination of spices and vegetables, and be rewarded with a new healthy dinner option. It doesn't hurt that my family always seems to love each turkey rice casserole. The Greek-style version got them hooked and the teriyaki version carried on the love fest.
Now a southwestern casserole is added to the mix.
The beauty of these turkey rice casserole recipes is that they all follow the same blueprint, making it very easy to vary the flavors depending on what's available in your kitchen. Start by cooking the ground turkey with some chopped onion, add herbs/spices and garlic, then mix in the veggies, a sauce of some sort to stop the casserole from drying out and any other extras that strike your fancy.
Scoop the whole concoction into a baking dish, top with some cheese if it fits with the flavors and bake for about 20 minutes to heat through. That's it.
I usually serve the casserole with some sort of vegetables on the side, either a salad, stir-fried veggies or steamed broccoli. It rounds out the meal perfectly.
Other healthy ground turkey recipes:
Cookin' Canuck's Baked Turkey, Quinoa & Zucchini Meatballs
Cookin' Canuck's Greek Turkey, Rice & Feta Casserole
Skinnytaste's Turkey Sante Fe Zucchini Boats
Primavera Kitchen's Ground Turkey Soup with Veggie Roots
The Garlic Diaries' Loaded 21 Day Fix Pizza
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Southwestern Ground Turkey Casserole Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 pound lean ground turkey
- 1 onion chopped
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- ¾ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground pepper
- 2 cups cooked brown rice
- 3 ounces canned diced green chiles
- 1 14 ounce can petite diced tomatoes
- 1 ½ cup salsa your favorite kind
- 1 cup canned reduced sodium black beans, drained and rinsed
- ¾ cup corn kernels
- ¼ cup minced cilantro
- ½ cup grated Monterey Jack cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly coat an 11- by 7-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
- Heat the olive oil in a large nonstick skillet set over medium high heat. Add the ground turkey and onions. Cook, breaking up the turkey, until the turkey is just cooked through.
- Add the garlic, cumin, chili powder, paprika, salt and pepper, and cook for 1 minute.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the rice, diced green chiles, diced tomatoes, salsa, black beans, corn and cilantro. Stir to combine.
- Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the cheese over top. Cook until heated through, about 20 minutes. Serve.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Magdi
Can you substitute white rice for the brown rice?
Dara
Yes, that would work.
Kayla
This is so good. I could see this being done with cauliflower rice as well. Thanks for sharing! Will be making again.
Becca
Loved this tasty, simple and quick casserole. Definitely going in the rotation!
Terminal Velocity 32
Wow, this was fantastic! Instead of ground turkey we chopped up leftover turkey from this past Thanksgiving. Great use for it. Only item we didn`t have was cilantro, but this is so flavorful it wasn`t missed. Definitely use brown rice, and we actually added crunchy tortilla strips on top once it was done, to give it a crunch component. Thank you Cookin Canuck for posting this, as it is now in our regular meal rotation.
J. Michael MacKenzie
First time making and was very good and easy dish to make on the fly, especially if the turkey is already cooked. I did add red, green and yellow peppers in the mix just because we love peppers and it seemed fitting.
Family loved it and thought it was better the next day .
Molly
This was an easy awesome casserole. I will certainly make it again
Dara
I'm so glad to hear that, Molly!
Karen
Can you make this recipe using leftover turkey breast ?
Dara
I haven't tried that myself, but I don't see why not.
Kim
With some practice this will be a fan fav at my house. I had a tough time with the brown rice that’ll take some practice to make it not come out so mushy. I cooked it separately and made it like a side. Not sure it needed the cheese but I love cheese sooo I had to improvise with a can of stewed tomatoes and rotel. All in all quite yummy definitely a keeper. Thanks for the goodness.
Lisa
This recipe is a staple in my house. The only thing I do different is add a lot more veggies.Onions, peppers, spinach and mushrooms. It makes at least 2 meals for my husband and I. Healthy and easy to make! Thanks!
Shawna
I don't see where in the recipe the cheese is added. Should I mix it in before I put it in the oven, or put it on top after its done?
Dara
Hi Shawna, I apologize for the omission (fixed now). The cheese should be sprinkled over top before baking the casserole. I hope you enjoy it!
Paige
Made this for dinner tonight and WOW so much flavour!!! So delicious! My husband had 3 servings! Thank you for a new favourite recipe 🙂
Jessica Holt
I saved this recipe on Pinterest months ago and finally got around to trying it. It was super simple to make and every single person in the family liked it. That doesn't happen very often. 🙂 We'll be making this again.