These gluten-free Turkey Tacos With Green Chiles are full of Southwest flavor! They can be made on the stove or in a slow cooker for an easy Taco Tuesday or weeknight dinner. Vegetarian Option.
Consider this is a quick and light dinner that the whole family will love! We’re using ground turkey because it’s lean and in my opinion, really gives the tacos more flavor than chicken. They’re easy to make them on the stovetop or in a slow cooker. No matter how you make them, the recipe is easy, healthy, gluten-free, and dairy free!
Ingredients for Turkey Tacos
To keep the meal lighter and more nutritious, we’re making lean ground turkey tacos.
To add some amazing, south-of-the-border taste to the tacos the ingredient list includes some delicious Mexican favorites. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Oil for the pan – Avocado oil is a great choice, but you can use whatever you like.
- Lean ground turkey
- Chopped onion – Use your choice of red onion or yellow onion
- Fire roasted green chilies – you can use canned chiles or follow my directions below to roast fresh chiles. Yum!
- Spices: chili powder, cumin, and a shake of salt and pepper. That’s it!
- Splash of lime juice – For the best flavor, freshly squeezed is the way to go.
- Corn tortillas – If you want to make the meal extra special, you could make homemade gluten-free tortillas. Bob’s Red Mill has a recipe for gluten-free flour tortillas, or this gluten-free corn tortillas recipe looks fantastic too.
- Bell peppers for topping, obviously!
VEGETARIAN OPTION – Swap the turkey for crumbled gluten-free tempeh or 2 cans (3.5 cups) cooked white northern beans, drained.
How to Roast Hatch Green Chiles
Heat your oven’s broiler, and line a baking sheet with foil. Then, place the whole chiles on the baking sheet, and let them roast for 3-4 minutes on each side or until their skin has browned.
Allow chiles to cool, then remove skin, seeds, and stems, and dice into small pieces.
How to Make Ground Turkey Tacos
- Heat a lightly oiled skillet over medium high heat.
- Add the onion and ground turkey to the skillet and sauté for 2 minutes. Mix in the spices and green chiles, then sauté on medium for about 10 more minutes, until the ground turkey is cooked through and onions have softened.
- Just before serving, add a splash of lime juice and some salt and pepper.
- While the ground turkey taco meat is sautéing, you can make the avocado crema.
Slow Cooker Option
Do you need to be away from the kitchen for a while? Not a problem. Slow cooker turkey tacos, comin’ up!
- Brown ground turkey and onion in a small pan over medium-high for 5 minutes.
- Add the turkey/onion mixture to the slow cooker with 1 tablespoon oil, spices, and green chilies.
- Cook on low for 4 hours or high for 2 hours. Add lime and salt/pepper before serving.
Toppings
Now, what’s a taco without toppings? Top your turkey tacos with any or all of the following:
- Chopped bell peppers
- Fresh cilantro
- Diced tomatoes
- Plus, there’s fresh, homemade avocado crema in the house!
How to Make Avocado Crema
Making the avocado cream is super simple, too! Just blend or mash all the ingredients together in one bowl. Then add salt and pepper, to taste.
- Minced garlic
- Ripe avocado
- Mayo or sour cream – Have you seen my recipe for chipotle paleo mayo? It’s SO good!
- pinch of chili powder, optional.
- Sea salt and pepper, to taste
Serving and Storing
- Warm the tortillas in a pan or oven for a few minutes to soften them. As a result, they’ll be more pliable and easier to fill.
- Fill ‘er up! When ready to serve, place a few spoonfuls of cooked filling into each taco. Top with 1-2 tablespoon avocado crema. Add any other toppings you want, and cilantro to garnish.
- To store: Tacos can be wrapped in plastic wrap or foil and kept in the fridge for up to 5 days. Avocado crema needs to be kept in a separate container. It should also be kept in the fridge, and will stay fresh for up to 3 days. The longer it stays in the fridge, the more likely the avocado will oxidize and turn brown. By the way, brown avocado is perfectly edible, but it isn’t very pretty. 😉
More of Our Favorite
Gluten-Free Taco Recipes
Green Chile Turkey Tacos (Slow Cooker Option)
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 tacos 1x
Description
Turkey tacos are a delicious meal, but adding roasted green chiles elevates the flavor! Make this gluten-free recipe on the stove or in a slow cooker. This recipe makes enough to feed 4 people, with 2 tacos each.
Vegetarian option included.
Ingredients
For Turkey Tacos
- Oil for the pan
- 1 lb lean ground turkey (see notes for vegetarian option)
- 1 small yellow onion or red onion, chopped
- 8 ounces (two 4 ounce cans) fire roasted green chilies, with seed removed, chopped (see notes for using 2 fresh chiles)
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon cumin (more or less, to taste)
- 1 Tablespoon lime juice
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 8 corn tortillas
Extra toppings
- Chopped bell pepper
- Avocado crema (recipe below)
- Cilantro, for garnish
Avocado Crema
- ½ teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 avocado (small, ripe)
- ½ cup mayo or sour cream
- pinch of chili powder, optional.
- Sea salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat a lightly oiled skillet over medium high heat.
- Add the onion and ground turkey and sauté for 2 minutes. Mix in the spices and green chiles, then sauté on medium for about 10 more minutes, until the ground turkey is cooked through and onions have softened. Add a splash of lime juice and salt/pepper to taste before serving.
- While the ground turkey taco meat is sautéing, you can make the avocado crema. Simply blend or mash all the ingredients together in one bowl. Salt and pepper to taste.
- To serve, warm tortillas in a pan or oven for a few minutes to make them pliable and easier to fill. Place a few spoonfuls of cooked filling into each tortilla. Top with 1-2 tablespoons avocado crema. Add any other toppings you want, and cilantro to garnish.
Notes
Slow cooker version:
- Brown ground turkey and onion in skillet over medium high for 5 minutes.
- Add mixture to the slow cooker with 1 tablespoon oil, spices, and green chilies. Place on low for 4 hours or high for 2 hours. Add lime and salt/pepper before serving.
- Tacos can be wrapped in plastic wrap or foil and kept in fridge for up to 5 days. Avocado crema to be kept separately. Avocado crema can be stored in fridge for up to 3 days.
Vegetarian option– swap the turkey for crumbled gluten free tempeh or 2 cans (3.5 cups) cooked white northern beans, drained.
To roast green chilis – start by heating your oven’s broiler, and line a baking sheet with foil. Then, place the whole chiles on the baking sheet, and let them roast for 3-4 minutes on each side or until their skin has charred. Allow chiles to cool, then remove skin, seeds, and stems, and chop into small pieces.
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 20
- Category: Main Dish
- Cuisine: Mexican
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 tacos without sauce
- Calories: 331
- Sugar: 2.8 g
- Sodium: 818.9 mg
- Fat: 13.7 g
- Saturated Fat: 3 g
- Carbohydrates: 27.4 g
- Fiber: 4.8 g
- Protein: 25.9 g
- Cholesterol: 78.2 mg
Made this for my boys tonight and they loved it! I will definitely be making this again and again!
I’m so glad! Yes, it’s super easy and kid friendly. Did you use turkey meat as well? I tend to like that flavor better than chicken. Thanks for feedback Nicole!
Tacos are my comfort food! Love how I can make them in the slow cooker too!
Yes, Suzy! So easy in the slow cooker, right?!
This is such a delicious dinner at my house! Everyone loved it.
I love these flavors so much! I am making these again for next Taco Tuesday!
Thanks for all the informations.
Thanks for all the research paper it was very informative
I enjoyed the recipe, and my husband loved the vegetarian version! Thanks again!
I’m so glad!