These Southwest Ground Turkey Enchiladas are a fun and delicious Mexican dinner recipe! Filled with turkey, black beans, corn, and diced green chiles.
I made these Southwest Ground Turkey Enchiladas for family and wanted to do something fun and different with them besides a regular enchilada.
The addition of black beans, corn, and green chiles not only add extra vegetables to the dish and stretch out how far a pound of turkey goes, but also brings a fun combination of flavors.
Substitutions
I am a big believer in making a recipe work for you either based on preference or what you have.
No black beans? Pinto would work great.
No green chiles? Use jalapeno, or even bell peppers if you want to avoid heat.
And a very important ingredient…cheese.
Really any melty cheese you love will work. All cheddar, Monterey jack, or pepperjack. In a crunch? Mozzarella will work.
I like colby jack with these because you get some flavor from the cheddar but because it is balanced with Monterey jack, it is not too overpowering of the other flavors.
Enchilada Assembly
I have a few small tips for making amazing homemade enchiladas.
Make sure you are using fresh tortillas, as in recently purchased from the store. They are much softer and easier to roll.
When tortillas sit in your pantry, they start to dry out, which means when rolled they could crack and the enchiladas fall apart.
I also like to mix some of the enchilada sauce into the filling directly. This brings some moisture and flavor to the inside so you do not have dry filling.
I also put a little sauce, with a little water, in the bottom of the dish. This helps prevent the enchiladas from sticking, and the extra water means the tortillas will not get stuck and crunchy on the bottom, which can lead to tearing.
Enchilada Sauces
These ground turkey enchiladas taste great with so many different enchilada sauces! Use any that you love, homemade or canned.
I am a big fan of making homemade enchilada sauce because it is so easy.
My standard go-to red enchilada sauce is what you see here and always a hit.
For a twist, a smoky chipotle enchilada sauce is fun.
Or go green with a roasted poblano and lime enchilada sauce.
There are so many options! Check out all of our enchilada sauce recipes for more sauce flavors.
Side Dishes for Enchiladas
Looking for something to go along with your Southwest Ground Turkey Enchiladas? Here are some ideas for you!
Enchilada Recipes
Mexican Street Corn Enchiladas
Mexican Street Corn Enchiladas are filled with the popular corn salsa made with jalapeno, cotija, chile powder, and lime with a cheesy filling and topped in a creamy green sauce.
Roasted Poblano Salsa Verde Chicken Enchiladas
Roasted Poblano Salsa Verde Chicken Enchiladas are stuffed with chicken and cheese then paired with a tangy salsa verde inspired sauce.
Ground Beef Enchiladas
A classic! Easy Ground Beef Enchiladas with cheddar cheese and a classic red sauce. Perfect for an easy dinner.
Creamy Chicken Enchiladas
Creamy Chicken Enchiladas are extra creamy on the inside from a cheese mixture and topped with a green chile sauce.
Shredded Beef Enchiladas
Classic red enchiladas filled with an easy shredded beef barbacoa and cheese. A personal favorite!
Southwest Ground Turkey Enchiladas
Equipment
- Skillet
- Baking dish
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 1 ½ cups corn
- 15 ounces black beans (1 can) drained and rinsed
- 4 ounces diced green chiles
- 2 cups enchilada sauce (one batch of any of my recipes, or 2 cups canned sauce)
- 1/2 cup water
- 20 corn tortillas
- 2 cups shredded colby jack cheese (or preferred cheese)
Instructions
- Make your enchilada sauce if not made already.
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat.
- Add the turkey and stir occasionally until cooked through.
- Add the beans, corn, and green chiles to the turkey. Mix to combine.
- Add 1/2 cup water to your enchilada sauce to make it a little thinner. Stir to combine. (If your sauce is already thin, no need to add water, but you will probably need a little more sauce).
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Pour about 1/4 cup of the enchilada sauce and 1/4 cup additional water into the bottom of the baking dish and stir to coat most of the bottom.
- Add 1/2 cup of the enchilada sauce to the ground turkey mixture and stir to combine.
- Sprinkle approximately 1 ½ Tablespoons of shredded cheese about a third of the way down a tortilla, across the tortilla in a line.
- Scoop approximately 2 ½ to 3 Tablespoons of the turkey mixture across the cheese.
- Gently but tightly roll the tortilla up. Place in the baking dish at one end with the seam on the bottom.
- Repeat with the remaining tortillas and filling.
- Pour the rest of the enchilada sauce across the top of the enchiladas. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese (or more cheese as desired).
- Bake until the cheese is melted, approximately 20 minutes.
- Serve warm with your favorite sides and toppings.
This recipe is amazing!!! We try to avoid red meat in my house so ground turkey is the usual substitute. We prefer the taste of ground turkey anyway but with these enchiladas, you wouldn’t even notice a difference. Plus it is less greasy! The beans, corn, green chiles and onion add a great amount of flavor – I add extra onion because we love it 🙂 I bet these would taste just fine with red or green sauce. Also highly recommend the Mexican street corn salsa!
This recipe sounds wonderful! I plan to make it tonight for dinner! I need to stop and grab some ground turkey, but assuming ground beef would work as a substitute.
Absolutely, Ann! Ground beef, chicken, or pork would work great!
Wow! This enchilada looks like a masterpiece, absolutely looks so yummy! Stuffed with our favorite ingredients of cheese, turkey, black beans, corn, and green chiles! Healthy food and gluten-free for everyone to enjoy and love.
This is such a great-looking Enchiladas, it looks so yummy! The creamy and cheesiness of this dish make it so appealing! Everybody would definitely love this plus it’s gluten-free! Totally love it!
Came out great!