Paleo Ground Turkey Taco Zoodles (GF)
This Paleo Ground Turkey Taco Zoodles recipe has been my most recent dinner obsession. It started while I was doing the Whole30 in January, and I have been unable to stop eating it ever since.
I make this recipe at least once a week! And my husband and I literally lick the pan clean…. yup the pan… not our individual plates. Try it and you’ll see what I mean. 🙂
I blame the magic ground turkey taco meat. It’s the most delicious taco seasoned ground turkey that I’ve ever made! And it all came to be on accident.
I mentioned the story in my Paleo 7 Layer Ground Turkey Taco Dip recipe. BUUUT, basically I was tired of cooking one night. I cooked everything I ate during the Whole30… and was not feeling it that night.
So, I threw some ground turkey onto a pan. Literally threw it on. Haha
Note: make sure to use ground turkey that has a little extra fat in it. I used 94% ground turkey for this recipe. The grocery store was actually out of the 99% one that I normally buy… so it was fate!
The extra fat makes a difference in the texture and taste of this magic ground turkey taco meat.
Then I added some homemade taco seasoning to the ground turkey meat. Salt, ground pepper, red pepper flakes, chili powder, garlic powder, cumin, paprika, onion powder, parsley, oregano…. I started to mix the seasoning into the ground turkey.
Then I added tomato paste and hot sauce to the ground turkey and mixed. All while the heat was on.
Then I remembered that I wanted diced red pepper in the meat, so I pushed the ground turkey aside, and added the diced red peppers to the pan. I let everything cook itself.
Then I mixed everything together, and cooked it a bit longer.
While the meat was cooking, I added spiralized zucchini to another pan and cooked it with some strained tomato sauce.
I topped the zoodles with the magic ground turkey taco meat and mixed everything together.
Honestly, at the time I wasn’t expecting much. I actually apologized to my husband and said, “sorry if this is weird, I was just lazy and didn’t know what to make”.
WELL this Paleo Ground Turkey Taco Zoodles recipe knocked our socks off! I actually started to frantically try to remember what I had done to make this and started taking notes.
Because, I had to make this delicious dish again. I just had to!
So I experimented with the notes that I scribbled down and luckily I remembered it correctly because I’ve been making this magic ground turkey taco meat every since. I used it to make that 7 layer dip that I mentioned above.
And I use it ALL the time to make this Paleo Ground Turkey Taco Zoodles recipe.
My husband and I can eat the whole thing for dinner. But I can see it serving up to 3 people.
Though if you are worried about if this will serve enough, add another spiralized zucchini to the mix and add a bit more strained tomato sauce to the pan while cooking it.
Yay for lazy night success! Please try this and let me know how you like it. 🙂
Oh and if you are looking for a meatless taco bowl option, check out these Easy Vegan Burrito Bowls from Veggie Balance.
Paleo Ground Turkey Taco Zoodles (GF)
Ingredients
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1 pound of 94% lean ground turkey, ( don't use 99%, a little fat here makes the recipe better)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp ground pepper
- a pinch of red pepper flakes
- 3/4 tsp chili powder
- 3/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/8 tsp cumin
- 3/4 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- 1/2 tsp oregano
- 3 Tbs tomato paste, (Cento is Paleo)
- 2 Tbs hot sauce, (Franks is Paleo)
- 1 red pepper, , diced
- 1 large zucchini, , spiralized
- 3 Tbs Pomi strained tomatoes
Instructions
- In a large frying pan, add 2 tsp of olive oil and heat over medium heat. Add the ground turkey to the pan. Top the ground turkey with 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp ground pepper, a pinch of red pepper flakes, 3/4 tsp chili powder, 3/4 tsp garlic powder, 1/8 tsp cumin, 3/4 tsp paprika, 1/2 tsp onion powder, 1 tsp dried parsley, and 1/2 tsp oregano. Mix the spices into the ground turkey while breaking the turkey up into smaller pieces. Add 3 Tbs tomato paste, and 2 Tbs hot sauce to the ground turkey and mix. Then push the ground turkey to one side of the pan so that it fills only 1/2 of the pan, and put the diced red pepper onto the other half of the pan.
- Increase the heat to medium-high heat and cook for 5 minutes, without mixing. Mix the red peppers and ground turkey together for about 1 minute. Then, cook the mixture for another 4 minutes while mixing every so often. Set the mixture aside.
- In another large frying pan, add the spiralized zucchini with 3 Tbs of strained tomatoes, and heat over medium-high heat. Cook for 4-6 minutes, while mixing frequently. Stop when you have the desired consistency of your zoodles.
- Top the zoodles with the ground turkey mixture, mix, and serve.
- To serve 3-4 people, spiralize an extra zucchini and cook it was some extra strained tomato sauce.
Notes
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