These delicious Ground Turkey Enchiladas are loaded with roasted sweet potatoes, black beans and a simple sauce with the right amount of spice. And covered with all the cheese of course! A perfect make ahead dinner the family will love!
Nothing says comfort food like a cheesy pan of enchiladas. These Ground Turkey Enchiladas are a fun twist on a family favorite--black beans and roasted sweet potatoes packed into tortillas with ground turkey and all the spices.
My favorite part about this recipe? It is so easy to make ahead of time.
Recipes that require a little more time and more steps than 1,2,3 are not my favorite after a long day. But when I can spend that time earlier in the day, once dinner time arrives, I just have to pop them in the oven and wait.
Now that is what I am talking about!
Prep these ahead of time and have more time to hang with the kiddos while dinner cooks. Or get the whole gang to help--stuffing tortillas is fun, right??
These Green Chicken Enchiladas are another great dinner if you love enchiladas!
What you will need:
- Many enchiladas are made with corn tortillas. We prefer flour tortillas. That is what I grew up on. If you prefer the corn, that is fine. You can use 6-8 inch tortillas, and honestly, even something a bit bigger may work ok if it's what you have. The size of tortilla will obviously be related to how many you need to use.
- Any shredded cheese will do as well. We love colby jack or mild cheddar.
How to make it:
The reason I love these ground turkey enchiladas is because I when I make roasted sweet potatoes during the week for dinner, I always make a lot extra. That is when I often will whip these up. Save yourself time and prep some earlier in the week.
If not, that is ok as well!
- Chop all the veggies to prep. Combine the tomato sauce, spices and 2 garlic cloves and stir well to combine.
- Dice the peeled sweet potato into ½ inch pieces. If you make them too much bigger, they won't cook quite as fast, so the smaller the better really. Roast them for about 15-20 minutes until they start to become soft and golden edged. (step 1)
- While the sweet potatoes are roasting, heat olive oil in a skillet and add the jalapeño, onion and 1 garlic clove and sauté for 3-4 minutes or until the onions start to become translucent. Add the ground turkey into the pan and heat until there is no pink. Set aside. (step 2)
- In a medium bowl, combine the sweet potatoes, rinsed black beans, turkey mixture and ½ cup of the enchilada sauce. Stir to combine. (steps 3-4)
- Spray a 9x13 inch baking pan or large casserole dish and cover the bottom of it with ½ cup of the enchilada sauce. Take each tortilla and scoop ⅛ - 1/10 of the turkey mixture on top, depending on how big your tortillas are (this doesn't have to be exactly measured as I just spoon any extra right on top. So don't worry!) Add a sprinkle of cheese on top of the turkey mixture and roll to enclose. (step 5)
- Lay the rolled tortilla in the baking pan and repeat with all of the other tortillas. (steps 6 - 7)
- Spoon over remaining filling on top of the tortillas in pan. ( I like to do about 8 tortillas and then scoop the rest on top--we don't like too much tortillas with our filling!) Then cover the filling and tortillas with the remaining sauce. (steps 8-9)
Cover the pan with foil and bake for about 20 minutes. Remove the foil and cover with the remaining cheese, more if desired! Bake for another 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.
Cool for 5 minutes before serving. Top with lots of cilantro and sour cream!
Notes and Pro-Tips:
- You can make these ground turkey enchiladas ahead of time, which is what I typically do. I like to get them all ready in the pan in the morning and then bake in the evening before dinner. You can even prep one day in advance.
- If you don't like your tortillas to be too soft or to absorb too much sauce and ingredients, you can lightly fry them in a skillet before filling them. I actually love them to be super soft and moist.
- These do freeze well after cooked. I will put single servings in freezer safe containers and then I can pop out a meal when we need something quick for one of us in the evening.
- For gluten free or dairy free:
- gluten free: use corn tortillas or your favorite gluten free tortillas.
- dairy free: use a vegan or dairy free cheese. I think Daiya is a fan favorite last I heard!
Try these other delicious recipes:
- Simple Ground Turkey Skillet
- Simple Turkey Chili
- Ground Turkey Spaghetti Sauce
- Ground Turkey Teriyaki Stir Fry
- Mozzarella Stuffed Turkey Meatballs
- Spinach Feta Turkey Burgers
Ground Turkey Black Bean Enchiladas with Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground turkey
- 1 medium red onion diced
- 1 jalapeño (or green chile) diced small
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into ½ inch pieces
- 1 can black beans (14.5 oz. approx.) rinsed
- 2 - 2½ c tomato sauce
- 2 teaspoon cumin
- 2 teaspoon chili powder
- ¼ - ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- ¾ teaspoon oregano
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ½ teaspoon Sea salt
- 2 c shredded colby jack cheese (or your favorite shredded cheese!)
- 8-10 tortillas (6-8 inch)
- olive oil
- chopped cilantro (optional)
- sour cream (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F. Peel and chop the sweet potatoes. Toss them in about 2 teaspoons of olive oil and a pinch of sea salt, on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake four about 15-20 minutes or until softened and starting to brown. After removing change the heat to 375°F.
- While sweet potatoes bake, heat 1 T olive oil in a skillet. Add the onion, jalapeño and 1 garlic clove, and cook for about 3-4 minutes until onions start to become translucent.
- Add in ground turkey and cook until there is no more pink and meat is done.
- Remove from heat and allow to cool for a few minutes.
- In a medium bowl, stir together tomato sauce, 2 garlic cloves, chili powder, cumin, red pepper and sea salt and black pepper to taste. Add about ½ cup of the sauce to the bottom of a greased 9x13 inch pan or large casserole dish.
- In a separate bowl, combine the cooked ground turkey mixture, sweet potatoes, black beans, and ½ cup of the sauce and stir well to combine.
- Spoon about ⅛ of the sweet potato and meat mixture into tortillas and cover with a sprinkle of cheese, roll up and line in pan.
- Spread any extra meat mixture over top of the enchiladas lined in the pan. Pour the rest of the enchilada sauce over top and spread along to cover all of the tortillas.
- Bake covered (at 375°F) for 20 minutes. Add remaining cheese on top of the enchiladas and bake uncovered for another 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.
- Garnish with cilantro and sour cream if desired and enjoy! Store leftovers in an airtight container for about 3-4 days.
Notes
- You can make these ahead of time, which is what I typically do. I like to get them all ready in the pan in the morning and then bake in the evening before dinner. You can even prep one day in advance.
- These do freeze well after cooked. I will put single servings in freezer safe containers and then I can pop out a meal when we need something quick for one of us in the evening.
- If you don't like your tortillas to be too soft or to absorb too much sauce and ingredients, you can lightly fry them in a skillet before filling them. I actually love them to be super soft and moist.
- For gluten free or dairy free:
- gluten free: use corn tortillas or your favorite gluten free tortillas.
- dairy free: use a vegan or dairy free cheese. I think Daiya is a fan favorite last I heard!
stefanie says
These are amazing!!! My husband can't eat cheese so I left it out and only sprinkled some on my servings. The flavor of the homemade sauce is great - and it was simple to make. I loved having it prepped ahead too.
Lorie says
So happy to hear this! We love it too!