These ground turkey quesadillas are seriously cheesy, hearty and straight-up delicious! They’re super easy to prepare and can be enjoyed as is or with guacamole, salsa and sour cream and your favourite side dish!
Hi friends!
Today I’m sharing another easy quesadilla recipe: ground turkey quesadillas, to be exact!
If you follow Girl Heart Food, you know how we love quesadillas. A couple of our faves are these cheesy ground beef quesadillas and black bean corn quesadillas.
I mean, crispy tortilla, hearty protein and plenty of melty cheese. Sounds yummy, right?
Plus, these are totally doable for a simple weekday dinner or Friday night eats. The recipe can easily feed up to 6 people when combined with a side. And, if you don’t feel like sharing, there’s always leftovers to be had!
I love to serve with a big helping of homemade guacamole and maybe a frozen margarita, if I’m feeling extra fancy. What’s your favourite thing to enjoy with quesadillas?
Why We Love These Ground Turkey Quesadillas
- They’re made with lean ground turkey.
- They’re jam-packed with veggies and hearty beans.
- This recipe is super simple to prep.
- Leftovers? They reheat well.
- These quesadillas are totally delicious!
How To Make It
Full details are in the recipe card below, but here are the basics:
Prepare the filling for the quesadillas
- In a frying pan, cook some onion in a little olive oil until softened.
- Add ground turkey and break any larger pieces into smaller pieces.
- Mix in your veggies, beans and seasonings. Cook until the turkey is fully cooked through.
- Stir in tomato paste and broth. This will kinda make things stick together for one delicious quesadilla filling. Give it a little cook.
- Now everything is ready to be used in your turkey quesadillas!
Assemble and pan fry the quesadillas
- Spread half of the cheese onto one half of each tortilla.
- Top with the cooked ground turkey mixture.
- Then pile on more cheese.
- Fold over the tortillas so they are a half-moon shape.
- Working in batches, cook the quesadillas on both sides in a greased frying pan. They’re done when the outside is golden brown and crispy and the cheese is nice and melty inside!
- Cut in half and enjoy these super scrumptious turkey quesadillas!
Best Cheese To Use
Use a good melting cheese. A marbled cheddar was used, but you can use mozzarella, fontina, Gruyere, provolone, Monterey Jack, Gouda, Asiago or regular Swiss. There’s pretty much a bunch of different options here. If you want to go all out, use a combo of your faves!
Another delicious add-in is crumbled feta cheese (in conjunction with a melty cheese). Feta doesn’t melt well but does add a lovely salty flavour. Queso Fresco would be another yummy option.
What To Serve With Them
Classic dips or sauces for quesadillas are salsa, guacamole or sour cream. Honestly, though, the possibilities are endless! Other delicious goodies to serve with this turkey quesadilla recipe are:
- Greek yogurt
- Hot sauce
- Wedges of lime
- Quinoa salad
- Rice
- Simple green salad
Reheating the Quesadillas
Quesadillas are crispiest when they’re freshly made. Having said that, if you can’t devour the whole batch in one sitting, you can totally reheat leftovers!
You can reheat leftover quesadillas in a non-stick frying pan on the stovetop over about medium-low heat (this will yield the crispiest reheating results) until the cheese is melted and everything is heated through.
Alternatively, place quesadillas on a sheet pan in a 375 degree Fahrenheit oven and heat for about 10 to 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and everything is heated through.
Another option is to place leftover turkey quesadillas on a microwave-safe plate in the microwave and heat in 30-second intervals until heated through.
Just keep in mind that the oven or microwave will not yield the same crispy results as pan-frying. Your quesadillas will be softer.
Tips and Variations
- It’s better to have your frying pan over a lower heat setting and cook these gently. The turkey quesadillas crisp up fast (and can burn quickly) so don’t have your heat too high or leave them!
- Though there is ground cayenne pepper in the taco seasoning, these are not overly spicy. If you want to add a little heat, add an extra pinch or so of cayenne or a drizzle of your favourite hot sauce.
- No salt was added to this recipe because the taco seasoning has salt in it, but you can add some to taste if you wish.
- You can totally omit the beans if you like. Beans add a little heft and nutrition but can be omitted.
- Don’t have canned corn? Use frozen corn instead.
- Try corn tortillas instead of flour.
More Delicious Recipes
If you make these cheesy ground turkey black bean quesadillas, be sure to leave a comment below!
Cheesy Ground Turkey Quesadillas
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, peeled and minced
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 1 bell pepper, cut into small dice
- 1 cup canned no salt added black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 cup canned corn kernels, drained
- 1.5 to 2 tablespoons taco seasoning
- 2 teaspoons ground chipotle chili pepper
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- ¼ cup low sodium chicken broth, or low sodium vegetable broth
- 12 ounces shredded cheddar cheese, divided (about 3 cups)
- 10 flour tortillas, each about 7 to 8 inches in diameter
- 3 to 3.5 tablespoons vegetable oil or olive oil, to grease pan (about 2 teaspoons per batch)
- Salsa, sour cream and/or guacamole, for serving (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit (to keep quesadillas warm while cooking batches).
- Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add ground turkey and break any larger pieces into smaller pieces. Add bell pepper, beans, corn, taco seasoning and chipotle chili pepper, stirring to combine everything. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the turkey is fully cooked through, about 10 to 12 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and broth and cook for 1 to 2 minutes.
- Distribute half of the cheddar cheese (6 ounces or 1.5 cups) among all tortillas (on one side of them).
- Distribute ground turkey mixture on top of cheese (about half a cup per tortilla). Then sprinkle the remaining cheddar cheese (6 ounces or 1.5 cups) on top of ground turkey. Fold over each tortilla so it's a half-moon shape.
- To cook quesadillas, heat 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil or olive oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium-low heat. Gently swirl the oil around to coat the pan.Note: If you're using the same pan that you used for cooking the turkey, just wipe out before adding the oil and cooking your quesadillas.Note: Cook the quesadillas in batches, two quesadillas at a time, adding more oil to the pan between batches as necessary.
- Place 2 quesadillas in the pan. Cook quesadillas for about 2 minutes on one side.
- Carefully flip the quesadillas to the other side and continue to cook for another 2 minutes or until they're golden brown and crispy on the outside and the cheese is melted inside (carefully watch to ensure they don't burn). Transfer cooked quesadillas to a sheet pan and place into a preheated oven to keep warm while you are continuing to cook the remaining quesadillas.
- Repeat process to cook remaining quesadillas.
- When all quesadillas are cooked, cut each half-moon (quesadilla) in half so you end up with 20 pieces. Serve with salsa, guacamole and/or sour cream (if desired). Enjoy!Note: If you have any leftovers, properly store in an airtight container in the refrigerator and use within 2 to 4 days, reheating before serving.
Notes
- It’s better to have your pan over a lower heat setting and cook these gently. They crisp up fast (and can burn quickly) so don’t have your heat too high or leave ’em.
- Cook quesadillas in batches (about two at a time), while keeping the cooked quesadillas warm in a preheated oven.
A note on times provided: appliances vary, any prep and/or cook times provided are estimates only.
© Girl Heart Food Inc. Photographs and content are copyright protected.
Tried this recipe?
If you do make this recipe, thank you!! It would mean so much if you could leave a comment below. Love to know how you enjoyed it, and it helps other readers too!
Borg Cutus
Very tasty quesadilla recipe! The only thing in the steps I would not do again is put the tortillas in the oven at 200F ahead of time. It turned mine into crackers. I’d rather have them more pliable, so I’ll just put the soft tortilla in to the pan without preheating. Otherwise it was great! I made some fresh guac and spread a little sour cream on top. Yum…
Dawn | Girl Heart Food
Thank you very much! I’m happy you enjoyed the recipe! Serving them with guacamole and sour cream is a favourite of mine.
Kristi
So easy to make and so yummy! My family loved it!
Dawn | Girl Heart Food
Thank you very much, Kristi!! That’s wonderful to hear!!
Sharon
Tried these and absolutely loved them. The only change we did was to how we cooked them. We used our George Foreman Grill and, boy, did they turn out perfectly. This will definitely be in our rotation. Love it!
Dawn | Girl Heart Food
That’s awesome! I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe, Sharon, thank you very much!!
Paula Krogman
I love this recipe and so does everyone in my family. So flavorful and easy! Delicious.
Dawn | Girl Heart Food
Thank you very much, Paula!! I’m so glad you and your family enjoy it!!
Sherri
These were amazing!! My hubby says they are better than the quesadillas we get at our local Mexican restaurant, which is very popular and well liked in our area!! Thank you so much for taking the time to create and post your recipes.
Dawn | Girl Heart Food
Oh my goodness, thank you so much for the kind words, Sherri!! So happy you and your husband enjoyed the recipe!!
Alyssa
What could be substituted for the chicken broth, I am looking forward to making these for my family lol
Dawn | Girl Heart Food
Hi Alyssa, you could substitute the chicken broth with vegetable broth or water. Hope you enjoy the recipe!!
Brady
So delish!! I noticed the cook time for the turkey wasn’t quite 10-12 minutes. Maybe that was just my stove top. Regardless, super tasty and easy! I made mine with spinach tortillas and they were an excellent replacement! Will definitely be eating leftovers for a couple days! Yum!
Dawn | Girl Heart Food
Thank you so much, Brady!! So happy you enjoyed the recipe, and spinach tortillas sound super yummy!!
Shannon
These were excellent! They were a little spicy for my kids, but my husband and I loved them. Sooo good!
Dawn | Girl Heart Food
Thank you very much, Shannon!! Appreciate the kind words!! If you’d like to make them a little less spicy next time, you can certainly reduce or omit the chipotle chili powder.
Rita
Excellent! My husband isn’t usually a fan of quesadillas and he had two servings. I followed the recipe exactly … and the only change I made is I used frozen corn kernels instead of canned, so good!
Dawn | Girl Heart Food
Thank you very much, Rita!! So happy you both enjoyed the recipe!!
Lori Garcia
So delicious! My only change was to use whole canned pinto beans instead of black beans. My husband doesn’t like black beans…but these were just so good! I make quesadillas all of the time but never with meat. this was a huge hit and heated up leftovers in air fryer! Thank you —this is definitely a keeper!
Dawn - Girl Heart Food
Thank you so much, Lori!!! So happy you both enjoyed!! The pinto beans sound like a delicious substitution for the black beans and awesome that they reheated well in an Air Fryer!
Jan Dewitt
Easy and delicious!
Dawn - Girl Heart Food
Thanks so much, Jan! Happy you enjoyed the recipe!
Kathy @ Beyond the Chicken Coop
I love it when quesadillas are turned into a full meal! These are bursting with goodness. I love mine with an extra serving of guac! Perfect for lunch or dinner. 🙂
Dawn - Girl Heart Food
Right? Me too! Thank you, Kathy.
Jennifer @ Seasons and Suppers
For some reason I always forget about quesadillas! These look so delicious and such an easy and delicious lunch or dinner. I will be trying these 🙂
Dawn - Girl Heart Food
Hope you enjoy, Jennifer! They’re on regular rotation for us!
MaryAnn | The Beach House Kitchen
I literally want to gobble up the whole stack by myself Dawn! Is that bad?! I hope not because I wouldn’t feel one bit guilty! Pinned!
Dawn - Girl Heart Food
Lol…not at all. 😉 Thank you, Mary Ann!
Marissa
You make the best quesadillas, Dawn! I happen to have everything on hand for these, so they look like weekend lunch to me! Thank you for the inspiration!
Shashi at SavorySpin
These look so delicious Dawn! My mouth is watering over here – and my cup of coffee isn’t cutting it! Hoping y’all have a fantastic weekend! XOXO
Ashlyn @ F5 Method
The cross section photo of these quesadillas is drool-worthy! These look so flavorful and delicious Dawn!!
Dawn - Girl Heart Food
Thank you. Ashlyn!
David @ Spiced
We didn’t get to enjoy Cinco de Mayo this year, but we have plans to catch up on that this weekend. (Better late than never, right??) Mexi beers, guacamole and these quesadillas sounds like a pretty awesome menu plan if you ask me! I’m with ya on turkey here, too. Ground turkey is great at absorbing other flavors, so it works particularly well with taco seasoning. I’m thinking this is a great Friday night meal…oh, and hey, it’s Friday night! 🙂
Dawn - Girl Heart Food
Totally!! I like the way you’re going with this. 😉 Hope you have a good one, my friend!