Ground Turkey Enchiladas Recipe

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Healthy Ingredient Substitute: Ground Turkey for Beef! A HealthyWithJosie Classic!!

This recipe, like so many of my healthy dinner recipes, substitues healthy ingredients for not-so-healthy ones. For these enchiladas, that means using ground turkey instead of ground beef. Turkey is great because it's very mild and subtle so it therefore absorbs a lot of the flavors from the other ingredients. For example, the taco seasoning and fresh vegetables (chile, tomato, onions) will blend really well with the meat. This is especially true when we bake it all up together. You can of course use beef if you want classic beef enchiladas! But I love using ground turkey whenever I can.

When choosing your ground turkey, it's really important to go lean. Additionally, you can try to select free-range, "organic" turkey. What you're looking for here are birds that are fed native organic diets, are free of hormones, aren't overfed, and are free from antibiotics. This can sometimes be hard to find at local grocery stores. You can read this article from CookingLight for more information.

As is the case with ground beef, make sure you choose 97% lean ground turkey. There is already less fat in ground turkey: about 7g less fat per cup than beef. Less fat usually means less flavor, but since we are cooking the meat together with plenty of seasoning and vegetables for this enchiladas recipe, you won't even notice the difference.

Healthy Enchiladas Dinner with Whole Foods, Low-Carb Tortillas, Low-Fat Cheese

I like to capitalize on every opportunity to choose healthy ingredients in my recipes. So in addition to the turkey-for-beef switcharoo, for these enchiladas I like to get a low-carb tortilla option and a reduced-fat shredded cheese. Check out specific brand ideas in the ingredients list below. I also opt for low-sodium versions of seasoning packets and shakers, so keep that in mind when stocking up!

OK, time for the ingredients and instructions below. Enjoy these healthy enchiladas and make sure to check out all my recipes by clicking here to open a new window, or scroll to the bottom of this page after the recipe (or, the sidebar on the right if you're on a computer). BON APETIT!!!