This slow cooker ground turkey recipe is loaded with protein and moderate carbohydrates, it's packed with flavour making it perfect for thanksgiving or even serve as a weeknight family dinner.
My favourite way to eat turkey has got to be hands down in it's ground form.
I know many people might disagree with me and that's fine but once you try cooking some ground turkey in a crockpot, especially this recipe you won't look back.
I'm talking about lean bits of generously seasoned minced turkey, slow cooked for several hours with some sweet potatoes and vegetables.
What is ground turkey?
In short ground turkey is an admixture of meat dark and light meats mostly thighs, drumsticks with skin and some deposits of fat still remaining, broken down into a fine form.
The ratio of lean to fat varies between 5% and 12% I personally have never seen anything higher than 12% in fat content.
If you are worried about the saturated fat in ground turkey then always purchase the one that is labelled with the lowest fat percentage which is light and leaner meat.
Do keep in mind that leaner the meat is much more expensive.
I tend to buy 5% fat because while the meat is very very lean, there's a healthy amount of fat content that doesn't cause the meat to be too dry nor does it compromise the taste.
Actually, the small amount of fat content helps to enhance the flavour naturally.
Ground turkey for thanksgiving
Let's face it, thanksgiving can be stressful especially when catering to guests and/or a large family.
Not only that, a whole turkey is expensive and with the cost of living, some people simply cannot afford to buy a big bird.
That's why I also made these Caribbean Turkey Steaks Recipe, as another alternative to using a whole turkey (thank me later),
Ground turkey would make the perfect thanksgiving alternative, it's cheaper then buying it's counterpart not to mention a different concept which I'm sure will be well received by your dinner guests/family.
Ways to use ground turkey
- Meatballs
- Chilli
- Meatloaf
- Soup
- Tacos
Many people compare ground beef to ground turkey but they both have similar nutritional value when comparing the same lean to fat content i.e 5% fat plus 95% lean turkey vs 5% fat plus 95% lean beef.
Both contain amino acids, which enable muscles to grow (great for gym goers).
Similar cholesterol, protein, iron, B vitamins, zinc, saturated fats and so fourth. This article here explains in full in much more details.
The steps
- Start by melting the coconut oil on medium heat.
- Proceed to saute the onion and garlic until soft and translucent.
- Add the chopped yellow bell peppers and cook until soft.
- Add the ground turkey and seal and brown the meat (the meat should change from pink/red to a brown/greyish hue) this should take several minutes to achieve.
- Once the meat is browned season with black pepper, paprika, oregano, parsley, cumin and stir.
- Pour in the pureed green, red pepper and coconut aminos and combine everything together
- Fold all of the vegetables in then pour in the warm water , pink salt then juice of a lime
- Transfer everything into a crockpot (mine is a 2 in 1 sear and stew crockpot so I do both in the same pan)
- Switch the crockpot on and set to slow cook for 4 hours on high
Frequently asked questions
Can I freeze this slow cooker recipe?
Yes, simply share out the recipe preferably into even portions, into a freezer friendly bowl and freeze for up to a month.
What's the best way to store any leftovers?
Any leftovers should be refrigerated straight away in an air tight container for up to 4 days.
How can you make this recipe low in carbohydrates?
Simple! Leave out the sweet potatoes or substitute them for another vegetable like cauliflower, broccoli or even carrots.
Notes and tips
- For best results I highly recommend using 5% fat turkey, but this depends on your requirements and affordability.
- Keep any eye on the liquid levels, you may need to add more water, if needed.
- Coconut aminos is simply another estrogen free version of soy sauce
- Use a blender or immersion stick blender to puree the peppers, you may need to add a splash of water (use as little as possible)
- Make sure the water that is used it warm/tepid NOT cold in order to keep the temperature levels constant.
- Browning the meat is very important as this helps to seal/lock in the flavour and by sauteing the onion and garlic this helps to impart a deeper taste.
- To speed things up feel free to switch on the slow cooker in advance.
- If you have a 2 in 1 Morphy Richards slow cooker like mine then you can omit transferring the content and simply slot the pan into the actual unit.
- As per Caribbean traditional all meat is rinsed with lime/vinegar/salt/sour oranges. This is a cultural practice however if this doesn't apply to you simply skip the process
Thanksgiving recipe to try
More slow cooker recipes
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Slow Cooker Ground Turkey
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon of coconut oil
- 1 onion chopped
- 4 garlic cloves chopped
- 1 yellow pepper chopped
- 2.5 lb of ground turkey 1000g
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 teaspoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon parsley
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 cup of green beans chopped (200g)
- 1 large red pepper pureed (deseeded first)
- 1 large green pepper pureed (deseeded first)
- 1 medium sweet potatoes 0r 2 small, chopped into small cubes
- 1 zucchini courgette sliced and halved
- 1 teaspoon of pink salt
- 2 tablespoon coconut aminos (alternative to soy)
- Juice of 1 lime
- 1 cup of warm water 250ml
Instructions
- Start by melting the coconut oil on medium heat.
- Proceed to saute the onion and garlic until soft and translucent.
- Add the chopped yellow bell peppers and cook until soft.
- Add the ground turkey and seal and brown the meat (the meat should change from pink/red to a brown/greyish hue) this should take several minutes to achieve.
- Once the meat is browned season with black pepper, paprika, oregano, parsley, cumin and stir.
- Pour in the pureed green, red pepper and coconut aminos and combine everything together
- Fold all of the vegetables in then pour in the warm water, pink salt then juice of a lime
- Transfer everything into a crockpot (mine is a 2 in 1 sear and stew crockpot so I do both in the same pan)
- Switch the crockpot on and set to slow cook for 4 hours on high
Notes
- For best results I highly recommend using 5% fat turkey, but this depends on your requirements and affordability.
- Keep any eye on the liquid levels, you may need to add more water, if needed.
- Coconut aminos is simply another estrogen free version of soy sauce
- Use a blender or immersion stick blender to puree the peppers, you may need to add a splash of water (use as little as possible)
- Make sure the water that is used it warm/tepid NOT cold in order to keep the temperature levels constant.
- Browning the meat is very important as this helps to seal/lock in the flavour and by sauteing the onion and garlic this helps to impart a deeper taste.
- To speed things up feel free to switch on the slow cooker in advance.
- If you have a 2 in 1 Morphy Richards slow cooker like mine then you can omit transferring the content and simply slot the pan into the actual unit.
- As per Caribbean traditional all meat is rinsed with lime/vinegar/salt/sour oranges. This is a cultural practice however if this doesn't apply to you simply skip the process
Natasha says
Hi! This looks so yummy and I’m planning to make it tomorrow. Should I cook the peppers before pureeing, or just stick into a blender after scooping out the seeds etc? Thanks!
Charla says
Hello Natasha, when you puree the bell peppers, make sure to de-seed them first (you can roughly chop them first). As you work your way through the recipe instructions, step 6 and onwards that's when you will cook the pureed peppers so there is no need to cook them in advance. I hope that helps and makes sense.
Jenn G. says
Hi there! This recipe looks amazing and I would really like to try it, but peppers (all colors) are on my mom and daughter’s “Nope” list. Is there anything I can use instead?
Charla says
Hi Jenn G, you can omit the yellow pepper however, the pureed peppers are definitely needed for the sofrito which forms the base of the recipe. You can sneak that in while cooking as there is no trace of it in terms of the colours once the ground turkey is cooked. I hope that helps!
Melissa says
Delicious!! I made it for my family and we all loved it! It didn’t say an amount for cumin up top but i did a teaspoon and it seemed to be perfect.
Charla says
Hi Melissa. I'm so glad you enjoyed the recipe and my apologies for missing out the cumin. Yes, one teaspoon was the correct amount, great guess! I have updated the ingredients list to include the cumin for future reference.
Cc says
Can I add rice to this? I read an article that you can add it in to a slow cooker recipe on high, when it has 2 hours left to cook. But this isn’t really a stew or soup or casserole. What’s your recommendation with that? Because I’d rather add it in if I could than serve white rice on the side.
Charla says
Hi Cc, what concerns me is that the rice may absorb a lot of the liquid from the ground turkey. As I don't want the recipe to be a fail, I have to say it might be better to serve the rice on the side as this will guarantee that the recipe won't be potentially ruined. If you do decide to test it out with the rice, please update me and let me know how it turns out for you. Sorry I can't be of anymore help.
Cindy says
Easy and delicious! We went back for seconds.
Charla says
Thank you so much Cindy
Emma says
Fantastic recipe, easy to follow, thanks Charla.
Charla says
You are very welcome!