Adobo-Style Ground Turkey Tacos
These ground turkey tacos have an adobo twist and are so easy to make. The turkey cooks in a simple adobo sauce made with chipotle peppers, chili spices, and fresh orange juice – pile all that goodness on tortillas with your favorite taco toppings for an easy dinner.
There’s nothing wrong with a taco seasoning packet – I use them often – but, might I suggest switching out the powder for this homemade adobo sauce? It’s almost just as easy but the flavor it adds goes above and beyond your average taco seasoning mix. And what little time it adds to the prep is worth it.
This adobo-style sauce is sort of a mash-up of Mexican adobo and Cuban adobo. I borrowed the chili spices and vinegar from the common Mexican version and the fresh orange juice from the Cuban style. Adobo is often used as a meat marinade, but I used it as a sauce for this recipe with ground turkey.
It really does elevate these simple tacos and – bonus! – you can use it as a marinade or sauce for other kinds of meat like chicken or beef.
Ingredients
- Ground turkey: You can use ground beef, pork, or chicken, too. Ground turkey is definitely blander than ground beef or pork, but I like it for this recipe because it’s leaner and works great with the adobo sauce which adds a ton of flavor.
- Chipotle peppers and adobo sauce: The peppers bring the heat to these tacos. I like to finely chop the peppers and also add a few tablespoons of the sauce. If you don’t like heat, you can by cans of adobo sauce that don’t include the peppers.
- Spices: Chili powder, ground cumin, dried oregano, salt, and pepper.
- Orange juice: A juicy orange or two are all you need.
- Apple cider vinegar
- Garlic
- Olive oil
- Cilantro
- For serving: Tortillas, salsa, cheese, guacamole, sour cream… anything you like on tacos!
How to Make Adobo Ground Turkey
☑️ Make the Adobo Sauce
Whisk the chopped peppers, adobo sauce, garlic, all of the spices, juice, vinegar, and chopped cilantro in a small bowl.
☑️ Cook the Turkey
Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the ground turkey and break it up as a it cooks. Once it’s no longer pink, add the sauce to the pan.
Bring the sauce to a simmer for a couple of minutes, stirring often. The sauce will reduce as it cooks.
☑️ Serve
I like to smear some guacamole and sour cream on tortillas before adding the adobo turkey. Some pico de gallo, sliced green onions, and a sprinkle of cheese finish them off.
☑️ Storage Tips
I’ve made these for dinner and for meal prep several times. For meal prep, I cook the turkey and sauce ahead of time and store it in the fridge for three to four days. You can use it to make tacos, taco bowls, and burritos. Just warm the meat up and assemble the rest of the ingredients when you’re ready for an easy meal.
Adobo-Style Ground Turkey Tacos
Ingredients
- 2 finely chopped chipotle peppers plus 2 tablespoons of the sauce
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ cup fresh orange juice
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound ground turkey
- Tortillas and taco toppings for serving
Instructions
- Whisk the chopped peppers, adobo sauce, garlic, all of the seasonings, orange juice, vinegar, and cilantro in a bowl. Set the mixture aside.
- Heat the olive in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add the turkey and break it apart as it cooks until it’s no longer pink.
- Add the adobo mixture to the pan and stir. Continue stirring as the sauce simmers until it’s thickened, about one to two minutes.
- Serve with tortillas, cheese, salsa – anything you like on tacos!
Notes
Nutrition Estimate
More Recipes with Ground Turkey
- Slow Cooker Turkey Chili
- Ground Turkey Taco Bowls
- Zucchini Turkey Meatballs
- One Pan Baked Tortellini
Happy cooking,
