I only recently started eating ground turkey, prior to that I wouldn’t eat ground meats at all. Over the past few months, I’ve started integrating it into the occasional recipe & I thought it would team up nicely with pumpkin and Pablano peppers in a tac0/burrito filling. I was right, the pumpkin added a richness to the turkey and the spices went well with both. A native bird matched with native produce does sort of make sense anyway doesn’t it.
My original plan was to make tacos, but I wanted to top them with crumbled goat cheese, which I forgot to pick up… doh. Cheddar was just fine for burritos & quesadillas, both of which I ended out using this filling in (teamed with some black beans, which I am mighty fond of). I’ve included the filling recipe, and images below of assembling the burritos. Like most tex-mex fillings it is quite versatile. You can pretty much do anything with it.
*the sauce under the burrito in picture is just jarred salsa verde
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 1 1/2 cups raw pumpkin cubed into bite size pieces
- 1/2 cup chopped Pablano pepper approx. one small-med pepper
- 1/2 cup onion chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic minced
- 1 lb. ground turkey I used a 6% fat store blend of light & dark meat
- 1 tbs. paprika
- 1 tbs chili powder
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
- 1/4 cup salsa verde
- 1/2 tbs lime juice
- 3 tbs. chopped fresh cilantro
- Heat 1/2 tbs of oil in pan over med-high. Once hot add the pumpkin, peppers, onion and garlic. Saute until you get a little browning and pumpkin is cooked. Reserve to a bowl and set aside
- Put the remaining 1/2 tbs of oil in pan, then add the turkey. Break the meat up and fry until mostly cooked, add the paprika, chili powder, cumin and salt, and continue cooking until the turkey is fully cooked.
- Add the vegetables back into the pan with the turkey. Stir in the salsa verde and lime juice, and continue stirring over the heat for a minute.
- Add the cilantro, stir to mix evenly and take off burner.
- Use filling in tacos, burritos, quesadillas or anywhere else cooked ground meat would be suitable.
Tammy says
I’d love to adapt this to use shredded Turkey from Thanksgiving leftovers. Would you just straight substitute it in for the ground, or would there be a better way of adding it in?
Robin Gagnon says
Roast turkey would tend to be a little drier. I would add a couple tbs of stock and maybe another tsp of oil to compensate.
Marcie W. says
I would never even think to use pumpkin this way. Thanks for the exciting new idea!
Tiff @ Babes and Kids says
Interesting to put pumpkin in burritos. Is the flavor of the pumpkin really strong or does it seem to blend well with the other flavors?
Crystal @ Simply Being Mommy.com says
I bet this combination of flavors just tastes incredible. It looks so delicious.
HilLesha says
This is an interesting combination!
Lolo says
I need to give this to my husband to make! Love this idea.