Healthy Turkey Taco Salad

This Healthy Turkey Taco Salad is the perfect tasty, nutritious, and fulfilling lunch or dinner. Make it ahead of time to eat throughout the week!

Happy Monday! Did you have a good weekend? I was sick all weekend, which I mentioned yesterday in my January Beauty Favorites post (go check it out and let me know what your favorites have been lately). Basically all I’ve eaten is saltine crackers. Now as my appetite is coming back this healthy turkey taco salad is looking better and better. I need to remake this again to have for lunch throughout the week.

I made this recipe based off my personal taste preferences. If you’d prefer to add onion, avocado, olives, cilantro, or beans, go for it! You can also use any type of cheese you prefer. The options for customization here are endless.

While I was lying in bed feeling pretty miserable I got lost down the rabbit hole of personal development, motivation, and business advice articles and videos. I needed something to keep me going during the agony and found two awesome videos from Marie Forleo that totally got me excited about feeling well enough to work on myself and my social media marketing. Forleo is a web-TV host and personal and business development expert, if you aren’t familiar with her. The first video that I just fell in love with was Marie Forleo interviewing Danielle Laporte about setting goals with soul. Going beyond the goal ideas of “I’ll stop at nothing to buy that Mercedes in two years” and more towards identifying what will make you feel your “core desired feelings,” such as love, joy, and freedom. Awesome stuff. The other kick ass video was Forleo’s interview with social media god Gary Vaynerchuk. If you are a blogger or entrepreneur or at all interested in learning about social media marketing, watch that interview. It convinced me to purchase his book!

Do you have any favorite personal or business development and motivation videos, sites, books, or advice? I’m so in the mood for that stuff right now and would LOVE to hear anything!

Recipe Rundown
Taste: Fresh with a bit of a spicy kick. The flavor of this salad will depend a lot on the taco seasoning you use (I prefer homemade, see the link in the recipe ingredients) and the salsa. Be sure to use a seasoning and salsa you love!
Texture: Meaty, crunchy, juicy, chunky, and all-around super satisfying. I actually get full more quickly from this salad than most other meals because each bite has such a variation of satisfying textures.
Ease: Very easy. You can cook the turkey and assemble the salad ahead of time to throw this together for lunches or dinners throughout the week.
Appearance: Vibrant!
Pros: Easy, healthy, flavorful. Great lunch option, and I need as much help with lunches as I can get.
Cons: None! Like I mentioned above, change the recipe up to suit your preferences and what you’ve got on hand.
Would I make this again? Yes! I’ve made this several times.

How to make

Healthy Turkey Taco Salad

Yield: 4 servings

This Healthy Turkey Taco Salad is the perfect tasty, nutritious, and fulfilling lunch or dinner. Make it ahead of time to eat throughout the week!

Ingredients

• 12 ounces ground turkey
• 2 tablespoons taco seasoning
• 8 cups torn or chopped romaine lettuce
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 cucumber, chopped
• 2 roma tomatoes, chopped
• 1/3 cup shredded carrots
• 1/3 cup corn kernals
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh green onions
• 1 cup salsa
• 1/4 cup crumbled queso fresco

Directions

1. In a large skillet cook the turkey and taco seasoning over medium-high heat, breaking up the turkey into small crumbles, until the turkey is cooked through. Turkey can be cooked ahead of time and stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
2. Meanwhile toss the romaine lettuce, bell pepper, tomatoes, carrots, corn, and green onions together. Salad mixture can be made ahead of time and stored in an airtight container, with a dry paper towel pressed laid directly on top of the salad, for up to 3 days. Divide between four serving plates and top with the turkey mixture, salsa, and queso fresco. Serve.

Recipe by Tessa Arias

Author: Tessa Arias

I share trusted baking recipes your friends will LOVE alongside insights into the science of sweets. I'm a professionally trained chef, cookbook author, and cookie queen. I love to write about all things sweet, carb-y, and homemade. I live in Phoenix, Arizona (hence the blog name!)