Cooking with ground turkey

Cafe Society
1

I think the only way I have ever cooked turkey is roast the entire bird for hours, with or without stuffing. I did this once every few years when ‘my turn to host’ came up on the local family Thanksgiving rotation. Beyond that, I’ve had a gazillion sliced turkey coldcuts sandwiches. And that’s it, my entire experience with the bird.

But last week my local grocery had a super bargain on ground turkey, and I figured at the price, why not give it a try? So I got a three pounds slab of ground turkey, divided it into about 8 ounce packages, and stuffed it into my freezer.

Um. What should I do with it? My ‘theory’ at the time was that it could likely be subbed into any dish I would normally make with burger, but that it would likely be even leaner, and the cooked result rather milder, contributing less flavor to the dish overall? So that I might need to add some oil or butter to recipes, and up the amounts of spices a bit? Go heavier on onions or garlic or other ‘accent’ ingredients? Does this seem right?

I also figured the change would be less noticeable (my husband tends to dislike it when things aren’t just the way he’s used to) in a dish where the meat is just loose crumbly bits in some highly flavored sauce. Versus solid chunks like burgers or meatloaf. Yes?

So today I figured I’d take the plunge by using it in a spaghetti sauce. (Basic tomatoes/onions/garlic/herbs type thing.)

Or am I completely off? I know personally I much prefer “new to me” vegetarian dishes rather than “just turn old favorites to vegan” efforts. It’s sort of a “this is a new dish, I may or may not like” vs. “this is an uncanny valley version of what I’m used to” reaction, if you see what I mean?

I could easily switch the planned dinner. So far it’s a packet of defrosted turkey and I have a reasonable range of common ingredients at hand.

Help?

2

We eat a lot of ground turkey on our house. The most popular dish is turkey meatloaf. Another favorite is to brown a pound of it and add it to prepared chicken flavored Rice-A-Roni and a can of peas. All that goes into a baking dish with some cheese on top and place under the broiler till the cheese is melted. Add some chopped onions to some and make turkey burgers. We also use it for tacos and burritos.

3

That sounds right to me. I’m not a huge fan of turkey, because i find it the blandest of all the common meats. But we used to make keema, a spiced Indian dish that calls for ground meat, and it typically came out kinda greasy. So i tried subbing ground turkey, which is a lot cheaper than lean ground beef.

I was disappointed. Despite it being a highly seasoned dish, it was pretty clear to me that the meat was bland turkey, and not delicious beef or lamb or goat. But it was fine. And i think upping the onion and garlic in a recipe would help restore some “body”. By which i mean flavor, the texture was completely fine.

I also agree, based on my experience, that you are more likely to be happy with a new dish, rather than varying an old favorite.

4

Re. cooking whole turkeys, one alternative to roasting the turkey whole that I use is to cut it into sections (leg quarters, back, split the breast, wings). Then slow cook it in a large covered pan or dutch oven.

5

our family is not big on red meats … so basically we use ground-turkey for pretty much everything one would use ground meat.

Bolognese sauce for pasta, lasagna, burgers, meatloaf, just put the damn turkey into any recipe that calls for ground beef (and that you like) …

6

Here’s a recipe for Ground Turkey Chili that’s pretty good. Note - I wouldn’t usually worry about using a precise recipe for something like this, but I’ve perfected a version that the people I cook for like - which means no heat (for myself I’d use hot Hatch chili). The mom can be awfully picky, so if I make it exactly like this, I know she’ll like it. As to the Penzey’s items (dried celery bits, Arizona Dreaming), not to mention the Bacon Salt, no need to worry about those. Use what you like/have on hand.

Ground Turkey Chili

4 tsp olive oil

2 lbs ground turkey

1 tsp salt

2 cups coarsely chopped onion

1 thinly sliced large (American) shallot

~ 2 TBS chopped garlic

1 large sweet red pepper, deveined and coarsely chopped

1/8 cup Penzey’s dried celery

1 can Hatch chili, mild

1 TBS Mexican oregano

2 bay leaves

3 TBS chili powder (use Arizona Dreaming if desired)

2 tsp ground cumin

2 cans diced tomatoes

¾ cup chicken broth

2 cans kidney beans, drained

About 2-3 tsp Bacon Salt

OPTIONAL: topping such as shredded cheese, sour cream, chopped onions, etc.

Heat oil and and add chopped onions and sweet pepper. Cook briefly, then stir in 1 tsp salt. Cook for ~3-4 minutes, then add shallots and garlic. Stir and cook for about 1 minute. Add turkey meat and stir, cooking until ground turkey loses its pinkness and isn’t in big clumps.

Add dried celery, can of Hatch chili (including liquid), oregano, bay leaves, chili powder, cumin, kidney beans. Stir.

Add tomatoes (including liquid from can), chicken broth, and Bacon salt.

Cook until flavors are combined and fragrant (about 20 minutes) and extra liquid is evaporated. Add water if it is too dry.

7

You can also roast turkey parts, and it comes out much the same as if you roasted a whole bird. We used to do this when we were poor, and appreciated the savings of buying a fresh whole turkey from the local turkey place, and breaking it down into “one dinner” servings. It’s an easy dinner with a veg and a starch.

But i think the OP is specifically trying to use up the ground turkey they already bought.

8

I use ground turkey semi-frequently, but never in a dish where the meat’s flavor is a factor. So, generally very heavily seasoned dishes, served in some form of crumbled mode. Anything like a loaf or patty, the aggregate “turkey-ness” tends to overwhelm the seasoning.

So my main dishes are clones of PF Chang’s lettuce wraps, Ground meat and Hoisin with Chilis served over rice, or soy-garlic-ginger-scallion plus turkey fillings for wontons or egg rolls.

So again, my advice is to go with dishes where the amount of actual turkey in a single bit or serving is smaller, be it a bite sized appetizer, a wrap, something served over a starch, or the like, rather than any lump option.

ETA - I always use MORE seasoning than the original calls for if I’m subbing ground turkey for ground chicken, like in the one I linked above. Because the turkey is more prominent than ground chicken or pork more often than not. But it gives a jumping off place. My rule of thumb is if I’m replacing ground chicken or pork with turkey to use 50% more seasoning (hoisin, garlic, oyster sauces, etc) than the original.

9

Wow, thanks for so much fast feedback!

That sounds excellent, easy and fast. And actually, that’s a whole 'nother category of meals for me to look at. Somehow I was thinking only as a ground beef substitute, but why not for a whole slew of things I make with chicken? Like the chicken/mushroom/ramen casserole my husband loves. Or chicken stews, maybe with little chicken meatballs?

Thanks for the recipe! Yes, I was already considering my chili recipe for substitution, but this might have enough variation from my ‘usual’ for it to count as a ‘new dish’ to be judged independently.

Thanks for the support of my prejudices. :blush:

Great, I needed a some indication on how much to try adding.

I’m thinking now of all sorts of mexican-ish dishes. They tend to be highly spiced, and a lot of them include a mix of meat with beans, so objectively you’d be changing a smaller portion of the dish with the substitution.

I think I’ll stick with the spaghetti for my initial experiment tonight, though.

10

Here’s a turkey burger recipe we use a lot.

1 lb ground turkey
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 Tbsp dry breadcrumbs
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp yellow mustard
2Tbsp barbecue sauce

Mix it all together, divide into fourths, form into patties. Spray a skillet with cooking spray and heat on medium heat. Cook patties 5-7 minutes per side.

11

I’ve made ground turkey loaf which is generally the same recipe as meatloaf made with beer and/or ground sausage. The only major difference is I didn’t use ketchup or some other heavily tomato-based sauce for the topping. Instead, I used honey mustard or a light BBQ sauce.

12

Just reporting: I made the spaghetti as planned, upping the spice quantities by about a third and the same for the onion, plus I added some green pepper (I don’t usually put it in, but I had half a pepper that was starting to wilt, so…)

Maybe as important, I never told husband I was experimenting. He ate the spaghetti, said 'Good dinner, hon" and not a word about anything being at all different. Me, I missed the ‘beef’ flavor a bit, but how much that was because I knew what was going on I don’t know.

Anyway, I’d say the experiment was a success. Next up I think will be the Chicken flavored Rice a Roni thing.

13

When I use ground turkey, I use an equal amount of lean ground beef. That way it still tastes beefy.

14

It’s been a while since I’ve cooked with ground turkey, but as I remember one of the reasons I stopped was because I found it to bland and didn’t care as much for the texture. Considering the price of ground beef now, I’ve been thinking of trying it again using some of the ideas mentioned in this thread.

15

If price is the only issue (varies by person) ground pork is in general the cheapest ground meat in my mega mart. The issue for me is that most, not all, ground turkey is too lean, and most, not all, ground pork is too fatty. So, yeah, check those labels - for crumbled dishes around 90/10 is good, as long as you weren’t intending to use the fat to cook the veggies or another ingredient.

Oh, and @StarvingButStrong looks like you dodged an issue I should have mentioned in my “rule of thumb” - always be careful when increasing the pre-made sauces such as hoisin, soy, or the like, yes, I need more, but you’ll want to watch for the total accumulated sugars and sodium. Because the extra flavor is welcome, but you can end up with too much sweet and salt!

16

Pepper Mill avoids red meat, so we substitute ground turkey for ground beef. We have turkey burgers, turkey meatloaf, turkey meatballs, turkey lasagna, and the like.

Ground turkey when cooked turns grey a little lighter than ground beef.

I like making Turkey Sloppy Joes – finely dice up one or two peppers, a medium-sized onion, and some stalks of celery. Saute them in olive oil and slide off into a bowl. Then I brown a pound of lean ground turkey, adding olive oil to the pan if necessary to prevent sticking. After it’s been cooked, re-add the sauteed vegetables and add a small can of tomato paste and mix well.

I’ll generally add some other sauce for spice or flavor, as well. I used to use worcestershire sauce, then switched to Rochester (NY)-style hot sauce, like Boss sauce. Now I usually add some teriyaki sauce, like Soy Vey. I might also add chili oil for heat. Reduce heat and put on a lid and let it simmer for fifteen or twenty minutes.

17

It’s been a really long time since I’ve bought ground pork. Is it still generally available at grocery stores? I seem to remember it was hard to get because after grinding pork the grinder had to be thoroughly cleaned to avoid contamination, and most meat departments at grocery stores didn’t want to take the trouble.

18

Friday, at my local Kroger there was high end ground duroc pork for 5-6.99/lb IIRC, ground “store” brand pork for 3.99/lb, ground beef/pork blend (no percentages listed) at 3.49/lb, and unseasoned ground pork for sausage at 2.99/lb.

(the ground duroc was around 90% lean, the store was 85/15, the blend was 80/20, and the sausage was 70/30)

The cheapest ground beef was 5.99/lb (and up!), chicken was 5.99/lb (Red Bird though), and turkey was 4.99/lb. All of those except for one of the beef options was quite lean however.

ETA - corrected beef/pork blend information, had previously listed the fat content as the meat critter percentages. It’s what I buy the most of, in a 2lb package for $6.99 total. At 80/20 fat, makes good (if porky) burgers, cilantro-serrano-scallion-soy mini-patties, crumbles in stir fries, and stuffing for egg rolls and wontons.

19

I’ve seen it on occasion but it’s rarer than seasoned sausage meat, even unformed sausage meat sold by the pound.

20

Haven’t had ground turkey in a while, but I used sweet soy and some spices as a marinade. Once cooked, it was mixed into couscous laden with vegetables. I prefer couscous to rice and the former is less fattening than noodles. I have also added sections of orange or tangerine to the mix. The result is simple, fast and yum-yum.