I love lettuce tacos with turkey, and this recipe for Pepper Jack Turkey and Pickled Onion Lettuce Tacos is my favorite! These bundles of lettuce are packed with superb spicy, savory flavors, and are perfect for a lighter meal to go alongside different salsas and guacamole!
I love big flavors.
There are certainly times when “a hint” of, or “a splash” of an ingredient is perfect — however, for the most part, I say just go for it!
And that’s exactly what I did when I created this recipe for lettuce tacos with turkey.
Pepper Jack Turkey and Pickled Onion Lettuce Tacos
You can taste the heat from the Pepper Jack cheese, you can taste earthiness from the cumin and chili powder, and you can taste the zing from limes — I mean, really taste each and every ingredient. These are bold, refreshing and fabulous flavors — both on their own, and blended together.
All of these flavors balance each other out so well — every bite, wrapped in the crisp lettuce, is an explosion of delicious flavors and textures!
Interestingly, these “tacos” are light and refreshing, while still being quite hearty and bold. It’s a beautiful thing when this happens.
In case you hadn’t already noticed, my Pepper Jack Turkey and Pickled Onion Lettuce Tacos are quite a healthy meal.
Using the Butter lettuce for the taco “shell” great for several reasons:
- It’s super low in calories and has zero fat.
- Butter lettuce is soft, but strong enough that it wraps around the other ingredients perfectly, without tearing.
- It’s gluten-free, so my son with Celiac Disease can partake. 🙂 And this might be an added benefit for you, if you like, or need to eat a gluten-free diet, too.
- It’s delicious!
And if you like the flavors in these lettuce tacos with turkey, you will also love my Grilled Jalapeño Pepper Jack Turkey Burger!
Enjoy!
These bundles of lettuce are packed with superb spicy, savory flavors, and are perfect for a lighter meal to go alongside different salsas and guacamole!*
*Please note that the onions need to marinate in lime juice for at least 30 minutes. The longer they marinate, the better, so you can do this step well ahead of time if desired.
- 1/3 cup red onions, very thinly sliced
- juice of 1 small lime
- olive oil for the pan
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 2 teaspoons garlic, minced
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 cup Pepper Jack cheese, grated
- 6 sprigs cilantro, washed and dried
- about 1/2 of a large avocado, thinly sliced
- 6 large Butter lettuce leaves, washed and dried
- 1/2 cup tomatoes, roughly chopped
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Add the onions to a small glass bowl and pour the lime juice over them. Let them marinate for at least 30 minutes and ideally overnight. (The longer the better -- even a couple of days is great!)
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Coat the bottom of a large sauté pan with olive oil and place it over medium heat. Add the turkey and break it up into bite-sized pieces. Stir in the garlic and sprinkle it with the cumin, salt, chili powder, and onion powder. Mix to blend and sauté just until it's cooked through, about 6 minutes. Set it aside to cool.
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Once the turkey mixture has cooled to room temperature, add the cheese to it, and mix to blend.
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Now divide the tomatoes evenly between them.
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Drain the onions and save all of the excess juice. Distribute the onions over the tomatoes and then drizzle the leftover juice over all of the tacos.
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Serve!
Kirsten @ Treat Yourself Sweeter says
May 4, 2016 at 2:37 pmI love big flavours too! I love tacos like this… not only are they lighter (so you can eat more… yeah?? 😉 ) but they are also refreshing.. perfect for a warm night! I know what will happen now… I’ll be thinking about these all day!
valentina says
May 4, 2016 at 4:43 pmThanks, Kristen! Hope you give them a try. 🙂
Tina Dawson says
May 4, 2016 at 3:02 pmSo many flavours, ugh I can hear the lettuce crunch in my head! Drool everywhere!
valentina says
May 4, 2016 at 4:43 pmLol. Love it! 🙂
April @ Girl Gone Gourmet says
May 4, 2016 at 3:31 pmI love the marinated onion idea – I bet they’re delicious and taste great on sandwiches, wraps, burgers. Totally inspired 🙂
valentina says
May 4, 2016 at 4:43 pmAwesome. Thank you, April. Hope you try the onions — so great to have on hand for everything!
Jennifer @ Delicious Everyday says
May 4, 2016 at 4:39 pmI adore big flavours too. I’m forever increasing the amount of herbs and spices in recipes to get a flavour boost.
I love using lettuce in place of tacos too. So much healthier and just as delicious 😀
valentina says
May 4, 2016 at 4:42 pmThanks so much! Yes, love the lettuce — a nice, softer crunch. 🙂
Tamara says
May 4, 2016 at 4:42 pmI love new recipes for ground turkey, and this looks very fresh and appealing… Healthy too!
valentina says
May 4, 2016 at 4:44 pmThanks, Tamara. Yes, I’m often using turkey instead of beef — love both, but good to mix it up. 🙂
David says
May 6, 2016 at 6:33 amLettuce tacos may be one of my favorite kinds now! We did a riff on your receipt last night (actually on Cinco de Mayo) but didn’t have all the ingredients. Boy, were they good and so much less filling! We made them with shrimp – I highly recommend it!
valentina says
May 6, 2016 at 12:19 pmOh how delicious these would be with shrimp. I love it, David. Yum!