The name of this recipe Crock-Pot Taco Junk is funny. But it is a recipe we have enjoyed for years. With healthy ground turkey and beans this recipe is a low fat and high fiber delight!
Crock-Pot Taco Junk
This is a recipe I got from an online forum based on the South Beach Diet many many moons ago. Does anyone remember forums and the South Beach Diet? 🙂
I’ve adapted it a little over the years to our family’s tastes but it is still high fiber, low fat and delicious.
You can eat this dish right out of a bowl, however it is also tasty served over cooked rice or in a taco salad. You can also wrap it up in a tortilla as a tasty burrito filling if you don’t mind your burritos a little messy.
Because this recipe is packed with lean ground turkey and beans it is rather low in fat and full of healthy fiber. If you would like to make this into a vegetarian recipe all you need to do is leave out the ground turkey and replace it with some additional beans. Pinto beans would be great I think!
This recipe uses a packet of both taco seasoning mix and ranch dressing mix; however if you would like to control the sodium content a little bit more you might want to consider making your own seasoning mixes. You can find our recipes here:
Recipe Collections:
Turkey Crock-Pot Recipes | Healthy Slow Cooker Recipes |
Bean Slow Cooker Recipes | Mexican Crock-Pot Recipes |
Summer Crock-Pot Recipes | Freezer Meal Slow Cooker Recipes |
Rating |
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Servings | 6Servings |
Prep Time | 15Minutes |
Cook Time | 4Hours |
- 1 pound Ground Turkey or lean ground beef (see note)
- 14.5 ounces Canned Diced Tomatoes no sugar added
- 14.5 ounces Canned Black Beans drained and rinsed
- 14.5 ounces Canned Garbanzo Beans drained and rinsed
- 1.25 ounces Taco Seasoning either 1 packet low-sodium or homemade
- 1.5 ounces Dry Ranch Dressing Mix Either 1 packet or homemade
- 15.25 ounces Canned Corn drained (optional)
- 2 cups Salsa mild or hot, you decide how hot you like it
Ingredients
Servings: Servings
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- In a medium skillet on the stove-top; lightly brown the ground turkey (or beef) and crumble the meat. Drain and add meat to a 6 quart slow cooker.
- Add the remaining ingredients to the slow cooker and mix to combine.
- Cover and cook on HIGH for 4 hours.
- Stir to mix before serving.
While cooking the ground turkey (or ground beef) in the pan be careful not to overcook the meal. You just want to cook it until it is no longer pink.
If you would like to add a little spice to the dish you can add a chopped fresh jalapeno or a small (5 oz.) can of canned jalapenos.
Freezer Meal Instructions: Brown and crumble the ground turkey in a pan on the stove-top and drain. Add cooked ground turkey and the remaining ingredients to a gallon sized freezer bag. Lay bag flat on the counter-top and push out as much excess air as possible and seal the bag. Label the freezer bag with the name of the recipe, ingredients and cooking instructions.
To Thaw Freezer Meal: Place frozen freezer meal bag in refrigerator overnight OR place bag in a a sink of cool water until the contents of the bag are partially thawed and can easily be dumped into the slow cooker.
To Cook Freezer Meal: Dump contents of bag into slow cooker, cover and cook on HIGH for 5 hours from the partially frozen state.
Linked up at Recipe Round Up
What a delicious dish! Thanks for sharing.
You’re very welcome. Definitely a favorite in my house!
YUM! This sounds like a wonderful blend of some of my favorite flavors. So glad I found you at Family Fresh Meals. *-*
Thanks so much. It is a true favorite at our house.
Tara
I love everything about this recipe! Looks DELISH!
Definitely try it. You won’t be sorry! 🙂
This sounds wonderful! I’m totally making this next week–thank you so much for sharing. Pinned! =)
Sounds yummy. Love the name!
Do you think this could be cooked on low for say 8-9 hours?
I believe so. Low temp is normally twice the high temp time in a crock-pot. That last hour or two I would take a look at it just in case.
Sometimes I put everything in the crockpot before leaving in the morning for work and let it cook on low all day long. It comes out great
I make this all the time! So so good! Highly recommend it
From the Posts showing, one person actually made this recipe. So how did it get 3 Stars?
This recipe has 39 votes with an average rating of 3.23. The comments on the recipes do not necessarily indicate reviews or ratings. If you hover over the star rating box it should show you how many votes a recipe has. – Heidi
Have you even added onions? What would it do to fl?
You could add some onion Mary!
Could you use chicken breast (cubed) instead of ground turkey?
I think you could Harley!
OMG!!! This is fantastic! Super filling and delicious. Anytime I can find a WW friendly recipe for the crockpot I’ll try it. I used my canned homemade salsa and added hot peppers and onions from the garden. This is the BOMB.
So glad you enjoyed this recipe Angie! Homemade salsa and hot peppers sound delicious!