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Just made these – SOOO good!! Will make again! Great way to get my daughter to eat vegetables and beans!
Rachel
This is happening.
Chipotle Turkey Burritos. And that is all. No fancy sauce, no overloaded toppings.
I know I’m totally blowing your mind here, right? Or else I’m writing the most basic food blog you’ve ever read.
A big ol’ soft flour tortilla with some spiced ground turkey and a few veggies –> who knew this combo could be so humble meets revolutionary? Not me, until I started making these a few months ago. That’s right – it’s been months and I haven’t shared it here because, um, I don’t know. It just seemed too Basic Girl of me. That being said, you and I know the truth: that sometimes a grab-and-go lunch from the freezer, even if it is almost as simple as spicy ground turkey and veggies rolled up in a flour tortilla, is a Meal Prep Win. Plus, I shared them on Snapchat a few weeks ago and have gotten several emails and snaps since asking me to share the recipe on the blog. I mean, I’m blushing. Thanks for making me feel like I’m a special turkey burrito maker, guys. ♡
All of this leads me to this moment where I virtually hand-deliver you a chipotle turkey burrito. Are you ready?
Let’s get our Super Basic Delicious on.
How To Make Our Turkey Burritos:
CHIPOTLE TURKEY BURRITOS 101
Here’s what’s happening prior to you having a lifetime supply of these in your freezer.
- First: brown your turkey with a whole ton of spices, including a chipotle pepper or five. I dunno, maybe it’s overkill. OR MAYBE IT’S DELICIOUS. You decide.
- Second: take stock of your fridge. Got a few homeless veggies in there? Done and done – cut and sauté those guys right up.
- Third: mix the meat and the veggies. Throw in roughly 80 handfuls of cheese. Watch it melt and get creamy and cry tears of joy.
- Fourth: roll the mixture up in a tortilla. Wrap in foil or plastic. Freeze for easy lunches for the rest of the month and graciously accept your award for Prepared Eater of the Year.
And actually, I’m not exaggerating about the rest-of-the-month thing. This recipe makes at least 15 burritos, which, for me and Bjork, generally lasts three weeks or so for grab-and-go lunches and last minute dinner emergencies.
So maybe it scores somewhere between a D- to an F on the posh food scale, but are we really that vain? *Sometimes yes* but when lunch comes calling, no. We are 0% vain and 100% FEED ME NOW. And these chipotle turkey burritos are acing the game in the categories of flexibility, taste, convenience, and FEED ME NOW.
If you happen to have some Magic Green Sauce leftover that you then spread on your turkey burritos before demolishing them? God bless you, burrito lover. You have found the meaning of life.
Note: this recipe is very, very adaptable and it turns out a little differently every time I make it, since I usually just use whatever vegetables are left in my fridge at the end of a week. Embrace the flexibility here! Add, subtract, be your own burrito self. Also – hot sauce for serving is a very good idea for those of us whose tastebuds HAVE BIG FEELINGS. Bjork and I used Sriracha because we embrace weird food fusion combos like that.
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Spicy Chipotle Turkey Burritos (Make Ahead)
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 15 burritos 1x
Description
Spicy Chipotle Turkey Burritos for YUMMY make ahead dinners or lunches. Ground turkey, spices, veggies, and cheese in a tortilla, ready to grab and go!
Ingredients
Filing Part One (Turkey):
- 1 tablespoons oil
- 1/2 onion, minced
- 3 lbs. ground turkey
- 2 tablespoon EACH chili powder and cumin
- 3–5 individual chipotle peppers (canned in adobo sauce), minced
- 2 teaspoons salt
Filling Part Two (Vegetables):
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1/2 onion, minced
- 1 tablespoon EACH chili powder and cumin
- 4–5 cups chopped veggies like carrots, zucchini, sweet potatoes, bell peppers, etc. (see notes for specifics)
- 1 cup chicken broth (more as needed)
- 1 14-ounce can pinto or black beans
- 2 cups shredded Mexican blend cheese
- 1 1/2 cups plain Greek yogurt
For Serving:
- 15 10-inch tortillas
- avocado, hot sauce, cilantro, etc. for serving
Instructions
- Filling Part One: Heat the tablespoon oil in a large Dutch oven or stock pot. Add the onion and the turkey; as the turkey cooks, add the spices, chipotle peppers, and salt. Cook until the turkey is browned and fully cooked. When the meat is saucy and delicious-looking, transfer to a large bowl and set aside.
- Filling Part Two: In the same pot, add the oil, onion, veggies, and spices. Saute for a few minutes until the vegetables are mostly soft. Add enough broth to barely cover the vegetables and simmer for 10 minutes or so, until the vegetables are soft and the mixture has thickened. Add the beans, meat, cheese, and yogurt. Stir until creamy. Also at this point it’s a good idea to taste and add salt or more seasoning to make sure you’re all good on flavor.
- Fill each tortilla with about 1/2 cup of the filling, fold up (I spread a little goat cheese or avocado on the sides to help them stick together), and wrap with plastic or foil. Store in the freezer for quick, grab-and-go lunches and dinners!
- To heat and eat, either pop in the microwave (takes about 5 minutes for a semi-thawed burrito) or in the oven (I’ve never been patient enough to do it this way so I don’t have a good time guideline here) or a combo with the microwave and then on a skillet if you’re at home so you can get that golden brown exterior. That’s the best way.
Notes
For more smoky heat, add additional chipotles. For more HOT heat, add a good shake of cayenne to the meat and vegetable mixture.
For vegetables, I always use a few different veggies based on whatever’s left in the fridge. But if you want direct amounts, I’d suggest 1 sweet potato, 5 carrots, and 3 bell peppers.
Also – technically the cheese and Greek yogurt could be optional, but I like the mixture to be a little creamy. It also helps it stick together better.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Category: Lunch
- Cuisine: Mexican
Keywords: chipotle turkey burritos, meal prep burritos, burrito recipe
Nutrition is for 1/15th of everything as written EXCEPT the tortilla because there is so much variance with different types and sizes of tortillas.
I love this recipe! I have 3 teens and I make a double or sometimes triple batch of this recipe. I roll them up and individually wrap and freeze them so my kids have a healthy snack when they need it. They either thaw them over night or defrost in the microwave. The burritos are best warmed in the microwave for a bit, then finish warming in a skillet to crisp the outside. The flavors meld and taste better the second day.
Carrots and sweet potato is a TERRIBLE vegetable choice for this meal. Now I’ve got a fridge full of the worst burritos I’ve ever had. I knew sweet vegetables with this “spicy chipotle” recipe was insane, but I just HAD to get curious….that’s on me. I’d make it again but never with sweet veggies like carrot or sweet potato like is suggested in the notes.
Wow, such a great recipe! Thank you
My husband and I absolutely love these burritos, and I’ve been making them as part of our meal prep for years. I’ve never gotten only 15 burritos, always closer to 24 (which is much appreciated), and it’s so nice to be able to pull them out of the freezer and eat them on busy nights! Thank you for sharing.
I made these spicy chipotle turkey burritos this weekend, and they were a hit! The flavors are so vibrant, and I loved how easy it was to prepare them ahead of time. Perfect for meal prep! Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe!
I just made these spicy chipotle turkey burritos, and they’re a game changer! The flavors are incredible, and I love that I can prep them ahead of time. Perfect for busy weeknights! Thanks for the fantastic recipe!
DELISH!! I made these and added cilantro & corn.
I had leftover filling so I made burrito bowls.
Thanks for a yummy & easy recipe.
I made this with 1 lb of ground meat and didn’t change the spice measurements…. MAJOR regrets but still loved this recipe even if it had us sweatin’!
This is the third time I have made this recipe. It takes a little bit of time to make, but we have quick, nutritious, tasty lunches or dinners that we actually crave. I use sweet potatoes & peppers for the veggies. (They make a great breakfast too!)
I’m so excited to try these. How long do you think these would last in the freezer? Also are there any ingredients you would recommend keeping out of the freezer and adding at the end?
I have prepped these in both of my pregnancies for postpartum, made for friends having babies and make whenever i can just to have on deck! the absolute best!
Really looking forward to making these, only thing turkey meat isn’t readily available in my country 🙁 what would you suggest as a substitute?
Any ground meat will work for this recipe!
Left out a few of the chipotles so it was baby-friendly. 10 month old was obsessed with the filling served over rice. Husband and I loved it as well. So creamy!
Glad to hear the recipe was a hit, Kaitlin!
I loved it! I bought extra lean ground turkey on a whim at the grocery store, and had no idea what to do with it. I admittedly did not follow your recipe particularly closely (I even swapped out the canned chipotle peppers for raw jalepeno peppers), but it turned out SO GOOD!
I also sized it down for only 1/2 pound of turkey, a handful of baby carrots, one red pepper, one onion, and 2-3 jalepenos. I only used half of the mix before I was too full! So glad I’ve found a filling + healthy recipe to add to my arsenal.
Thanks for the comment, Pearl! So glad you enjoyed the burritos!
Wow! Made this in a trial run for freezer meals pre baby and I cannot emphasize how simple and flexible this recipe was, how delicious these burritos are, or how incredible it is to have them on hand. So easy to grab for a quick lunch when busy or dinner when we don’t want to go to the grocery!!!! Thanks PoY!
Hey Lindsay! This look incredible! The only question I have is that when a recipe says “1lb of ground turkey” does that just mean one package? So for 3lb’s you would buy 3 packages? I’ve always been confused by this haha!
You can buy 3 packages (1 lb each) or a 48 ounce package if you can find it!
Mmmmmmm hmmmmm 😋😋😋
For the Greek yogurt/ do you use no fat, low fat or full fat? Thanks.
Anything will work! We usually opt for full fat.
This looks really good I’m going to make it tonight but with actual meat (I’m not a vegan.) I was bored in a cooking class at school where we were learning the most basic things so I decided to do something useful with my time. 😄
We LOVE these and they have become a staple at our house. We make a big batch and freeze them. We fondly refer to them as “Emergency Burritos”. Thanks for such a delicious and healthy burrito recipe!
“Emergency Burritos” – love it!
This was absolutely delicious!!! My whole family LOVED it and my daughter is getting into the freezer right now to get one of the frozen ones, she loved them so much!!! They were easy to make and easy to freeze! This will be a new staple in our home! Full of veggies and the kids didn’t even know 🙂 Thanks for the awesome recipe!!
So glad these were a hit with your family, Melissa! 😊
Curious if you have a certain brand of tortilla you prefer. The ones in the video look so yummy – like the really thin restaurant style. I feel like the ones at the store are always thicker – any rec? Thanks!
We like using La Tortilla Factory.
I came across this website whilst trying to hunt down decent, healthy freezer prep meals. OH MY WORD. These taste AMAZING! They are going to be perfect for lunch! Thank you! We made the recipe slightly healthier by avoiding the cheese and yoghurt, and bulking out the mixure with slightly more veg! Thank you!!! Any more simple and easy meal preps like this that I can take to work would be much appreciated 😉
Hi, Susan! So happy to hear you enjoyed these. You can find more meal prep recipes here.
Thank you thank you for this recipe! My husband is in the sheriff’s academy and these have been amazing for him to take for his lunch!! Seriously a life saver; easy for me to make in big batches, and a perfect amount of food for him during his busy days. We both love them!!
So happy to hear that, Hillary! 🙂
Made these last night (1/2 batch) and they were amazing! We substituted chiles instead of the chipotle peppers because that’s what we had on hand and made them into bowls instead of burritos because we didn’t have tortillas. 🙂
This dish is fantastic and will be a staple in our house.
Glad to hear it, Abby!