tacos or chili

bragu - so if you spice it up it doesn't taste like turkey?? I have been revolted by turkey bacon and turkey sausage. I like the wings off of the whole roasted bird, and sliced breast meat the next day on sandwiches.

I haven't made it but you might check Ina Garten's Turkey Meatloaf. or Turkey Meatballs. She likely uses more than a pound of ground turkey, but I'm sure you could adjust either recipe. To be honest, I'm not a big fan of ground turkey since it can be fairly bland. Seems you need to do a lot to make it taste good. I'm guessing Ina might be a good bet..

Later, I can give you recipes. I don't have them here. Don't try to sub turkey in a beef recipe. You'll be disappointed. It's great in turkey recipes. Do you have white, dark or mixed? A pound isn't enough to bother with chili or other big pot gloop, but patties or loaf would be good.

The big thing is the cook is opposite of beef. With beef you want a deep sear and all those pan juices, aand it gets better as it cooks down. Turkey cooks fast, and after it's done, further cooking just makes it dry and nasty. So you do your veg first, and the turkey last.

I was thinking about this recipe I've used many times from Fine Cooking. My sister has made it using ground turkey. Just watch the cooking time, and know it might be better if your ground turkey is mostly dark meat. This calls for 1 1/2 lbs. of ground round, so it's easy to adapt to 1 pound of ground beef or turkey. I use less cumin and oregano for the full recipe...about 1 tsp. each. You might use a little more oil with turkey, too. If you're not a cilantro fan (we ARE!) you could use parsley. The Chimichurri Sauce is great but optional, if need be. Anyway, just an idea...OR try it with the ground round sometime...tasty.

https://www.finecooking.com/recipe/argentine-style-burger

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I'm not too inclined to eat it. I might cook it, mix it with rice and feed it to our Aussies.

After I posted I was thinking, you really don’t know how long that was not refrigerated, etc. the dogs would love it

And there you go! :-)

I've been using ground turkey instead of Gr beef for years! I don't do burgers, but have learned that with meatloaf, use 1/2 lb finely chopped mushrooms to 1 lb gr turkey and lots of worcestershire! Also, don't try to do meatloaf from frozen GT, too watery.

Anyway, I use it in tacos, pot of beans, spaghetti....actually anything I would use GB for. It may take a little more seasoning than GB, but better for you and tasty!

I have read turkey is not good for dogs to eat. The ASPCA has a list of foods that can be toxic to dogs.

So no for the dogs. Thank you marcopolo...maybe I'll just put it out for the racoons and the rodents. I actually can't imagine eating it myself. I'm not afraid of red meat and have never been inclined to substitute ground turkey in anything I'd used minced beef or pork for. I've also never had ground chicken.

Ground chicken to me is more of a blank slate, like, to a lesser extent, pork. But turkey tastes like turkey. I agree with nancyjane about mushrooms and Worcestershire going well with it, think umami.

We use ground turkey all the time....instead of ground beef. You can use it to make anything you would make with ground beef. I always get 93% lean. I used it just yesterday to make a Nachos Magnifico and it's great in stuffed peppers.

btw, my dog's food is made from turkey. It's lean so it's good for dogs. What bad for dogs would be a Thanksgiving turkey that is covered in butter and other spices or the bones. But the plain meat is good for them.

OK - I'm going to make burritos with it. I've got flour tortillas. Enough spices, salsa, cheese, scallions, sour cream, avocado and lime probably won't know what the meat is. Thank you all.

This is a longtime family favorite --

SOUTHWESTERN MEATLOAF

1-1/4 – 1-1/2 pounds ground turkey

1 16-ounce can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 cup medium or hot tomato salsa (another ½ cup is used later)

1 medium onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

½ cup dry bread crumbs

Egg substitute equivalent to 2 eggs (or two eggs)

½ teaspoon ground cumin

¼ teaspoon dry cilantro leaves

¼ teaspoon chili powder

2 Tablespoons brown sugar

½ cup medium or hot tomato salsa

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine meat, beans, 1 cup salsa, onion, garlic, bread crumbs, egg substitute, cumin, cilantro, and chili powder; mix well. Press into a 9x5” loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Carefully pour off all drippings.

Combine brown sugar and ½ cup salsa; mix well and spread over meatloaf. Bake an additional 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand 10 minutes before slicing. Serves 8.

Notes:

I combine everything except the turkey, beans, and bread crumbs, then mix those with the turkey and finally with the bread crumbs and beans.

After pouring off the drippings, I turn the meatloaf over onto an oven-safe serving platter, top with the brown sugar and salsa, and then bake the additional 15 minutes.

Slice with a serrated knife to cut through the beans; a dull knife will make a mess!

omigosh, I used ground turkey or chicken in place of ground beef in most recipes. For meatloaf or meatballs, I add fresh mushrooms, ground in the food processor, which adds some nice moisture. I also use some beef Better than Bouillon for salt and flavor with the meat. For Mexican dishes I just add typical taco seasoning. I don't find there is any discernible difference with beef, and it feels much healthier.

I make very lean pork burgers and I'm sure you could use your Turkey. The key is a grated apple in the mix to add moisture.

This is a pretty good recipe for ground turkey burgers, and you can vary the amounts of the ingredients to taste. I'm not sure where I got this recipe.

1 to 2 green onions, thinly sliced

1 slender stalk of celery, finely chopped or grated

1 C chopped/diced apple (I usually peel the apple)

1 pound of ground turkey

S&P to taste

1 tsp (or a dash or two) Tabasco or one of it's incarnations

1 small lemon, zested and then juiced

parsley to taste--I use about 2 or 3 stems

chutney--I use Major Grey's if I can find it

In a non-stick pan, saute the green onions with the celery and apples.

Cool.

Puree the chutney until it's really smooth.

Put everything, including the sautéed & pureed stuff, the zest and the lemon juice, in a bowl and mix.

Shape into burgers but let them set in the fridge for an hour or two.

Grill until the burgers are cooked. Yum!

Mix the ground turkey with equal parts of either ground beef of pork....you will never know in something like chili. meat balls or meatloaf. And ground turkey doesn't get dry like white meat turkey does...because it's usually a mix of white and dark....unless your package says something different.
AND turkey is not toxic for dogs....many dog foods contain turkey....but "they" say not to feed your dog thanksgiving turkey scraps because most people don't consider the grease in the scraps they may feed the dog....but the gizzard or some lean white meat or dark without the skin is fine.

Turkey meat is fine for dogs. Turkey skin and fatty pieces are not.

https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/nutrition/can-dogs-eat-turkey/

If you really hate the flavor I'd just give it to the dogs, it's fine. My snarflers eat things all the time they're not supposed to and they're fine. and yes I do put a lot of effort and keeping them from doing this but it's chaotic here because of a recent tornado

Last week my new Foster ate an entire loaf of bread and chewed on most of a 4 lb chuck roast. It was in the very back and she was in the middle and I left them together for a quick run into another store, bad mistake but I've ordered a pet barrier and she's fine although I was out $20.

This morning my other dog who is normally very very good couldn't help herself and because of work being done on the house, pulled out of the garbage a tin with oil from a sardine can. I found her out in the yard very happy.

The only tip I have is when you use ground turkey in place of ground beef it needs to be seasoned heavily. I mean, heavily. I use turkey to make meatballs for family parties for a bil who is allergic to beef and I always have to almost double the garlic and herbs to go in it to mask the turkey flavor. If it were me, it would go in the bowl I use to feed the feral cats in....

"...it needs to be seasoned heavily. I mean, heavily."

Definitely and even then it can be iffy.

We know ground turkey. I add a bunch of spices and herbs and make Italian sausage - cook it crumbled or in a patty.

Turkey Italian Sausage

In a small dry pan toast to fragrant 1 t to 1 1/2 t fennel seeds and 1 1/2 t black peppercorns, cool and put in a small plastic bag - then hit it with a pan to crush the seeds/corns. Put them in a large bowl and add 1# ground turkey, 1 T minced garlic, 1 T minced parsley (or 1 t dried), 1 T red wine, 2 1/2 t salt, 1 t onion powder, 1/2 t red pepper flakes or 1/4 t cayenne (more or less for your heat tolerance - or omit for sweet sausage) 1/4 t dried thyme, 1/4 t dried rosemary, 1/4 t oregano, 1/4 t dried sage. Mix well and refrigerate 8 hours to overnight. This recipe link also lists a variety of ways to use it. I prefer it crumbled and cooked for pizza and for making meatballs (add 1/2 C warm water when you mix them up with crackers, bread crumbs, or Panko - they stay very juicy that way.) Turkey Italian Sausage

Thanks, Nancy! I tried making my own once and it wasn't great. I'll try your recipe. I like that it starts with toasting the fennel seeds.

pillog - my DH said there was too much rosemary so I'll leave it out next time. I thought there was not enough fennel so I adjusted the recipe from the posted link. Make sure you let it meld in the refrigerator!! The meatballs were fantastic - plain recipe with bread crumbs and added the water along with Parmesan cheese, some onion granules, more garlic, a couple eggs and baked them in the oven to internal 165F then under broiler for a couple minutes. A pound of turkey makes a whole lot of meatballs! Italian Sausage Meatballs

Ah, Bumblebeez, so sorry to hear about the tornado. Hope the damage isn't too bad.

We get all of our ground turkey, turkey bacon (I researched it believe me!), turkey sausage (yummy!) etc from Williebird Turkey which is, fortunately a 10 minute drive.