Southwest Turkey Vegetable and Rice Skillet
on Jul 06, 2021, Updated Dec 09, 2024
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Southwest Turkey Vegetable and Rice Skillet is creamy, cheesy, full of vegetables, lean ground turkey and brown rice. Easy and on the table in 30 minutes!
This recipe and photos have been updated since they were originally published on 8/8/2016
Skillet dinner, one pan meal, one pot dinner, there’s several names for this type of cooking and it’s the way I make most of my dinners. As someone who hates doing dishes skillet and one pot meals have earned their own category on Recipe Runner.
A few of my favorite skillet and one pot meals are Mexican chicken, sweet potato and black bean skillet, turkey and vegetable skillet, and when I’m craving lot of carbs, one pot parmesan chicken, spinach and orzo.
I’m guessing if you’re looking at this recipe, you might also not be a fan of dirtying ever dish you own just to make an easy weeknight dinner. If that’s the case, I think that you will find many dinner recipes to try out while you’re here. I highly recommend starting with this Southwest Turkey Vegetable and Rice Skillet, especially if you’re a fan of Mexican and Southwest inspired cuisine.
Ingredients For Southwest Turkey Vegetable and Rice Skillet
- Ground turkey
- Yellow onion
- Garlic
- Zucchini
- Canned or frozen green chiles
- Corn
- Tomato
- Cooked brown rice
- Chili powder and ground cumin
- Plain Greek yogurt
- Cheddar, Monterey Jack, Colby Jack or Pepper Jack cheese
How to Make Southwest Turkey Vegetable and Rice Skillet
Add some olive oil to a large skillet. I like to use one that’s a little deeper and that has a lid, but it isn’t a requirement. Heat the oil and swirl it around to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the turkey, onion, spices, salt and pepper to the skillet and crumble the meat with a wooden spoon or a potato masher works well.
When the turkey is nearly cooked through add in the garlic, green chiles, tomato, zucchini and corn. Continue to cook everything until the zucchini is tender, but not mushy. Remember the zucchini will continue to cook for several more minutes.
Add in the cooked rice and half of the cheese. Cook until the cheese is melted and then remove the skillet from the heat. Stir in the Greek yogurt until it’s thoroughly combined and then top with the remaining cheese.
Cover the skillet with a lid or a piece of foil and let it sit for several minutes until the cheese on top is melted. Garnish with chopped cilantro if you’d like and serve.
Ingredient Substitutions
Rice – Use long grain white, Jasmine or Basmati rice instead of brown. You can also use cooked quinoa or farro.
Vegetables – Zucchini may be replaced with a red or green bell pepper, yellow squash or even a can of black beans.
Greek Yogurt – Greek yogurt can be replaced with low fat or full fat sour cream.
Ground Turkey – Try substituting with ground chicken or ground beef.
Time Saving Tip
If you’re like me and hate cooking rice, especially brown rice, I highly recommend using a pouch or two of pre-cooked rice. They come in all varieties and only take 90 seconds in the microwave to heat up. You can even skip the microwaving for this recipe because it will warm up and finish cooking on the stove with the turkey and vegetable mixture.
More Skillet Dinner Recipes
Southwest Turkey, Vegetable and Rice Skillet
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound lean ground turkey I use 93/7%
- 1/2 cup diced yellow onion
- 1 clove garlic grated or minced
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 cup diced zucchini
- 4 ounce can diced green chiles
- 1/2 cup frozen corn defrosted
- 1 cup diced tomato
- 2 cups cooked brown rice
- 1 cup shredded Colby Jack Monterey Jack or Cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup plain non fat or low fat Greek yogurt
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When the skillet is hot swirl the oil to coat the bottom and add in the ground turkey, onion, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper. Use a wooden spoon or potato masher to crumble the meat.
- When the turkey is almost cooked through, lower the heat to medium and add in the garlic, green chiles, zucchini, corn and tomato. Cook for several more minutes or until the zucchini is tender.
- Add in the cooked rice and half of the cheese. Stir everything together until heated through and the cheese is melted.
- Turn off the heat and remove the skillet from the hot burner. Stir in the Greek yogurt until everything is combined and then top with the remaining cheese. Cover the skillet with a lid or piece of foil and let it sit for a couple minutes until the cheese is melted. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Can this be frozen ahead of time?
Yes, it’s a freezer friendly meal.
This is so yummy! This looks like it might be a good freezer meal for my “feed the new mommas” campaign. Leaving out the zucchini and tomatoes but precooking everything else and freezing – does that sound about right?
Hi Rachel, yes, if planning to freeze leave out the zucchini and tomatoes unless the mushy texture isn’t an issue for you.
Hi, it says serving size is “1” and I was wondering what that means? 1 oz? 1 lb? Thanks
Did you put cilantro on top? I don’t see that in the recipe but it looks like there’s something like cilantro or parsley sprinkled on top.
Sorry about that Sarah, yes there is cilantro sprinkled on top. It’s totally optional, but I tend to add it to all my Southwest/Mexican recipes. :-)
Is there a reason why the fat content is so high per serving? I feel like everything in this doesn’t have that much fat, besides the greek yogurt and cheese. If I used 99% lean ground turkey, would this help?
Hi Haley! Thanks for noticing the high fat content in the recipe, there was definitely an error. I recalculated the nutrition and everything looks much more accurate now. Generally for ground turkey I use 93/7 lean and every once in a while 99%. I find the flavor much better in the 93/7.
My friend made this and thought it was terrible. However, its his fault because he left out the greek yogurt. If you want to have a bad time, leave out ingredients. If you want to enjoy this, follow the instructions like a good human would.
I can’t even tell you how much I appreciate this comment, thank you. :-)
So I have like four recipes I want to print off from your website, but I can’t find a single one! Where do I find the recipes? I might be dumb….totally possible :-)
Hi Julie,
It’s not you, there seems to be an issue with my recipe card plugin at the moment. I’m working on getting it fixed. Try checking back later tonight or tomorrow. I’m so sorry for the inconvenience.
Could this be used as a meal prep idea and stored in fridge for days ?
Absolutely!
Do you have the nutritional facts for this recipe?
This was so good – everyone went back for seconds! I had a random can of pinto beans, so I added those. Thanks for a keeper!
I love the pinto bean addition Stacy! I’m so glad you and the family liked it.