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Slow Cooker Ground Turkey and Quinoa Enchilada Stew

At least once a week, I like to make a slow cooker meal that tastes great and cleans out ingredients from my pantry and fridge. Slow Cooker Ground Turkey and Quinoa Enchilada Stew is the perfect recipe for this.

As I was learning how to feed 5 people every day, I started the habit of buying one or two extra cans of my ingredients. Those extra cans don’t take up too much space in my pantry. And they give me the ability to whip up a future meal. Diced tomatoes, pinto, refried and black beans, enchilada sauce and diced green chilies are always in stock at my house.  As a Costco shopper, I usually have an extra package of ground turkey and frozen corn in my freezer. And a Costco size bag of quinoa will last for at least 6-10 meals. Fresh onions, garlic and sweet mini bell peppers are standard items on my weekly grocery list. Add all of this together and it’s enough for great meals that I can compose quickly. These habits have saved us a lot of money over the years.

Slow Cooker Ground Turkey and Quinoa Enchilada Stew is such a great recipe! You can have a fuss-free, tasty, versatile, slow cooked meal ready in less than 4 hours. Most of the slow cooker meals I make are 8+ hour affairs. But ground turkey and quinoa cook up faster. In fact, most of the cooking with this recipe is to allow the flavors to meld and the quinoa to cook. Your turkey is already browned and cooked before it ever even meets the slow cooker.

To make Slow Cooker Ground Turkey and Quinoa Enchilada Stew place everything except cheese, sour cream and cilantro into the slow cooker.

Pour in the enchilada sauce.

Here’s a little cooking trick. If a recipe calls for water or broth, add water or broth to the empty can of sauce first. Then swirl it around to integrate with any remaining sauce that was left in the can.

Then pour the water/sauce mixture into the recipe.

Mix it all together.

 

Pop it into the slow cooker base set on high. In less than 4 hours, there will be enough stew for many meals. 

I love to eat Slow Cooker Ground Turkey and Quinoa Enchilada Stew all by itself with a few tortilla chips or Saltine crackers. But it can just as easily be used to make enchiladas. Butter a baking dish, fill corn or flour tortillas with the cooked quinoa turkey stew mixture. Then roll them up, place them in a baking dish, cover with enchilada sauce, top with cheese and bake.

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Slow Cooker Ground Turkey and Quinoa Enchilada Stew

Course Main Course
Cuisine American
Keyword ground turkey, quinoa, Slow cooker
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 3 hours 30 minutes
Total Time 3 hours 40 minutes
Servings 8 people
Author Jessica Nelson

Ingredients

For the Stew

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 pound ground turkey
  • 1/2 cup onion, diced
  • 1/2 cup bell pepper, diced
  • 1 1/2 cups uncooked quinoa, rinsed and drained
  • 1 15 oz can pinto beans
  • 1 cup frozen corn
  • 1 10 oz can diced tomatoes & green chilies
  • 1 28 oz can red enchilada sauce
  • 1 cup water
  • 1/2 cup salsa
  • 1 tsp garlic, minced
  • 1 tbsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp cumin

Suggested Add-Ins for Serving

  • cheddar cheese, shredded Mexican blend cheese is great too!
  • green onion, chopped
  • cilantro, chopped
  • sour cream to dallop on top of each serving
  • fresh lime wedges and juice
  • crushed corn or tortilla chips
  • saltine crackers

Instructions

  1. Heat a large sized skillet over medium heat. Add olive oil to pan. Cook the turkey meat until almost all the way browned. Add the diced onions and bell peppers. Continue cooking until the turkey is fully cooked and the onions are translucent and the bell peppers have softened. 

  2. Transfer the cooked turkey, onions and bell peppers to the slow cooker. Next add in the uncooked quinoa, pinto beans, corn, diced tomatoes with green chilies, red enchilada sauce, water, garlic, chili powder and cumin to the slow cooker. Mix everything together well. 

  3. Cover the slow cooker and cook on high for 3 hours. When finished, the stew will be very moist, but not soupy. If there is still a lot of liquid after 3 hours, cook for an additional 30 minutes. 

Recipe Notes

Notes

If you are short on time, raw bell pepper and onion can be added directly to the slow cooker, instead of being sautéed with the ground turkey. Either way, the finished product tastes great!