Meal planning and prepping is my saving grace and how I make cooking so often work. You can read more about my strategy and approach to that here. However, and full disclosure – cooking is something I truly LOVE and look forward to doing, which helps from a motivation standpoint. I know not everyone is in that boat.
For those who don’t love to cook (or maybe don’t have the time) but like having healthy food on hand, I recommend keeping things as simple as possible for yourself. Canned beans, frozen brown rice, frozen veggies, and meals that can be made in the slow cooker, pressure cooker, or all in one pan are your best friends.
This is one of those meals.
I created this recipe in my attempt to streamline our weekly meal prep. I like to have healthy, easy-to-grab lunches on hand for Ryan and I each week, but I don’t have full days on Sundays anymore to devote to chopping, cooking, and prepping tons of individual ingredients ahead. Enter this easy high-protein taco skillet.
Why I love it:
- Everything comes together in one pan, which makes clean-up a breeze.
- It covers all your nutritional bases in one bowl – with veggies, protein, healthy fats, and slow-digesting carbs. (I like slicing half an avocado on top for extra healthy fats!)
- It’s easily scalable and can be doubled, tripled, or even quadrupled, depending on how many servings you need.
- You only have to chop two things: one onion, and one pepper. The beans and tomatoes come from a can, and the corn is frozen. These small shortcuts add up and are big time-savers.
Last week I tripled this recipe in my giant Le Creuset dutch oven, and it made enough for a full week of lunches for two people, plus some. We never got sick of eating it.
PrintHigh-Protein Quinoa & Turkey Taco Skillet
Tasty, healthy, high-protein, veggie-packed, full of healthy slow-digesting carbs, and only uses one pan… what more could you want? This is an easy meal prep favorite of ours and can be doubled, tripled, or even quadrupled to make ahead for a full week of lunches or dinners.
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 35
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Entree
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Healthy
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground turkey
- 1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 14.5-ounce can fire-roasted tomatoes
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 1 large red bell pepper, diced
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 cup rinsed quinoa
- 1 cup water
- 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Add 1 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil to a large skillet and heat over medium-high heat. Once the pan is hot, add the diced onion, diced bell pepper, and minced garlic, and sauté for about 2-3 minutes, or until onions start to become translucent.
- Add ground turkey, and cook until the meat is browned slightly and just about cooked through. Use the edge of your spatula to break up the meat into bite-sized pieces as it cooks.
- Stir in the chili powder, cumin, salt, and pepper, and cook 1-2 more minutes.
- Add the canned black beans, fire-roasted tomatoes, frozen corn, and quinoa. Stir to combine.
- Once the mixture starts to bubble, add in your water, cover the skillet with a lid, and reduce the heat to medium-low. Simmer for about 20-25 minutes, then remove lid, remove from heat, and enjoy!
