Roasted Butternut Squash with Turkey Tacos

Ready for some healthy comfort food? My Roasted Butternut Squash Turkey Tacos are delicious, nutritious and perfect for your next Taco Tuesday celebration. 

Butternut squash tacos are good on their own and they are even better when you make it a ground turkey butternut squash taco.

All you need for this easy taco meal is just a few simple ingredients. 

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Other recipes you must try: Oven Roasted Boneless Chicken Thighs with Pumpkin Glaze and Easy 5 Ingredient Baked Ziti (Gluten Free Option)

Ingredients needed 

• butternut squash, I find precut butternut squash to be the easiest for this recipe. If you use a whole butternut squash, you will need to take out the seeds and cube it. That will add to your prep time. 
• extra virgin olive oil
• spices such as cumin, coriander, garlic powder, paprika and oregano, Aleppo pepper ( cayenne works or chili powder as a substitute) You can also use your favorite taco seasoning. 
• salt 
• black pepper
• homemade tortillas or store bought
• ground turkey, I recommend 93/7. 99% fat free or ground turkey breast is available if you are looking for something more low fat. 
• yellow onion, white onion or sweet, or red onions are great as well 
• optional garnishes such as avocado, salsa, corn, or sour cream

Preparation

Step 1: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a large sheet pan with parchment paper and toss the butternut squash with olive oil and the seasoning spices. Place it in the oven and let it bake for 20 minutes. The butternut squash should be golden and tender when done. 

Step 2: In a large saute pan over medium heat, add the additional olive oil.

Step 3: When the skillet is ready, turn the heat down to med/low and add the ground turkey.

Step 4: Let the turkey cook for 5 minutes and in the add the onions and the remaining seasonings.

Step 5: Continue to let it cook for about 20 minutes or until the turkey has reached 165 degrees. Ground turkey will no longer be pink and will have a grey color to it. 

Roasted Butternut Squash Turkey Tacos are best served with warm tortillas. 

You can warm the torillas a couple of different ways by placing them in the microwave or using a crepe pan or some other kind of small pan or cast iron skillet. Warming it in the crepe pan gives it better texture.

Roasted butternut squash and turkey tacos recipe inspiration

I can’t go a week in November and December without some kind of squash in the house. I wanted to create a seasonal low calorie dish that people could enjoy all year round if they wanted to. Fall tacos it was! 

The subtle sweetness of butternut squash and the salt and spices from the ground turkey marry nicely together making for one tasty taco! 

Funny thing is that when I first made these, my husband was asking what’s for dinner and I’m like tacos. He then says well what kind of tacos and I said butternut squash and he was like um nope, “I don’t like butternut squash“. I said you will in this taco! 

I’m not trying to toot my own horn but I was right. 😊🤷🏻‍♀️ 

Keeping Things Easy and Cook time under 30 minutes

Now I love tacos therefore I consume them often. I am all about fresh homemade tortillas when you have the time for it. You can make fresh tortillas or you can simply get store bought corn tortillas. The trick though is to make sure you warm them up before serving the tacos so that they have a nice texture and bite to them. You can warm them on the burner itself or use a crepe pan or a cast iron skillet.

Butternut squash can be bought already cut up. This saves so much time (and saves you from wrist pain). Trader Joe’s has the perfect size bags and Costco normally has it during this time of year with the best prices. 

If you want to use a whole one, prep it the night before along with the onions. 

Some more ways to swap out is using ground chicken instead of turkey. Also if you would like to make this vegan, you can totally leave out the meat. (The butternut squash is seasoned so well, you may not miss the meat. 🙂) If you can’t find butternut squash you can replace it with sweet potato.

Toppings for Roasted Butternut Squash with Turkey Tacos

This recipe is made gluten free by using corn tortillas. Another gluten free torilla you can try is almond flour tortillas by Siete,

If you are not gluten sensitive or don’t like corn tortillas, you can sub out for flour tortillas. Or you can enjoy this dish without any tortillas all together and just have the butternut squash and the turkey as a taco shell free bowl. 

Some other garnishes I recommend are: 

• avocado slices
• guacamole
• red salsa, fresh or Old El Paso 
• sour cream 
• fresh cilantro
• black beans
• lime juice
• corn
• plain greek yogurt
• shredded red cabbage or green cabbage
• a delicious slaw

Other things on this recipe to note

Ground turkey is done when it hits 165 degrees and will appear brown or even a bit gray. You definitely do not want to see any pink! Also, 93/7 is good but if you find that to be too dry, I recommend 85/15. I don’t recommend the lowest fat of ground turkey unless you really want to use the lowest percentage or you have dietary restrictions.

Variations for this ground turkey and butternut squash taco recipe

The best thing is that there are so many different ways to enjoy Butternut Squash tacos. If you want to keep this vegetarian, you can omit the ground turkey and replace with  tofu, peppers and onions, roasted cauliflower, chickpeas, carrots or other root vegetables. 

Some other vegetarian ideas are acorn squash tacos, black bean and butternut squash tacos, quinoa squash tacos or zucchini squash tacos. 

Also if you would like to make this vegan, you can totally leave out the meat. (The butternut squash is seasoned so well, you may not miss the meat. 🙂) 

If you want to use sweet potato instead, simply swap out the butternut squash. Other squash would be scrumptious such as pumpkin. 

Another thing to love about Mexican food is not only is it tasty, you can adjust it to your dietary needs. Butternut squash and ground turkey would be delicious as a taco salad or as a stuffing in a taco boat. 

You can use low carb tortillas or get the mini size to make a street tacos. And for variety, butternut squash burritos are a must! Add your favorite Spanish rice! 

What meat goes best with butternut squash?

Bacon, a slow cooker beef, ground beef, ground chicken or ground bison will all taste delicious in this roasted butternut squash tacos recipe. 

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