Ground Turkey Taco Bowls (Slow Cooker)

Ground Turkey Taco Bowls have browned turkey, red and green pepper, onion, and a little rice that cooks with broth in the slow cooker. In a few hours, stir in sliced olives and top the turkey taco bowls with grated Mexican cheese. This bowl meal has a lot of low-carb ingredients and not much rice, and we loved it when we tested the recipe!

PIN Ground Turkey Taco Bowls to make them later!

Ground Turkey Taco Bowls start with turkey that’s browned on the stove, seasoned with spices, and simmered with Pace Picante Sauce. Then put it into the slow cooker and add chopped red bell pepper, chopped green bell pepper, chopped onion, chicken broth, and a small amount of Ben’s Original Converted Rice. Let the slow cooker work its magic for about 2 hours while you do something else.

And recently Kara and I updated this recipe with better photos! And when we took the new photos, we made it into a slow cooker taco bowl recipe that was easier to make and slightly lower in carbs. One change that helped with both those goals was replacing the original Tomato-Avocado Salsa with Quesadilla Style Mexican Cheese. (If anyone was a fan of the Turkey Taco Bowls topped with salsa, see those ingredients in the NOTES section of the complete recipe.)

This turkey taco bowl is loaded with flavor! And there’s only one cup of rice in six servings, so it’s not a huge splurge on carbs. See tips below to make a version that’s even lower in carbs or other low-carb taco bowl ideas. And if you do make this bowl meal and top it with cheese, I highly recommend using Mexican melting cheese if you have that! 

What ingredients do you need?

(This is only a list of ingredients; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe with ingredient amounts.)

• Olive Oil (affiliate link)
• ground turkey
• Kalyn’s Taco Seasoning, or use your favorite taco seasoning blend)
• Spike Seasoning (affiliate link), or use taco seasoning of your choice
• Pace Picante Sauce (affiliate link)
• onion
• red bell pepper
• green bell pepper
• Ben’s Original Long Grain White Converted Rice (affiliate link)
• canned low-sodium chicken broth (affiliate link), or use homemade chicken stock if you have some
• Sliced Black Olives (affiliate link)
• salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste
• Quesadilla Style Mexican Cheese (or any Mexican-blend cheese)
• Green Tabasco Sauce (affiliate link) for serving, optional

What size Slow Cooker should you use?

I used a 5-Quart Slow Cooker (affiliate link) for this recipe but any size close to that will work. You can use the category for Slow Cooker to see all my crockpot recipes.

What toppings could you use for the turkey taco bowls?

• The slow cooker taco bowl meal was delicious simply topped with grated cheese!
• We loved it with Green Tabasco Sauce (affiliate link).
• See NOTES in the complete recipe if you want to top it with Tomato-Avocado salsa.
• I’d love this bowl topped with Avocado Salsa, which would be lower in carbs than the original salsa.
• I’d love it it with cheese, sour cream, and Herdez Salsa Verde (affiliate link).
• This would be amazing with Tomatillo Salsa.

How many carbs are in the Ground Turkey Taco Bowls?

These delicious taco bowls made in the slow cooker have only 18 net carbs with 20 grams of protein.

Tips for Taco Bowl meals that are lower in carbs:

• Use only 3/4 cup rice and two pounds of ground turkey in this recipe, for a high-protein taco bowl with just a hint of rice.
• Ground Beef Cauliflower Rice Taco Bowls have only 7.5 net carbs with 42 grams of protein. You could switch out the beef for ground turkey.
• Green Chile Pork Taco Bowls can be made in the Slow Cooker or the Instant Pot, and they have only 10 net carbs with 48 grams of protein.

How to make Slow Cooker Ground Turkey Taco Bowls:

(This is only a summary of the steps for the recipe; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)

1. Heat a little olive oil in pan over medium-high heat, add ground turkey, and cook until it’s nicely browned and any water has evaporated.
2. Then add Kalyn’s Taco Seasoning, Spike Seasoning (affiliate link) or another all-purpose seasoning, and Pace Picante Sauce (affiliate link) to the pan.
3. Stir to combine and then simmer a few minutes until the mixture looks dry. Add turkey to the slow cooker. 
4. While the turkey cooks chop the onion, red bell pepper, and green pepper into small pieces. Add vegetables to the slow cooker.
5. Add the rice and chicken stock to the slow cooker. Stir to combine ingredients.
6. Cook on HIGH for about 2 hours 15 minutes. (If your slow cooker cooks hot, I would start to check after 90 minutes.)
7. While rice mixture cooks, drain sliced olives into a colander.
8. When rice is done and liquid is absorbed, stir in drained black olives.
9. Season taco bowl mixture to taste with salt and fresh-ground black pepper.
10. Put a few scoops of the rice mixture in each serving bowl and top with Quesadilla Style Mexican Cheese or other toppings of your choice.
11. And we loved this with Green Tabasco Sauce (affiliate link)!
12. Serve Ground Turkey Taco Bowls hot and enjoy!

Make it a Carb-Conscious Meal:

You could serve these taco bowls as a one dish meal. But if you want to add something more, I’d love it with one of these low-carb salads;

• Cucumber Salad with Balsamic Dressing
• Spicy Lime Coleslaw
• Spicy Cabbage Puerto Rican Salad
• Laurel’s Jicama Salad
• Tomato Cucumber Avocado Salad

Want more ideas for taco meals?

Look at the category for Tacos to see lots more dinner with Tacos or Taco Bowls. And you can Check out Amazing Low-Carb Bowl Meals for lots more meals served in a bowl!

Weekend Food Prep:

This recipe for turkey taco bowls made in the slow cooker has been added to a category called Weekend Food Prep to help you find recipes you can prep or cook on the weekend and eat during the week!

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4.6 Stars (8 Reviews)

Yield: 6 servings

Slow Cooker Turkey Taco Bowls

Prep Time 35 minutes

Cook Time 2 hours

Total Time 2 hours 35 minutes

Slow Cooker Turkey Taco Bowls are so tasty, and these can be on the table in just a little over two hours. The taco bowls are pretty low in carbs for a bowl meal with rice, but you use a bit more turkey and a little less rice if you prefer a lower-carb version.

Ingredients

• 4 tsp. olive oil, divided
• 1 1/2 lbs. ground turkey
• 1 T Kalyn’s Taco Seasoning (or purchased Taco Seasoning of your choice)
• 1 tsp. Spike Seasoning (or use another all-purpose seasoning blend)
• 1 cup Pace Picante Sauce
• 1/2 small onion
• 1 large red bell pepper
• 1 large green bell pepper
• 1 cup Ben's Original Parboiled Long Grain White Rice
• one 14 oz. can low-sodium chicken broth
• 6 oz. can sliced black olives
• salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste
• 1 1/2 cups Quesadilla Style Mexican Cheese
• Green Tabasco Sauce and other toppings of your choice, for serving

Instructions

1. Heat 2 tsp. olive oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat, add the ground turkey, and cook until the turkey is nicely browned and any released water has evaporated, about 8 minutes.
2. Add Kalyn's Taco Seasoning, Spike Seasoning, and Pace Picante Sauce and stir to combine.
3. Simmer over medium-low heat until any liquid has evaporated and the mixture looks dry. Add turkey mixture to the slow cooker.
4. While turkey cooks chop onion, red bell pepper, and green bell pepper into small pieces. Add those vegetables to the slow cooker.
5. Then add rice and low-sodium chicken broth to the slow cooker and cook on HIGH for about 2 hours 15 minutes, or until the rice is done to your liking. (If your slow cooker cooks hot, I would start checking the rice after 90 minutes.)
6. While rice mixture cooks, drain sliced black olives into a colander placed in the sink.
7. When the rice is done and all the liquid in the slow cooker has been absorbed, stir olives in to the mixture.
8. Season the rice mixture to taste with salt and fresh-ground black pepper.
9. Put some of the rice mixture into each bowl and top with Quesadilla Style Mexican Cheese or other cheese or toppings of your choice.
10. Serve the Turkey Taco Bowls hot. I love this with a little Green Tabasco Sauce (affiliate link) added at tge table.
11. This rice mixture will freeze well, and can be reheated in a pan or in the microwave.

Notes

Here are ingredients for the original Tomato-Avocado Salsa:

2 small avocados, diced into 3/4 inch dice
3 T lime juice
3/4 cup chopped cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions
1 tsp. Spike Seasoning
1 tsp. ground cumin
salt to taste

I'm a huge fan of Spike Seasoning (affiliate link), but use any all-purpose seasoning blend if you don't have Spike.

I use Ben’s Original Long Grain White Converted Rice (affiliate link) for this recipe.

I used a 5-Quart Slow Cooker (affiliate link) for this recipe but any size close to this will work.

Recipe originally created by Kalyn with help from Jake and Kara for numerous tests of the recipe! The updated version you see here was tested with help from Kara.

Nutrition Information

Yield

6

Serving Size

1
Amount Per Serving Calories 365Total Fat 24gSaturated Fat 12gUnsaturated Fat 12gCholesterol 75mgSodium 690mgCarbohydrates 20gFiber 2gSugar 5gProtein 20g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.

Did you make this recipe?

Did you make this recipe? Please leave a star rating (under the PRINT button in the recipe) or share a photo of your results on Instagram! THANKS!

Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
I’m tagging this recipe Low Carb even though there’s a small amount of rice. That’s because this is a bowl meal with only 18 net carbs and 20 grams of protein. For fewer carbs, use one of the suggestions in this post for making a lower-carb taco bowl. The Turkey Taco Bowls with a small amount of rice would be limited to Phase 2 or 3 for the original South Beach Diet. 

Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Slow Cooker Recipes to find more recipes like this one. Use the Diet Type Index to find more recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.

Historical Notes for this Recipe:
This recipe for Slow Cooker Turkey Taco Bowls was first posted in 2015 and updated in 2021. In 2026 the recipe was revised to be taco bowls that were easier to make and slightly lower in carbs.