Easy Ground Turkey with Chickpeas Recipe
Ground Turkey is a healthy type of ground meat, less pricey, easy to cook, and very versatile. Ground Turkey with Chickpeas can be served with white rice.
Thanksgiving is not the only time you should enjoy a tasty turkey dish. Always I’m not particularly eager to mix beans or peas with meat, but this time I am making an exception. Ground Turkey with Chickpeas is the designated dish today with white rice.
Usually, when cooks or chefs cook ground meat, they add lemon juice, and others won’t. If everyone knew what a few drops of lemon juice or vinegar could do to meat, they would start using it every time they cook meat. I use lemon, lime, or vinegar to clean my meat and also in marinades. Because it is impossible to clean ground meat the way we do for whole meat, adding a few drops of lemon juice or vinegar will give the dish an excellent citrus taste.
There is another way to clean meat, and it is with sour orange. If you live in the Caribbean or Latin America, or anywhere else, sour oranges can be found; you are probably used to it. Sour oranges replace lemon juice or vinegar in many dishes. By the way, if a recipe requires sour orange juice, please refrain from using regular orange juice, as it is not the same and will not give you the taste you need. Your dish will taste sweet and have the taste of orange juice. Not the same at all!
The ingredients in Ground Turkey with Chickpeas
- Ground Turkey: use storebought preferably. Homemade ground meat requires more work. Use a good spoon or a potato masher to break the large pieces.
- Olive Oil: always use a good brand for aroma and flavor.
- Garlic Cloves: use fresh cloves; they are must better than garlic powder.
- Ground Thyme: if you cannot find ground thyme, use a mortar and pestle to grind fresh thyme.
- Tomato Paste: try using organic if you can; it has a much better taste.
- Onion: white, red or even shallots will work.
- Fresh Parsley: this herb makes meat, poultry and seafood taste marvelous. It adds a rich and flavorful taste to any dish.
- Lemon Juice: use fresh squeezed lemon juice and not bottled juice.
- Tomatoes: fresh tomatoes for more flavor.
- Paprika: this dish needs a hint of smokiness, and the paprika does the job.
- Turmeric: color and for health benefits. This is a great spice to incorporate into your dishes when you can.
- Ground Cloves: one of the best spice for turkey. Don’t discard it. You can also use whole cloves. Just remember to remove them before serving.
- Chickpeas: choose your favorite brand.
How to prepare the recipe
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the ground turkey to the skillet, season with garlic and thyme, and cook, breaking the meat up with a spoon, until no longer pink, 3 to 5 minutes.
- Add tomato paste and lemon juice and stir to mix. Cook for an additional 2 minutes or until tomato paste is well incorporated. Add onion, parsley, lemon juice, diced tomatoes, paprika and cook for 10 – 15 minutes until the tomatoes have released most of their juice. Add paprika, turmeric and ground cloves, and cook for another 2 minutes. Season to taste, add chickpeas let cook for 3 – 5 minutes and remove from stovetop and serve with white rice.
Notes and Tips
When cooking ground meat, whatever the recipe is, don’t be afraid to add a few drops of fresh-squeezed lemon or lime juice. With my Ground Turkey with Chickpeas, I added lemon juice and turmeric, my secret ingredient. Ground Turkey with Chickpeas made with fresh spices, fresh tomatoes, and cooked chickpeas can be served white rice.
Enjoy!
Ground Turkey with Chickpeas
Ingredients
- 1 pounds ground turkey
- 2-3 tbsp olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tsp ground thyme
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 cup white onion
- 1 tbsp fresh parsley finely chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 1 ½ cup tomatoes diced
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp turmeric
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ½ cup cooked chickpeas
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the ground turkey to the skillet, season with garlic and thyme, and cook, breaking the meat up with a spoon, until no longer pink, 3 to 5 minutes.
- Add tomato paste and lemon juice and stir to mix. Cook for an additional 2 minutes or until tomato paste is well incorporated. Add onion, parsley, lemon juice, diced tomatoes, paprika and cook for 10 – 15 minutes until the tomatoes have released most of their juice. Add paprika, turmeric and ground cloves, and cook for another 2 minutes. Season to taste, add chickpeas let cook for 3 – 5 minutes and remove from stovetop and serve with white rice.
Notes
Nutrition
Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on the products used.
Nutrition info is automatically generated and provided as a courtesy and as an estimate only.
Originally published November 11, 2015. Updated and revised.
I was very disappointed about this recipe. It was very dry and I had to keep adding seasoning to this to make it taste good. I wouldn’t make this recipe ever again.
This recipe contains your basic recipe and it is meant to please people who do not like a lot of spices in their food. As far as the recipe being dry, you probably cooked in too much as the tomatoes and chickpeas would have provided moisture. It is not supposed to be very saucy. You could also add chicken broth. Also, ground turkey does not take long to cook.
Not bad! In all fairness, I was missing two ingredients but the store was already closed. I think I would add salt to taste, and definitely more lemon juice, but otherwise it was pretty darn good