Recipes & How-To's
Turkey and Quinoa Mini Meat Loaves

Turkey and Quinoa Mini Meat Loaves

These little ground turkey loaves are bulked up with black beans and healthy quinoa. Bake them up in muffin tins.

Cook time

45 mins

Recipe Difficulty

Medium

Yield

Makes about 20

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp canola oil
  • 1 cup diced onion
  • 1 cup diced red bell pepper
  • 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 lb (0.5 kg) ground turkey
  • 1 can (19 oz/540 mL) black beans, rinsed and drained
  • 2 cups cooked quinoa, cooled
  • 2 cups medium salsa, divided
  • 1 1/2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese, divided
  • 1 cup frozen kernel corn
  • 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
  • 2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
  • 1 tsp grated lime peel
  • 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 1/8 tsp salt

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
  2. Heat oil in a medium non-stick frypan over medium heat. Add onion and red pepper; sauté until softened, about 3 - 4 minutes.
  3. Add garlic, chili powder, cumin and paprika; cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.
  4. Combine onion mixture, turkey, beans, quinoa, 1 cup salsa, 1 cup cheese, corn, beaten eggs, cilantro, lime peel, cayenne pepper and salt until blended.
  5. Spoon mixture into greased muffin cups. Dividing equally, top mixture in each muffin cup with remaining 1 cup salsa and remaining 1/2 cup cheese.
  6. Bake until meat loaves are lightly browned on top and a meat thermometer inserted in centres registers 175°F, about 35 - 40 minutes.
  7. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Tip: Quinoa should be thoroughly rinsed and drained, then cooked using a ratio of one part quinoa to two parts water. Bring water to a boil in a saucepan. Stir in quinoa and return to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until liquid is absorbed and quinoa is tender. Fluff quinoa with a fork. Cooking 3/4 cup quinoa should yield more than enough cooked quinoa for this recipe.

Nutritional analysis per serving

*Ingredient not included in nutritional analysis.

145 calories, 6.5 g fat, 10.2 g protein, 12.1 g carbohydrate, 2.8 g fibre, 257 mg sodium