Greek Style Ground Turkey Skillet with Spinach features Mediterranean flavor from olives, feta cheese and lemon juice. Try this easy recipe for a healthy meal on a busy night! Originally published in 2016, updated in 2019 with some new photos and a wine pairing suggestion. Disclosure: The wine recommended was provided as a complimentary sample. The post also contains affiliate links.
This Greek Style Ground Turkey Skillet recipe was originally created for Sunday Supper event focused on easy skillet recipes, hosted by Liz at That Skinny Chick Can Bake. My cast iron skillet gets a lot of use, and I was happy to create a new recipe to enjoy with it.
I make a lot of food in the skillet, but wanted to do something a little different. I’m interested in finding some more ways to eat ground turkey, and thought I’d make a ground turkey skillet dish.
I decided to cook up ground turkey with some onions and garlic, and add some spinach for color and nutrition. I started thinking about some Mediterranean flavors for the dish–oregano, cinnamon, feta, olives and lemon juice. The result was this flavorful and easy Greek Style Ground Turkey Skillet recipe.
If you want another way to use ground turkey, try our Easy Black Bean Turkey Chili! Or another good one is this Turkey Cabbage Skillet recipe.
For another Greek flavored dish, try our Greek Spaghetti recipe!
Making This Recipe
This easy turkey skillet dinner comes together in just over half an hour. I like this ground turkey skillet recipe served with orzo, so I’m writing it up that way. You could try it with couscous, too, if you like. Here are a few tips:
- Get the onions cooking in the cast iron skillet, followed by the bell pepper.
- Start the water boiling for the orzo after you add the pepper.
- After adding the ground turkey to the skillet, use a heavy spoon to gradually break up the turkey and stir it up with the peppers and onions.
- How long does it take to cook ground turkey on a skillet? In just three minutes or so of cooking, the outside of the turkey will start turning white. But of course you want to be sure the turkey gets cooked through. Simmering the turkey with the tomatoes and other vegetables for a good ten minutes after the outside of the meat has browned will ensure it gets cooked through.
- The baby spinach gets added to the skillet at the very end of the cooking. It will wilt within a minute or so.
- I originally used cinnamon in this dish, but during my latest remake I used thyme instead. I thought it would be better with the wine pairing in mind. Either spice is fine for a tasty dish.
- When I first made the recipe, I served the ground turkey mixture over the orzo as I plated it. During our recent remake, I stirred the orzo into the skillet after the pasta had cooked. That worked pretty well, as shown above.
Wine pairing
We initially had our Greek Turkey Spinach Skillet with a Picpoul de Pinet, a white wine grape found in the Languedoc region of France. I picked that mostly because I thought it would be the best option out of what I had on hand. Coming back and reading that I paired a fairly light white wine with this dish, I figure my cellar must have been pretty bare at the time!
Making this ground turkey skillet again, red wine just seemed like the way to go. Maybe because the evenings are starting to get chilly!
A Greek Agiorgitiko could be a good red keeping with the flavors of the dish. But I didn’t have any on hand. Ultimately this ground turkey skillet recipe is generally Mediterranean as much as it is Greek per se.
I’d just gotten a shipment of wines from the Rhone appellation Rasteau, which is about 90 minutes from the Mediterranean sea. Seemed like trying one of those bottles made sense!
Trying a Rasteau red wine
Like most red wines from the Rhone Valley, Rasteau red wines are a combination of Grenache (at least 50%), Syrah and Mourvedre.
I had a general sense that the tendency of reds from the region to have a rustic character could work well with the Mediterranean flavors of our ground turkey skillet dish. But I was a bit concerned about how higher alcohol would play with the turkey and tomatoes. In other words, the dish is on the lighter side and also has some acidity to contend with.
Not knowing much about the four wines we have to try from Rasteau, I picked the one with the lowest alcohol to pair with the dish — the 2016 Famille Perrin L’Andéol Rasteau AOC ($24, 13.5% ABV). With a light scent of a forest floor on the nose, I tasted bright cherry fruit and a bit of oak with charcoal undertones. Medium bodied, with good structure and medium acidity.
I was quite pleased with how the Rasteau from Famille Perrin worked with the ground turkey skillet. The rustic aspect of both the wine and dish played well together, and there was also enough acidity to pick up the tomatoes in the recipe.
I would definitely encourage you to pick up this bottle to pair with this ground turkey recipe; or try another Rhone red blend if you have one on hand.
Learn more about Rasteau AOC wines and grab another healthy recipe in our Chicken Lentil Stew with Rhone Wine from Rasteau article.
Stay tuned for more about Rasteau AOC wines! We will be focusing on the region for the November French Winophiles event and will be sure to link to our article on the topic.
PrintGreek Style Ground Turkey Skillet
Delicious Greek Style Ground Turkey recipe features ground turkey and spinach cooked in a skillet with tomatoes, onions and garlic, with feta cheese, olives and lemon juice providing some good Greek flavors. Serve with orzo.
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 35 mins
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Main
- Method: skillet
- Cuisine: Greek
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 colored bell pepper, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 lb ground turkey
- ¼ cup red wine
- 1 14.5 oz can chopped tomatoes
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- ¼ tsp cinnamon
- 1 tbs lemon juice
- 3 cups baby spinach
- 10 ozs orzo
- ¼ cup feta cheese, plus additional for serving
- 8 olives, sliced
Instructions
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet on medium heat.
- Add the onion, cook for 5 minutes.
- Stir in the bell pepper. Cook for a few more minutes, then add the garlic and cook for one more minute.
- Add the turkey, breaking it up with a heavy spoon. Stir to combine with the other ingredients, then stir in the red wine.
- When the red wine has been absorbed after a minute or two, stir in the tomatoes, followed by the oregano and cinnamon. This is a good time to put on begin cooking the orzo to serve with the turkey spinach skillet.
- Simmer the turkey and vegetable mixture for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Stir in the spinach, and cook for a few more minutes, until wilted. Stir in the lemon juice, olives and feta.
- Drain the cooked orzo, and scoop a serving onto a plate. Scoop a serving of the turkey spinach skillet mixture over the orzo and enjoy! Alternatively, when the orzo is cooked you can stir the cooked pasta in with the turkey skillet mixture and combine it there, prior to plating.
Notes
- In just three minutes or so of cooking, the outside of the turkey will start turning white. But of course you want to be sure the turkey gets cooked through. Simmering the turkey with the tomatoes and other vegetables for a good ten minutes after the outside of the meat has browned will ensure it gets cooked through.
- Thyme can be used instead of cinnamon in this recipe.
Keywords: skillet recipes, ground turkey, Greek recipes, ground turkey skillet, easy turkey skillet dinner
Liz
This is a gorgeous dish!!! Plus I love all the yummy ingredients you added!!!
Cooking Chat
Thanks Liz! I think colorful dishes usually taste pretty good!
Wendy, A Day in the Life on the Farm
This sounds perfect David. Healthy, tasty and nutritious. Love Mediterranean food.
Cooking Chat
Thanks Wendy! I do more Italian than Greek, but I do enjoy pretty much anything Mediterranean!
The Ninja Baker
I’m all for any dish with feta cheese…Especially one that is so pretty and colorful. Very impressive too that you’ve recommended just the right wine =)
Cooking Chat
Love feta here…oh yeah, and wine too!
Dorothy Pike
I’ve searched and searched for a different spin on ground turkey. They are all The Same! Until I found yours. Blessed be. Lol. It’s has a different taste profile and subtilty of different spices. SO appreciated. I’ll be looking to you for new taste sensations. Keep it up and nicely done!
★★★★★
Cooking Chat
Thanks Dorothy, appreciate the feedback!
Lisa
This recipe is delicious, different, and I like that its healthy. I didn’t have red wine, so I used reduced sodium beef stock. Would recommend!
Cooking Chat
Glad you enjoyed it! The beef stock is a good substitution.
April
I love the flavors and colors going on in this dish!
Cooking Chat
Thanks April!
Kelly Anthony
We love a good skillet meal at our house especially on the night when everyone is tired from the day. I also like how this one is packed with veggies and protein.
★★★★★
Cooking Chat
Skillet meals are great for sure!
Crissy
Excellent recipe! A+ To make this lower-sodium I had to modify a few things: canned diced tomato was no salt added, feta was replaced with no-salt Farmers cheese and we served it over plain rice instead of pasta. This recipe will go into our meal rotation! Thank you!!
★★★★★
Cooking Chat
Glad you liked it, Chrissy. Those sound like good adjustments.
Shanika
This dish looks so delicious! I love eating turkey as well so this works!
★★★★★
Cooking Chat
Thanks, we enjoy a lot of turkey here.
Ellen
Love that this is made in about 30 minutes! It will be perfect for those busy weeknights.
Cooking Chat
Good to have quick & healthy meals in your back pocket!
Shinta Simon
This is a great idea for an extra-special dinner. I especially like that you used feta in the dish, and paired it with these beautiful Mediterranean flavors. It does look great!
Cooking Chat
Special but easy enough for a weeknight!
Demeter
This skillet looks fully loaded! So many great flavors and I love how easy it is to get on the dinner table!
Cooking Chat
Thanks, definitely a lot packed in here!
Amanda
This is such a fabulous recipe! The red wine adds such a nice depth of flavor, and those beautiful colors make for a great presentation. Thanks so much for sharing!
★★★★★
Aleta
Oh yum this looks incredible! I love the Greek style ingredients, especially the orzo, and I love the idea of swapping out the cinnamon for thyme depending on what wine to serve it with!
★★★★★
Cooking Chat
Thanks Aleta! A little change with the spice can make a big difference for the wine pairing!