I Made Turkey Kielbasa Tacos! (Plus Hillshire Farm Giveaway!)

Like most intelligent humans, I’m a big fan of bacon. In fact, for breakfast every day I have a boring old bowl of oatmeal, along with four slices of bacon. Okay, fine. Turkey bacon. But that’s only because of some silly high cholesterol thing, and yeah I’m trying to eat healthy.

Thing is, as much as I love bacon, when it comes to breakfast meats, I actually prefer sausage. And speaking of sausage (see how smooth I am?), I could eat my body weight in hot dogs if it wouldn’t kill me, but even better than Nathan’s Famous franks would be grilling up some kielbasa. Oh, man is that stuff good.

My dad used to make it on the BBQ every once in a while. Just slice it, toss it on the grill and serve it up with some sauerkraut and your’e in business. Yes, we often had to settle for turkey kielbasa for health reasons, but even that’s insanely delicious! Which brings me to the point of this post: Turkey Kielbasa.

I recently wrote about my awesome trip to BlogHer in NYC, where I pretty much ate all my meals at the Hillshire Farm and Jimmy Dean booths. Their samples were out of this world! Well, the fine folks over at Hillshire Farm were kind enough to send me a voucher for a free Hillshire Farm Product, so that I could whip up my own original recipe and share it with the internet world. And that’s just what I did.

I’m far from a great cook. I can boil water and use a microwave pretty well. Although I am banned from cooking rice in my own house, I can grill a seriously mean turkey burger. (The secret’s all in the basting.) So I gave it all of 10 seconds worth of thought before I came up with the ultimate idea for a new recipe: Turkey Kielbasa Tacos!

Now I didn’t want to go nuts and make real Mexican type of tacos (though, those would be great). Instead, I wanted to do a traditional kielbasa-type meal, just delivered in a taco format.

 

Turkey Kielbasa Tacos

 

Ingredients:

1 package of Hillshire Farm turkey kielbasa
1 package of fresh sauerkraut
1 jar of garlic dill pickles
1 package of whole wheat tortillas
2 cups of shredded light Colby-Jack cheese
1/2 cup of Russian dressing
1 package of fresh button mushrooms
1 medium Spanish onion
6 cloves of garlic

 

These tortillas are low fat and taste great. As far as light cheeses go, it’s tough to beat Sargento.
This is a yogurt-based salad dressing, so it’s healthier than normal, but also creamier.

 

Instructions:

I’m going to keep this short and simple here, and just briefly describe what I did without specific measurements. You can adjust accordingly, and remember I tried to keep this healthy, but you can certainly change things up.

1. First, I sprayed a frying pan with Pam. I diced up the onions, tossed them in the pan on medium heat and cooked through until translucent. While that’s going on, I warmed up the tortillas. Wrap a stack of them in aluminum foil and stick in the oven at roughly 200 degrees to warm.

2. When the onions were done, I then sliced up the garlic and tossed that in the pan, stirring frequently to keep it from burning. (Remember, burnt garlic = total dinner FAIL).

3. I fully washed the mushrooms and then sliced and diced them. I wasn’t sure if I wanted chunks of mushrooms or slices, so I kind of just did both. Tossed those in and stirred until the mushrooms softened and darkened a bit.

 

The garlic’s patiently waiting in its purple bowl, while I dive into the mushrooms!

4. Meanwhile, I sprayed another frying pan with Pam. (NOTE: I would have grilled the kielbasa, but it was unfortunately pouring outside.) I cut the turkey  kielbasa into a number of long strips, and then sliced each piece lengthwise. I placed all pieces into the frying pan on medium flame. After a few minutes (when the smell started to make my mouth water), I added some sauerkraut to the frying pan, including some of the liquid (but not too much). Let that cook until the sauerkraut is heated and the kielbasa starts blackening slightly on the edges.

Onions on the left, turkey kielbasa on the right. If you didn’t catch that, this recipe may be a bit too tough for ya!

 

Always be prepared with the proper tools, like a Captain America spatula!

5. Once those are done, your tacos are pretty much set. Take a tortilla, spread a small amount of Russian dressing on it. Then place two strips of turkey kielbasa and sauerkraut on top. Add a few spoonfuls of the onion/mushroom mix, and top with some shredded cheese and diced pickles. Fold the tortilla over and eat!

All cooked and ready to stuff!

I wasn’t sure how the pickles would work out, but I enjoyed the crunch and the slight flavor it added to the whole mixture. Next time I might experiment by dicing up the kielbasa and mixing it with the onions from the get go to see how that turns out. But for my very first recipe ever, I was pretty pleased with the result, and ate two hearty (and meaty) tacos.

Stuffed, folded, and ready to be eaten!

 

How’d they taste? Like a little slice of Heaven. With a side of sauerkraut.

 



Win 4 Hillshire Farm Coupon Vouchers

Good for 1 Free Product ($5.99 value each)

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Thanks to Hillshire Farms for sponsoring this giveaway and for making such deliciousness!

Giveaway ends on September 5, 2012 at 11:59 p.m. One winner will be chosen at random and announced on this site. Giveaway is open only to legal residents of the fifty (50) United States (including District of Columbia) who are at least eighteen (18) years old at the time of entry. The Winner will be notified by email and has 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen.

I received a set of the featured product in exchange for my honest opinions. The thoughts and opinions expressed in this post are my own and in no way were influenced by the company providing the product.

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212 thoughts on “I Made Turkey Kielbasa Tacos! (Plus Hillshire Farm Giveaway!)”

  1. We love to do Sauerkraut with Sausage, that’s the only way we eat sausage. 🙂 I cook it in the crockpot with brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, etc. It’s DELICIOUS! Ok, now I have to get me some sausage next time and do that.

  2. Hello, how are you? Thank you for this opportunity. I would use the Hillshire Farms Turkey Sausage in chili.

  3. grilled and served with garlic bread and grilled veggies is our favorite way to eat Hillshire Farm Sausage. All though Kay P.’s Fried potatoes and onions with sausage sounds really good.

  4. I make a skillet dinner with it using baby carrots, green peppers, cabbage and onions…with a little vegetable broth thrown in.

  5. The Tacos would not make it to my table sorry. There is a recipe for Potato Salad with Smoked Sausage that i think the Turkey Kielbasa could be used in. That I would make.

  6. Maybe I am just hungry but the Turkey Kielbasa Tacos sound delicious…but I would have to add chopped jalapenos. 🙂 Thank you.

  7. I would use it in my spinach parmesan tomato pasta that my family loves. Thank you for the lovely giveaway!
    Erin E
    busymom369 at gmail dot com

  8. I’ve had a recipe for kielbasa kabobs that I’ve been wanting to try! You layer the kielbasa, peppers, onions, and mushrooms on a skewer. Then grill. Delish!

    coriwestphal at msn dot com

  9. I love kielbasa and perogies but need to make it with turkey sausage and fat free sour cream.I just got diagnosed with coronary artery disease and had 3 stents put in on Friday.

  10. My dad used to make use kielbasa with onions, peppers and potatoes, so I would love to recreate that using some zucchini!

  11. I make kielbasa tacos about once a week, but differently: guacamole, corn tortillas, and rice.

    wolverina401 at gmail dot com

  12. Would love to make my Grandmother’s Macaroni & Four cheese casserole with Turkey Kielbasa added to it!!!

  13. I like the Taco Recipe, but I would probably just make good ol’ Sausage & Sauerkraut. Maybe add a little onion in, too.

  14. Kielbasa steam cooked and topped with plenty of creamed horseradish. That served with a cold beer.

    Hope to win!

  15. I’d make”Potatoes and Eggs”—that’s what we call it–kielbasa chunks, potato chunks, onion, garlic, scrambled eggs, a bit of salt,pepper, and hot sauce.

  16. Oh yum! I’d be happy just to eat it by itself, or it would also be good with some fried potatoes, onions and peppers!

    Thanks for the giveaway!

  17. I showed hubby you taco recipe iv never heard of anything like it b4 and he loves sauerkraut and thats whats for dinner tonight. But id prob make one of my recipes that includes bell peppers, sausage, brown sugar, and some other things.

  18. I might be among the few, also, who really actually like saurkraut, too! I would try that one. I really really like Hillshire farm products!

  19. Sounds appealing to grill then serve with fermented kraut salad and beans (how much protein can you stand in one sitting)

  20. We love cutting these up and marinating in Baby Rays and diced jalepenos and onions and letting them simmer slowly!

  21. I WOULD LOVE TO MAKE IT WITH MAC AND CHEESE!!!
    SPICE IT UP A LITTLE PUT SOME OLIVES, SOME ONIONS!!!

  22. I’d saute some onions and peppers, and add barbecue sauce and the kielbasa. Serve over rolls for great sandwiches!

  23. Easy because I already use Hillshire Farms for my jambalaya when i’m too cheap to buy andouille

    ky2here at msn dot com

  24. Awesome recipe. We don’t do mushrooms, have fresh kilbo available locally, and are definitely making this!

    • Hey, Tom! Thanks for the comment. Do you not like mushrooms or is there an allergy? And oh man fresh kilbo would be heavenly!

  25. I would love to try to make this in the crock pot, my Dad and sister have some recipe they use and it comes out so yummy! I love what you did, looks so delicious. I think I would use BBQ sauce and make them in crock pot.

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