This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.
This healthier Meximelt copycat recipe is made with ground turkey seasoned with my homemade taco seasoning wrapped in a tortilla with melted cheese and pico de gallo. Easy and delicious!
Meximelt
The Meximelt has always been my favorite thing at Taco Bell since they opened in the 80s. So, naturally, I was bummed when they took it off the menu! But have no fear—this homemade, healthier copycat version made with ground turkey is so good and simple to make. My whole family loves them! If you’re also a Taco Bell fan, don’t miss this copycat Cheeseburger Crunch Wrap.
Why This Meximelt Recipe Works
- Flavorful: The well-seasoned taco meat with fresh pico de gallo and melty cheese results in a satisfying, tasty flavor combo.
- Healthy: Using lean ground turkey and low-carb tortillas makes this homemade Meximelt lighter than fast food.
- Quick Assembly: After the ground turkey cooks, just layer the meat, pico, and cheese in a tortilla, wrap it up, and microwave it for a minute.
Meximelt Ingredients
- Pico de Gallo: Tomato, scallion, cilantro, jalapeño, lime juice, kosher salt
- Taco Meat: Buy 93% lean ground turkey.
- Garlic and Onion: Mince two garlic cloves and half of a small onion.
- Bell Pepper: Mince two tablespoons of red bell pepper.
- Liquid: You’ll need water and canned tomato sauce.
- Taco Seasoning: My taco seasoning recipe includes garlic powder, cumin, kosher salt, chili powder, sweet paprika, and dried oregano.
- Tortillas: My favorite low-carb flour tortillas are La Banderita’s Carb Counter Tortillas.
- Meximelt Cheese: Use shredded Monterey Jack, Colby Jack, or a Mexican cheese blend.
How to Make a Meximelt
- Make Pico de Gallo: Combine the pico de gallo ingredients in a bowl and refrigerate until ready to use. Before adding it to the Meximelt, drain it so the tortillas don’t get soggy.
- Cook the Taco Meat: Brown the ground turkey in a large skillet over medium-high heat, breaking it into smaller pieces. When it’s no longer pink, sprinkle the taco seasoning over it.
- Simmer Tomato Sauce: Stir in the onion, garlic, bell pepper, water, and tomato sauce and cover the skillet. Simmer on low for about 15 minutes or until the sauce thickens and the flavors meld. Uncover and cook over medium heat for a few minutes until the liquid reduces and evaporates. If there’s too much liquid, it will make the tortillas soggy.
- Warm the tortillas by wrapping them in a clean dish towel and microwaving for about 20 seconds. They should be pliable so they don’t crack.
- Assemble the Meximelt: Top each tortilla with a quarter cup of cheese, a third cup of taco meat, and some pico. Fold in the sides and roll it up like a burrito.
- Melt the Cheese: Wrap each Meximelt in a damp paper towel and microwave each one for one minute. Remove and serve immediately.
Variations:
- Meat: Swap ground turkey for ground beef.
- Time Savers: Buy pico de gallo and taco seasoning from the supermarket to save time.
- Tortillas: Substitute flour tortillas with whole wheat ones or use gluten-free tortillas, like Siete.
- Not a fan of cilantro? Omit it from the pico de gallo.
- Bell Pepper: Sub any color bell pepper for a red one.
What to Serve with Meximelts
This easy Meximelt recipe is great for a quick lunch, especially if you already have all the ingredients prepared. If you’re serving them for dinner and want a more filling meal, below are some ideas:
- Rice: Cilantro Lime Rice, Latin Yellow Rice, Mexican Cauliflower Rice
- Beans: Mexican Pinto Beans with Queso, Brazilian Black Beans
- Salad: Grilled Corn Salad with Cotija, Black Bean, Avocado, and Tomato Salad
Storage
Meximelts are best eaten right after they’re assembled and heated. If you have leftover ingredients, store them separately for up to four days and make them right before serving.
More Mexican-Inspired Recipes You’ll Love
- Smash Taco
- Air Fryer Empanadas
- Enchilada Chicken Roll-Ups
- Picadillo Quesadillas
- Turkey Santa Fe Lettuce Wraps
Meximelt Recipe
This healthier Meximelt copycat recipe is made with ground turkey seasoned with my homemade taco seasoning wrapped in a tortilla with melted cheese and pico de gallo. Easy and delicious!
Yield: servings
Serving Size: 1 meximelt
Ingredients
For the Pico De Gallo:
- 1 cup chopped tomato
- 1/4 cup chopped scallion
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 1/2 jalapeno, minced
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
For the ground taco meat:
- 1 pound 93% lean ground turkey
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- 1/2 small onion, minced
- 2 tablespoons red bell pepper, minced
- 1/3 cup water
- 1/2 cup canned tomato sauce
- 1 1/2 tablespoons homemade taco seasoning
- 8 low-carb taco size flour tortillas, I like La Banderita Carb Counter Carb Lean Flour Tortillas
- 6 ounces freshly shredded monterey jack, colby jack or Mexican shredded cheese blend (about 2 1/4 cups)
Instructions
- To prepare the pico de gallo toss all of the ingredients together in a bowl and refrigerate until ready to use. Once ready to use, drain so your mexi melt doesn’t get soggy.
- Brown the turkey in a large skillet over medium-high heat, breaking it into smaller pieces as it cooks. When no longer pink add taco seasoning and mix well.
- Add the onion, garlic, bell pepper, water and tomato sauce, stir and cover. Simmer on low for about 15 minutes or until the sauce thickens and the flavors meld.
- Uncover and cook over medium heat until the liquid reduces and evaporates if too liquidy to avoid soggy tortillas, 3 to 5 more minutes.
- Warm Microwave the flour tortillas in a clean dish towel, for about 20 seconds, or until they are pliable so they don’t crack.
- Top each tortilla with 3/4 ounce (about 1/4 cup) cheese, 1/3 cup taco meat, and some of the pico de gallo. Fold in the sides and roll up like a burrito.
- Wrap each Meximelt in a damp paper towel and microwave for 60 seconds each.
- Remove and serve immediately.
Last Step:
Please leave a rating and comment letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business to thrive and continue providing free, high-quality recipes for you.Nutrition
Serving: 1 meximelt, Calories: 224 kcal, Carbohydrates: 20 g, Protein: 21.5 g, Fat: 12 g, Saturated Fat: 5 g, Cholesterol: 61 mg, Sodium: 640.5 mg, Fiber: 12 g, Sugar: 2 g
Anyone ever try prepping meat mixture with everything but the cheese and pico beforehand and then heating it all up later when you put the cheese and pico in the tortilla in the microwave?
This is my new favorite Skinny Taste recipe. Absolutely delicious!
We love this recipe. Tastes just like Taco Bell, and it’s super quick to put together. Gina, can I double this recipe and freeze it for later?
Yummy! I don’t do fast food so can’t tell you how close this is , but it’s very good. I’m not a bell pepper lover so I use Ortega chilis instead. Delicious!!
This is so stinking good! I used lean ground beef, reduced fat cheese and store bought pico, and this scratched the Taco Bell itch in a huge way- the entire family loved it!
I loved getting Meximelts at TB & I was so bummed when they stopped selling them! This recipe was so close to the ones I fondly remember! I used lean ground beef instead of ground turkey.
Amazing. Just delicious. Simple, yet tremendously delicious. I actually did this entirely on the stove top because I didn’t have time to use the grill. I used 3 15.5 ounce cans of corn, drained them, and then put them into a very hot grill pan. I basically “charred” the corn that way and it worked so well. Family went crazy over this. I will be making this over and over. Yum!
Can these be frozen and reheated?
I’ll be making this again. My family LOVED this dish and it came together very quick and easy.
Easy and delicious! Will definitely make it again.
This was AMAZING! The beef meximelt was one of my go-to menu items and this recipe was spot on! Please can you do a mexican pizza?!
Perfection! Absolutely delicious! I added some black beans to sneak in a little extra protein. Definitely adding it to the rotation. Thank you!
So good !
Quick, easy and freezes amazing; this is a monthly item on my calendar.
I am going to try mixing it with protein pasta to change it up a bit.
This was so good! And, best of all, my various picky eaters all loved it!!!! Thank you!!!
A great week night recipe! Very flavorful
This was delicious and easy to make! Will definitely make this again!
This is so good. Only change made was Sazon for the taco seasoning since I didn’t have any on hand. I’ve already made about 5 times!
Super easy to make and delicious! We used ground beef instead of turkey, but will definitely make again!
I had a really hard time finding these as directed. They looked awful but tasted great.
Do you think you could wrap these up individually and freeze them?
Delicious and super easy to make (I used store bought pico to cut down on time)! Brings back memories of when I would order Meximelts 2-3x per week as a kid…
Oh, man, I have missed Meximelts! I was skeptical that these would taste the same, but they really tasted like a Meximelt! So good!
Right!!!
Theses are so good. In my microwave though 60 seconds at the end was way too long. They were scorching when they came out. But once they cooled down…. delicious
This was delicious and very filling. I added onion to the Pico. If you didn’t tell anyone, they would never know it was a “healthy” version. Also added avocado as the side with some extra pico mixed in.
AMAZING!!!!!!!
This recipe is delicious! I’ve tried it with both ground turkey and ground beef, and while I like the ground turkey better, my family ate both. Take the time to make your own pico and taco seasoning! Both are delicious!
I LOVED the meximelt from Taco Bell when I was in highschool and college too. This recipe is spot on! Brought back many late night memories. 🤪 My husband loved it too! Thank you for sharing this recipe.
I used very lean ground beef and it tastes like a non-greasy Meximelt. Yes, please! Love it and can’t wait for my leftovers. Lol
I used to eat Meximelts in high school and college and loved them but I have not been to a Taco Bell in YEARS. I loved this recipe! Brought back memories for sure!
YAY!
This was amazing! I used 99% lean ground Turkey to get more protein for less calories and it was delicious! I also air fried the burrito for 5 mins at 400 to get it a little crispy at the end which I recommend if you like more of a chimichanga texture! Thank you for this awesome recipe!!
Great!!
What size are the tortillas?
Thank you! This is deeeelicious!
This is a really great recipe; the flavours meld well together! Because I love crispiness, after I assembled them, I placed them in the air fryer at 350 for about 10 minutes until browned (turned once) and they were excellent served with the pico de gallo along with guacamole and light sour cream!
I’m convinced this is the actual Meximelt. Fantastic!
Great!!!
Hi Gina! I just wanted you to know that the recipe printer software you are using is not working. It’s not just your site. Other cooking sites that use the same software are also not working. It just spits out a blank sheet of paper. Trying to print this to put in my recipe binder….no luck. Not my printer because everything else prints just fine. Just thought you should know. This is on the menu for the next Taco Tuesday!
Did you find a solution? We have troubleshooted for months and no luck.
Can these be frozen? Do you recommend freezing after heating in microwave?
I haven;t tried this I would probably freeze before microwaving and just cover tight with foil.
Me and my mom also loved the Meximelt, so I buy the chili cheese burrito from Taco Bell since it’s similar. That’s the only thing missing from this recipe because their Meximelt was almost chili cheese based, this recipe tastes like a regular mini burrito. Still good, but not what I was hoping for.
Could you make these in the air fryer versus the microwave ? Interested i what the paper towel wrapping does ?
It steams it similar to taco bell. But if you want, you can heat it on a skillet instead!
I definitely want to try these and freeze them. I’m not a Taco Bell fan, but a Gina fan so I know they will be delicious!
Really good! Easy to make. I substituted 96% lean beef instead of turkey.