The delicious, sweet teriyaki sauce and the (kind of) hidden veggies in this Teriyaki Turkey Rice Bowl makes this a healthy ground turkey recipe that your whole family will love!
I love Asian inspired dishes, and Teriyaki is a family favorite. The sweet and savory richness of the sauce really compliment the flavors of the meat. You can pair this with steamed rice or noodles, or even wrap it up in a Lettuce Wrap.
GROUND TURKEY TERIYAKI RICE BOWLS
Ground turkey recipes are always a winner in our house, like Turkey, Kale and Rice Soup, Turkey Taco Stuffed Shells and Spicy Turkey Meatloaf. These Teriyaki Turkey Rice Bowls almost always top the list of favorites.
My kids are not fans of vegetables. Well, quite frankly that is an understatement. They hate them. So I have had to get clever with how I add veggies to our meals.
How to make Teriyaki Turkey Rice Bowls
- After cooking the ground turkey with some onions and garlic, I grated a few carrots and chopped several stalks of broccoli very fine, and tossed them in with the meat. This gave the illusion that there weren’t very many vegetables in there, but they couldn’t avoid what they could see! *Note – if you are serving this as a rice bowl, you’ll want to start cooking the rice before you start cooking the meat.
- The teriyaki sauce is made from scratch and is incredibly easy. Some readers have commented on the amount of sugar in the sauce, and you can see in the recipe notes that you can reduce the amount of sugar to your liking. Teriyaki sauce is typically sweet on it’s own, but you can adjust the levels based on your needs. It will still taste great!
- The teriyaki sauce is combined with the meat and veggies and simmered for a few minutes to let the flavors blend and get all happy. Then scoop it on top of white or brown rice, noodles, into lettuce cups or even flour tortillas for some Asian-Mexican fusion!
Once the sauce is added, the veggies blend in nicely in these Teriyaki Turkey Rice Bowls. I’m happy. My kids are happy. It’s a win-win! My kids loved this dish, asking for seconds and if they could take it for lunch the next day in their thermoses. I’d call that a success.
What other vegetables can I use?
Feel free to customize this recipe to fit your own personal tastes. Use cut up veggies and sauté or steam them before adding them to the turkey and sauce.
Some other veggie options:
- Bell peppers
- Snow peas
- Water chestnuts
- Bok choy
- Bean sprouts
- Zucchini
- Corn
- Cauliflower
Can I use ground beef instead of ground turkey?
Yes, you absolutely can! You will want to make sure to drain it really well since ground beef lets out a lot of liquid, but it will work just as well as the ground turkey.
Love Teriyaki as much as we do? Here are some more Asian inspired Teriyaki recipes to try:
- Teriyaki Chicken Lettuce Wraps
- Teriyaki Turkey Meatballs
- Teriyaki Barbecue Pineapple Chicken Sheet Pan Dinner
For more healthy main dishes and ground turkey recipes, try these:
- Creamy Cheesy Turkey Taco Pasta
- Turkey Taco Soup
- Spicy Turkey Meatloaf Recipe
- Smoked Sausage and Zucchini Skillet
Teriyaki Turkey Rice Bowl
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Low Sodium Soy Sauce
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons warm water
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup diced onion
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 1 pound Ground Turkey
- 1 cup finely chopped broccoli
- 2 large carrots peeled and grated
- 2 green onions diced, for garnish
Instructions
- Mix soy sauce, 1/4 cup water, red wine vinegar, sugars, garlic and ginger in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir with a whisk until sugar is dissolved.
- In a small bowl, whisk together 2 tablespoons warm water and cornstarch until cornstarch is completely dissolved.
- Heat sauce over medium high heat. Slowly whisk in cornstarch mixture and simmer until thickened. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add diced onions and cook until soft.
- Crumble ground turkey and garlic into the pan and cook until turkey is about half cooked. Add grated carrots and chopped broccoli and continue to cook until turkey is no longer pink.
- Pour teriyaki sauce over cooked turkey and vegetable mixture and stir. Simmer for about five minutes to combine the flavors.
- Spoon meat over rice or noodles. Garnish with green onions and serve immediately.
Notes
- Teriyaki Sauce is generally pretty sweet. However, feel free to cut back on the amount of sugar in the sauce. 1-2 tablespoons of each would suffice if you prefer a more savory than sweet flavor.
- The nutritional information is based on serving this teriyaki turkey over a cup of white rice. Use brown rice or just less rice to reduce calories and carbs.
Nutrition
Hi! I’m Kristin, the creative mind behind Yellow Bliss Road where you will be inspired by tons of easy to follow recipes, lots of free printables, and a little sprinkling of life thrown in for good measure.
I found this recipe after H-E-B had ground turkey for .99 cents a pound and I stocked up. I don’t use ground turkey too often so I looked for some fun recipes. This was so good! I added some frozen peas and a little oyster sauce I had in the fridge. I had almost everything for the recipe in the fridge/pantry except carrots so the whole meal cost less than $3 even when you add in rice cost! My girls, 12 & 6, absolutely loved it. When I make it again I think I will leave the broccoli a little bigger. Everything was very small, rice, ground meat, vegetables, I wouldn’t mind something a little bigger to change it up a little. Awesome recipe, I think I’m going to browse around the site a little now and see what other keepers you have!
Thank you Kristen for sharing your experience!
Rating actually 3.5. Really enjoyed this teriyaki turkey bowl recipe. BUT, I am not a big salt fan, and even with low-sodium soy sauce, I thought it was a little too salty. Next time I make it I plan to decrease the soy sauce perhaps an 1/8 of a cup and increase the water an 1/8 of a cup. I also used half the amount of both sugars. The broccoli I added was chopped a little more coarsely so it came out Al Dente. This balanced the otherwise all soft consistency of the dish. Finally, I was concerned the amount of sauce the recipe makes would be too much but it worked out just fine.
Hello Ctro, I love that you were able to make it work for you!
Excellent for quick, easy ground turkey, dish…Wish I had this receipt when my kids were kids..Guess more for me & friends :). Tweaked a little, 1 less tablespoon of reg. sugar, used Fresh grated ginger, Added a pinch of red pepper flakes for some heat to balance off sweetness, chopped up raw peanuts ( browned lightly in dry fry pan), added on top of finished dish with scallions .
Used Pad Tie rice noodles instead of boring rice…Delicious
I thought I had a bottle of teriyaki sauce in the pantry, but didn’t. I made my first teriyaki sauce and my boys LOVED IT! My 8 year old chopped up the broccoli and shredded the carrots. 3 helpings and please pack this for lunch tomorrow. What a winning meal!
Nice! So happy that you and your family loved this recipe!
My kids love this meal. We all do.
Thank you Tracy! So happy that you and your family loved this recipe!
So delicious! Thank You!
This recipe was AMAZING! I mixed it up and used bok choy instead of broccoli. Will definitely make this again!
Thank you Hope!
Love this recipe! Did not have enough soy sauce so i added a bit of Worcestershire sauce and also added baby bellas and it is so delish! Will be making this regularly from now on.
Thank you Nuria!
Delicious! Followed your recipes and so so good. Easy and flavorful. I’ll definitely make this again.
Thank you Jane!
Great recipe! Due to not having all the ingredients I replaced broccoli with crunchy fresh romaine , and replaced onion with chopped fresh celery with added onion powder. Still turned out amazing! I also used a bit of agave nectar instead of the granulated sugar in the teryiyaki and it turned out very well.
This recipe is a keeper. I used just one tablespoon of brown sugar (which I recommend) and 2 cups of broccoli. Results were delicious.
I make this 1-2 times per week, every week. I do a quick version, which is simply cooking the turkey and onions together, then I add the sauce and a bag of frozen vegetable mix (no lima beans) and let it all cook. Its fantastic and my husband loves it!! We make it in bulk now and freeze into gallon bags, defrost for dinner the next day. I also can’t find red cooking wine, so i do half white cooking wine and half vinegar.
This was awesome!! Definitely make it again!
Thank you Kathy!
You have garlic here twice. So is it actually 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons?
The teaspoons is for the sauce and the tablespoon is for the meat. 🙂
Wanted to do something different with my ground Turkey so I this for dinner…big hit! I tweaked it slightly. My vegetables included red and orange peppers, onions and broccoli. Decreased the sugar and added some red pepper flakes to give it a sweet and spicy taste. Turned out amazing.
Thanks for the recipe!
Thank you Mia!