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.
How to make Teriyaki Turkey Rice Bowls
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.
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.
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
Love Teriyaki as much as we do? Here’s another Asian inspired Teriyaki recipe to try:
Teriyaki Chicken Lettuce Wraps
For more healthy main dishes, try these:
- Teriyaki Turkey Lettuce Wraps
- Smoked Sausage and Zucchini Skillet
- Teriyaki Barbecue Pineapple Chicken Sheet Pan Dinner
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.
This sounds delicious and will be a meal (with leftovers for work lunch) this week! I know just how you feel about trying to sneak veggies into your kids…mine were the very same way! Thanks for sharing!
My husband & I enjoyed this recipe – great as leftovers too! Thanks for sharing.
Made this for my daughter yesterday for dinner and she said, “mommy this is the best meal in the world!” It was pretty tasty if I say so myself.
That’s great!!
Thank you, Kristin for this recipe! My 9 year old granddaughter will only eat mac & cheese. Since I had a frozen ground turkey breast in my freezer and had all these ingredients on hand I made it for her and she absolutely loved it!
Thanks,
Jane
this seemed a little overwhelming, but it wasn’t!! easy to prepare, and so yummy!! will make again!
I know it looks like a lot of ingredients, but that’s just for the sauce – you could always use a bottled teriyaki sauce if you wanted! But I’m glad you gave it a shot. It’s one of my favorite meals to date!!
Just made this for dinner and am in heaven! It so good!!! I like a little heat so I added some cayenne pepper to it.
This will be going into rotation. Thanks!
Oh what a great idea! Glad you enjoyed it!! It’s one of my all time favorites. 🙂
Just made this for dinner and my family of 6 loved it! I want to share it with my mom who follows weight watchers. She needs to know the calories, fat, fiber, etc. info. Any idea on the specs of this delish dish?
Hi Amber,
Unfortunately I am not a nutritionist so I hesitate to attempt to give out nutritional information. However there are many nutrition calculators available online. Good luck!
Ok, thanks!
Amber if you put all the ingredients into your app you should be able to get the smart points for this
Perla
Made this for the family tonight and it was a hit! It is now going to be added to our rotation. The only change was that I used less sugar and I omitted the carrots simply because we didn’t have any! Both my kids devoured it with rice and husband and I loved it, too! Loved that it was a meal that gave you low carb/yes carb choices. Many thanks!
I’m looking forward to making this but I was wondering why you had two sets of minced garlic in the recipe? When do I use the 2 teaspoons and when do I use the 2 tablespoons?
The teaspoons is for the sauce and the tablespoons are for the meat mixture. Sorry that wasn’t more clear! 🙂
This is delicious! Made it for dinner tonight, and it was even better than I expected. It’s very filling, so I have plenty for leftovers. Keeping this on my regular dinner rotation. Thank you for posting this!
So glad you enjoyed it! The meat mixture is delicious in lettuce wraps too, which is perfect for leftovers!
Made this tonight, used beef instead!! Was awesome! And easy! My new favourite sauce!!
I’m just wondering, around how long does it take to make this? 20 mins? And I bet this would taste delicious with ground chicken!
Yes, 20 minutes is about right – hope you enjoy!
I’ll admit, I started out thinking I wouldn’t like this. Because, in the past I haven’t like ground turkey. But this was DELICIOUS! My kids inhaled it and I wasn’t far behind them. I might have to change my mind about ground turkey. 🙂
I love how easy it is and that it’s a homemade teriyaki sauce. Super delicious and I’m excited about the leftovers for lunch!
So glad you liked it! Ground turkey is like chicken in that it takes on any flavor you give it!
I just made this tonight. It was delicious. I didn’t have any broccoli in the house but did have half a red, half a yellow, and half a green pepper. So I did onion and peppers and left out the carrots and broccoli. It was absolutely amazing and my boyfriend loved it. Asked for leftovers for lunch and to add to the rotation in our meals for sure!! Thanks for sharing.
That’s great! It’s super versatile and you can definitely swap out different veggies or even proteins!
This was very delicious but I cut the sugar drastically! I use 2T or brown and1T of white. It was still really sweet. My kids loved it too. Thanks!
Hi!
I was just wondering how this does with freezing (if you’ve tried that) for making make ahead meals?
I love this recipe, it is so good!
I haven’t tried that, but I think it would freeze fine.
How Manny servings dose this make please?
It makes 3-4 servings.
I made this tonight and it turned out great. I reduced both sugars by half and it was still sweet enough for us. We are attempting to reduce our sugar intake. Most recipes I reduce the sugar content in half.
I don’t have red wine, could we substitute with white wine?
The Red Wine Vinegar has a distinct flavor, but in a pinch you could swap for white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar.
I have both, thank you. Already prep everything about to start making it ?
This is such a great, simple recipe ~ thanks! It’s in regular rotation at our house.
So glad you enjoyed it Kim!
I searched “ground turkey recipes” because it was late and I needed we make something quickly to keep my boyfriend and friends from the urge to buy takeout and this was a huge hit! Not only was the food great, but we have fun doing it together. We subbed broccoli for peas and all agreed that water chestnuts or cashews would be a great add-in for next time (because we’re totally making it again). Thanks for helping us create a great meal!
Thank you for sharing your success Ariana! So glad you enjoyed it and I love your idea for adding cashews!
Kids and family love this.
This is a new family favorite. Made it last week, and my hubby is already asking for it again. I may need to double so there are enough leftovers for both of us! 😉
Hello!
If i’m using store bought teriyaki sauce, how much should I use for the same amounth of meat/veggie?
Thanks!
Yes, just adjust the amount of sauce to your desired taste.
Made tonight but didn’t have broccoli. Served with LoMein noodles and snow peas for a side. Will definitely make again and use for lettuce wraps. Added crushed red pepper flakes to give it that kick! Thanks for the easy directions!
Hello,
I was just thinking 1lb wiukdnt be enough for my Family. If I use 2lbs ground Turkey would I must double everything else?
Yes you would want to double the sauce.
This was an amazing very healthy meal. I prepared this for my fiance’ and she absolutely loved it! Very simple to make and easy with time. Thank you so much for sharing.
So glad you both enjoyed it Robert!
I love this recipe – I have made it almost weekly since I found it. I just tried it with spaghetti squash instead of rice and it is delicious!
So delicious!! Worth the time!!
I like this recipe, I was looking for something different to try with ground turkey. I added some napa cabbage that I needed use up – I liked it with and without the cabbage. I used truvia brown sugar blend and stevia for the sugars and used less than called for as I did not want it to be too sweet. I also used fresh ginger.
Made this tonight! My boys and husband loved it! No leftovers! Thanks
So happy to hear that!
Found this last minute, happened to have all the ingredients on hand, so I whipped it up. Family loved it, I added diced water chestnuts for little extra texture. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
I tried this tonight, using 1/2 the sugar it called for, and my family loved it! My 3 very picky kids ate all of it and no leftovers. Will have to double recipe next time.
Glad to hear it!
Made this last night and my husband and I loved it! It’s going in our regular dinner rotation. I loved the addition of vegetables, and I think it’s a great recipe to swap out different veggies we have on hand that week. Thanks for a great recipe!
So glad to hear it Kristen!
Both my boys- the 3yr old and the 40 yr old – just asked me if I would make this again next week. Score!!!
Thank you Kristin this was a hit in my home, everyone loved it!
I used less sugar -3 tbsp of coconut sugar- total
I only had regular soy sauce ;(… it was in the salty side so if you don’t have low sodium I recommend you use less soy sauce and replace with some water maybe?
I double the veggies including the onions.
And by mistake I tripled the garlic. It was amazing even with all my changes and mistakes;)
THANK YOU !
I ran out of soy sauce just before I started cooking, so I used Sriracha teriyaki sauce instead. I also used more carrots and onion to add more crunch. The result was amazing! Thank you the great idea!
Hi what is the calorie count on this dish per serving? Please
Hi Dee, I am not able to provide calorie counts for my recipes, but there are lots of great nutritional calculators online.
Not sure if my ground turkey was bad or I just didn’t care for the brand I bought, but I could not eat this at all. I might try with ground chicken next time or a different brand turkey.
Sorry to hear that Dawn! Everyone raves about this recipe so I hope you’ll give it another try.
I had to make it without the brown sugar, because I was out of it, but still made the sauce. So I went ahead and added an extra 2 tbsp of teriyaki sauce, also. My husband absolutely loved it. We had enough for leftovers for the next night. Very delicious!
Tried this as I was at a loss of what to make with ground turkey I got on sale. I switched out Soy Sauce for Teriyaki Sauce. I didnt have ginger so added a little Newmans Own Sesame Ginger. Turned out amazing! Family loves it. Thank you!
Made it and it turned out so delicious!! This was a way great to incorporate lots of veggies for meat lovers. Would have liked if the ingredients were separated as it was hard to tell how much garlic went into the sauce and turkey. Other than that, easy to follow and make! Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!!
This was so good! Perfect flavor! I served with extra broccoli and Jasmine rice.
Hi Kristin,
This is a great dish thank you for sharing!!
I made this for the second time and it is awesome! I used frozen riced cauliflower and an extra carrot and it is a family hit. I serve it with rice noodles which really suits this recipe. Thanks!
Tastes amazing. You know it’s a high quality recipe because you sauté the onions for a couple minutes, then add garlic. Garlic cooks faster, that small change makes a big difference! A+!!
This was a wonderful recipe with deliciousness everywhere.
Absolutely amazing! I served it with a peanut satee sauce and lettuce wraps. My family totally loved it, including my husband who hates ground turkey and my son who hates vegetables.
This meal was tasty. I cut the brocolli and carrots a little chunkier cause my kids like brocolli and next time I think I’d add more. I couldn’t find my corn starch so I was going to make a rue to put into the pan and thicken it and ended up using one tsp of flour into the sauce and couldn’t wait to thicken it because my husband had to leave for work. So I ended up putting the sauce in meat mixture And let it simmer and it did well! Oh, I did add half a cup of water instead of a quarter.
Made this tonight and burnt my tongue because it was so good I couldn’t wait! So delicious and definitely will be laing this often.
Thanks so much for posting this recipe. Came in handy while searching for a quick recipe after a long day of work. This was delicious!! My husband and I loved it.
The recipe was simple to make. I only subbed the broccoli for kale as I didn’t have broccoli on hand. This also made for wonderful lunch leftovers. Thanks!
Was a hit with our family tonight! And my 12-year-old daughter enjoyed helping me prepare it! I served it with udon noodles – my kids compared it to an Asian “Noddles & Company” dish.
Tried it last night. It was awesome. I did cut back the sugar and it tasted great. I’m thinking about adding chopped water chestnuts to the recipe. I think it will add a nice crunch to it. I had extra sauce, so I’m marinating chicken breast in it for another meal.
I added baby corn and water chestnuts for the kids.A success!
So delicious! I subbed shredded brussel sprouts instead & it was so good. I’ll definitely be saving this recipe. So full of flavor.
I haven’t tried the teriyaki turkey rice bowl yet but I’ve been looking for another recipe for ground turkey so I’m anxious to try it. thanks, Diane
I made this tonight and the family loved it. I added a little more brown sugar. I think I will try this with chicken
Thank you so much. Very yummy
Liz
Instead of over rice I made lettuce wraps for a low carb option and used bean sprouts, onions and mushrooms instead of carrots and broccoli. Luckily my kids like vegetables so it was a hit.
Yes, I love this in lettuce wraps!
We tried this for dinner last night. Everyone loved it! I used broccoli florets instead of chopped, thinly sliced the carrots, and added thinly sliced celery and bell pepper. I made the sauce as is and it wasn’t too sweet at all. 🙂
did you ever figure out the calorie count on this? Just curious.
You can find this information using an app like my fitness pal.
I LOVE THIS DISH AND SO DOES MY FAMILY! It is so easy to make and so healthy! Thank you!
Really yummy! I used brown sugar and then added honey to taste on the sauce. I also zested an orange peel. I would definitely recommend trying it with orange zest. Very yummy!
Made this for dinner last night and my 17 year old son LOVED it! Smelled fabulous. Having left overs tonight with lettuce cups.
This recipe was delicious! My husband and I loved it!
This was a pretty good recipe. Definitely suited for the ground turkey. Will make it again!!
I tried it and it was delicious. Next time I’ll put the meat mixture in egg rolls.
I just made this and it was excellent. I did the sauce as directed but I added 2 pounds of ground turkey instead of one and used celery instead of broccoli. It is perfect and with two pounds of ground beef it’s close enough to my 21 Day Fix goals.
I meant ground turkey.
The best recipe and dinner ever!!!! I’ve made this countless times and we love it every time!!!!!! Sooooo delicious!!!!
I made this last night and it was a hit. I doubled the sauce since I doubled the meat. I ended up with too much sauce. Next time I will double the meat again, but only add 50% more sauce. My kids found the broccoli…but liked it! Yay! Thanks for a great recipe!
Very good!
I made this with diced boneless pork chops and it was fantastic! I recommend using the 2 tablespoons of brown sugar and 1 of granulated to start. Then taste the sauce after it starts to thicken, and decide if you want the other tablespoon (which I did). I didn’t have carrots at home, but I had fresh green beans. I threw them in the pan raw just after the pork started cooking. When the pork was finished, I let the pan rest on the lowest heat while my rice finished. This gave my green beans enough time to have a great crunch while still being cooked. I will absolutely make this dish again with other proteins and veggies!
We really liked this dish! I did add more veggies since I can get away with it! I used 2 small heads of broccoli, cut into florets and added more onion (total 1 cup) and 1 red bell pepper. I also added about 1 tsp chili garlic sauce for a little zing, and used the suggestion of reducing the granulated sugar by 1 Tbsp. I did not increase the sauce and it worked well. Will be making again, and am considering trying coconut aminos for a lower sodium content. Thanks for an easy and tasty recipe!
I made this for dinner last night and it was delicious! It was really simple to make, and instead of the homemade sauce, I did have a bottle of teriyaki that I tweaked with(balsamic honey wine vinegar, brown sugar, granulated sugar, white wine vinegar).
I will probably add more veggies last time, but will put in the regular rotation of meals!
I didn`t subtract or add anything. it is absolutely delicious the way it is! Thank you for the recipe 🙂
AWESOME! Two -year-old and one-year-old liked it too. Went with 3 TBSPs of agave and it was great.
How much did this cost to make?
I suppose that would depend on where you shop.
This is a great recipe! I’ve been making it regularly for over a year. One of my sons doesn’t really like turkey but he’ll eat it in this without even realizing it’s turkey! I make it as is and think the recipe is great. Sometimes I make a double batch too. Thank you!
Can you make ahead and freeze? Anyone tried?
I would freeze the meat and sauce separably.
Really good -my turkey-hating husband even loved it.
This was SO good! I only added brown sugar (omitted white). I didn’t have red wine vinegar so I used apple cider vinegar and I also didn’t have soy sauce, so I did 3 tbsp of worschestershire sauce with 1 Tbsp water. Also didn’t have broccoli so I used green beans. So considering it was one of those days where I didn’t have half the ingredients in the house and had to do substitutions, we were all impressed with how good this was. Next time I will try it having the right ingredients! We served ours over quinoa
Delicious recipe!! The whole family loved it. I put some shredded romaine in the bottom of each bowl, topped that with cooked quinoa, then the teriyaki turkey mixture. The boys ate it up just like that, and my daughter and I topped it with cilantro. Yum!
Sounds like a great combination! Glad you enjoyed the recipe!
I made this with three lbs of ground turkey and it was perfect.
Made this for supper tonight and it was soooooo good! My kids happily eat veggies, so I was able to rough cut the broccoli and carrots instead of chopping them fine; I think I’m going to try the water chestnuts and sprouts suggestion, next time. I thought the sauce was perfect-just sweet enough, and with just enough gingery bite to make it interesting.
Thanks so much for this delicious recipe…you saved my life today! Please post more delicious and easy recipes. ❤
This was so tasty! yay! will add to the dinner rotation!
I tried the Teryaki Turkey Rice bowl for dinner, It was really tasty! Thank you for the recipe, Its a keeper, 🙂
(Instead of broccoli I used 1rib of chopped celery and red, yellow and orange peppers (diced)
Yum.
could I sub white rice vinegar for the red wine vinegar?
Sure!
Came across this recipe randomly and made it for my family.
Easy recipe to follow and my whole family LOVED it!
Added celery and orange zest from reading the comments…
Thank you! (:
This is fantastic! Thanks so much for sharing this recipe. I’ve never made teriyaki sauce before! And it’s a much needed change to my regular ground turkey meal prep! I did substitute part of the sugar to coconut palm sugar and stevia but with lettuce sips instead of rice, I can still rock this recipe a few meals without worrying about going over carbs.
This was a huge hit for my picky eaters! I subbed rice wine vinegar since I didn’t have any red wine vinegar. Also, the broccoli in my fridge went bad (boo!) so I used carrot slices instead. I served it over quinoa. Love the ideas from other commenters about adding bamboo shoots, baby corn, mushrooms, etc to it. Great way to get the kids to eat veggies! Thanks for such a great recipe!
This was such an easy and tasty recipe! Exactly what I was looking for after a long day at work. Thank you!
This is great, i’ve made it several times recently, once following the exact recipe and tonight with carrots, squash, green beans, zucchini, onions, broccoli, and cauliflower and I choose to go the more savory route and omitted the white sugar. Thanks a lot for this recipe it has made ground turkey far more exciting.
Thank you! Great idea, love that you made it your own!
Thank you for stopping by!
Hi, just wondering if you drain the fat from the turkey? If so, some or all of it?
Thanks!
You don’t get a lot of fat from ground turkey. You can drain it if you like, but it won’t really affect the recipe.
Really good and easy! If I make it again I will use 1/2 the sugar, but overall a great quick weeknight meal.
Hi Rachel,
Thanks for sharing your feedback!
I’m always looking for new ground turkey recipes and this one was a hit with my family!
So happy that you and your family loved this recipe!
I just made this and it is really good. I added celery and zucchini since I didn’t have broccoli. Delicious!
Thank you Dawn! glad that you could make it work.
Made this tonight and it was delish!
Thank You Hilarie!
We did not like this recipe… was edible of course but nothing to talk about!
Hi Melissa, Sorry the recipe didn’t work out for you, but thanks for sharing your feedback.
I love the teriyaki sauce! So good! I put some corn and the carrots and a little cabbage I had leftover from another meal. My son, who only wanted the rice, ate his whole meal and even asked for seconds! Thank you for a quick and easy recipe for ground turkey!
Thank you Mary! So happy that you and your family loved this recipe!
Hi Kristin! Does it matter if I use light or dark brown sugar? Thanks!
You could use either.
Big hit! My daughter loved it! Thanks!
Thank you Anike! Glad you and your family loved it.