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The delicious, sweet teriyaki sauce and the (kind of) hidden veggies in this Teriyaki Turkey Rice Bowl makes this one of those healthy ground turkey recipes that your whole family will love!
We love quick and easy Asian inspired recipes, and have quite a few here on the site! Some of our favorites are included in our monthly dinner rotation, like Egg Fried Rice and Crockpot Orange Chicken.
I love Asian inspired dishes, and Teriyaki is a family favorite. The sweet and savory richness of the sauce really compliments the flavors of the turkey. Plus it’s loaded with veggies, which means my kids are eating them! You can pair this with steamed rice or noodles, or even wrap it up in a Lettuce Wrap.
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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 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.
The ground turkey is juicy and the teriyaki sauce is sweet and flavorful. Add in all the wonderful veggies and you’ve got a perfectly complete meal that makes great leftovers.
Why We Love This Recipe
- It’s a quick and easy, a healthy alternative to ground beef, and an easy substitution in tons of recipes like chili and spaghetti sauce.
- We include lots of veggies and dice them up small so it’s very kid friendly and a great way to get kids to actually enjoy eating their vegetables.
- You can easily customize this recipe to include your favorite veggies or add a different base like rice or noodles.
How to Cook Ground Turkey
Ground turkey is a light, bright pink color when it’s raw or uncooked. As it cooks the color will change from pink to a light brown color. Seasoning is important, since it has a very mild flavor that takes on whatever flavors you add. It’s delicious with just a little garlic, onion and salt added but you can also add it to chili, spaghetti, tacos and more by changing the seasoning.
How to Make Teriyaki Turkey Rice Bowls
- Cook the ground turkey. After cooking the meat with some onions and garlic, grate few carrots and chop some broccoli very fine, and toss 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 couldn’t 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.
- Make the teriyaki sauce. 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 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!
- Assemble the rice bowls. 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!
How to Serve
Sprinkle some sliced green onions and sesame seeds on top before serving. It’s a pretty garnish and add a little flavor, too.
My kids love to eat their rice bowl with chopsticks. If you don’t have any, you can find them here, or try these adorable training chopsticks for kids.
How to Store Leftovers
- Refrigerating leftovers: This dish will keep for 3-4 days in the fridge if properly stored in an airtight container. Reheat in the microwave or on the stove.
- To freeze, allow to cool completely, then pour into a freezer bag or airtight container. Freeze for up to 6 months. Thaw in the fridge and reheat as described above. Freeze rice or noodles separately from the meat.
Recipe Variations
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
- Water chestnuts
I have received lots of comments over the years on how much people love this recipe, but also how they change it up and make it their own for something truly unique and delicious.
- Ground turkey recipes are the tastiest when the meat is seasoned properly. Add some heat to this dish with some Sriracha or red pepper flakes.
- Not fans of rice? Use noodles instead. You can even use spaghetti noodles to mimic a lo mein and toss in some cabbage to saute it with.
- Feel free to cut the amount of sugar in this recipe. It won’t affect the flavor but it will swing more towards the savory side.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you absolutely can! Ground turkey recipes can easily swap ground beef, pork or chicken. 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.
When you purchase lean ground turkey at the store, it has a “sell-by” date. Your meat will likely last 1-2 days past this date if properly stored in it’s original packaging in your refrigerator. To further extend the shelf life, freeze it within 1 day past the sell by date. To maximize freshness, wrap the packaged turkey in foil and place in a freezer bag. Follow these steps to ensure you always have fresh meat on hand for all of your favorite ground turkey recipes!
More Ground Turkey Recipes
- Creamy Cheesy Turkey Taco Pasta
- Turkey Taco Soup
- Spicy Turkey Meatloaf Recipe
- Smoked Sausage and Zucchini Skillet
Teriyaki Turkey Rice Bowl
Ingredients
Teriyaki Sauce
- 1/2 cup Less Sodium Soy Sauce
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar or less as desired
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar or less as desired
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons warm water
Ground Turkey
- 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
- 4 cups cooked white or brown rice divided
Instructions
- Mix soy sauce, ¼ 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 sweet. However, feel free to cut back on the amount of sugar in the sauce. 1 tablespoon of each would suffice if you prefer a more savory than sweet flavor.
- The nutritional information is based on serving this teriyaki turkey over white rice. Use brown rice or just less rice to reduce calories and carbs.
- Feel free to customize this recipe with your favorite vegetables.
- A note about SERVING SIZE: A serving is approximately ¾ cup of rice and one cup of the meat/veggies.
- The serving sizes are approximate and will vary depending on a variety of factors, like how much you cook your veggies down and what size your cuts of vegetables are. As a meal, this recipe will make 4-6 servings.
I just made this and it was so good. I used the lawrys premade teriyaki sauce rather than making my own but nevertheless this recipe was so awesome. I’ll definitely be makimg this again.
Nice! Thank you so much Simone, for stopping by and sharing your positive feedback.
My family of five loved this recipe, and we have some picky eaters! I’ve found ground turkey so bland but with this recipe it was delish! Thanks!!! Will add it to my regular rotation.
Who doesn’t like to make picky eaters Happy!? That’s so awesome Dana!
Thank you so much for stopping by.
I want to try (tonight) but don’t have red wine vinegar and want to avoid bottle teriyaki if I can. Can I use other vinegar like seasoned rice vinegar, white rice vinegar or white vinegar?
Yes you can use rice vinegar.
I am looking forward to trying this! Has anyone used bottled teriaki sauce? I have 2 bottles so want to use them!
Yes you can use bottled sauce. Just cook the turkey and veggies and add the sauce to that.
Delicious! I will make it again.
I made this exactly as instructed, save for the broccoli as my husband doesn’t like it (I just added my own steamed broccoli on top of my rice before I spooned the turkey mixture on, still delicious!)
I saw in the comments that even picky eaters were enjoying this recipe, so I had to give it a try. So glad I did, as the hubby said it was great and would eat it again.
Going on my rotation now, thank you so much!
You are so welcome Alison! Thanks for sharing your positive feedback.
Will a red onion work just as well as a yellow onion? Thanks!
Never mind, did it with the red onion and it was delicious! Love the recipe.
Yes, the flavor variation in different types of large onions is slight. Red onions tends to be a little spicier while white and yellow are a little sweeter.
Made tonight for my family. It was really nice. All my family loved it. Just changed the broccoli for green beans chopped up and instead of the granulated sugar I substituted for honey. Really tasty and probably now my favourite thing to do with turky mince. Thank you!
That’s awesome chantelle! Thanks for taking the time to leave such positive feedback.
What is the serving size of the turkey mixture?
1/5 of the total mixture. Nutritional information is approximate depending on ingredients used.
Used regular soy sauce bc that’s all I had on hand and tooo salty initially. Added some water and it tasted great
Definitely use a low sodium soy sauce – it’s all I ever buy!
I started out with making this as a bowl, but then after tasting it, decided it made an amazing filling for lettuce wraps!! So fantastic!
This is one of our favorites! I’m not a great cook, but this turns out every time! Yes, we love it with red, green, and yellow peppers too. Also used 1 tbls each of the sugars instead of two.
Nice! Thanks for the positive feedback Caryl,
This turned out really good!! Thank you for your suggestions on what other vegetables can go in the bowl – this made it so versatile. I put bok choy in mine – something I never could have thought of. Turned out great and healthy too. Thanks!!
Your welcome Lin. Thanks for stopping by.
Great recipe, my husband is a picky eater and ate 2 bowls. Thank you, thank you. I used tamari sauce instead of soy sauce… is this okay?
If it tasted good, it’s perfect! 🙂
Cut the soy sauce in half and added a bit more water. The sauce was still plenty flavorful No need to drown the other delicious flavors! Really good!
Delicious recipe!
Thank you Lisa!
This was amazing! Very flavorful. I halved the sugars and used a sugar substitute for the granulated sugar. Definitely will make the again. I served with lettuce leaves and with riced cauliflower.
Nice! Thanks for stopping by Debbie.
This was delicious!!!! It was super easy to make and my whole family loved it… I will definitely be making it again… Thank you so much – I was searching for something different to make with my ground turkey, and feel fortunate that I stumbled on this keeper..
You are so welcome Wendy! Thanks for stopping by.
This was a fantastic recipe! Served it over rice and added some red and green bell peppers in the for extra color and crunch. This will be one of our go to meals with ground turkey. Thanks for this amazing recipe!!
You are so welcome Brittany! Great idea about adding the red and green bell peppers, thanks for stopping by.
Came out perfect used less sugar and brown rice