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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.
Table of Contents
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.
Delicious, perfect quick meal to make in the week when you don’t have much time, very nutritional and filling and the family loved it, thanks for sharing
You are so welcome Baljinder! Awesome feedback! Thanks for stopping by.
Absolutely love this recipe!! Definitely adding to the regular rotation. I made a few seasoning changes to the meat but that was only personal preference. Sauce is awesome! Thanks so much for sharing!!
You are so welcome Malissa! Thank you for the awesome feedback.
Oops, i too forgot to give a 5 star review! I also forgot to mention the only thing i did different was doubled the sauce ingredients as my boys love saucy things lol
Nice! Thanks for swinging back around to share the love Marianne.
Sorry will have to post this again; I was so excited to leave a comment I forgot to click on the stars. Wow – this recipe is a must make for anyone wondering! Thank you!
Thank you so much Cynthia for circling back around! Awesome feedback! and of course you are so welcome.
Thank you so much for this recipe. I have made this twice within a week. First time to test it out for dinner which my boys really loved. 2nd time was today. But i made it to be portioned out into quick heat up lunches for the boys during the school week. One boy doesn’t care too much for rice so will make a few portions with ramen noodles. ☺️
You are so welcome Marianne! Thanks for stopping by.
Wow – this really turned out awesome! I was looking for another recipe, other than my usual turkey meatloaf or spaghetti with turkey meatballs, and decided to try your recipe – this is the one! I didn’t have broccoli so I couldn’t add that, and it was delicious anyway. The sauce is very flavorful. Easy, quick recipe with extraordinary results! Thank you!
You are so welcome Cynthia! Awesome feedback, thanks for stopping by.
Yum! Just yum!!! So glad I found this! Will definitely be looking at more of your recipes.
That’s awesome Sue! Thank you so much for stopping by.
Though my kids and husband loved the turkey version – I’m a vegetarian and this teriyaki sauce and treatment also pairs well with a can of navy beans (drained and patted dry) in place of the ground turkey. I doubled the sauce recipe and made both. Loved the vegan version with beans too.
Thanks!
You are so welcome AJ, Thanks for stopping by.
Made it tonight. It was delicious and simple to make. Definitely making this again. Thanks!
You are so welcome John! Thanks for stopping by.
my boys loved this recipe. I used frozen mixed veggies cause I was too lazy to go to the store but it was delicious
Nice! Thanks for stopping by Kim.
Even my toddler, the picky eater, loved this! So good. We didn’t use all the sauce, maybe only 2/3 of it. But supper yummy
Nice! Thanks for stopping by Tyler.
I made this for dinner! Only changes are that I added a swirl of sesame oil to finish, and I cooked the meat, first, took it off the heat, then cooked the veggies separately and then added the meat back in to heat through with the sauce. Turned out great! Thanks for the reminder to start the rice first btw, I always forget! 😉
You are so welcome! Awesome feedback Bee! Thanks for stopping by.
We love this! One of my husbands favorite dinners now. I use rice vinegar instead of red wine and usually end up just using whatever veggies I have on hand. Always delicious!
Awesome feedback Dana! Thanks for stopping by.
I made this last night and it was superb! Thank you for providing such a good, healthy, delicious recipe!
You are so welcome Tony! Thanks for stopping by.
This was pretty tasty! I used ground beef and doubled the sauce. It was family-approved!
Awesome feedback Tracy! Thanks for stopping by.
Easy to make and tasty! I added sriracha for heat and cut back on sugar. Thanks for sharing your recipe!
You are so welcome Corey! Thanks for stopping by.
We make this dish at least twice a month. I use fresh ginger instead of ground and rice vinegar instead of red wine vinegar in the sauce but that’s the only change I make. We all love it.
Love the feedback Brandy! Thanks for stopping by.
This recipe was pretty good but not amazing. I would give a 7/10. My husband said the same. I didn’t taste the sauce by itself so I’m judging the final dish prepared.
Hi Kelsey, Thank you for your feedback.
THANK YOU FOR THIS DELICIOUS RECIPE. MY FAMILY LOVES IT AND IT HAS BECOME A STAPLE.
That’s awesome Barbara! Thanks for stopping by.
Wow! That’s the best homemade Chinese food I’ve ever made!!!
That’s awesome Rach! Thank you for stopping by.