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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.

light gray bowls with rice and healthy ground turkey teriyaki, chopsticks, sesame seeds, white napkin, green onions

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 SoupTurkey 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.
Cooked ground turkey recipe in a skillet with vegetables and teriyaki sauce. Cast iron skillet.

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

  1. 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.
  2. 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!
  3. 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.
a hand with chopsticks, bowls with healthy ground turkey teriyaki, vegetables and rice

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

Can I use ground beef instead of turkey?

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.

How long does raw ground turkey last?

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!

bowl with lean ground turkey, rice and vegetables

More Ground Turkey Recipes

Recipe
Social media image of Teriyaki Turkey Rice Bowls

Teriyaki Turkey Rice Bowl

4.73 from 1173 votes
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!
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Servings 5 servings

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. 

Nutrition

Calories: 380kcalCarbohydrates: 55gProtein: 28gFat: 5gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0.03gCholesterol: 50mgSodium: 994mgPotassium: 606mgFiber: 2gSugar: 12gVitamin A: 4261IUVitamin C: 21mgCalcium: 60mgIron: 2mg
Keyword ground turkey recipes

Kristin Maxwell

Kristin Maxwell is the creator and main recipe developer, writer, and photographer of Yellow Bliss Road. A self-taught cook and self-appointed foodie, she specializes in easy, flavorful and approachable recipes for any home cook.

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Comments

  1. I’ve made this this dish twice now and it was a hit with the family both times! I love how adaptable this recipe is. We used orzo instead of rice and the texture and flavor combination is spot on. I did experiment and made some cauliflower rice to try it with….it wasn’t bad, but it definitely changed the flavor profile. This is a great easy weeknight dinner! If you like it as much as we do, there won’t be leftovers.

  2. This was not complicated or hard, it just took a lot longer to make than advertised. Maybe all the chopping and the fact that I doubled the recipe. It was “delicious,” according to my vegetable-averse daughter. I used two thirds of the sugar. If you want to cut back on sugar even more, you would have to cut back on the vinegar because I started with just a bit of sugar but the vinegar was overpowering. Start with a quarter at a time and keep tasting. This is a keeper of a recipe in that I could make it all in advance before my guests arrived and just warm things up quickly once we were ready to have dinner. And it does pack a lot of veggies in and my daughter still gobbled it up. You could also add or swap out different vegetables depending on what you have on hand.

  3. So delicious! A healthy meal my while family will eat. I’ve even subbed in shredded zucchini for the broccoli over the summer and it’s still been so good!

  4. I thought the proportions of veggies and the amount of spices were just right! I will be making this again for sure!

  5. This was so great. I loved it especially because it tasted very fresh and not salty like teriyaki can be. It was done a lot faster than I anticipated and such minimal ingredients. Adding this in the weeknight dinner rotation

  6. Turned out great! Will be making this again I’m sure.

    I didn’t have the red wine vinegar and used apple cider vinegar instead. Next time will try to get the red wine.
    Looking forward to trying some of your other recipes.
    Thanks for sharing.

  7. This recipe was delicious…better than I thought it would be. All three of my children LOVED it too. This will be added to our most popular dinner recipe rotations

  8. Made this tonight, and the entire family loved. I added some chopped cilantro, and chopped peanuts, omitted the white sugar.

  9. Tried this tonight, and it was really delicious! I subbed Worcestershire sauce because I didn’t have any soy sauce, and used onion, carrots, and red pepper as my veggies. I cooked the carrots with the onion. I cut back a little bit on the sugar. Definitely will be making again!