This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
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 Low 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
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
This was SO good, with a few additions. In the sauce, fresh grated ginger instead of powdered, and I added 1 T each of sesame oil and oyster sauce. In the stir fry itself, I used shredded cabbage and carrot (bagged coleslaw) instead of just the carrot. This turned out so good! Especially with scallions and sriracha on top. 🙂
Love the feedback Sarah! Thanks for stopping by.
Super easy to make when you don’t want to fire up the oven. I subed the broccoli for peas. Turkey is usually half the price of ground beef in my area, so I appreciate alternatives.
P.S. I enjoy this website, but the pop up ads are so out of control. Makes for a bad user experience
Hi, Thanks for your nice comments about the food. Glad you enjoyed it. As for the ads, I only have two pop ups allowed on my site, one is the video that really isn’t a pop up and just moves to the bottom of the screen when you pass it on the post (and there’s an “x” so you can close it). And there is a pop up for my email list that only shows the first time you visit the site. Any other pop ups I would check your internet provider, because I hate them too and wouldn’t allow them on my site. Ads are the way we recipe creators make a living – I do my best to make sure they aren’t too intrusive.
This was absolutely delicious! My 6 and 4 year old helped me make it and they kept on commenting “oh my gosh it smells so good!”
Everything was simple and straightforward, dinner was on the table in 25 min. I have been trying to incorporate more ground turkey into the routine and this was the best way to do it. This will be a repeat offender in our household for sure. Thank you so much!
You are so welcome Jenna! Absolutely love the feedback! Thanks for stopping by.
Would this be considered “healthy”?
I guess that depends on your definition of “healthy.” As written, and with the serving sizes used, it’s approximately 380 calories per serving.
My husband loved it! It was a hit!
Nice! Thanks for stopping Triciia.
I keep coming back to this teriyaki recipe over & over. I actually use it for many different things. So good!
Nice! Love the feedback Mikayla, thanks for stopping.
Excellent and easy recipe. My husband actually liked it and he never likes anything I make.
Thank you Nadine! Love the feedback, thanks for stopping by.
Made this for lunches this week and it is amazing. I made two changes. The first was to use Lakanto for the sweeteners because that’s what I had on hand. The second was to use a rice and cauliflower rice mixture to cut the carbs a bit. Delicious! Will be adding this to our rotation.
Nice! Thanks for stopping by Bethany.
Do you think this would work with ground turkey sausage?
Sausage will be greasier but you could give it a try.
Oh my, this was fantastic! I did not have the ingredients for the sauce so used a teriyaki that I had in the fridge and even then it was so good. I cannot wait to try it with the homemade teriyaki. Another thing that I absolutely loved was how quickly this can be made.
I am going to share this, and your website, with my daughter. Thank you!!
You are so welcome Susan! Thank for passing the love around. (love the feedback)
This was so good! I do think next time I will cut back on the sugar just a bit, but we all loved it! I’m always trying to find recipes with ground turkey that aren’t bland and this does not disappoint! I added water chestnuts and a red pepper. Served it with some mini wontons. Delicious dinner!
This was delicious! My husband and I loved it. I cut the carrots in 1/8 slices and cooked them with the onion. I left the broccoli chunky, tossing it in near the end just after I added the sauce. I did add some cumin to the ground turkey while it was cooking and also pinch of cayenne pepper. I’m definitely making this again and may try it with finely sliced chicken. I did not alter the sauce and found it excellent as is, not too sweet at all. Thanks!!
This was delicious! I added pickled peppers with Serrano peppers and garlic that I had canned, Sriracha sauce, jalapeños diced, and fresh tomatoes with everything else for the ground turkey, and I added fish sauce and honey to the sauce with fresh ginger! I used jasmine rice! The best thing about cooking is there is no rules to flavor! So yummy!
This was so good. It surprised me as a budget friendly recipe. I used shredded squash instead of broccoli and added some Asian staples I had on hand such as sweet chili sauce and toasted sesame oil. Thanks for the inspiration!
You are so welcome Megan! Thanks for stopping by. (Love the feedback)
This was awesome! I googled ground turkey with rice and this recipe popped up! Very tasty. I added green peas to it and less sugar and it was amazingly good! Thanks for sharing! This will definitely become a favorite in my house!
Thank you Tai! Love your feedback, thanks for stopping by.
Made this recipe and, despite the addition of Sriracha, I found it to be quite bland. I toned down the amount of sweet to half of what was suggested. I used an orange bell pepper and baby bellas along with the carrots. Maybe it needs to be served with/over something other than rice. Might try it again, not too sure.
Hi Deb, Anytime you cut down or alter the ingredients it’s going to change the taste. Sorry you didn’t like it – I guess everyone’s taste is different.
This was so amazing. The flavors were a perfect blend with the ginger and garlic. I had a pound of ground Turkey and usually make a meat loaf, googled this and it’s now my go to for ground turkey. Loved Loved Loved it.
Love the feedback Dawn! Thanks for stopping by.
First time I made it was too salty due to the fact I didn’t use low sodium soy sauce.
Tonight I did use low sodium and it was perfect. Hubby ate two servings!
Nice! Love the feedback Jeanne! Thanks for stopping by.
Delicious! Didn’t follow recipe exactly but it doesn’t matter. The star of the recipe is the teriyaki sauce. Yum! This could go with so many dishes. I added some cole slaw shredded cabbage mix and it was terrific. This will be on repeat
Nice! Love the feedback Anne! Thanks for stopping by.
Made this recipe for dinner tonight. It was a huge hit. The homemade teriyaki sauce was delicious.
Nice! Thanks for the awesome feedback Sheri.
I am making this for probably the 10th or 11th time today. This is the perfect meal prep for me, and everyone at work always says it smells so good. I love how easy it is to make, and it’s so filling! Great way to get my veggies in, and I always add a red bell pepper to it.
Awesome feedback Jessica! Thanks for stopping by.
Super recipe and a home run in our house! Added red pepper, mushrooms and zucchini and cut back a bit on the sugar. Thanks for sharing.
You are so welcome Norine! Love the feedback, thank for stopping by.