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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.
If using store bought teriyaki sauce how much should be used?
You’ll add it at the end after all your veggies and the turkey, so you can use however much you like.
This has been in our dinner rotation for a couple years now so I had to leave a comment. It’s so easy, healthy and delicious! Will make for years to come.
Nice! Thanks for the awesome feedback Krista!
Great recipe, even my picky 3 y/o loved it. I used a frozen “riced” broccoli/cauliflower/carrot mix and it turned out great and no one could even tell there was veggies in it 😂
Nice! Thanks for stopping by Shar.
This was such an easy meal and more importantly my children ate it without one complaint. This was super yummy and definitely going to be my go to meal when I’m tired and short on time. Thanks!
You are so welcome Sharon! Thanks for stopping by.
This recipe is better than take out and healthier. Truly 5 Stars you won’t be disappointed. Yummy.
Awesome comment Debbie! Thanks for stopping by.
you think this would this freeze well?
It will – the veggies might get a little mushy when they defrost and you should freeze the rice separately but it will otherwise do well.
Great recipe! Delicious flavor and super easy. Thank you for sharing it and thanks to those that made comments. I used monk fruit instead of sugar, but that was the only change. A couple additions I made to the onions, garlic, carrots and broccoli was adding some green cabbage and water chestnuts like some recommended. Lastly, I had it on palmini rice for lower carbs.
You are so welcome Maggie! Thank you so much for stopping by.
This has been a family staple for years now! It’s quick, easy, and most importantly flavorful. When my daughters went off to college they asked that I send them the recipe so they could make it to impress their friends. I have found that I need to double the sauce recipe because I add a lot more veggies to it than the recipe calls for, and my girls like to spoon it on their rice.
Yum! Made this last night and I loved it! I added half the amount of brown and white sugar and it was perfectly balanced for my taste. I don’t like broccoli so added red peppers and water chestnuts instead. Otherwise kept the recipe exactly as is. It was delicious! I’ll make this again.
Nice! Awesome feedback Heather, thanks for stopping by.
Delicious! I am definitely going to add this into our meal rotation. Thank you!
Thank you Emily! and you are so welcome.
Great recipe! In my husbands words, “This is delicious.”
Nice! Thanks for stopping by Ana.
Absolutely delicious! I cut out the white sugar after reading the reviews. Husband and I ate ours over cauliflower rice. Kids thought it was great. Thank you!
You are so welcome Liz! Thanks for stopping by.
This was very good! Will definitely make it again!
Thank you CJ! Love the feedback.
Instant family favorite!
Nice! Thanks for stopping by Pete.
Way too salty. No need for white sugar either. 2tbsp of brown sugar is more than enough! I think chicken might make it more flavourful. I’ll try it again!
Thank you for your feedback Katherine!
This recipe doesn’t miss. The first attempt I followed the recipe exactly, but used 3 T of brown sugar & no white sugar at all. It was delicious. Tonight I substituted with carrots, brussel sprouts and red pepper that I put through the food processor. At the end, I hit it with a bit of sriracha to balance the sweet. I love that we’re getting all that veg in this dish.
Awesome feedback Lisa! Thanks for stopping by.
Mmmmm this was so delicious! I followed the suggestion to use half the sugar and was glad I did as the sweetness was perfect with a total of 2 tbsp of sugars. I finely chopped some cauliflower as well and mixed it all into rice. Will be on my regular rotation. Thank you!
You are so welcome Kirsten! Love the feedback, thanks for stopping by.
Found the recipe somewhat tasteless. Don’t think I will make again
Is the nutrition facts including the calories of the rice?
As stated in the notes of the recipe, yes the nutritional information includes the turkey and sauce served over rice.
For the nutrition facts.. what’s the portion size for those facts?
From the recipe notes – A note about SERVING SIZE: A serving is approximately ¾ cup of rice and one cup of the meat/veggies.
This is one of my go-to recipes! I always seem to have the ingredients in the house, and I love knowing exactly what’s in my teriyaki sauce. Ever since I had to go gluten free, finding Asian foods I can eat safely has been hard, so this is an easy and delicious alternative! I sometimes add some Sriracha and/or red pepper flakes to add a hint of heat.
Awesome feedback Sharron! Thanks for stopping by to share.
I have a question about the nutritional values—is that including the rice?
Yes, it includes the rice.
SO good. Easy to do GF, nothing too complicated, and I almost always have everything on hand. Thanks for sharing this!