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These Teriyaki Turkey Rice Bowls are made with healthy ground turkey and veggies in a sweet teriyaki sauce served over white or brown rice.
We love quick and easy Asian inspired recipes, and have quite a few here on the site! Our favorites are included in our monthly dinner rotation, like Egg Fried Rice and Crockpot Orange Chicken and these delicious rice bowls.
Teriyaki turkey is one of my family’s favorites! The sweet and savory richness of the sauce really compliments the mild flavor of the ground turkey. Plus it’s loaded with veggies, which means my kids are eating them! You can pair this with steamed rice chow mein noodles, or wrapped in a tortilla or Lettuce Wrap.
Pin this recipe for later!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. But these Teriyaki Turkey Rice Bowls always top the list of favorites.
This 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 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!
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use ground beef instead of turkey?
Yes, you absolutely can! Ground turkey can be easily swapped for 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.
Can I cut back the amount of sugar?
Yes. I wrote this recipe to have a sticky sweet teriyaki sauce, but some people have said they prefer it a little less sweet. Feel free to cut back as much as you like. As you are cooking the sauce, give it a quick taste – you can always add more sugar if you want it sweeter.
How to Serve
Sprinkle some sliced green onions and sesame seeds on top before serving. It’s a pretty garnish and adds 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.
Recipe Variations
Feel free to customize this recipe to fit your own personal tastes. Use leftover 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
Storage Tips
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 Tips
- 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 too much but it will swing more towards the savory side.
More Ground Turkey Recipes
- Creamy Cheesy Turkey Taco Pasta
- Turkey Taco Soup
- Spicy Turkey Meatloaf Recipe
- Easy Ground Turkey Tacos
- Ground Turkey Casserole
- Ground Turkey Enchiladas
- Ground Turkey Taco Salad
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 Broccoli finely chopped
- 2 Large carrots peeled and grated
- 2 Green onions diced, for garnish
- 4 cups Cooked white or brown rice
Instructions
Teriyaki Sauce
- In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and warm water until cornstarch is completely dissolved. Set aside.
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, gently whisk soy sauce, water, red wine vinegar, sugars, minced garlic and ground ginger until sugars are completely dissolved.
- Slowly whisk in cornstarch mixture and simmer until thickened. Remove from heat and set aside.
Ground Turkey
- Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add diced onions and cook, stirring frequently, until softened. If you notice the onions beginning to scorch, immediately turn down the heat.
- Stir in minced garlic. Add ground turkey and break apart with a spatula. Cook, stirring occasionally, until turkey is cooked about halfway through; 4-5 minutes. Add grated carrots and chopped broccoli and continue to cook until turkey is no longer pink and vegetables are soft; 5-6 minutes.
- Pour teriyaki sauce over the turkey and vegetables and stir. Simmer for about 5 minutes.
- Divide cooked rice into bowls then top with the teriyaki turkey. Garnish with sliced 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 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
Nutritional Disclaimer Kristin Maxwell of “Yellow Bliss Road” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. For accurate calorie counts and other nutritional values, we recommend running the ingredients through your preferred online nutritional calculator. Calories and other nutritional values can vary depending on which brands were used.
This is a family favorite in my house. It is SO good!!! Everything about it is perfect and it is an easy recipe!
Thank you Danielle! Awesome comment, thanks for stopping by.
So yummy!
Thank you Olivia!
This recipe was delicious. I have never made homemade teriyaki sauce and it turned out perfect. I will be adding this to the dinner rotation for sure. Thank you for sharing!
You are so welcome Laura! Thanks for stopping by.
Very tasty recipe. I used a mixture of vegetables and we had them with lettuce wraps to keep it low carb. The flavor is great and I think next time I will add alittle spice to it. It will be on rotation!
Thank you Linda! Love the feedback, thanks for stopping by.
This recipe is one of my family’s favorite FAST dinners. It’s on rotation in my house. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
You are so welcome Liane! Thanks for stopping by.
I have made this recipe now 4x and my whole family loves it. It’s a great, quick, weeknight dinner and I love the amount of veggies in it. I also add in shelled edamame.
Awesome feedback qui! Thanks for stopping by.
Looking forward to trying this! Do you think it’d easily adapt to making in crockpot? With two little kids I’m always trying to use my slow cooker 🙂
You can I suppose, but it only takes 20 minutes and you’d still have to cook the meat separately.
I don’t normally comment; but this is freaking amazing!!!!!!
Nice! Thanks for stopping by Nicole.
So easy to make & the whole family loved it!!
Nice! Thanks for stopping by Claudia.
Delicious! I used 1 tbsp of white sugar and 1 tbsp of brown sugar and it was perfect! Thank you for the recipe! I will definitely be making this again soon!
Thank you Allison! Awesome feedback, thanks for stopping by
Oh my dear sweet jeebus, this was FABULOUS. It honestly reminded me of the beef bowls I use to get when I lived in Japan. That teriyaki sauce is the perfect thickness and coats every grain of rice. And the flavor is next level. We added kimchi on top, and the acidity cut through the richness of the sauce perfectly. Thank you so much for posting this. It’s on permanent meal prep rotation for us now.
That’s awesome Elena! Fantastic feedback, thanks for stopping by to share.
This was the best teriyaki sauce recipe I have tried so far! It was so good! My daughter gave it a A+++++!
This recipe was SOOOO GOOD! The whole family loved it! Thank you.
You are so welcome Alba! Thanks for stopping by.
This was excellent!!! I only changed the broccoli to mushrooms. Amazing!!
Nice! Thanks for stopping by Nichole.
This was DELICIOUS! My 8 year old adventurous eating daughter also really liked it! It wasn’t overly sweet or saucy either. Added extra broccoli and matchstick carrots right at the very end so they stayed crispy… and they were! So so good.
Fantastic feedback Summer! Thanks for stopping by.
Delicious and Simple reciepe I love it soo much
Nice! Thanks for stopping by Josh.
This is one fantastic meal! I substituted the broccoli with asparagus and it still tasty 😋😋
Thank you Terry! Love the feedback.
Thanks, tried more by design. Looking for a turkey and rice dish I decided to make this. I like Teriyaki sauce. One day I will get a chance to make, maybe.
Made this for the first time this evening. Not bad. I added chopped red bell pepper to the carrots and broccoli for more color and cut the sugars to 1T each. Tastes like something I would get from the frozen food section and microwave. Not sure I’ll make it again.
Thank you Terri for stopping by and for sharing your feedback.
This was SO GOOD. My best friend sent it to me and told me to make it immediately. She was right! Hubby asked me to double it next time so that we have more leftovers 😍 I ended up using thawed frozen veggies that we had in the freezer as opposed to the broccoli, but everything else was the same. Absolutely amazing recipe!
Nice! Thanks for the awesome feedback Jaci O.