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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.
Made this tonight. Very good, esp. the sauce!
Nice! Thanks for stopping by Douglas.
This is a delicious meal. I served it over jasmine rice (our favorite). I did cut back both sugars to half the amount listed and I was a little worried about the 2 tbsp. of red wine vinegar as that seemed like a lot. Well, it wasn’t a lot as it just blended in nicely with the other ingredients. My husband commented “This is really good.” I really don’t hear that too often. This is a delightful recipe.
Awesome feedback Joan! Thanks for stopping by.
Hi Kristin, this is a very tasty meal that we all enjoyed making and eating. I used a bag of broccoli, carrots and cauliflower we had. I used white rice since we had not had any for months and we had quinoa the night before. I will try quinoa or farro next time. Thanks
You are so welcome Steve! (Awesome feedback) thanks for stopping by.
What is an option for rice in the Ter. Bowls to cut down on the carbs?
Cauliflower rice would be a great option.
My family including very picky kids love this recipe!! I’m making it tonight going to try cutting the sugars in half ??
Nice! Thanks for stopping by Jenn.
I made the turkey teriyaki rice bowl for dinner tonight and I was concerned about the fact my husband is extremely picky. He had seconds!!
Nice!! Thanks for stopping by Chris.
Great recipe. Made as is. Love that you can swap out whatever you have on hand.
Great feedback Teena! Thank you so much for stopping by.
Wow! Pleasantly surprised with this recipe. So very tasty! I too cut both sugars in half and thought it was great. No complaints. Added some red pepper as I had one I needed to use. Gave it great taste and great pop of color. Thank you!
You are so welcome Kathryn! (Great Feedback) Thanks for stopping by.
This was very very very good I couldn’t ask for a better dinner to eat than this, for some reason it better than the real teriyaki at the Chinese places.??
Nice! Thank you so much for stopping by Asianae.
I made this tonight and it was a huge success! Thank you. My daughter couldn’t believe there were vegetables in it and my son, who likes “plain” things, said it was perfect because it wasn’t too saucy! It is getting put into rotation.
You are so welcome Carolyn! Thanks for stopping by.
I made this recipe tonight and it my family loved it! The only modifications I made was to add mushroom and served it over cauliflower “rice.” YUM this recipe is a keeper. 🙂
Nice! Thanks for the feedback MM.
Does the serving size include the rice? Or is this just for the ground turkey?
Hi Rebecca, A serving is is approximately 3/4 cup of rice and one cup of the meat/veggies mixture.
This recipe was super good! Only thing I would change is precooking my veggies before adding them into the stir fry, I like my veggies softer. Flavor wise though it was great, I will definitely be making again!
Awesome feedback Sophia! Thanks for stopping by.
This was a huge hit with my family! I highly recommend trying this recipe out.
I did half the recommended sugar amount and my family said it was perfect.
That’s awesome KLA! Thanks for stopping by.
Could you use honey instead of sugars?
Sure.
This recipe is super easy and yummy! I doubled the recipe and instead of carrots I added Zucchini and a yellow bell pepper plus some broccoli. I used one pound of ground chicken and one pound of ground Turkey. My husband and son had second helpings. This will be added to my list of yummy recipes.
Awesome feedback Dayna! Thank you so much for stopping by.
Made this and we loved it!!! We did cut down on the brown sugar and sugar. Thinking if there is a chicken version?
You could swap out ground chicken. Of you could make my Teriyaki Chicken Bowl.
Tried it and it was very good!
Nice! Thanks for stopping Ale.
I followed the recipe exactly and it was a complete success! The whole family loved it!
Nice! Thanks for stopping by Holli.
Just cooked this on 1/11/21 it was the bomb.com. Trying not to eat that much pork and beef so ground turkey is my main meat. Needless to say it can get boring sometimes. This was a wonderful way to spice things up!
Nice! Thanks for stopping by Shekinah.