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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.
I’m planning on making this tonight. Do you think leftovers would freeze well?
Yes I think it would be fine to freeze.
My husband and I LOVED this dish! Highly recommend!
Thanks Chelsea, So happy that you and your family loved this recipe!
You can dissolve the cornstarch directly into the soy sauce so you can avoid another bowl to wash. I used rice vinegar instead of red wine vinegar and 2-3 Tablespoons mirin rice wine (you can find this in the Asian section of supermarket) which is sweet, instead of the sugar.
Delicious, the family loved it!
Our whole family loved this recipe. Thanks for sharing.
I’m watching my sodium intake so wondered how much there is in this recipe. Looks yummy and I want to try it.
Hi Judy, Unfortunately since I am not a nutritionist I am not always able to provide nutritional information for each recipe. However there are great sites out there, like myfitnesspal.com, that can help. Thanks for stopping by!
I found this recipe after H-E-B had ground turkey for .99 cents a pound and I stocked up. I don’t use ground turkey too often so I looked for some fun recipes. This was so good! I added some frozen peas and a little oyster sauce I had in the fridge. I had almost everything for the recipe in the fridge/pantry except carrots so the whole meal cost less than $3 even when you add in rice cost! My girls, 12 & 6, absolutely loved it. When I make it again I think I will leave the broccoli a little bigger. Everything was very small, rice, ground meat, vegetables, I wouldn’t mind something a little bigger to change it up a little. Awesome recipe, I think I’m going to browse around the site a little now and see what other keepers you have!
Thank you Kristen for sharing your experience!
Rating actually 3.5. Really enjoyed this teriyaki turkey bowl recipe. BUT, I am not a big salt fan, and even with low-sodium soy sauce, I thought it was a little too salty. Next time I make it I plan to decrease the soy sauce perhaps an 1/8 of a cup and increase the water an 1/8 of a cup. I also used half the amount of both sugars. The broccoli I added was chopped a little more coarsely so it came out Al Dente. This balanced the otherwise all soft consistency of the dish. Finally, I was concerned the amount of sauce the recipe makes would be too much but it worked out just fine.
Hello Ctro, I love that you were able to make it work for you!
Excellent for quick, easy ground turkey, dish…Wish I had this receipt when my kids were kids..Guess more for me & friends :). Tweaked a little, 1 less tablespoon of reg. sugar, used Fresh grated ginger, Added a pinch of red pepper flakes for some heat to balance off sweetness, chopped up raw peanuts ( browned lightly in dry fry pan), added on top of finished dish with scallions .
Used Pad Tie rice noodles instead of boring rice…Delicious
I thought I had a bottle of teriyaki sauce in the pantry, but didn’t. I made my first teriyaki sauce and my boys LOVED IT! My 8 year old chopped up the broccoli and shredded the carrots. 3 helpings and please pack this for lunch tomorrow. What a winning meal!
Nice! So happy that you and your family loved this recipe!
My kids love this meal. We all do.
Thank you Tracy! So happy that you and your family loved this recipe!
So delicious! Thank You!
This recipe was AMAZING! I mixed it up and used bok choy instead of broccoli. Will definitely make this again!
Thank you Hope!
Love this recipe! Did not have enough soy sauce so i added a bit of Worcestershire sauce and also added baby bellas and it is so delish! Will be making this regularly from now on.
Thank you Nuria!
Delicious! Followed your recipes and so so good. Easy and flavorful. I’ll definitely make this again.
Thank you Jane!
Great recipe! Due to not having all the ingredients I replaced broccoli with crunchy fresh romaine , and replaced onion with chopped fresh celery with added onion powder. Still turned out amazing! I also used a bit of agave nectar instead of the granulated sugar in the teryiyaki and it turned out very well.
This recipe is a keeper. I used just one tablespoon of brown sugar (which I recommend) and 2 cups of broccoli. Results were delicious.
I make this 1-2 times per week, every week. I do a quick version, which is simply cooking the turkey and onions together, then I add the sauce and a bag of frozen vegetable mix (no lima beans) and let it all cook. Its fantastic and my husband loves it!! We make it in bulk now and freeze into gallon bags, defrost for dinner the next day. I also can’t find red cooking wine, so i do half white cooking wine and half vinegar.
This was awesome!! Definitely make it again!
Thank you Kathy!
You have garlic here twice. So is it actually 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons?
The teaspoons is for the sauce and the tablespoon is for the meat. 🙂
Wanted to do something different with my ground Turkey so I this for dinner…big hit! I tweaked it slightly. My vegetables included red and orange peppers, onions and broccoli. Decreased the sugar and added some red pepper flakes to give it a sweet and spicy taste. Turned out amazing.
Thanks for the recipe!
Thank you Mia!