Ground Turkey Teriyaki is a quick, easy, and tasty meal the whole family will love! It’s a great addition to rice and noodles and perfect for meal prep. This delicious recipe can be made in under 30 minutes, making it a quick weeknight dinner!
Ground turkey is the unsung hero of the ground meat world.
We always have packages of ground turkey in our freezer, and we cook with it more than we use ground beef or ground chicken. It’s so versatile, and if you cook it correctly and with love, it’s got great flavor.
This ground turkey teriyaki recipe is a great way to use ground turkey meat. I love cooking this because you can serve it in so many different ways, and there are many options to keep things interesting.
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🌟 Why this recipe works
This is a winning busy weeknight recipe that will win you and your family over!
- Fast – You can whip up this flavorful dinner in under 30 minutes.
- Simple – The easy recipe calls for simple ingredients from your local grocery store.
- Versatile – There are so many ways to serve ground turkey teriyaki stir fry! See the Variations section below for some ideas and inspiration that will help keep your dinners at home delicious and interesting.
I had so much fun making this recipe live on our local ABC television station’s AfternoonLive show. You can watch my segment online and see just how fast and easy — and delicious! — it is!
🛒 Ingredient notes
For the teriyaki sauce
You can use store-bought teriyaki sauce, but I prefer to make my own. It’s so easy to make, tastes better, and doesn’t contain weird, unnecessary ingredients.
- Liquids – The homemade teriyaki sauce starts with soy sauce, water (slightly warm water; not cold and not hot), rice wine vinegar, and a little hoisin sauce.
- Sugar – a little brown sugar balances out the flavors in the sauce. You can use light brown sugar, or use dark brown sugar for a richer sauce flavor.
- Aromatics – I love fresh garlic and fresh ginger in my teriyaki sauce. But you can use garlic powder and ground ginger if you prefer.
- Cornstarch – I add a little bit of corn starch to thicken up the sauce. You can leave this out if you don’t mind a thinner sauce.
For the ground turkey:
- Ground turkey meat – This easy recipe features lean ground turkey as the star. If you are using frozen ground turkey, make sure the meat is fully thawed.
- Aromatics – Onions and garlic are the flavor foundations of this dish!
- Vegetables – Finely chopped broccoli, grated carrots, and finely diced red bell peppers add vitamins and minerals and delicious crunch to this ground turkey teriyaki recipe.
- Oil – Use vegetable oil, canola oil, or avocado oil—an oil with a neutral flavor—to stir-fry the ground turkey.
Garnishes include sliced green onions (aka scallions or spring onions), and sesame seeds.
✅ Step-by-step instructions
You’ll find a full list of ingredients and detailed instructions in the printable recipe card below at the bottom of this post. Here’s a visual step-by-step cooking guide to help you make the best ground turkey teriyaki!
- Make the sauce and set it aside.
- Add the oil to a hot large skillet or wok over medium-high heat.
3. Sauté the onions and garlic.
4. Add the ground turkey meat and cook the meat through, until you no longer see any pink.
5. Add the vegetables and stir, cooking for a couple of minutes.
6. Add the sauce and toss to coat all of the meat and veggies with the sauce. Cook for a few minutes then serve with rice or noodles.
👩🏻🍳 Substitutions, additions, and recipe FAQs
Substitutions:
- Instead of ground turkey, you can use another lean protein such as ground chicken or ground pork, or lean ground beef instead. You may find that the ground chicken needs a minute or two more to cook than ground turkey, and ground beef may cook a minute or two faster.
- Instead of hoisin sauce, you can substitute oyster sauce. You can also use dark soy sauce to add the rich flavor that you get from hoisin sauce.
- Good substitutions for rice wine vinegar include white wine vinegar, sherry, and apple cider vinegar.
- You can use your favorite vegetables in this teriyaki stir-fry. In addition or in place of the recipe’s broccoli, carrots, and red bell pepper, try zucchini, cabbage, cauliflower, snap peas, baby corn, or snow peas.
Additions:
- In addition to or in place of the sliced green onions, you can add some chopped cilantro or chopped fresh parsley to garnish the dish before serving.
Storage
This recipe makes great leftovers. Store leftovers in an airtight container and keep it in the fridge for up to three days. You can keep just the ground beef or store the complete ground turkey teriyaki rice bowls in the refrigerator together.
Yes! Allow the meat to cool, then store in a freezer bag or freezer safe airtight container in the freezer for up to two months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.
Allow the meat to cool, then store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three or four days.
Use low sodium soy sauce if you need to bring down the salt content. You can also use coconut aminos if you need the recipe to be completely gluten-free.
Since it uses brown sugar and cornstarch, it isn’t keto-friendly. To make low carb teriyaki turkey rice bowls, use brown sugar substitute, don’t add corn starch, and serve it over cauliflower rice.
Change the teriyaki sauce ingredients to match your tastes. Use either coconut sugar or honey to adjust the flavor of the sauce.
🍽 Serving ideas
This recipe is great to use for ground turkey teriyaki bowls. Simple serve over white rice, garlic rice, or brown rice (try our Instant Pot Cilantro Lime Brown Rice recipe) to make a quick and easy turkey teriyaki rice bowl.
I also love this easy dinner recipe served over noodles, like our easy Chili Garlic Noodles.
The crumbled ground turkey teriyaki is also delicious with an Asian Cucumber Salad.
🍷 🥂 Wine pairings
Like most other Asian recipes, the flavors of ground turkey teriyaki pair well with Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Gewürztraminer, and Albariño white wines.
🍳 Kitchen tools and equipment
Ready to make this recipe? Here are the kitchen tools and equipment you’ll need:
- Large bowl or medium bowl and a whisk to mix together the sauce.
- Large skillet or wok to cook this one-pot meal.
- Wooden spoon to stir the ingredients.
More ground turkey recipes
Once you start cooking with ground turkey, you’ll find a bunch of new things to make—like stuffed shells with ground turkey. Try these recipes next!
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to leave a 5-Star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating in the recipe card, and if you really loved it, please leave a comment further down on the page. Thank you!
Ground Turkey Teriyaki
Equipment
Ingredients
For the teriyaki sauce
- ½ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup water
- 2 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon hoisin sauce
- 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 teaspoon minced ginger
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
For the ground turkey mixture
- 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
- ½ cup diced onion
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 1½ cups finely chopped broccoli
- 1 cup grated carrots (about 2 medium carrots)
- ½ cup diced red bell pepper
- 2 scallions, sliced thinly
- 1 Tablespoon sesame seeds
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, water, rice wine vinegar, hoisin sauce, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, and cornstarch. Set aside.
- Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. One the oil is hot, add the garlic and onions and cook for 1 minute.
- Add the turkey and break up the meat, cooking until just cooked through, about 2-4 minutes.
- Add the vegetables and stir, cooking for 2 minutes.
- Pour the sauce over the ground turkey mixture and toss to coat the meat with the sauce.
- Garnish with green onions and sesame seeds before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
