These ground turkey meal prep bowls have a delicious Korean-inspired sauce! Packed with flavor and under 400 calories per bowl, you can prep this recipe on the weekend for healthy and delicious lunches through the week.
It's amazing how versatile ground turkey can be! From Thai turkey lettuce wraps to turkey taco lunch bowls, it's not only versatile but works great in meal prep as well.
Inspired by Korean beef, ground turkey is cooked in a sweet and savory sauce that adds flavor to rice and vegetables. You can store it in the fridge or the freezer...perfect for stocking up on healthy meals!
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Reasons you'll โก this recipe
- It's ready in under 30 minutes, making it a great dish for quick meal prep or weeknight dinner
- This ground turkey bowl freezes and thaws well.
- The sauce adds the perfect amount of flavor to the turkey, rice, and vegetables
About Korean beef
This recipe was adapted from Taste of Home's Korean Beef and Rice, which in turn, was inspired by Korean beef bulgogi. Beef bulgogi is a traditional Korean recipe that consists of thin strips of beef marinated in a delicious sauce. The beef can be skewered, then grilled, or sauteed in a frying pan. The marinade can vary widely by chef but typically consists of a mixture of soy sauce, garlic, ginger, green onion, sugar, and pear.
If you are interested in reading more about the history behind beef bulgogi, I encourage you to read this article.
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Adapting these flavors into a 30 minute recipe
My goal for this recipe was to adapt the traditional flavors, but lighten it up, speed up the prep, and make it with ingredients that are readily available to North American (US/Canada) home cooks. Instead of beef, I used lean protein and paired it with broccoli and rice.
Ingredient notes
- ground turkey- feel free to swap for ground beef, or ground chicken. Mashed tofu also works well in this recipe.
- soy sauce- if you are gluten-free, you can swap for tamari, coconut aminos or liquid soy seasoning
- honey- balancing out the soy sauce with a touch of sweetness is essential, but you don't necessarily need to use honey; feel free to swap for maple syrup or brown sugar. Monk fruit sweetener works if you want to make it low carb (see recipe card for quantities).
- red pepper flakes- adds a touch of heat, but you can easily leave them out if you're serving to kiddos
Step by step directions
1. Shake up sauce- You'll want to mix up the sauce before you begin cooking. In a small jar, add honey, soy sauce, sesame oil, red pepper flakes, and black pepper. Shake it up, then set aside.
2. Cook turkey- Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the ground turkey to the pan, and cook for 7-10 minutes, stirring and breaking it up with a spatula.
3. Garlic & ginger- When turkey is cooked through and no pink remains, make a space in the middle of the pan. Add the minced garlic and ginger, and cook, stirring a bit, for 1 minute. Then mix it right into the ground turkey.
4. Sauce it up- Shake the sauce back up, then pour it evenly over the turkey. Let it cook for 1-2 minutes until bubbly and everything is coated in the sauce.
5. Portion out- Portion out the ground turkey + sauce into 2 cup or larger meal prep containers with steamed broccoli and rice. Refrigerate for up to 4 days, and heat it up until steaming hot in the microwave to serve.
Ingredient swaps
- rice- brown rice or quinoa are nice options. If you are seeking a plant-based alternative swap for cauliflower rice (or even zoodles) and try an alternative sweetener in the sauce to make this low carb
- honey- swap for brown sugar, maple syrup or monk fruit sweetener
- soy sauce- swap for tamari or coconut aminos to make it paleo-friendly (you'll need to swap the rice as well)
- ground turkey- may be swapped for ground beef, mashed tofu, or chicken thighs (chopped into cubes)
- broccoli - this will work with many other vegetables such as bell pepper, green beans, and sugar snap peas.
Storage
- refrigerator- store in an air tight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- freezer- store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- thaw- overnight in the fridge.
- reheat- in the microwave until steaming hot.
More meal prep bowls
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Korean-Inspired Turkey Meal Prep Bowls
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ยพ cup uncooked rice 2 cups cooked
- 1 head broccoli chopped into florets
Turkey
- ยพ lb lean ground turkey see note 1
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon ginger finely chopped
Sauce
- 3 tablespoons honey see note 2
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce see note 3
- 1 ยฝ teaspoons sesame oil
- ยผ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- โ teaspoon pepper
Garnish
- green onions (optional)
Instructions
- Cook rice according to package directions. Portion out into four 2-cup capacity meal prep containers and allow to cool.
- Shake up all sauce ingredients and set aside.
- Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the broccoli and cook for 5 or so minutes, until slightly softened. Remove from heat and divide between meal prep containers.
- Add turkey to pan. Cook, breaking it up with a spatula, for 5-8 minutes, until completely cooked through and no longer pink.
- Make a space in the middle of the pan. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for 1 minute, stirring up a bit.
- Give the sauce a shake up and pour over the ground turkey and garlic/ginger. Stir until everything is mixed through, about 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Divide turkey/sauce mixture between the meal prep containers. Sprinkle with green onions if desired.
Storage
- Once everything has cooled, store in the fridge for up to 4 days.
To serve
- Heat in the microwave until steaming hot, and enjoy!
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Tips:
Nutrition Information
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Vanesse says
I've made this twice and it tastes really good!
Katherine H says
This is really good! Super easy to throw together and has tons of flavor. I didnโt have broccoli on hand, so I chopped some carrots and boiled them. Tasted fantastic blended all together! Definitely adding to my meal prep rotations.
Christina says
This turned out great! The sauce was a nice, sweet and mild spicy which was perfect for me but you could definitely kick it up a notch with more pepper flakes if you want it to be spicier. I steamed my broccoli a bit instead of just pan-frying it because I prefer it to be on the softer side, and just added a bit of water to the pan with the lid on to get that desired softness. I would definitely make it again for meal prep or a quick dinner.
Traci says
Delicious and satisfying!! Wasn't
sure how I felt about ground turning but it was great. I used amino acids instead of soy sauce and a vegetable blend instead of broccoli. Yummy!!
Sarah says
Iโm obsessed
Karli says
This is really good! The sauce tastes amazing. I went heavy on the sauce and also added carrots.
Ben | Sweet Peas & Saffron says
Great idea Karli, carrots would taste great in this recipe. Thanks for commenting.
karen says
I made this as a meal prep with plant beef crumbles and it was so easy to make and delicious. This will definitely be part of my meal prep rotation.
Ben | Sweet Peas & Saffron says
Hi Karen, thanks for sharing your meat alternative. Happy to hear it worked and you enjoyed it!
Ada says
my favorite way to now eat ground turkey! super flavorful and delicious. I add sesame seeds as garnish too!
Ben | Sweet Peas & Saffron says
Hi Ada,
Sesame seeds are a great touch. Thanks for sharing.
Debra says
Delicious and very filling!
Ben | Sweet Peas & Saffron says
Hi Debra, it is great to hear you enjoyed this recipe. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Erik says
Do you drain the ground Turkey before adding the sauce?
Ben | Sweet Peas & Saffron says
Hi Eric,
Yes, if the liquid doesn't boil off during cooking, you can drain off the liquid before adding the sauce.
Deb W says
Delicious! Right amount of heat. Definitely making again and sharing recipe with my kids.
Jasmine @ Sweet Peas & Saffron says
Hi Deb, very glad to hear that you enjoyed this turkey meal prep! Sounds like you've found a new favorite to enjoy again and again! Thanks so much for leaving a rating and review ๐
KG says
We absolutely love this recipe! The sauce is perfect and gives the meat so much flavor. Love that substitutions weโre included for reference.
Jasmine @ Sweet Peas & Saffron says
Hi KG, so glad to hear that you enjoyed it! Thanks for taking the time to come back to leave a rating and review! ๐
Joyce says
This recipe is so good and the sauce is super versatile. My husband hates eating the same thing twice in a week. I doubled up the recipe and added a cup of diced cremini mushrooms. I made the meal prep bowl, saved about a cup of the cooked Turkey and made lettuce wraps. Added brown rice and quinoa to the rest of the Turkey mix and sauce to make stuffed bell peppers and โfried riceโ with the remainder all in one wok! Amazing recipe and he didnโt complain about using the same sauce/Turkey mix whatsoever. Definitely making this again!!
Jasmine @ Sweet Peas & Saffron says
Hi Joyce, that is so brilliant to use it up in turkey lettuce wraps! We're so glad that you both enjoyed it - thanks for taking the time to come back to leave a rating and review!
Morgan Schmidtke says
My husband, who usually doesnโt favor more Asian flavorsโฆ LICKED THE BOWL and praised me for days for this. This is going into our rotation! Thank you SO much for how simple you make this. I started with the 24 lunches/3 recipes video (including this recipe) and was blown away by how simple it was. You have started me on flavorful, enjoyable meal prepping and freezing! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Jasmine @ Sweet Peas & Saffron says
Hi Morgan, awe - so sweet! We're so glad to hear that you BOTH enjoyed this recipe. Thanks for your kind words, and for coming back to leave a rating and review!