This Korean Ground Turkey recipe is a fast, healthy, and convenient family weeknight dinner. With no prepping this meal comes together in only 20 minutes! Great served along with steamed vegetables, this is a meal you will come back to time and time again!
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So this recipe is a total cheater recipe, it is many times removed from the original Korean Beef that it is based after, so before anyone calls me out on it not be authentic I 100% realize this. I was most interested in coming up with a cheap, healthy, and fast version of this beloved dish that anyone can make. Korean Ground Turkey & Rice Bowls are so incredibly easy, it is a recipe that literally anyone could make and it is done fast, like dinner on the table in 20 minutes fast.
So why’d I do all these switches:
• I wanted to ditch the red meat and go with a leaner white meat option.
• Ground turkey where I live & shop (costal New Hampshire Market Basket’s) is way cheaper then ground beef. This might not be the case for everyone everywhere but I have come accustomed to grabbing for the ground turkey instead of beef.
• You can use very low fat ground turkey and it will still taste amazing, a lot of times ground turkey can be a little tasteless, not in this recipe the sauce adds so much flavor, to quote my husband, ‘I didn’t know you could make ground turkey taste this good’.
• I tried to keep the sauce simple but I did change out the traditional brown sugar for honey. I try to keep my family away from refined sugars and try to stick with natural sweeteners if necessary. In this recipe my husband actually preferred the honey flavor over the brown sugar flavor!
Overall I hope you enjoy these Korean Ground Turkey & Rice Bowls for a super quick weekday dinner or lunch!
How do I make Korean Ground Turkey?
With essentially no prep this meal comes together incredibly easy!
To start you will want to get your rice cooking, depending on your method or package instructions this will likely take longer than then it takes to cook the turkey, so get it started first. Follow the package instructions or hop over to my post about How to Cook Rice on the Stovetop for an easy method!
To get the turkey going you will heat a large skillet over medium heat. Crumble and brown the ground turkey 8-10 minutes until fully cooked. Drain out grease if needed.
While turkey is cooking, make the sauce. Add garlic, honey, soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, red pepper flakes, and black pepper to a bowl. Mix together.
Once turkey is fully cooked add the sauce to the skillet. Cook 3-4 minutes until the sauce thickens/absorbs into the turkey.
To serve fluff and scoop rice into bowls. Divide the turkey over the rice and garnish with sliced green onions and sesame seeds.
Serve immediately and enjoy! Goes great with steamed broccoli or carrots.
TIPS & TRICKS:
• For the rice: use whatever rice (or grain) you prefer. In my opinion white rice tastes best but might not be the best option for you, choose brown rice or even cauliflower rice for a healthier option.
• This dish goes great with some steamed broccoli
• Remember to start your rice cooking before you start on the ground Turkey, it takes longer 🙂
• I have gotten a lot of feedback that people love to double the sauce, so by all means double the sauce!
Korean Ground Turkey & Rice Bowls
flavorful Korean style ground turkey served over steaming rice and garnished with green onions & sesame seeds
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 2 cups uncooked rice (white or brown)
- 4 cloves garlic, grated or minced
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- green onion & sesame seeds for garnish
Instructions
- Cook rice according to package directions.
- In a large skillet, over medium heat brown the ground turkey 8-10 minutes until fully cooked.
- While turkey is cooking, make the sauce. Add garlic, honey, soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, red pepper flakes, and black pepper to a bowl. Mix together.
- Once turkey is fully cooked add the sauce to the skillet. Cook 3-4 minutes until the sauce thickens/absorbs into the turkey.
- Serve the turkey over the rice. Garnish with green onions and sesame seeds.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Amount Per Serving: Calories: 617.14Total Fat: 11.64gSaturated Fat: 2.79gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 14gCholesterol: 120mgSodium: 943.64mgCarbohydrates: 96.83gFiber: 0.32gSugar: 17.51gProtein: 30.33g
Nutritional data is automated, final nutritional information will depend on ingredients used and any changes made.
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Peace & Love
Lauren, The Schmidty Wife
(post updated 04/30/2019 to include additional information)
P.S. Looking for other quick dinners? Try my 20 Minute Chicken Stir Fry, One Pot Southwest Quinoa or my Thai Peanut Chicken & Veggie Bowls.
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I made this Korean rice bowl following your recipe and it was delicious. This is now my favorite ground turkey dish. I love the flavor. Many thanks for sharing recipe!
After my local grocery store had a BOGO on packages of ground turkey, I looked for recipes that I could make with it and found this one. Hit the jackpot with this Korean ground turkey rice bowl!!! My family couldn’t get enough of it and it’s already been requested for dinner next week! And I have already passed the recipe onto family and friends who need something yummy, fast and nutrious for their busy week nights. I will also follow the suggested idea to make additional sauce to use as extra moisture for the rice. This is going to definitely stay in the rotation for a long time!!
What brand of soy sauce do you all suggest.
I used, Taste of Inspirations, brand.
I made this and it was amazing. I love Asian dishes, so I had all of the ingredients already. Since I meal prep, I doubled the turkey and all of the ingredients . I also try to incorporate veggies when I cook, so I shredded a half a head of cabbage and added sliced carrots to the ground turkey after the turkey was somewhat formed and let them semi soft, as not everyone in my home likes crunchy veggies. This dish will be on my rotation.
I made this a couple times, but i shook things up to take it to the next level. First of all the sauce does not need 1/4 teaspoon of ground pepper, so I cut it in half to 1/8 teaspoon. Before browning the ground, I sautéed 1 diced medium yellow onion seasoned with salt and pepper in roughly 2 tablespoons olive oil, for about 5-8 minutes until they were soft and started to brown. I then added 1/2 chopped green bell pepper, and 1/2 red bell pepper – combined with the onions and covered for 5 minutes to let them soften a bit. Then, for an extra umami factor I added 2 anchovy filets and cooked them in the oil until broken down and melted into the onion / pepper mixture. THEN I added the ground turkey and cooked until done. Sauce is then added, cooked for about 5 minutes but then also added a cornstarch slurry to thicken the sauce and have it fully stick to the ground turkey.
So delicious and fairly easy. I read the reviews first and loved the idea of adding chopped veggies to turkey. I used shredded carrots, celery and onion. I was low on honey so used it and brown sugar. I like ve recipes like this that you can alter a little to personal taste. It tasted so healthy but yummy! Great recipe! Thank you.
I added korean pepper flakes. 1 TBSP Mother In Law’s Gochugaru Korean Chile Flakes. It’s a nice earthy mild spice ads a smoky element.
I’m half Korean and approve of this recipe! It’s simple, cheap, tasty, and quick! Perfect for my busy and picky little family. Beef is expensive these days and my little one will only eat turkey and seafood, so this is perfect. It doesn’t need to be 100% authentic to taste yummy. Thanks for sharing!
I took a chance based on the reviews and this recipe didn’t disappoint, it was delicious!!! I didn’t have sesame oil so I used a little olive oil and added a little liquid smoke. Soooo good!