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This Thai Turkey Meal Prep Bowl is the perfect healthy and satisfying lunch or dinner. It’s a white rice or cauliflower rice base loaded with flavorful ground turkey and a colorful blend of veggies all tossed in a salty, tangy, spicy Thai basil sauce.

This recipe is low-carb, whole-30-approved, paleo-friendly, and oh-so-tasty!

side view of a thai basil rice bowl.


Simple Rice Bowl Recipe with Ground Turkey

I’m always looking for new ways to fuel up on a busy day. And this Thai Basil Ground Turkey Bowl Meal Prep recipe is an all-time favorite.

This tastes like a meal you spent a whole lot of time on, when in reality it only took you 30 minutes! It’s loaded with so many colorful, flavorful, tasty, and nutritious ingredients: rice or cauliflower rice, savory Thai turkey, fresh, crunchy veggies, and a simple and mouthwatering Thai basil sauce.

This recipe will be your new go-to…for meal prep or not!

a bowl full of rice, ground turkey, and veggies from above.

What You’ll Need

These rice bowls are packed full of so many good-for-you ingredients! Here’s what you’ll need:

  • Avocado Oil: You’ll need a little bit of oil to brown the turkey and to sauté the veggies. If you don’t have avocado oil, I recommend another neutral oil such as. vegetable oil or grapeseed oil.
  • Ground Turkey: You will need just 1 pound of ground turkey for this recipe.
  • Turkey Aromatics and Seasonings: We’re flavoring our meat with the perfect blend of coconut aminos, sesame oil, chili paste, fresh ginger, chopped Thai basil, lemon grass, fish sauce, salt, and pepper.
  • Veggie Mixture: Our veggie mix consists of onion, bell pepper, green beans, and bok choy. Don’t forget to season the veggies with a little bit of salt and pepper too!
  • Thai Basil Sauce: The sauce is made with a simple combination of coconut aminos, chili paste, fresh ginger, and fish sauce.
  • Rice: You can cook up regular white rice or keep your meal low-carb with a batch of cauliflower rice.
  • Toppings for Serving: I like to finish the bowls off with bibb lettuce, sliced chili peppers, and sliced carrots.

How to Make Thai Basil Rice Bowls

This rice bowl recipe takes just 30 minutes to make from start to finish. Enjoy your meal right away or have lunches prepped all week long!

  1. Cook the turkey: In a saucepan, heat oil over medium heat, then add in the turkey, coconut aminos, sesame oil, chili paste, ginger, basil, lemon grass, fish sauce, salt, and pepper. Cook until the turkey is cooked through.
  2. Prep the rice: Cook the rice of your choice or prepare a batch of cauliflower rice.
  3. Cook the veggies: In another pan, heat oil over medium heat, then add in onion, pepper, and green beans. Cook until softened, then add in bok choy, salt, and pepper.
  4. Make the sauce: In a small pot, combine the coconut aminos, chili paste, fresh ginger, and fish sauce. Bring to a boil, then simmer until thickened.

Now, assemble and serve or store everything separately for later!

How Do You Make Ground Turkey More Flavorful?

There are plenty of ways you can load your ground turkey up with flavor.

In this case, we’re cooking it with a combination of coconut aminos, sesame oil, chili paste, fresh ginger, basil, lemon grass, fish sauce, salt, and pepper.

It’s the perfect combination of salty, nutty, spicy, tangy, and savory to take your ground turkey from bland to bursting with flavor.

How Do You Cook Ground Turkey Without Drying it Out?

Ground turkey is a lean meat, which means it can quickly become dried out if not cooked properly. Here are a couple of things we’re doing to make sure that it’s perfectly tender and juicy:

  • Add liquids. For this recipe, we’re adding oil, coconut aminos, chili paste, and fish sauce—all which add a significant amount of moisture (as well as flavor) to the meat.
  • Cook on medium heat. Medium heat cooks the turkey perfectly without zapping the moisture out of it. Cooking on high heat will dry it out pretty darn quick.
  • Don’t over-cook. Remove the turkey from the heat as soon as no pink remains in the meat. Any longer than that and it will start to dry out.

Can You Use Pre-Made or Frozen Cauliflower Rice?

Yes! While you can easily rice your own cauliflower, you can also take advantage of pre-riced, frozen cauliflower to save a little bit of time if you prefer.

side view of a bowl loaded with rice, ground turkey, and colorful veggies.

Tips and Variations for Ground Turkey Meal Prep Rice Bowls

  • Assemble right before serving. To keep everything as fresh as possible, I recommend keeping all of the different components separate until right before you’re ready to serve.
  • Spice it up. Love the heat? Try adding a sprinkle of red pepper flakes to the Thai basil sauce.
  • Use another meat. The ground turkey is delicious, but this recipe would also work great with ground chicken, pork, or beef.
  • Add more veggies. I love the blend of onions, peppers, green beans, bok choy, and carrots, but you can really use whatever other veggies you have on hand. Try mushrooms, broccoli, water chestnuts, you name it.
overhead of a to-go container loaded with rice, ground turkey, and veggies.

What Pairs Well with Thai Basil?

This Thai basil ground turkey meal prep bowl is made with tons of aromatic Thai flavors. It makes a super satisfying and complete meal all on its own, but you can absolutely pair it with more Thai-inspired recipes.

Enjoy it with:

chopsticks being used to pick ground turkey from a colorful rice bowl.

How to Store

To keep everything nice and fresh, I recommend prepping and storing all of the rice bowl recipe components separately.

Here are my storage recommendations:

  • Rice: Store the rice in an airtight container for 3-4 days. Reheat on the stove or in the microwave.
  • Turkey: Store the cooked turkey mixture in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days or in the freezer for 2-3 months. To reheat, thaw overnight in the fridge if frozen, then warm on low on the stove until heated through.
  • Veggies: The veggie mixture can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 4-5 days. To reheat, warm either in the microwave or on low on the stove.
  • Sauce: The Thai basil sauce can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.

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side view of a thai basil rice bowl.

Thai Turkey Bowl Meal Prep

5 from 2 votes
This Thai Basil Meal Ground Turkey Meal Prep Bowl is the perfect healthy and satisfying lunch or dinner. It's a white rice or cauliflower rice base loaded with flavorful ground turkey and a colorful blend of veggies all tossed in a salty, tangy, spicy Thai basil sauce.
Servings 4
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes

Ingredients
  

For Turkey:

  • 1 teaspoon avocado oil
  • 1 pound ground turkey
  • 2 tablespoon coconut aminos
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 1 teaspoon chili paste
  • 1 teaspoon fresh ginger minced
  • 1/3 cup chopped Thai basil or sub regular basil
  • 1 teaspoon lemon grass sliced
  • 1/2 teaspoon fish sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper

For the Veggies:

  • 2 teaspoons avocado oil or extra-virgin avocado oil
  • 1 medium onion diced
  • 2 bell peppers cored and sliced
  • 1 cup green beans
  • 1 bunch bok choy
  • 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

For Sauce:

  • 4 tablespoon coconut aminos
  • 1 teaspoon chili paste
  • 1 teaspoon fresh ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon fish sauce

To assemble:

  • Cauliflower Rice or White Rice cooked
  • Bibb lettuce
  • Chili Peppers sliced
  • Carrots cut into thin strips

Instructions

  • Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Once hot add all turkey ingredients and mix until well combined. Cook until the turkey is cooked through and no pink remains, about 5-7 minutes. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed.
  • Meanwhile, prepare either cauliflower rice or white rice as desired.
  • To cook veggies: Heat oil in another pan over medium heat.  Add in diced onion, sliced red peppers and green beans. Cook until onion becomes translucent and veggies begin to soften, about 5-7 minutes. Add in bok choy, salt and pepper. Cook until wilted.
  • In a small pot add all of the ingredients for the sauce. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 1-2 minutes until sauce reduces and thickens slightly.
  • Assemble bowls by adding rice, then ground turkey, then veggies and drizzle with sauce. Serve with desired toppings. Serve immediately, or let cool completely before storing for meal prep.

Nutrition

Calories: 352kcalCarbohydrates: 22.1gProtein: 41.1gFat: 15.2gSaturated Fat: 2.5gCholesterol: 116mgSodium: 730mgFiber: 9.4gSugar: 5.8g
Course: meal prep
Cuisine: Gluten-free
Author: Lexi


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Comments

  1. By the ingredients I know it is a delicious recipe. I plan to make it. Thank you. I’m always looking for simple recipes.

  2. 5 stars
    This is such a delicious recipe and super easy to make! I didn’t have basil, but I used parsley instead which was great. Thank you!

  3. 5 stars
    Sooooo good! I made this for my mom and grandmother and both asked for the recipe and made it within a week. That is a huge win! I like how you can use whatever veggies you want in it. So good.

  4. I agree with some others that the sauce isn’t even needed since the turkey is so tasty! I made some adjustments based on what was available/in my pantry. Will make again for a quick, flavorful dinner!

  5. This recipe was one of my ultimate favorites! The ground turkey in itself has so much flavor that you hardly need any sauce! I prepped all ingredients ahead of time which made this recipe super quick to pull together. The only modification I made was using dried basil instead of fresh. I was bummed at first when my supermarket was out of fresh basil but the recipe still tasted amazing! I can’t wait to make it again.

  6. This was delicious and I will make it again. I made extra sauce and doubled the chili paste to add more spice. I was planning on having it for lunch the next day but there were no leftovers 🙁

    1. Guess that means it was good!!!! I always think of how many I’m feeding and adjust as needed so each person has xxx amount of protein, etc.

  7. Very efficiently written post. It will be useful to anybody who usess it, including myself. Keep doing what you are doing – can’r wait to read more posts.

    1. I hadn’t heard of coconut aminos before trying a chicken Thai soup recipe, but they were easy to find and I think totally worth it. I was able to buy a small bottle, so you’re not out a lot of $$. You can use soy sauce, but if new to Thai cooking (like I was/am), I wanted it to be as authentic as possible, and was very glad I purchased & used this new product! Good luck to you, happy cooking!

  8. I tried this last week. It was very good. I used baby bok choy. I love this series. I’m doing the Greek Chicken tonight and next is the salmon. Thanks so much!

  9. I make ground turkey every week but that’s about where the meal prep ends. Totally doing this recipe up next time because it looks BALLER!