Ground Turkey Bowls
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Why you’ll love this recipe
- These ground turkey bowls are a flavor and texture explosion.
- You’ll be surprised taking these basic ingredients and combining them in a combination you’d least expect.
- Using minimal ingredients and pantry staples you can easily prep these bowls for the week.
- Perfect for on the go as these bowls are great both cold or warm.
What’s in these ground turkey bowls?
These ground turkey bowls are loaded with ground turkey, roasted sweet potatoes, massaged kale salad, carrots, tomatoes cucumbers and … kicking myself but I forgot to photograph the quick pickled onions. I know, moving too fast and forgetting things happens. Top these bowls with pickled onions and they add the perfect crunch and tang. Top it all off with homemade peanut sauce and you’ll just love the combination of flavors in these bowls.
How do you meal prep?
These ground turkey bowls are great for meal prep since they can be enjoyed both cold and warm making them easy to take on the go.
For me, meal prepping is essential if I have:
- A busy week ahead
- I am in a deficit trying to cut fat
- I want to save time in general and not have to last minute decide what to eat or eat out.
When I am meal-prepping for a week I choose 2 recipes to make and alternate for lunches. Ex. this recipe makes 4 ground turkey bowls so I would alternate it throughout the week and have it M/W/F for lunch and Tuesday or Thursday for dinner. I would then add something like High Protein Egg Roll In A Bowl which only has 2 servings and have that for lunch on Tuesday and Thursday. For dinner meal prep I like making things that will guarantee leftovers OR give me leftovers that I can use in other ways. Macro Friendly Chili is great for that since it has a lot of servings and can be chili one night, chili dogs the next or even Chili Cheese Enchiladas!
Can I use other ground meats?
Sure! This recipe uses lean ground turkey seasoned with chili powder, paprika and turmeric. You can definitely use chicken or beef for these ground turkey bowls. Cook everything the same. They will be absolutely delicious with whatever protein you choose.
What is the sauce?
These ground turkey bowls are topped with a quick and super easy peanut sauce. Using powdered peanut butter you can avoid a high fat sauce while still getting all the protein peanut butter has to offer. You can absolutely replace the PB2 with your favorite creamy peanut or nut butter.
Is this gluten and dairy free?
These ground turkey bowls are all of the above. They’re the perfect option for anyone who is gluten free and/or dairy free.
How to lower the carbs in these bowls
The carbs are mainly pulling from the sweet potatoes. You can omit it entirely, replace it with cauliflower rice or anything else you prefer. I have provided nutrition facts below for with and without sweet potatoes just in case you want to omit from your ground turkey bowls. Do note though that sweet potatoes are a wonderful source of fiber and antioxidants.Â
Ingredients and Substitutes:
These are the main ingredients and substitutions. See recipe card below for full ingredients list and instructions for these ground turkey bowls.
Lean Ground Turkey: this recipe uses 1 pound of lean ground turkey (99/1%) seasoned with chili powder, smoked paprika and ground turmeric. You can substitute with ground chicken, beef or any ground meat you prefer.
Sweet Potatoes: you’ll need two large sweet potatoes for these bowls. The total grams of my sweet potatoes was 948 grams uncooked and then 620 grams once roasted. I will provide nutrition facts with and without sweet potatoes in the case you do not use the exact same measurement as me. Just simply add 1/4 of the cooked sweet potato to each bowl and log 1/4 of the total grams of your raw sweet potato to your tracked app with each bowl. You can also use rice, cauli rice, any potatoes or omit them entirely.Â
Kale Salad: if this is your first time massaging kale you’re in for a treat. A massaged kale salad with olive oil, good quality salt and a squeeze of lemon is truly the best way to eat kale in my opinion. Cut the stem out of the kale leaves and chop the kale into bite size pieces. Rinse, drain and massage.
Vegetables: these bowls include cherry tomatoes, sliced carrots and sliced English cucumbers. I love topping them with pickled red onions. I will post a separate recipe for a quick fridge pickled onion as I completely forgot to photograph them. I’ll update that once I have it.
Dressing and toppings
Peanut Dressing: this dressing uses a combination of PB2, powdered peanut butter, lemon juice, lite pancake syrup, cayenne pepper and salt. You can substitute the PB2 with 1/2 cup of your favorite peanut butter and lite syrup with 100% maple, honey or date paste.
Toppings: pickled onions .. don’t be mad at me but I forgot to shoot these so I am putting the recipe here for you without any pictures but I would 100% recommend you add these to your ground turkey bowls.
- 1 red onion, thinly sliced
- 3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 tsp. salt
- 2 tbsp. lite pancake syrup
- 1 whole garlic clove, smashed
Add the onions to a large mason jar. Put all the other ingredients in a pan over high heat and bring to a simmer. Pour on top of the onions pushing the onions down with a spoon if needed to fully cover. Place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before enjoying.
If you want to track these in your bowls create the recipe in MFP but really I’d just log some onions and call it a day.
How to make these turkey bowls:
Cut and roast the sweet potatoes – oven instructions
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. The potatoes are the longest piece of the puzzle for these bowls. Wash and chop the sweet potatoes into bite size pieces, add to a baking sheet sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Spray the potatoes with cooking spray and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 25-30 minutes until fork tender and browned.Â
Cut and roast the sweet potatoes – air fryer instructions
Preheat the air fryer. Wash and chop the sweet potatoes into bite size pieces, add to a air fryer basking sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Spray the potatoes with cooking spray and season with salt and pepper. Cook at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 10-15 minutes until fork tender and browned. Shake the basket halfway through. I personally prefer roasting in the oven because you may need to work in batches with the air fryer depending on the size of your basket.Â
Make the peanut sauce
For the sauce first start by combining the powdered peanut butter and water in a bowl and forming a peanut butter paste. Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl and mix together well to combine. Set aside until you’re ready to assemble your bowls. If you want the sauce to be any thinner just add more water.
Cook the turkey
While the potatoes roast, cook the ground turkey. Heat a pan over medium, spray with cooking spray and add the ground turkey to the pan. Using a spatula break the turkey into bite size pieces as it cooks. Cook until it is fully cooked through and no longer pink in the center approximately 5 minutes. Add the chili powder, smoked paprika and ground turmeric. Stir together to evenly coat and remove from the heat.
Massage the kale
Remove the kale from the stems by slicing along the side of the stem and discarding the stem. Chop into bite size pieces and rinse. Add the rinsed and dried kale to a bowl with the olive oil, salt and lemon juice and using your hands massage the oil into the kale. You will start to notice the texture of the kale changes, softens and shrinks. Once you have massaged the kale for a few minutes and it has decreased in size by about half set aside.
Chop and prep
Chop and prepare your cucumbers, tomatoes and carrots.
Assemble the bowls
Assemble your ground turkey bowls. As always it’s best to weigh your final weights and divide by the numbers of servings for accurate measurements. Ex. weigh your roasted sweet potatoes in grams and divide by 4, that’s how many grams each bowl gets.
Each bowl gets the following:
- 1/4 ground turkey (approx. 90 grams)
- 1/4 roasted sweet potatoes (approx. 155 grams)
- 1/4 kale salad
- 4 cherry tomatoes
- 4 cucumber slices
- 1/4 cup sliced carrots
- 37 grams peanut sauce
- pickled red onions if using
Nutrition facts without sweet potatoes: 252 calories 38 P / 19 C / 4 F
Nutrition facts with sweet potatoes: 418 calories 42 P / 52 C / 5 F
Logging notes!
These ground turkey bowls are logged into both MyFitnessPal and MacrosFirst tracking apps for easy logging both with and without sweet potatoes for your convenience.
As always it is recommend you weigh your own total grams for the most accurate serving sizes.
If you like this recipe be sure to check out some of our other easy recipes!
- Breakfast Burrito Bowls
- Teriyaki Beef Bowls
- Buffalo Chicken Rice Bowl
- Chicken Teriyaki Pineapple Bowl
- Ground Chicken Stir Fry
- Taco Mac and Cheese
Ground Turkey Bowls
📱 MyFitnessPal & MacrosFirst App Users
You can find this recipe and many others on MyFitnessPal and MacrosFirst by searching: Ohsnapmacros – Ground Turkey Bowls
Ingredients
- 1 lb. lean ground turkey 99/1
- 1 tsp. chili powder
- 1 tsp. smoked paprika
- 1/4 tsp. ground turmeric
- 2 large sweet potatoes, chopped 948g raw
- 3 cups kale, chopped 1 large bunch
- 1/2 lemon, juiced
- 1 tsp. olive oil
- 1/2 english cucumber, sliced
- 1.5 cups cherry tomatoes
- 1 cup sliced carrots
- salt and pepper
Peanut Sauce
- 1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp. powdered peanut butter PB2 52g
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 Tbsp. lite maple syrup
- 1/2 lemon, juiced
- dash of cayenne pepper to taste
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Pre heat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Wash and chop the sweet potatoes into bite size pieces, add to a baking sheet prayed with nonstick cooking spray. Spray the potatoes with cooking spray and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 25-30 minutes until fork tender and browned.Â
- For the air fryer add the chopped potatoes to a pre heated air fryer pan. Cook at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 10-15 minutes until fork tender and browned. Shake the basket halfway through. I personally prefer roasting in the oven because you may need to work in batched with the air fryer depending on the size of your basket.Â
- While the potatoes roast cook the ground turkey. Heat a pan over medium, spray with cooking spray and add the ground turkey. Using a spatula break the turkey into bite size pieces as it cooks. Cook until it is fully cooked through and no longer pink in the center, approximately 5 minutes. Add the chili powder, smoked paprika and ground turmeric. Stir together to evenly coat and remove from the heat.Â
- Remove the kale from the stems by slicing along the side of the stem and discarding the stem. Chop into bite size pieces and rinse. Add the rinsed and dried kale to a bowl with the olive oil, salt and lemon juice and using your hands massage the oil into the kale. You will start to notice the texture of the kale changes, softens and shrinks. Once you have massaged the kale for a few minutes and it has decreased in size by about half set aside.Â
- Chop and prepare all remaining vegetables.
Peanut Sauce
- For the sauce first start by combining the powdered peanut butter and water in a bowl and forming a peanut butter paste. Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl and mix together well to combine. Set aside until you’re ready to assemble your bowls. If you want the sauce to be any thinner just add more water.Â
Assemble the bowls
- Assemble your ground turkey bowls. As always it’s best to weigh your final weights and divide by the numbers of servings for accurate measurements. Ex. weigh your roasted sweet potatoes in grams and divide by 4, that’s how many grams each bowl gets.
- Each bowl gets the following:Â 1/4 ground turkey (approx. 90 grams), 1/4 roasted sweet potatoes (approx. 155 grams), 1/4 kale salad, 4 cherry tomatoes, 4 cucumber slices, 1/4 cup sliced carrots, 37 grams peanut sauce, pickled red onions (if using).
- Nutrition facts without sweet potatoes:Â 252 calories 38 P / 19 C / 4 F Nutrition facts with sweet potatoes: 418 calories 42 P / 52 C / 5 F
So good. This is a family favorite.
Has anyone made without the peanut butter powder ( allergy) or used an alternate? Looks so good!
This concoction is bullet proof. You can make this and down the road if you don’t have all the items you can leave it out. I don’t use kale I use spinach and that works good for me. I love this idea and use it weekly, so easy and quick
Prepped for lunches and ended up having to make for the whole office bc everyone wanted to try!
Just made this for dinner and lunches this week. Delicious and easy…this will be in regular rotation. Thank you Danielle for another amazing recipe!
For the peanut sauce you’re using 1/2 cup of powder pb and then 2 additional tbsp?
Yes!
If prepping for lunches for the week, will it need re-heated prior to eating? In which case, should cucumbers and tomatoes be stored separate?
Good cold or hot.