Ground Turkey Recipes for Dinner: 30-Minute High Protein Bowls

Name: Ground Turkey Recipes for Dinner: 30-Minute High Protein Bowls
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 4 bowls
Ingredients: 1.5 lb (680g) ground turkey, 93% lean; 1 tbsp olive oil; 1 yellow onion, diced; 4 garlic cloves, minced; 2 tsp ground cumin; 1 1/2 tsp smoked paprika; 1 tsp chili powder; 1 1/4 tsp kosher salt; 1/2 tsp black pepper; 2 medium zucchini, cut into half moons; 2 bell peppers, sliced; 1 tbsp olive oil; 1/4 tsp salt; 3 cups cooked brown rice; 1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed; 1 avocado, sliced; Juice of 1 lime; Chopped cilantro; Hot sauce or Greek yogurt, to serve

Oct 16

3 min read

Updated: 15 hours ago

Ground turkey meal prep bowl with brown rice, black beans, zucchini, peppers and avocado

Get the High-Protein Meal Plan

38g protein and 10g fiber, 30 minutes

This is the bowl that makes meal prep worth doing. Lean ground turkey is cooked with cumin and smoked paprika, piled over brown rice with black beans, and the zucchini and peppers get charred hard in the same pan so they taste like something rather than steamed filler. Thirty-eight grams of protein and ten of fiber per bowl.

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Why this one works

Charring the vegetables in a hot dry pan before adding anything else is the difference between a good bowl and a sad one.
Brown rice and black beans together push the fiber to 10g, which is what actually keeps you full past 3pm.
It portions into four containers and holds up for four days without going soggy.

At a glance

Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 4 bowls
Protein: 38g per serving
Calories: 562 per serving

Ingredients

Turkey

1.5 lb (680g) ground turkey, 93% lean
1 tbsp olive oil
1 yellow onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp chili powder
1 1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Vegetables

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2 medium zucchini, cut into half moons
2 bell peppers, sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp salt

To build

3 cups cooked brown rice
1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
1 avocado, sliced
Juice of 1 lime
Chopped cilantro
Hot sauce or Greek yogurt, to serve

Instructions

Char the vegetables first. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large skillet over high until it shimmers. Add the zucchini and peppers in a single layer with the salt and leave them completely undisturbed for 3 minutes, then toss and give them 3 more. You want dark blistered spots, not uniform softness. Tip them into a bowl.
Brown the turkey. Lower the heat to medium-high and add the remaining oil. Add the turkey, break it up once, then let it sit for 3 minutes at a time so it browns rather than steams. About 8 minutes total.
Add aromatics. Stir in the onion and cook 4 minutes until soft, then the garlic for one more minute.
Bloom the spices. Add the cumin, smoked paprika, chili powder, salt and pepper and stir constantly for 60 seconds until the whole pan smells toasted.
Warm the beans. Stir in the black beans and cook 2 minutes just to heat them through, pressing a few against the pan so they thicken the mixture slightly.
Build the bowls. Divide the brown rice between four bowls. Top each with the turkey mixture and the charred vegetables, keeping them in separate sections rather than stirring everything together.
Finish. Add the avocado just before eating, squeeze lime over everything and scatter with cilantro. Hot sauce or a spoonful of Greek yogurt on top.

Notes and swaps

Meal prep: assemble everything except the avocado, which browns. Slice it fresh each day.
Swap brown rice for quinoa to add another 4g protein per bowl.
Make the turkey mixture ahead and freeze it in portions for 3 months.