Bowl meals have always been my favorite because they’re super flexible, you get a lot of colors, textures, and flavors, and they’re perfect for meal prep (I LOVE having grab-n-go lunches ready). This week, I made these Mediterranean Turkey Bowls. They’re simple, super fresh, and very filling. Plus, I can swap out ingredients depending on what I have on hand, or what I’m craving. So if you’re looking for something new, easy, and fresh to prep for lunch, give these bowls a try!
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“Another home run with this one. The spices and seasonings used really made this delicious, especially the yogurt dressing. Thank you!”
JESSICA
easy mediterranean turkey bowls recipe
These bowls are endlessly customizable, and that includes the meat or protein. I used ground turkey that I seasoned with garlic and oregano, but you could easily swap it for ground beef, or make some yogurt marinated chicken and chop it into pieces before adding it to your bowl.
Want to make it vegetarian? Toss chickpeas or cannellini beans with the seasonings that I used for the ground turkey, and maybe a small squeeze of lemon, then add them to your bowl.
recipe tips
- Add your favorite ingredients. This recipe is a great clean out the fridge meal. Feel free to toss in whatever you’ve got on hand: feta, olives, chickpeas, capers, hummus, peppers, or any veggies lingering in your produce drawer.
- Swap the base. If rice isn’t your thing, use pasta, quinoa, your favorite grain, or leafy greens.
- Keep for up to 4 days. I only like to prep for four days at a time because I find that the freshness degrades too much after that. These bowls are not a good candidate for freezing due to the fresh vegetables and yogurt sauce.
- Eat warm or cold. When eating them just after preparation, the rice and turkey will be warm, which contrasts nicely with the fresh cold vegetables. When eating the leftovers, I eat them cold. They’re delicious both ways!
Mediterranean Turkey Bowls
Cost $10.11 recipe / $2.53 serving
Ingredients
Garlic Dill Yogurt Sauce
- 1 cup plain yogurt (full-fat, $1.12)
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice ($0.06)
- ¼ tsp garlic powder ($0.02)
- ¼ tsp dried dill ($0.03)
- ¼ tsp salt ($0.02)
Ground Turkey
- 1 Tbsp olive oil ($0.12)
- 1 lb. ground turkey ($4.99)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced ($0.16)
- ½ tsp dried oregano ($0.05)
- ½ tsp salt ($0.02)
- ¼ tsp freshly cracked pepper ($0.02)
Bowls
- 1 cup uncooked rice ($0.43*)
- 1 pint grape tomatoes ($1.89)
- 1 cucumber ($0.79)
- ¼ red onion ($0.19)
- ¼ cup chopped parsley ($0.20)
Instructions
- Make the garlic dill yogurt sauce first, so the flavors have time to blend. Stir together the yogurt, lemon juice, garlic powder, dill, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
- Next, begin cooking the rice using your preferred method (rice cooker or stove top). You can use any type of rice, just make sure to follow cooking instructions for the type of rice you're using.
- While the rice is cooking, cook the ground turkey. Add the olive oil to a large skillet and heat over medium. Once hot, add the ground turkey and continue to cook over medium heat.
- When the turkey is almost cooked through, add the minced garlic, dried oregano, salt, and pepper to the skillet. Stir to combine with the turkey and continue cooking for 2-3 minutes more or until the turkey is cooked through. Remove the turkey from the heat.
- Slice the grape tomatoes in half, chop the cucumber into quarter-rounds, thinly slice the red onion, and finely chop the parsley.
- When all of the ingredients are prepped, it's time to build your bowls. Divide the rice, ground turkey, tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, and parsley between four bowls or meal prep containers. Drizzle with the yogurt sauce just before serving and enjoy!
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Equipment
- Glass Meal Prep Containers
Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!How to Make Mediterranean Turkey Bowls Step-by-Step Photos
Make the sauce: Prepare the garlic dill yogurt sauce first so the flavors have time to blend. Combine 1 cup full-fat plain yogurt with 1 Tbsp lemon juice, ¼ tsp garlic powder, ¼ tsp dried dill, and ¼ tsp salt. Refrigerate the sauce until ready to serve.
Cook the rice: Next, cook one cup of rice (one cup uncooked yields about 3 cups cooked). I used a rice cooker for convenience, but if you’d like to do it on the stovetop, check out my How to Cook Rice tutorial.
Season the turkey: While the rice is cooking, prepare the ground turkey. Add 1 Tbsp olive oil to a large skillet and heat over medium. Once hot, add 1 lb. ground turkey. Cook the turkey over medium heat until it’s almost cooked through. At that point, add 2 minced cloves of garlic, ½ tsp dried oregano, ½ tsp salt, and ¼ tsp freshly cracked pepper. Continue to cook for 2-3 minutes more, or until the turkey is cooked through. Remove the turkey from the heat.
Prep the veggies: Slice one pint of grape tomatoes in half, chop one cucumber into quarter-rounds, thinly slice ¼ of a red onion, and finely chop about ¼ cup of fresh parsley. If you want the red onions to be a little milder, you can soak them in ice water for about five minutes.
Build the bowl: Once all of the ingredients are prepped, begin to build the bowls. Add about ¾ cup cooked rice to each bowl, then top with ¼ of the ground turkey. Divide the tomatoes, cucumber, onion, and parsley between the four bowls.
Add the sauce: Just before you’re ready to eat, drizzle the yogurt sauce (about ¼ cup per bowl) over top.
Serve: Dig in and enjoy all the fresh flavors!
Serving Suggestions
Sometimes I’ll make a batch of pita bread or garlic bread to soak up the leftover yogurt sauce. For dessert, a simple apple crumble always tastes great.
storage and reheating
Store prepped bowls in the fridge for up to 4 days. Eat straight from the fridge or warm in the microwave to your desired temperature.
I do not recommend freezing these bowls.
This dish is exceptionally good – thank you!
This is just okay, very healthy but doesn’t have much spice. Good for a work lunch.
This is what i get for following a recipe for a Mediterranean bowl from a vvhite lady. I don’t understand why everyone is falling over themselves about how wonderful this dish is; I followed the recipe to the letter and the seasoning of the yogurt AND the meat was completely off. I had to double every spice and could still barely taste anything. Salt, dill, garlic, pepper, were all lacking. You need to season your food better because this was bland as hell and the yogurt sauce was way thick. Maybe stop listening to Ken, Tyler, Caleb, Connor, Britney, Dana, & Whitney about how flavorful your dishes are. Good thing I taste taste taste. Hard pass, chef.
Bet you’re fun at parties.
Dang, should be reported for your racism. Go elsewhere, and do not return. That goes for whomever gave you a thumbs up too. Garbage people.
This was absolutely delicious! Made a swap with the sauce and used cottage cheese for the protein gains and it was the star of the meal!
Delicious and so easy and quick! When I’m out of yogurt I use sour cream and it works well.
It’s so good!
Really delicious and easy to make.
Boy, was this delicious! I added feta, and my husband doesn’t eat rice so I served it over ditalini pasta. Light yet satisfying.
Loved this, so delicious and fresh veggies, it was great! I didn’t have lemon juice so used apple cider vinegar and worked great! Added chopped bell peppers too for more vegetables and colour. Thanks will certainly make this again!
So good and so easy! I skipped the parsley because I’m lazy and also not a big fan of it, and it was still really good. Highly recommend.
The dried dill was just about invisible in terms of flavor, although it did LOOK nice. I’d recommend using fresh dill weed, or maybe another mediterranean herb altogether?
Made this for dinner tonight and just used up some veggies in my fridge and it was perfect. I used cucumbers, tomatoes, green onions, radishes, and pepperoncini peppers. I also added feta. So easy and good! I ended up also eating it in lettuce wraps, and it was very tasty that way! I love recipes like this!
Another home run with this one. The spices and seasonings used really made this delicious, especially the yogurt dressing. Thank you!
We loved this. Ground turkey is way underrated. Definitely will make again.
Really good. I uses chickpeas and subbed zucchini for Cucumber, and it’s delicious cold. Perfect lunch for a hot day.
Had this for dinner tonight. I added some kalamata olives. It was delicious! 😋