Thai-Style Minced Chicken Lettuce Cups
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my full disclosure policy.
Based on the popular Thai dish Larb Gai, this is a quick, easy, and flavorful weeknight dinner.
This recipe is based on Larb Gai, the popular Thai dish made from minced chicken, fish sauce, lime juice, chilies, and fresh herbs. You can have it on the table in 30 minutes, and it can be served in lettuce cups or over rice.
What you’ll need to make Thai Minced Chicken Lettuce Cups
As you can see from the photo, the recipe is inexpensive to make with ingredients found at your local supermarket. One of the key ingredients is fish sauce. Contrary to what you might expect, it doesn’t add a “fishy” taste, but rather a salty, savory, umami flavor. If you’ve never cooked with it, I’ll warn you that it smells pretty bad (my kids RUN out of the kitchen when I use it), but please don’t let that deter you — it absolutely makes the dish! If possible, buy a brand imported from Thailand or Vietnam, and don’t worry about buying a large bottle; it keeps forever.
Step-by-Step Instructions
For the chicken, begin by cooking the onions and ginger in oil until soft.
Add the minced garlic and cook one minute more.
Add the ground chicken and use a wooden spoon to break the meat apart.
Add the fish sauce, soy sauce, lime zest, lime juice, brown sugar and red pepper flakes, and cook until the chicken is done.
Off the heat, add the fresh cilantro, mint, scallions, and nuts.
Stir to combine.
Spoon into lettuce cups and serve with finely sliced carrots, herbs and Sriracha sauce.
You may also like
- Thai Red Curry Chicken
- Vietnamese Summer Rolls
- Asian Chicken Noodle Salad with Ginger-Peanut Dressing
- Kung Pao Chicken
- Panang Curry
Thai-Style Minced Chicken Lettuce Cups
Based on the popular Thai dish Larb Gai, this is a quick, easy, and flavorful weeknight dinner.
Ingredients
- 1 large head iceberg or butter lettuce
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 large red onion, chopped
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh ginger (you'll need a thick 2-inch piece) (see note)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 pounds ground chicken (not all breast meat)
- 1½ tablespoons soy sauce (use gluten-free if needed)
- 3 tablespoons fish sauce
- ¼ cup light or dark brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons lime zest, from 2 limes
- 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice, from 1½ limes
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 2 large scallions, white and green parts, finely sliced
- ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
- ¼ cup chopped fresh mint
- ¼ cup chopped cashews or peanuts
Optional For Serving
- Sriracha
- Finely sliced carrots
- Lime wedges
- Cilantro and/or mint sprigs
Instructions
- If using iceberg lettuce: fill a large bowl with cold water. Place the head of lettuce on a cutting board; cut off the stem, then cut around the inner core of the lettuce and remove (do not cut all the way through the lettuce; just deep enough to remove the core). Discard the flimsy, ragged outer leaves and then place the head of lettuce in the bowl of water. Gently pull apart the leaves, then place them on a paper towel to dry. Cut any large leaves in half. Chill the lettuce cups in refrigerator until ready to serve. (If using butter lettuce, you won't have any issues pulling apart the leaves so this step is not necessary.)
- Heat the oil in large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onion and ginger and cook, stirring frequently, until soft, 4-5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more.
- Add the ground chicken and turn the heat up to high. Cook, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon, until partially cooked through, about 3 minutes. Add the soy sauce, fish sauce, brown sugar, lime zest, lime juice and red pepper flakes and continue cooking, stirring frequently to break up the meat, until the chicken is cooked through, 5-6 minutes more. Off the heat, stir in the scallions, cilantro, mint and nuts. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Spoon into lettuce cups and serve with optional garnishes.
- Note: Check out easy guidance on how to peel, grate, and chop fresh ginger here.
- Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The meat mixture can be frozen in an airtight container for up to 3 months and reheated in the microwave om on the stovetop until hot.
Pair with
Nutrition Information
Powered by 
- Per serving (4 servings)
- Calories: 580
- Fat: 33g
- Saturated fat: 7g
- Carbohydrates: 30g
- Sugar: 20g
- Fiber: 4g
- Protein: 45g
- Sodium: 1565mg
- Cholesterol: 195g
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Gluten-Free Adaptable Note
To the best of my knowledge, all of the ingredients used in this recipe are gluten-free or widely available in gluten-free versions. There is hidden gluten in many foods; if you're following a gluten-free diet or cooking for someone with gluten allergies, always read the labels of your ingredients to verify that they are gluten-free.
See more recipes:
Comments
Add a Comment
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Made this along with the Thai Cucumber Salad and Jenn’s Basic Rice recipe. It was a lot of work, but it all turned out great. Very healthy and refreshing.
I was wondering if, like on the trip advisor website, you might add a way for readers to find a particular topic within the reviews. You know how when you are reading a review of a hotel on trip advisor, and you can search for a topic within the review, for example ” breakfast”? For an example, on this recipe, I was hoping to find a review for this recipe where someone used tofu instead of chicken…. but the way you have it set up now, it would be arduous to look through all these reviews to find this topic… just a thought if you are looking for an idea to upgrade your website!
I do love your recipes!!! Have used endless ones of them, and have told all my friends about it!!! ( please don’t put this question on your site … seems inappropriate somehow!)
Hi Liz, That’s an interesting request! I often use the “find” function on my computer when looking for something specific. (I think all computers have the functionality but depending upon what kind you have, how to access it may vary. On my Mac, I hold down the command button and the and press the F key. A field pops up to type a word (like tofu) in. It will then show all of the places tofu shows up. Hope that helps, but I’ll add your suggestion to my list of potential enhancements to the site.
Made these last week. This is more “my” kind of food than my husbands, but by putting the cilantro and lime only on my serving he ate plenty! I’ll have to say, that this made it three servings instead of four, ha ha. But the next day I made a salad and put the leftover meat on top to carry for lunch. It was even good chilled since there’s hardly any fat. I loved it and will make it again.
I just made this today!! Awesome! I can’t wait to try it the day after and see how great it is when the flavors have time to meld!!
Hey Queen! Would ground turkey be a good substitution? Accidentally packed the wrong meat.
Yep 🙂
this is absolutely delicious and you can feel virtuous about it. Tonight is my third time making this dish. It is easy to follow the directions to a great and flavorful meal, but it is time and labor intensive. It would be faster to have some things prepped in advance and frozen though I never am able to get there. I wouldn’t bother with rice or salad addition given the prep involved and I feel like the healthy is incorporated with the lettuce wraps : ) Thanks for another wonderful dish!
I made this a couple of nights ago…it was AMAZING and the added bonus is how delicious my apartment smelled afterwards, even after dinner. The taste was right on and it was so crazy easy to make. My husband could not stop raving about it. This is definitely in my work-night dinner rotation.
My family loves this recipe! Simple and fresh. The only change we make is substituting coconut aminos for the soy sauce. Super tasty!
Thanks so much. They were delicious – followed the recipe exactly. Easy to make for someone who self proclaims as a pretty bad cook 😉 husband approved!
This was a fantastic recipe, so delicious and refreshing because of the mint. So far I’ve tried 3 of your recipes since I’ve discovered your website, which was just this past Monday, and All three recipes were a hit with my family. Your recipes are so easy to follow. Do you think this recipe will be good with ground pork as well?
So glad you’re having success with the recipes, Tina! I do think this would work with ground pork — it will probably be even better!