Thai-Style Minced Chicken Lettuce Cups
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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.
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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
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- 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.
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Just the best Jenn, I was eating this in Canada at my favorite restaurant RIZ. Now I have tried this recipe and it’s super good.
Cheers from Holland
It’s a 5 star sorry 🙂
Great recipe and a family favorite- very versatile too- I add corn, red peppers, snap peas depending on what I have and my kids and hubby love it!! Always on rotation by popular demand:)) thank you Jenn for another great recipe
Followed the recipe to a tee and they turned out so yummy and fresh! I used Boston Bibb lettuce and served with rice and grated carrots.
Loved it! As you mentioned the smell is strong, but the taste is spot on. I didn’t have any scallions so I just added a little fresh chopped red pepper, and I put 1 T less sugar than it called for. It is amazing.
This is easy to make and so delicious and flavorful. Thanks for another winner!
Love this recipe so so much! And makes great leftovers too. You’re a household name in our family Jen- thanks again!
This is a fantastic recipe; such a nice balance between sweet and salty flavors! I used ground turkey and unfortunately, I ran out of fresh limes so I didn’t have lime zest but I used organic lime juice and look forward to making it again with the lime zest (we are crazy about lime). I reduced the brown sugar by half since we are cutting down on sugar (my dad has cancer so limiting it as much as we can is best for him). I added chopped fresh basil to the fresh herbs and found Wegman’s organic red sriracha to use for extra heat. We are limiting carbs (again, due to my dad’s cancer status) so we didn’t serve it with rice but if I had done that, I would have used Jasmine, not Basmati.
This was so good! Good combination of flavors and not one flavor stood out more than others. I added half can of water chestnuts (chopped) just for a crunch.
Yum, just made this tonight. I picked up some ground chicken this weekend because I was in the mood to make some larb gai. I usually make it at a friend’s and realized I had no recipe here, so looked for one and yours seemed the best for what I was looking for. While I did tweak it a bit, I am worried I’m eating so much of it for tonight’s dinner that I won’t have enough for tomorrow’s lunch!
My tweaks were the following: I don’t always measure. I used a peppered-lime infused olive oil (sorry I’m Italian I don’t actually have Wesson oils in the house lol). I use Gourmet Garden paste spices for some things I tend to use infrequently so I cheated and used that for the Ginger and I added their Lemongrass too. I used a little less than half of the brown sugar, using Splenda brown sugar blend. Also a portion of a McCormick Thai Flavor Cube Seasoning and instead of red pepper flakes, I used Thai Kitchen “thai bird eye chilies.”
Many recipes make it soo difficult to tweak or substitute; I don’t know if it is the Larb gai itself that lends itself to the variations or your specific recipe, but I’m inclined to think it’s the way you’ve laid it out so simply and the recipe itself. I appreciated finding it and would be inclined to look at others in your cadre of recipes too! Thanks again! Yum Yum Yum!!! I’m ready for lunch tomorrow…and I didn’t even notice I had no lettuce.
My mom is 💯 and lettuce wraps are her favorite. I used ground turkey and halved the recipe except for the garlic and ginger. We and her caregiver loved it. I used two lettuce leaves for serving. This is a definite do over!
Wow — 100!! So glad you all enjoyed it. 🙂
As advertised, easy, fast and delicious! I had about a dozen left over portabellas that I minced and added to the onion before adding the meat. I lightly salted them a they cooked. That proved to be my only mistake, as it was a tad salty after the tamarin went in. Nonetheless, lesson learned and we look forward to seeing these regularly on the menu.