A lighter and easier take on the popular Pinterest dish, this Firecracker Ground Turkey is the perfect combo of sweet and spicy. And it comes together in just 15 minutes!
Years ago, there was a recipe for Firecracker Chicken that was all the rage on Pinterest. I made it multiple times and absolutely loved it, but it definitely wasn’t light by any means. The original recipe calls for lots of sugar, along with breaded chicken that is sauteed in quite a bit of oil.
Don’t get me wrong–it’s a fantastic recipe. But it’s not something that I can make regularly and still stay on track.
Lightening it up
My first task was cutting back on the sugar to lower the points. If you’ve read my blog for a while, you know that I love to use unsweetened applesauce to sweeten things naturally, which is great since it’s zero points on WW. It’s the key ingredient in my Naturally Sweetened BBQ Sauce (0 SP).
I also needed to cut back on the oil. You can find plenty of recipes on my site with breaded chicken, and I did think about doing that here. But I had some ground turkey that I needed to use up, so I tried it out with that. I didn’t miss the breading at all!
Keeping It Simple
Another advantage to using ground meat (you could use ground chicken breast instead) is that it significantly cuts back on the prep and cook time.
The original recipe would usually take me around 45 minutes to make. This one clocks in at 15 minutes!
The key to making the ground turkey look kind of like chicken is to smoosh it together a bit with your hands before placing it in the skillet. I mean, it will still taste the same if you don’t take this step, but I like the way it looks when I do it.
Another advantage to going with ground meat? You don’t have to dirty up a bunch of equipment!
This is a one-pot, 15-minute meal that will be on rotation here quite a bit! It’s the perfect quick dinner or lunch prep.
VEGETABLE Add-Ins
Firecracker Ground Turkey makes A LOT of sauce, so I like to throw in some frozen veggies towards the end to bulk it up. As you can see here, broccoli works really well.
Any mixed veggie blend would be delicious as well. Toss in some fresh sliced zucchini. Or mushrooms. Get creative with it!
More recipes like Firecracker ground turkey
If you’re looking for more quick and delicious meals with Asian flavors, check out these other great recipes:
I hope you love this recipe as much as we do! If you make it, be sure to tag me on Instagram or Facebook (@litecravings) and use the hashtag #litecravingsrecipes. I sometimes miss a tag here or there, but I always check in on the hashtag.
Firecracker Ground Turkey
Ingredients
- 1.25 lbs 99% fat free ground turkey
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- fresh ground pepper, to taste
- 1 small bunch green onions, chopped (about green onions)
- (optional) 2 cups frozen or fresh veggies of choice
FOR THE SAUCE
- 1/3 cup buffalo sauce, like Frank's Red Hot
- 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
- 1/4 cup brown sugar or coconut sugar
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar or rice wine vinegar
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- (optional) add in 1/4-1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes if you want some extra spice!
Instructions
- Heat cooking spray in a large skillet over medium, high heat.
- Mix meat around with your hands, forming small pieces. Place those pieces in your skillet. Season meat with garlic powder, ginger powder, salt, and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until browned and no longer pink in the middle, about 5-7 minutes.
- While meat is cooking, mix together sauce ingredients and chop green onions. Set aside.
- When meat is no longer pink, add in sauce and half of the green onions. Bring to a boil, then simmer until sauce has thickened and coated the meat, about 5 minutes. Add in a splash or two of water if the sauce gets too thick.
- In the last few minutes of cooking, add in your frozen veggies and cook until just defrosted, about 3-4 minutes. If using fresh veggies, you may need to add them in earlier in the process to ensure that they cook through.
- Garnish with remaining green onions.
One of my all time favorite recipes. I use 99% fat free ground Turkey and swap out the brown sugar with Lankto Monkfruit, golden and it’s a 0 SP recipe for me on WW. I made a batch this weekend and am stuffing sweet peppers with it and some laughing cow cheese- soo good!!!
I took me a while to commit to make since Frank’s Red Hot isn’t my favorite. So glad I made it, this is so good! You’d never know this was “lighter”.
I subbed regular red hot for buffalo, added mushrooms & water chestnuts, topped on cauliflower rice. 🤤
Delicious and fast to make, instead of meat I used tofu and veggies. DELICIOUS
I haven’t tried it with tofu yet, but that sounds like it would be delicious. Did you you use medium or firm tofu?
I don’t care for ground turkey but I was given 2 lb and froze1 and kept 1 for tonite. Perusing Pintrest, I stumbled upon this recipe. I did not have high hopes. Boy did I have my socks knocked off! I made some brown rice and stirred in some celery, carrots and green pepper. I love it! Plenty “hot” enough as it is for me. I will be making again plus trying more of your recipes.
So happy you enjoyed it, Carol!
I have to ask can you omit the applesauce? or is that necessary?
The applesauce adds moisture and natural sweetness to the dish. If you don’t want to use applesauce, you could use a bit of honey or more brown sugar (maybe just a tsp or two) and add a few TB of water instead. I haven’t tried it, so I can’t guarantee it’ll be exactly the same. Hope this helps!
This was excellent. Made exactly as written with fresh broccoli and served over riced cauliflower. The meal was 4 WW points. I can’t wait to try some of your other recipes. Thanks for sharing!
So happy you liked the recipe, Lisa!! Thanks for the review. 🙂