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.
This was easy and delicious, but I’m getting that it comes out to 6 points on WW Blue for 1/4.
Oh sorry, I take it back! It is only 2 points on blue! 🙂 so yummy, thank you!
Haha, no worries!
Can white vinegar be substituted for the vinegars suggested?
Yep!
I made this for meal prep this week and it is awesome! I put over lettuce with extra veggies. This has awesome spice. Will make again!
Love that it is a hit for you!
Just to confirm we should use Frank’s Red Hot Buffalo sauce, not regular Frank’s Red Hot?
Yep!
I just used the regular one and it turned out great
this was so good and easy to make! I’m a buffalo sauce rookie so I actually bought the original/regular frank’s red hot and it’s still really good! I added in mushrooms
This was so delicious! Mine came to 3 on blue per serving. But possibly my brown sugar is different on points because that seems to be the only thing with points anyway? But having this again and again. Especially with how easy it was to throw together!!
That’s probably it. But 3 points still isn’t bad! Glad you liked it! (sorry for the super late response lol)
Enjoyed it very much! Will make again.
What can be used as a substitute for the applesauce? It’s the only thing I don’t have in the pantry.
Apologies for the late reply! I can’t think of anything that can take the place of the applesauce without adding extra points. I used it in place of brown sugar, so you could add some of that instead.
i don’t like foods too hot & spicy-can something milder be used-like barbecue sauce?
BBQ sauce would be yummy, though it would increase the points just a bit.
I made this last night. It was my first time making one of your recipes and oh my goodness it was delicious good. Thanks!
Awesome! I hope you try and enjoy more recipes. 🙂
This recipe turned out EXACTLY like the picture! It was delicious! Easy, quick and tasty. Warning: buffalo sauce makes it spicy hot. Might not be for kids.
I made it and it was great! I will make it again
I make this at least 3 times a month. Live it and so easy to put together. Thanks for an awesome recipe.
Thanks, Karen!
So good and so easy! I love your recipes!!
Any substitutes for the hot sauce? I have sriracha
I think sriracha would work! Would add an interesting flavor to it. Let me know what you think if you try that out. I’m curious!
I made this with a few changes:
-1/2 Red’s hot sauce (didn’t have Buffalo)
-1/3 apple cider (didn’t have applesauce)
1/4 packed dark brown sugar
-used rice vinegar to lower the sweet
-upped the spices (like spice!)
-used 2 shallots (I had no scallions)
-I used a bag of frozen collard greens-which made me up the spices a little as collard greens are yummy, but robustly green.
-I let the liquids cook down, the turkey is less in chunks, but I then let it sit in pan coved to meld flavors
-placed on rice
A nice new weekday recipe for a quick, healthy meal.
Thanks for sharing your tweaks, Julia!