What Can I Make With Ground Chicken? 12 Easy Ideas

What can I make with ground chicken? Burgers, meatballs, lettuce wraps, burrito bowls, fried rice and baked pasta, and most of those take 30 minutes or less. Cook it to 165°F, use it within 1 to 2 days of buying it, and build the rest around the sauce and vegetables you already have.

What's the easiest way to decide what to make with ground chicken?

Start with what's already in the kitchen. Open the fridge and write down what's there, and plan around the ground chicken, since raw ground chicken only keeps a day or two. Then pick a dish that fits: a sauce you could pour over it, a grain to serve it on, or a vegetable that needs using.

If you want that method in more detail, our guide to cooking from what's in your fridge walks through it, and the cook from what you have hub collects the rest of this series.

1. Check what's in the fridge and pantry: a jar of sauce, half an onion, a bag of spinach, rice.
2. Anchor on the ground chicken and decide how much time you have.
3. Pick the dish from the ideas below that uses the most of what you listed.

What can I make with ground chicken for dinner?

Ground chicken is mild and lean, so it takes on whatever you season it with. That makes it flexible but also easy to dry out. Here are the dishes that work best, sorted by how much time you have.

Ground chicken in 20 minutes

• Lettuce wraps. Brown the chicken with garlic, ginger and soy sauce, then spoon it into lettuce leaves with shredded carrot.
• Burrito bowls. Season with cumin and chili powder, then pile onto rice with beans, salsa and whatever greens you have.
• Fried rice. Day-old rice, an egg, frozen peas and the chicken make a full dinner in one pan.
• Taco skillet. Cook the chicken with taco seasoning and a can of tomatoes, then top with cheese.
• Egg roll in a bowl. Stir-fry the chicken with coleslaw mix and a splash of soy sauce.

Ground chicken in the oven

• Baked meatballs. Mix with breadcrumbs and an egg, roll, and bake. Serve with marinara over pasta or in a sub.
• Stuffed peppers. Mix the chicken with cooked rice and tomato sauce, fill halved peppers, and bake.
• Baked ziti or stuffed shells. Brown the chicken into your tomato sauce in place of sausage.
• Chicken burgers. Press into patties with a little grated onion and bake or pan-fry.

Ground chicken for the week

• White chicken chili. Brown the chicken, then simmer with white beans, green chiles and broth.
• Meatball soup. Drop small meatballs into broth with pasta and spinach.
• Potsticker or dumpling filling. Mix with cabbage, ginger and scallion, and freeze the dumplings before cooking.

How does the Well Stockd recipe library handle ground chicken?

The library has 58 ground chicken dinners, and they cluster around a few types: burgers with a sauce or slaw on the side, meatballs and meatball sliders, burrito bowls, lettuce wraps, and baked dishes like pasta bakes and stuffed vegetables. Most are written as 25 to 55 minute dinners for two.

You can filter the library by protein and see which of those dishes you could cook right now from what's in your kitchen, with the closest ones showing what they're missing. The full recipes live inside the app, so create a free account to see them.

How long does ground chicken keep, and how hot should it get?

Raw ground chicken only keeps a day or two in the fridge, so plan dinner around it early. These numbers come from the USDA.

Meatballs and burgers can look done before the middle is, so check the thickest one with a thermometer instead of going by color (USDA FSIS). When in doubt, throw it out. Our ground chicken storage page has the full fridge and freezer detail.

How do you keep ground chicken from drying out?

Ground chicken has little fat, so it's easy to overcook. Mix something moist into meatballs and burgers, such as grated zucchini or onion, and don't press patties hard. In a skillet, break the chicken into small pieces as it cooks and add the sauce before it dries out.

Can Well Stockd tell you what to make with ground chicken?

Yes. Add what you have, including the ground chicken, and the app shows which recipes you can make now and what the closest ones are missing. Fridge and pantry food gets an estimated expiration date, so the chicken sorts to the top when it's the thing running out of time. Cook mode then steps you through the recipe in large type with timers.

Add three foods from your fridge and see what you can cook. Try it free. If you want to compare tools for tracking what's in your kitchen, the best app to track food expiration dates comparison covers the options.

Ground chicken FAQ

Can you substitute ground turkey for ground chicken?

Usually yes. Both are lean and mild, and they cook to the same 165°F. Ground turkey is a little stronger in flavor, so it holds up well to bold seasoning. See what to make with ground turkey for ideas.

How do you know when ground chicken is cooked?

Use a food thermometer. USDA says ground poultry must reach 165°F, and that color isn't a reliable sign of doneness.

Can you freeze ground chicken?

Yes. The chart above gives 3 to 4 months for best quality, and USDA says food kept frozen at 0°F stays safe indefinitely. Freeze it flat in a bag so it thaws quickly.

More ground chicken and fridge ideas

• What to make with eggs
• What to make with ground pork
• What to make with chicken breast
• Ground beef recipes besides tacos and meatloaf
• What can I make with what's in my fridge?