Spicy Ground Turkey & Cabbage Stir Fry Meal Prep

Ready to wake up your taste buds?! This Spicy Ground Turkey & Cabbage Stir Fry Meal Prep is a flavorful mix of ground turkey, ginger, garlic, chili sauce, fresh cabbage, and carrots. It’s served over your favorite kind of rice for the easiest meal prep I bet you’ve never tried!
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Before I started really cooking for myself at home, I would have never guessed ground turkey could be so versatile. I wasn’t a beef eater (still not really a beef eater) and somehow I was still oblivious to the fact that ground turkey worked for more than just a ground beef substitute in tacos.

Turkey burgers were my first realization. They aren’t even difficult to make – I just hadn’t thought about it until I needed to cook up some more ground turkey options to avoid boredom. One of the very first recipes on Project Meal Plan were these Feta Basil Turkey Burgers. After that came the Smoky Green Bean Turkey Skillet, and then later, some Spicy Baked Turkey Spinach Meatballs.

Ground turkey is incredibly easy to cook with. Not to mention the fact that it usually has less calories and is a cheaper option than ground beef (examples: Homemade Ground Turkey Sloppy Joes or Best Ground Turkey Breakfast Sausage Patties). Have I blown your mind with all the ground turkey possibilities?? Okay I’ll stop – after this new stir fry recipe!!

This is the Spicy Ground Turkey & Cabbage Stir Fry Meal Prep. No special equipment is required for this easy dinner recipe – anyone can make this with just a big pan on the stove!

Excellent!! The Pinterest recipe I’ve made the most cause it’s my kid’s favorite (minus the hot sauces)

– Maya, from comments

Ingredients in this Spicy Ground Turkey & Cabbage Stir Fry Meal Prep

The ingredients in this recipe are relatively simple – I bet you can find most of them in your pantry, and the rest easily at your regular grocery store. 

Here are the ingredients I used, along with possible substitutions and options:

• rice + cooking liquid – For this meal prep, I like to pair with white rice and let it cook in the Instant Pot while I’m working on the rest of the dish!
• soy sauce – This is the base of our sauce! You can use low sodium if you’d like.
• sesame oil – I love the taste of sesame , and the background nuttiness it brings.
• chili garlic sauce & sriracha – These are what make the spicy stir fry spicy! I love using chili garlic sauce because I love the added garlic flavors with the spice.
• avocado oil – I prefer to use avocado oil for most of my cooking, but you can use olive oil.
• ground turkey meat (I use 93% lean)
• onion powder – You can use onion powder or cut up a little bit of fresh yellow onion and stir fry with the carrots and cabbage.
• fresh garlic & ginger – Using fresh garlic and ginger for this recipe really help give the best flavor! 
• small head of cabbage – Look for the smallest head of cabbage you can find, or a half! The easier alternative is grabbing a big bag of shredded cabbage and carrots so you can skip the shredding. I’ve done both and each method works great!
• carrots – I love adding additional carrots for a little more bulk here. 
• salt & pepper – Season as you go with fine sea salt and fresh ground black pepper.

Do I have to chop up a whole head of cabbage?

No, you totally don’t. If you’re feeing lazy, buy a 16 ounce bag of shredded coleslaw mix with green cabbage, red cabbage and some shredded carrots, OR just plain shredded green cabbage.

This tends to be a bit less cabbage than a small head shredded, but it works just as well. I would still add the extra carrots even if you buy a mix with some inside.

HOWEVER, here are reasons I do not normally do this shortcut:

• pre-shredded cabbage comes in a plastic bag – a head of cabbage has no packaging.
• it’s usually cheaper to cut your own veggies – the bagged, pre-shredded cabbage might be more expensive.

I’ve done both methods, and you can see photos of both in this post!

Speaking of cabbage…

How much shredded cabbage is in one head?

For this recipe, I recommend purchasing the smallest head of cabbage you can find – generally around 28 ounces is considered a small head of cabbage (32 ounces is medium, 39 ounces is large).

According to the How Much Is In produce converter, one medium sized cabbage gives you about 8 to 8.5 cups of shredded cabbage. A smaller cabbage would give you maybe 7 cups of shredded cabbage. Anywhere from 6-7 cups of shredded cabbage would work for this recipe.

The cabbage will reduce down to about half the size when cooking is complete.

In the recipe, can I use another ground meat instead of turkey?

Sure! I think this recipe would be delicious with virtually any ground meat. This recipe was adapted from a ground beef original – plus I’ve made this exact recipe with ground beef and it was also delicious.

Try ground chicken, and let me know how it is! I’m thinking that would almost taste like a chicken egg roll in a bowl? Yum!!

I used ground pork and topped it with sesame seeds. It was great!

– Jennifer, from Pinterest

How to meal prep it:

1. Before you get going with this recipe, make sure you’ve got some reliable meal prep containers (these 4-cup Pyrex round glass containers (affiliate link!) are pictured). They should be airtight, and preferably glass.
2. Decide how much rice you want in your meal prep – 1 cup of DRY white rice is about 600 calories. Rice generally triples in volume when cooked. 1 cup of dry rice will equal about 3 cups cooked. This recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups of dry rice, equally 4.5 cups of cooked rice. Each serving will have just over 1 cup of rice for about 225 calories. If you want less calories, reduce the amount of rice included with each portion of meal prep.
3. After all the components are cooked, let them cool separately, then add an equal portion to each meal prep bowl. This recipe makes four generous helpings of the cabbage stir fry, so be sure to use containers that will fit all ingredients (the containers linked above work very well). Make sure all lids are secure and airtight.
4. Keep refrigerated and eat within 4 days. I think this meal prep tastes better as leftovers! Do not freeze this meal prep, as the cabbage would not do well after being thawed.

Quick and easy. Added a poached egg bc everything is better with an egg

– Ashley, from Pinterest

How to make Spicy Ground Turkey & Cabbage Stir Fry Meal Prep (90 secs):

 

More meal prep ideas from Project Meal Plan:

• Easy Turkey Pinwheels Meal Prep
• Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken Meatballs Meal Prep
• Meal Prep Ground Turkey Snap Pea Stir Fry Rice Bowls

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Thanks for checking out this Spicy Ground Turkey & Cabbage Stir Fry Meal Prep – it’s perfect to try on your next meal prep Sunday! Tag me or use #projectmealplan on social media to share!

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