Thai Chicken Larb Inspired Meal Prep

These Thai Chicken Larb Inspired Meal Prep bowls are made with ground chicken, tons of fresh herbs, and packed with umami flavor! Serve with rice, crisp lettuce, cucumbers, and enjoy this make-ahead friendly meal hot or cold!

If you’re getting a little tired of the same old meal preps in your rotation, it’s time to give this Thai Chicken Larb Inspired Meal Prep a try! I promise it’s unlike any lunch you’ve ever made at home – you’ll be looking forward to lunchtime with this one, I know it!

What is chicken Larb and where does it come from?

Chicken Larb, or Larb Gai, is a warm ground meat salad flavored with lime juice, fish sauce and Thai chilis, then packed with fresh cilantro and mint, for an irresistible chopped main dish full of zesty, salty umami flavor with a hint of heat and sweetness to bring it all together.

Traditionally, Larb Gai is said to originate from Laos, then extended to the northeastern region of Thailand, which shares a border with Laos. This recipe is a meal prep friendly version of the traditional dish, simplified for ingredients you can find at any grocery store.

When you’ve got the time, I highly recommend checking out these traditional versions of the dish for more authentic Thai cooking. Authentic versions of this dish may include making your own ground chicken, as well as using ingredients like lemongrass, shallots, and toasted rice powder.

Try these authentic versions of chicken Larb:

• Easy Authentic Chicken Larb Gai from Cooking with Lane
• Chicken Larb from The Woks of Life
• Thai Lettuce Wraps (Larb Gai) from RecipeTin Eats

These bowls are jam-packed with vibrant flavors, from the bright zip of lime to the full cup of fresh chopped herbs to the ground chicken larb mixture full of umami goodness. Serve this dish hot and steamy, cold from the fridge for a salad, or as lettuce cups – whatever you like best!

What are the ingredients in these Thai Chicken Larb Inspired Meal Prep bowls?

My favorite thing about this recipe is the way it uses ingredients I already purchase all the time to make an incredibly delicious meal prep lunch. Don’t skimp on the fresh herbs or lime juice!!

Here’s a list of everything I used in this recipe and a little info about each, just in case you need it:

• avocado oil – A staple in my kitchen for the high-heat cooking and neutral taste.
• ground chicken – I used organic ground chicken from the grocery store. Most store-bought ground chicken is made with chicken breasts (which totally works!), but if you can find ground chicken made with dark meat like thighs, that would give you more fat and flavor overall.
• garlic – Tip: Use a microplane zester (affiliate link!) to mince the garlic up super fine. This gives you the most flavor! And of course, measure the garlic with your heart.
• ginger – This aromatic provides a burst of spice, but you can also replace it with lemongrass if that’s accessible to you! Either one will taste amazing.
• lime juice – Fresh lime juice is absolutely essential to this recipe. It balances the fish sauce flavors and makes the whole dish bright and zippy!
• fish sauce – Another essential ingredient is fish sauce. Don’t smell it, mkay?? Just put it in. This ingredient gives the dish it’s salty, umami flavor profile that’s common in Thai cuisine.
• pure maple syrup – To balance all the salty and acidic flavors, we just need the smallest amount of sweetener. The dish doesn’t taste sweet at all, but it’s still necessary to tone down all the salty flavors.
• thai chili peppers – For mild heat, use one Thai chili pepper. For medium heat, use two Thai chili peppers. Use whichever kind of pepper suits your spice preference, leaving in the seeds if you’d like things even hotter. Mild Fresno chili peppers for flavor work just as well as hot Thai-style chilis in this recipe. 
• scallions – We’re using the green and white parts of six green onions or scallions.
• cilantro & mint – The fresh chopped herbs are honestly what bring this dish to LIFE. They provide so much flavor, freshness and balance to the Larb.
• rice of choice – Serve this with sticky rice, coconut rice, plain jasmine rice, whatever you have on hand. I like to get the rice cooking in my Instant Pot while I prep and cook the rest of the dish.
• cucumber & radishes – Here’s where you can get creative: chopped cucumbers and radishes complete the meal prep. You can also add shredded carrots, sugar snap peas, or red onions!
• gem, butter or romaine lettuce – Butter lettuce is great for lettuce cups, but any crunchy romaine style lettuce will work for shredding. Use your favorite!

How do you make these Thai Chicken Larb Inspired Meal Prep bowls?

With this recipe, I definitely recommend having all ingredients prepped and ready to go before starting any cooking. Get your rice cooking as well, so it’s ready when the rest of the dish is ready. The chicken Larb mixture cooks relatively fast once it gets going.

Start by heating the avocado oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Add the ground chicken and let it start to brown for a moment, then break it up with a wooden spoon and continue to cook it until it has colored and nearly cooked through.

Next, add the garlic and ginger to the pan. Stir it in and cook for another minute or two until you can clearly smell the aromatics. Reduce the heat to medium and add the liquids: lime juice, fish sauce and maple syrup. Stir it up again and let the moisture simmer and bubble until it has reduced by about half. This should take just a couple minutes.

Toss in the scallions and chili peppers. Keep stirring and cooking until the onions and peppers have softened, for about two minutes, then turn off the heat. Stir in the chopped herbs and give it a taste. Add a little salt if you need it, otherwise, set the pan aside to cool.

Depending on how you’re planning to serve the Chicken Larb, you can start preparing your serving bowls or meal prep bowls with rice and fresh veggies. If you’re planning on serving immediately, you can plate everything together.

If you’ve made this recipe for meal prep, decide if you’d like to enjoy them hot or cold later, so you know how to store the meal and fresh veggies. If reheating, store the veggies separately. If you’re planning to enjoy cold, feel free to store everything together.

Can I use ground pork or ground turkey instead?

Yes, this recipe would also work well with ground pork or ground turkey. If using ground pork, reduce oil to 1 tablespoon.

Best tips for making this Thai Chicken Larb Inspired Meal Prep:

Here are my best tips for making these Thai Chicken Larb Inspired Meal Prep bowls:

• heat level – If you don’t like spicy foods, start with just one Thai chili pepper. You could even start with just some red chili pepper flakes if you don’t want to buy and prep the peppers.
• don’t smell the fish sauce – Fish sauce is basically fermented fish, and it has a really strong, unpleasant smell. To keep your head in the game and stay excited for this meal, I’d recommend keeping your nose out of the fish sauce bottle.
• lime is important – Save a lime wedge or two so you can add some lime juice over the entire dish right before enjoying it. This will give you the best and brightest flavor!

Ways to customize this Thai Chicken Larb Inspired Meal Prep:

Here are some ideas for how to customize this recipe:

• Change up the protein – Ground turkey or ground pork will also work for this recipe. If using ground pork, reduce oil by half.
• Serve as lettuce wraps – Instead of shredding your lettuce for salad, leave it as whole leaves and wrap up the Larb for lettuce wraps!
• Change the heat – For a classic Thai style heat, use two chili peppers! But if that’s too hot, stick with just one to still get the flavor of the Thai chilis. Even just one of these tiny chilis packs a huge punch!
• Use dark meat ground chicken – Most ground chicken from the grocery store is made with chicken breast, which is very lean. While this tastes great, dark meat will taste even better. If you have the time and know how to do it, you can grind your own chicken into ground meat using thighs for dark meat ground chicken. This will give more fat and more flavor to the dish overall.

How do you meal prep this recipe?

This recipe was developed specifically for meal prep and makes a delicious make-ahead meal for lunch or dinner. There are also a couple different ways to do some prep and save time later if that’s your thing. Here are some options:

1. Prep for the week: Make the recipe as written, then portion the ingredients evenly into four meal prep containers and enjoy throughout the week.
2. Prep & freeze: The salad and veggies will not freeze well, but the cooked meat mixture will. Prepare the chicken Larb mixture through Step 3, omitting the fresh chopped herbs. The chicken Larb meat mixture can be frozen in an airtight container for up to 3 months for best quality. After thawing and reheating, mix in the fresh herbs and add more lime juice to bring it to life.
3. Enjoy now & later: Prepare all the ingredients and make the recipe as written. Eat some for lunch or dinner right now, then save the rest in airtight containers and enjoy over the next 4 days.

Where do you get those containers?

It’s so important to have dependable containers for your meal prepped meals (see ALL my recommendations here!). Airtight, glass, freezer safe – those are some of my requirements.

For this meal, I used my 2 Compartment Glass Meal Prep Containers (affiliate link!) made by Prep Naturals. I got them on Amazon. These are my favorite containers for meal prep lunches where I want to keep some foods separated from the others.

How to store Thai Chicken Larb Inspired Meal Prep:

To serve cold: Spoon the Larb over the rice and store the salad vegetables and lime wedge in the other compartment of each container. No need to keep things separate since there’s no reheating. Put the lid on and store in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

To serve hot: Store the chicken Larb and rice in one dish and keep the vegetables stored in a separate airtight container or silicone bag, adding them to the dish after reheating.

How to freeze Thai Chicken Larb Inspired Meal Prep:

I do not recommend freezing the entire meal prep lunch with veggies, however I do think the cooked chicken Larb mixture would freeze well on its own. Omit the fresh chopped herbs and additional lemon juice until thawed and reheated.

How to reheat Thai Chicken Larb Inspired Meal Prep:

To reheat, loosely cover the meal with the lid and microwave on High in 1 minute blasts until heated through. Add a tablespoon of water if needed to create steam when reheating.

Recipe developed by Rachel Phipps.