This 20-minute recipe pairs ground chicken with spices, hot chili paste, honey, and coconut milk to make a protein option that’s loaded with flavor. With 27 grams of protein and just 230 calories per serving, this chicken is perfect for meal prep.
And as an added bonus, there’s no vegetable chopping or prep required! Just throw everything in the pan, give it a stir every now and then, and get ready for a treat!
I’ll run you through the recipe below and answer a few ingredient substitution questions along the way. You can find a printable recipe card at the bottom of the post and a comment section below that. If you have any additional questions about this recipe, drop ’em there.
Step 1: Cook the ground chicken with paprika, garlic powder, ground ginger, salt, and optional ground coriander.
There’s not much to say about step 1. I opted for dry spices for convenience but if you want to use fresh garlic and ginger (you little show pony), I say go for it. You could also skip the ground coriander and add some fresh cilantro when serving.
A little bonus tip for this recipe is to be sure and brown your ground chicken. Like I mentioned in my turkey sausage breakfast skillet recipe, browning the meat creates an extra layer of flavor. And speaking of ground turkey, it will work fine for this recipe.
If you’re having trouble finding ground chicken in your grocery store, you may be able to ask the meat department to grind you some from fresh chicken breast. It’s worth a shot! You could also go with whole chicken breast or thighs by using my spicy coconut pressure cooker pulled chicken recipe.
Step 2: Add gochujang (or a hot chili paste) and honey to the cooked ground chicken.
Gochujang is a spicy and slightly sweet chili paste that’s common in Korean dishes (like my Korean-Style Ground Beef). You can find gochujang in most grocery stores these days but if you’re having trouble finding it, other hot chili pastes should work okay.
If you want to wing it without any chili paste, you’ll probably want to add some more spice via chili flakes and something like the miso paste in my curried chicken and rice bowls for the umami. While I’ve been told sriracha is not a viable replacement (and I totally agree), it’s better than nothing if you want to try this recipe without a grocery run. You could also try something like Swerve brown sugar + a hot sauce like I used for my low carb firecracker ground chicken.
As for the honey, substitutions might include brown sugar (or zero-calorie Swerve Brown like with my Nashville Hot chicken nuggets, maple syrup from my Japanese BBQ chicken, sugar free pancake syrup, or worst case—granulated sugar.
I wouldn’t recommend omitting the honey (or some type of sweetener) altogether as it will help balance out the spice level and flavor profile.
Final Step: Add coconut milk and cook until magical.
This step is entirely up to you and how you plan to serve your ground chicken. As you can see in the photos, I went with a thicker mixture to serve over rice. If you wanted to reserve some liquid, you could remove from the heat after 4-5 minutes (top right photo below).
There’s no right or wrong here. Though if you’re tracking your nutrition intake, the weight of your four servings will vary slightly with more/less liquid remaining.
If you need accuracy, I always recommend weighing your finished recipe and dividing the total weight by the number of servings you’d like. You can learn more about this in my guide on how to use a food scale for cooking.
How to Serve Your Ground Chicken
I’m curious to see how creative readers get with this recipe but until then, the easiest pairing will be some type of rice. If you wanted to reduce the carbs, I have a few ideas to spruce up boring cauliflower rice.
- Pan roast broccoli before cooking the ground chicken and add at the end like in my spicy honey ground chicken and broccoli recipe or make air fryer broccoli like in my orange chicken meal prep bowls.
- You can mask the cauliflower-ness by mixing half cauliflower rice with a “real” rice like in my high volume rice blend.
- Since lime and cilantro go great with the chili and coconut, you could use the cilantro lime cauliflower rice from my firecracker bison rice bowls.
- Use a bit more coconut milk to make a coconut cauliflower rice.
- Swap the rice for quinoa like in my sesame ground beef and quinoa bowls.
And then there’s always the option of slightly lower carb rice products like Right Rice or Banza’s chickpea rice. In fact, I used the cilantro lime Right Rice in my ground chicken and rice enchiladas.
You can also add extra volume to your rice bowls with things like the cucumber crunch salad in my sesame ginger chicken crumbles recipe.
Be sure to let me know what you come up with for pairing ideas. That’s all the notes I have for you. Bone apple tea!
Spicy Coconut Ground Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 lb Ground Chicken, 97% lean
- 1 Tbsp Paprika
- 1 tsp Ground Ginger
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt, 1/4 tsp table salt
- 1/2 tsp Ground Coriander, optional
- 2 Tbsp 60g Gochujang or Comparable Hot Chili Paste
- 2 Tbsp 42g Honey
- 13.5 oz can Light Unsweetened Coconut Milk
Instructions
- Heat a skillet over medium heat with nonstick cooking spray. Add the ground chicken to the skillet and mix the dry spices together in a small bowl. Add the mixed spices to the chicken and use a spatula to stir everything together. Fully cook the chicken until no pink remains.
- Add the chili paste and honey to the cooked chicken, stirring until evenly incorporated.
- Add the coconut milk and stir until you can no longer see any white from the milk. Continue cooking for 8-10* minutes, stirring occasionally, until the mixture thickens. Remove from the heat and serve.
Notes
Nutrition Information Notes
- Serving size may vary depending on how much you reduce the coconut milk.
- Nutrition facts do not include any rice—ground chicken only.
- Each serving has 6 WW SmartPoints (blue plan).
I love anything coconut. Although it didn’t have a strong coconut flavor. My whole family loved it. Serve it with some cilantro lime rice and there you have it!
This is such a great and easy recipe! Not too many ingredients and very quick to make. Easy to double the recipes to make a large batch for leftovers. And great macros!
I was craving something new and was scrolling thru to see what recipes I could try with ingredients I had on hand. This smelled AMAZING while cooking and was a huge hit with my kids as well!!! Ive made this a few time with caulirice in place of regular rice. Def one of our favs! Thanks for creating this!
I was able to make this recipe by substituting Franks Red hot for the Gochujang which I could not find. I really enjoy the coconut flavor and have made this with both chicken and turkey.
I made this today and put blended dried chillis instead of gochujang. Amazing!
Hi – what are you thoughts on omitting or replacing the coconut milk (maybe chicken broth)?
It would work, but the coconut milk is partly the star in this dish. It’s got both flavor and some fat content that makes the chicken rich and creamy. If you’re coconut averse, though, go with broth or even some heavy cream (if you wanted to keep some fat in the recipe).
Made this tonight and it was ok. The sauce did not thicken and was almost like water. I used asparagus in with the cooked chicken and sauce, served over jasmine rice. I’d give it a 7/10.
The sauce should definitely thicken. Don’t be afraid to crank that heat next time!
This was yummy. I was skeptical because of only dried ginger/garlic and I usually use fresh, but took a leap of faith and tried it. Used a tiny bit more ginger/ garlic than called for, and fresh cilantro in addition to the dried coriander. Also garnished with green onions and sriracha, and added a bag of frozen peas to the cooked meat at the end.. Next time I’ll dial back the honey slightly, but that is a personal preference/sensitivity. My 4 picky/opinionated eaters (husband and teenagers) had no complaints, which is rare. Would definitely make again. Thanks for a fast, easy recipe idea.
Great idea adding the peas. Thanks for trying this one out and the feedback!
Wasn’t sure what flavor to really expect with the “coconut” title. But omg this is one of my household favs. We have it for dinner one night every week, it’s a staple since we now have the all ingredients on hand and just have to buy the coconut milk and ground chicken or turkey (both work equally as great btw). Serve with rice and whatever veggies are on sale or a mix or regular rice and frozen cauliflower rice that we pop in the microwave. SO simple and so yummy. I’m a baby about spiciness, but the heat in this recipe is perfect.
I LOVE this recipe! I double the chicken, but keep the sauce amount the same and it’s plenty! I add broccoli slaw and bell peppers if I need some more volume. This is a great meal to prep on a Sunday and eat all week with rice!