These Instant Pot ground turkey lettuce wraps can be cooked from fresh or frozen, and make a delicious, lower carb meal that the whole family will love!
Like Instant Pot frozen ground beef, this recipe is going to save your butt when you find yourself with nothing thawed for dinner at 5pm. I’ve been there, friend, yes I have.
This Instant Pot ground turkey lettuce wraps recipe is very similar to these Korean Turkey Meal Prep Bowls, but I’ve cooked them in the Instant Pot, added some carrots, and wrapped them up in crunchy romaine lettuce.
There are so many things to love about this recipe, but my favorite is the fact that you can have a frozen block of ground turkey and still get dinner on the table in 25 minutes. Isn’t that amazing?!
Reasons to love these Instant ground turkey lettuce wraps
- you can cook from fresh or frozen
- you can use ground turkey or ground beef
- it’s kid-friendly
- it’s lower carb, gluten-free and paleo-friendly
Recipe Video
Want to see how easy this is to cook? Watch the video below for a step by step guide to cooking frozen ground turkey in the Instant Pot. It’s so easy! You can find more of my recipe videos on my YouTube channel.
Don’t forget to pin this post to save it for later!
Why this method is the BEST
I have tried cooking ground turkey Instant Pot recipes from frozen completely through, and was disappointed by tough, chewy meat.
Instead of cooking all the way through, we cook *partly* through, and finish the turkey by simmering in a delicious sweet/savory sauce.
- place 1 cup of water in the Instant Pot (1.5 cups for 8 quart), and place trivet on top
- place frozen turkey or beef on top of trivet
- pressure cook for 5 minutes
- once cooked, do a quick pressure release
- carefully remove the turkey/beef on the trivet, then dump out the water
- return the turkey to the pot with all the sauce ingredients.
- select ‘sautee’ and cook for 3-5 minutes (breaking meat up with a spatula), until everything is cooked through
Tada! Dinner on the table in 25 minutes (probably less).
Frozen or thawed meat?
You can absolutely cook this recipe with fully thawed meat as well. Instead of cooking for 5 minutes, we cook for just 2 minutes. Do a quick pressure release, then simmer for a few minutes to break up the meat and reduce the sauce slightly.
Can you believe it? You don’t need to add any extra liquid. I tested this in my 6 and 8 quart Instant Pots with ground beef and turkey and it worked like a charm each time.
Use any ground meat
You can use ground beef and (most likely) ground chicken. Use the same cook time and method.
Cook ahead for easy meals
This recipe works for great for meal prep in a few different ways:
- portion out for easy lunches (keep lettuce & filling separate until you serve)- store in the fridge for up to 4 days
- cook ahead and freeze for easy dinners- can be frozen for up to 3 months
Thoughts on keto
I have tested this recipe swapping the honey for 2-3 teaspoons of monk fruit sweetener when cooking on the stove top, and it was great. I am not sure if this change in liquid would affect the Instant Pot coming to pressure or not if cooking with thawed meat, so do this at your own risk. You can also probably save a few carbs by swapping the soy sauce for Bragg’s liquid aminos.
- if you try swapping for monk fruit sweetener, would you let us know in the comments below how it goes?
More Instant Pot Dinners
- Instant Pot Chicken Tikka Masala
- Moroccan Instant Pot Lentils
- Instant Pot Cajun Rice & Sausage
- Instant Pot Ground Turkey Stuffed Peppers
- Perfect, Fluffy Instant Pot Quinoa
Instant Pot Asian Lettuce Wraps
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground turkey (or ground beef)
- 4 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 tablespoon ginger (finely grated)
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 3 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce
- 1 1/2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 carrot (shredded)
To serve
- romaine lettuce leaves
- green onions
Instructions
To cook frozen turkey or beef
- Remove frozen ground meat from packaging (running under warm water can help loosen it).
- Place 1 cup of water into a 6 quart Instant Pot (1 1/2 cups for 8 quart). Place trivet over water and frozen meat on the trivet.
- Set the valve to 'sealing', and pressure cook on high for 5 minutes.
- When the Instant Pot beeps, do a quick pressure release and carefully remove the trivet + meat from the Instant Pot. *It will only be partly cooked through at this point*
- Carefully dump the liquid from the Instant Pot, and add the ground meat to the Instant Pot with the garlic, ginger, honey, soy sauce, sesame oil, red pepper flakes, and black pepper.
- Select 'sautee' and cook, breaking the meat up with a spatula, for 3-5 minutes, until meat is fully cooked through.
- Stir in the carrots and serve.
To cook thawed turkey or beef
- Add the ground meat to an Instant Pot with the garlic, ginger, honey, soy sauce, sesame oil, red pepper flakes, and black pepper.
- Put the lid on, set the valve to 'sealing', and pressure cook on high for 2 minutes.
- When the Instant Pot beeps, do a quick pressure release, and remove the lid.
- Select 'sautee' and simmer, breaking the meat up with a spatula, until the sauce has reduced and meat is cooked through (3-5 minutes). It should not be too liquidy, but this will depend on the type of ground meat you use. See *
- Stir in the carrots and serve.
To serve
- Spoon filling into romaine lettuce leaves. Sprinkle with green onions.
Storage
- The filling may be stored in the fridge for up to 4 days or the freezer for up to 3 months.
Kim Glover
I doubled the recipe and it didn’t seem as tasty. Maybe I needed to add a little more spices/sauces. I am not a very good cook so follow the recipe exactly so I don’t what to do if I need to add something else. Maybe some of The good cooks out there know how to adjust the ingredients. Please advise. 🙂
Denise Bustard
Hi Kim! Oh that’s weird!! In theory it should taste the same with double the ingredients, maybe you need to reduce the sauce a bit longer with double the ingredients?
Val
Can I double this recipe?
Denise
Hi Val! I think that would work just fine, but I have not personally tried it. Worst case scenario, your beef is not cooked all the way through and you either cook it on high pressure for a few more minutes, or you sautee it for a bit longer. Hope you enjoy!