diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-ecs/README.md b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-ecs/README.md
index 438f63e14e009..94bdfa5dc17d2 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-ecs/README.md
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-ecs/README.md
@@ -237,10 +237,22 @@ const container = ec2TaskDefinition.addContainer("WebContainer", {
 
 You can specify container properties when you add them to the task definition, or with various methods, e.g.:
 
+To add a port mapping when adding a container to the task definition, specify the `portMappings` option:
+
+```ts
+taskDefinition.addContainer("WebContainer", {
+  image: ecs.ContainerImage.fromRegistry("amazon/amazon-ecs-sample"),
+  memoryLimitMiB: 1024,
+  portMappings: [{ containerPort: 3000 }]
+});
+```
+
+To add port mappings directly to a container definition, call `addPortMappings()`:
+
 ```ts
 container.addPortMappings({
   containerPort: 3000
-})
+});
 ```
 
 To add data volumes to a task definition, call `addVolume()`:
diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-ecs/lib/container-definition.ts b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-ecs/lib/container-definition.ts
index 983489743482f..9911a49a039cf 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-ecs/lib/container-definition.ts
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-ecs/lib/container-definition.ts
@@ -288,6 +288,12 @@ export interface ContainerDefinitionOptions {
    * @default - No GPUs assigned.
    */
   readonly gpuCount?: number;
+
+  /**
+   * The port mappings to add to the container definition.
+   * @default - No ports are mapped.
+   */
+  readonly portMappings?: PortMapping[];
 }
 
 /**
@@ -433,6 +439,10 @@ export class ContainerDefinition extends CoreConstruct {
     }
 
     props.taskDefinition._linkContainer(this);
+
+    if (props.portMappings) {
+      this.addPortMappings(...props.portMappings);
+    }
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-ecs/test/container-definition.test.ts b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-ecs/test/container-definition.test.ts
index 0e42a0aecc381..81e9f274160b7 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-ecs/test/container-definition.test.ts
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-ecs/test/container-definition.test.ts
@@ -703,6 +703,55 @@ describe('container definition', () => {
 
   });
 
+  test('can add port mappings to the container definition by props', () => {
+    // GIVEN
+    const stack = new cdk.Stack();
+    const taskDefinition = new ecs.Ec2TaskDefinition(stack, 'TaskDef');
+
+    // WHEN
+    taskDefinition.addContainer('cont', {
+      image: ecs.ContainerImage.fromRegistry('test'),
+      memoryLimitMiB: 1024,
+      portMappings: [{ containerPort: 80 }],
+    });
+
+    // THEN
+    expect(stack).toHaveResourceLike('AWS::ECS::TaskDefinition', {
+      ContainerDefinitions: [
+        {
+          PortMappings: [{ ContainerPort: 80 }],
+        },
+      ],
+    });
+  });
+
+  test('can add port mappings using props and addPortMappings and both are included', () => {
+    // GIVEN
+    const stack = new cdk.Stack();
+    const taskDefinition = new ecs.Ec2TaskDefinition(stack, 'TaskDef');
+
+    // WHEN
+    const containerDefinition = taskDefinition.addContainer('cont', {
+      image: ecs.ContainerImage.fromRegistry('test'),
+      memoryLimitMiB: 1024,
+      portMappings: [{ containerPort: 80 }],
+    });
+
+    containerDefinition.addPortMappings({ containerPort: 443 });
+
+    // THEN
+    expect(stack).toHaveResourceLike('AWS::ECS::TaskDefinition', {
+      ContainerDefinitions: [
+        {
+          PortMappings: [
+            { ContainerPort: 80 },
+            { ContainerPort: 443 },
+          ],
+        },
+      ],
+    });
+  });
+
   describe('Environment Files', () => {
     describe('with EC2 task definitions', () => {
       test('can add asset environment file to the container definition', () => {
diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-ecs/test/fargate/integ.lb-awsvpc-nw.ts b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-ecs/test/fargate/integ.lb-awsvpc-nw.ts
index d333fd9df89e2..e2d40e4ef52f6 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-ecs/test/fargate/integ.lb-awsvpc-nw.ts
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-ecs/test/fargate/integ.lb-awsvpc-nw.ts
@@ -15,13 +15,12 @@ const taskDefinition = new ecs.FargateTaskDefinition(stack, 'TaskDef', {
   cpu: 512,
 });
 
-const container = taskDefinition.addContainer('web', {
+taskDefinition.addContainer('web', {
   image: ecs.ContainerImage.fromRegistry('amazon/amazon-ecs-sample'),
-});
-
-container.addPortMappings({
-  containerPort: 80,
-  protocol: ecs.Protocol.TCP,
+  portMappings: [{
+    containerPort: 80,
+    protocol: ecs.Protocol.TCP,
+  }],
 });
 
 const service = new ecs.FargateService(stack, 'Service', {