These lettuce wraps are light, crunchy and full of flavor.This recipe make 8-10 lettuce wraps/cups, or more depending on how full you fill the lettuce leaf.
1tspsesame seed oilfor cooking the chicken, see notes
1smallyellow onion, chopped
1tspminced garlic
8ozcan of water chestnuts, drained and chopped*only 1/2 can is used
3-4green onions, chopped (optional)*for serving
1headButter Lettuce, rinsed and leaves seperated
Sauce for chicken
1/4cup hoison sauce or bottledsee notes for my Hoisin Sauce Recipe- if you make my recipe it makes more than 1/4 cup so you will have leftover
1/4cuplow-sodium soy sauce*make sure it is low sodium or they will be salty
1tbsprice vinegar, or cider vinegar
1tsp sesame seed oilfor the sauce
1 1/2tbspbrown sugar
2tbspsweet chili saucesee note
1tspground ginger
1/2tsp garlic powder
1tsp salt
1/4tspblack pepper
Instructions
Prepare the Butter Lettuce. Cut off the root ball, pull off and separate the leaves, rinse the leaves, and pat them dry with a paper towel. Lay them out on paper towels or clean kitchen towel and let them finish air drying.
Make the sauce. In a small bowl, whisk together the hoisin sauce, soy sauce, vinegar, 1 tsp sesame seed oil, brown sugar, sweet chili sauce, ground ginger, garlic powder and salt and pepper. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Set aside.*** NOTE: if you make my hoisin sauce it will make more than what is needed for the recipe… You only need 1/4 cup of Hoisin sauce so you will have some leftover
Chop the onions into smaller pieces and set aside.
In a large skillet, add the canola oil and 1 tsp of sesame oil on medium heat. Add the ground chicken and cook the chicken for a few minutes.
Add the chopped onion to the chicken and cook until the chicken is no longer pink and the onion is translucent.
Add the minced garlic. Stir it into the chicken and onions and let it cook/heat until it becomes fragrant.
Pour the sauce over the chicken, let it simmer on medium-low for 5-10 minutes. The sauce will cook down as it cooks so the chicken won’t be as runny.
Add your chopped water chestnuts, stir and let simmer for 3-5 more minutes on med-low heat. Remove from heat.
Place about 1/4 filling into each lettuce leaf. Top with green onions if desired. Serve immediately. Additional soy sauce or sweet chili sauce can be drizzled on top if desired.
The chicken can be kept in the fridge for up to 4 days in a sealed container. The lettuce leaves can be kept in a zip top plastic bag, wrapped in paper towels (to soak up moisture).
When reheating the chicken, some additional soy sauce can be added if the chicken filling is dry.
Notes
Sesame seed oil, hoison sauce, sweet chili sauce and water chestnuts can all be found with the Asian foods at your grocery store.
You can chop the water chestnuts as as little or as big as you like (or leave them whole).
Butter leaf lettuce (also called Living Lettuce) is the BEST kind of lettuce to use. It is fresh and crunchy but slightly firm to hold the chicken filling. You can use romaine or even iceberg lettuce leaves in a pinch but you will not get the same crunch and flavor, and they tend to fall apart more and don't hold the filling as well.
You can make your own Hoisin Sauce. My recipe will make more Hoisin Sauce than is needed for Lettuce Wraps so you will have leftovers- but it makes a great stir fry sauce!
The Sweet Chili Sauce has a bit of heat so if you don’t like things spicy you can leave it out or start out adding a little and add it slowly to taste. I love to drizzle extra Sweet Chili Sauce on my lettuce wraps!
Nutrition information is automatically calculated and should only be used as an approximation.