You don’t have to duck under your desk or table to gobble, or get up in the middle of the night treading your way to the refrigerator. These chicken lettuce wraps are so low carb and weight watcher friendly that I feel like I am losing weight just looking at them. Whoever manifested the idea of a lettuce wrap into reality is pure genius. Who would have thought carbs would become enemy numero uno for so many people (I absolutely love them) and suddenly be banished. So what to replace them with? Necessity is the mother of invention, and those wraps and tacos got replaced with this leafy vegetable. Suddenly no one sneers at poor lettuce, whose presence was mostly restricted to your salad bowl… Until Now. It’s a coming of age for this poor guy, like an ugly caterpillar turning into a beautiful butterfly.
Lettuce wraps were a thing for decades in Asian cuisine…
…and found their way into America when a certain Mr. Chang introduced them in his restaurant. Now people can’t stop talking about them. How can it not be so? Sweet and savory Asian infused chicken and veggies stuffed in lettuce boats. Suddenly everybody wanted to replicate Mr. Chang’s famous appetizer. GypsyPlate takes so much inspiration from various world cuisines, and it wouldn’t have materialized at all if I wasn’t inspired by what I see in cookbooks and online. I am not born Italian or Thai or Russian or Jamaican, and if I didn’t take on these recipes from the giants who mastered them, I wouldn’t have any chance at all. So I feel thankful to be on the shoulders of these masters, be it some nana from Ukraine or some unknown housewife from the Middle East. Thank you all. Coming back to the recipe, good news, it is super quick. One of those under-30-minute Darlings. What I like to do is cook a ton of meat, as it refrigerates and freezes so well. And it’s great for your lunch the next day or some other meal down the road. You can incorporate this meat in those jar salad meals or those Buddha bowls… very versatile. Did I win you over yet?
Here is what you want for this quicky…
Some ground chicken (cooks so, so fast) along with veggies like carrots, onions, mushrooms (I am using shiitake, but a pack of button mushroom in your fridge works too), along with Asian staples like ginger, garlic, hoisin sauce (in a pinch you can replace hoisin with soy sauce), chili garlic sauce, green onions, a little cilantro, and nice head of lettuce (I like Boston). For a peanut sauce that is oh-my, some peanut butter, soy sauce, lime juice, brown sugar, chili garlic sauce, finely grated ginger… That’s it! So you see, more or less things you usually have in your home. And that’s why it’s a contender for the “I have no time for nonsense” weekday meal category.
And it goes in easy steps…
Step 1: Whisk all the ingredients for peanut sauce. Done in 5 minutes.
Step 2: Chop vegetables. 5 minutes.
Step 3: Sauté those mushrooms, followed by chicken, followed by onions and carrots… stir in ginger and garlic… add in hoisin sauce, chili garlic sauce… throw in cilantro and green onions… 10-15 minutes.
Step 4: Spoon in generous amounts (we don’t want skimpy lettuce wraps here, guys) of your chicken filling into your lettuce boats. Drizzle with your peanut sauce. 1 minute… DONE!
Step 5: DIG IN… FINISH YOUR FIRST WRAP… I bet it’s less than a minute!… It’s so yum!… Go for another!… Repeat!
Did you see how freaking unbelievably quick this meal is? So without any more blabbering, Lettuce wrap this up and get cooking. Every time I bite into these, I say “God bless Mr. Chang!!”
Be sure to check out my roundups of the best Ground Chicken Recipes and best Asian Recipes!
Chicken Lettuce Wraps with Peanut Sauce, on my GypsyPlate… Enjoy!
Try these other great 30-minute-or-less meals!
Kung Pao ChickenChili Lime Shrimp Tacos with Mango SalsaBlackened (AKA Cajun) Shrimp and GritsCaribbean Coconut Mussel CurryPuerto Rican Picadillo
I like Boston lettuce, but any sturdy lettuce will do, such as romaine or butter.
Meat mixture also goes great in bowl meals!
