I haven’t had chicken lettuce wraps for quite some time. I went on an adult Disneyland date with my wife last week and we had some lettuce wraps at Trader Sam’s and I thought “Why have I never made these at home?”. Chicken lettuce wraps are actually quite easy to make, and sooo good!
I’ve seen a few different chicken lettuce wrap recipes out there, most of them using ground chicken. But if you’ve ever had these at a restaurant, they don’t exactly have a ground chicken consistency. What I did instead, was take my chicken breast, and pulse them in the food processor. The texture came out perfect!
If you’ve never actually had chicken lettuce wraps, they have an eastern Asian vibe to them. They full of savory umami flavors with a soy/hoisin sauce blend, and have a crunchy bite to them, by adding water chestnuts.
But will my son eat these? nope!
I really need to start snapping when I serve Brayden food that I make that isn’t a tostada, or a plain burger. Or tater tots. Because he wont touch anything I make that has an “adult” taste to it. And its pretty hilarious!
I added some sriracha to my sauce to give it a note of heat and extra flavor. These are great on their own, or you can whip up a quick teriyaki style sauce to pour on top of them.
I totally forgot to make the sauce the first night, but when we had them for leftovers I was sure to make one, so I’ll include it in the recipe!
Chicken Lettuce Wraps make an awesome game day appetizer, or just serve it up for dinner on its own. They’re kind of like tacos.
Except.. they’re… not… tacos..?? Not sure where I was going with that. But look! Another picture!
Add water chestnuts and mushrooms in a food processor and pulse for about 15-20 seconds until 1/4 inch in diameter or smaller. Set aside. Rinse our your food processor.
Chop your chicken breast into 2-3 inch cubes and place in the food processor. Chop until you have small pieces about 1/4 inch and smaller. Set aside.
In a bowl mix hoisin sauce, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, and sriracha. Set aside.
In a wok at high heat, add 2 tbsp of peanut oil. Add your chicken and brown for about 2-3 minutes minutes, add about half the hoisin mixture and cook for about 2-3 minutes until no longer pink. You may need to drain excess water at this point.
Add your water chestnut and mushroom mix, along with the remaining hoisin sauce mixture. Stir in along with some chopped green onions.
For the Teriyaki Sauce
In the same wok, add soy sauce, hoisin sauce, agave nectar, water, garlic, ginger and sriracha. Let this simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. It wont be thick like a traditional teriyaki sauce, but its super tasty!
Pull off a leaf of the butter lettuce, spoon in the chicken filling, add some crunchy chow mein noodles, and pour a couple spoonfuls of the teriyaki sauce. Enjoy!
I'm an IT professional by day. Home cook for the family by night. Follow my blog for easy to make recipes, how-to's and ideas to gather the family at the dinner table!