Chicken lettuce wraps

There's a popular chain restaurant that serves chicken lettuce wraps that I adore.  Sure, I'm sure they're full of soybean oil, high fructose corn syrup, and maybe MSG, but wow are they good!  We don't eat out all that often, and when we do I certainly don't obsess over the details of the meal, especially when we are spending time with friends and just enjoying their company.

This week I had a craving for those delicious chicken lettuce wraps, and thought I would give it another shot making them at home.  I had made them at home before using another recipe, and they were just ok.  This time, I made up my own recipe and was very pleased with the results.

They got the approval of my six year old and semi-approval from my three year old.  He took three bites of just the filling with no lettuce, so I won't complain. He doesn't really eat anything these days.  Maddening!

Chicken lettuce wraps are usually made with hoisin sauce, which is delicious, but full of ingredients that I try to avoid.  I did buy a bottle of organic hoisin sauce so I could bring it home and mimic the flavors in it.  Traditional hoisin sauce contains miso, which is something that I don't normally keep in my kitchen.  Not that it's a "bad" ingredient or anything, I just don't cook with it often.  I wanted to keep all of the ingredients things that most people would have in their homes.

Now make these "clean" chicken lettuce wraps soon!  It's a fast and flavorful weeknight meal that comes together in under 20 minutes.

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Chicken lettuce wraps

Simple chicken lettuce wraps with clean ingredients that you can feel good about.

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 20 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Ingredients

• bibb lettuce for serving
• 1-2 T. olive oil
• 1 lb ground chicken
• 1 large carrot grated
• 2 green onions sliced
• 8 oz. water chestnuts chopped into small pieces
• 2 cloves garlic
• ¼ cup soy sauce or coconut aminos
• 2 T. real maple syrup
• 1 T. apple cider vinegar
• 1 T. molasses
• 1 clove garlic minced or pressed
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 2 T. orange juice fresh from an orange or bottled
• 2 T. water

Instructions

• In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat.
• Add ground chicken, carrots, green onions, water chestnuts, and garlic and stir fry together, breaking up chicken, until chicken is no longer pink.
• Mix together remaining ingredients in a bowl or measuring cup.
• Pour about half of the sauce over the chicken mixture and bring to a low boil to slightly thicken sauce and have it incorporate with the chicken. Taste and add more sauce to your liking.
• Fill lettuce cups with chicken mixture and serve immediately.
• The extra sauce can be used as a condiment to serve with the wraps if more sauce is needed.
• If you can find a clean organic Hoisin sauce, feel free to also use that as a condiment.