Chicken Lettuce Wraps are large lettuce leaves filled and wrapped around a ground chicken and vegetable mixture that has been cooked in a savory sauce. Enjoy these wraps with Parmesan Zucchini Corn for a light meal, or serve them as an appetizer for your next gathering!
Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Chicken Lettuce Wraps are a quick and easy meal to prepare ahead of time for lunches or an appetizer to share. You can prepare both the lettuce leaves and the chicken mixture up to a couple of days before serving, or serve it hot and fresh right from the skillet. This versatile meal is perfect when you are craving something a little lighter, but still tasty!
Chicken Lettuce Wraps Recipe
There are three parts to this recipe–the chicken mixture, sauce, and the toppings. When it comes to the sauce, you will use HALF the sauce to cook with the chicken mixture. The other half should be set aside for drizzling on the chicken mixture with the other optional toppings after you fill up your lettuce leaf.
*If you don’t have Hoisin sauce, simply whisk together the following ingredients in a small bowl to make your own:
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce (or more or less, to taste)
- 1 clove minced garlic
- 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
How to Make Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Whether you are preparing the Chicken Lettuce Wraps ahead of time or to be eaten right away, the first thing to do is to separate and clean the lettuce. After you separate the leaves from the head of the lettuce, rinse them and dry the leaves using a dry paper towel to gently pat the leaves. Or, if you have one, use your salad spinner to wash the leaves. Store the leaves in the refrigerator until you are ready to use them. This would also be a great time to portion out the leaves if you are preparing lunches for the week.
Making the Chicken Mixture
To make the savory chicken mixture that will be used to fill your lettuce leaves, begin by heating up the oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Add the ground chicken and season with salt and pepper. Cook until no longer pink, or the internal temperature is 165°F. Add in the mushrooms and onions, cooking for about 5-6 minutes, or until soft. Add the water chestnuts, ginger, and garlic and cook for another minute.
How to Make the Sauce
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine the hoisin sauce, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame oil. Whisk the sauce together, reserving 1/2 cup of the sauce and setting it aside to drizzle as an optional topping. Pour the other half of the sauce over the chicken mixture, cover the skillet, and cook on low for about 5 minutes. Fill each lettuce leaf with about 1/4 of the mixture, drizzling the reserved sauce on top, and adding sesame seeds and green onion for garnish. And, that’s a ‘wrap’😉!
How to Store the Chicken Mixture
If you are meal-prepping and want to save the chicken mixture, it will last up to two days in the refrigerator. After cooking the mixture, let it cool and store the mixture in a covered container. Again, if preparing lunches, now would be the time to separate the mixture into individual containers.
To heat up the chicken mixture, simply pop it into the microwave in one-minute intervals until evenly heated. Or, heat up the chicken in a covered skillet over medium-low heat until it’s warm. Drizzle with extra sauce for added flavor. Keep the sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator, remembering to label and date the sauce.
More Appetizers
Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Ingredients
- 1 head butter lettuce, separated into leaves, rinsed, and dried
CHICKEN MIXTURE
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound ground chicken
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 6 ounces button mushrooms, stems removed and finely diced
- 1 small white onion, finely diced
- 8 ounce can of water chestnuts, drained and finely diced
- ½ teaspoon ginger, minced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
SAUCE
- ½ cup hoisin sauce
- 4 tablespoon soy sauce
- 4 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 4 teaspoons sesame oil
TOPPINGS
- 1 teaspoon sesame seeds
- 2 shoots green onions, diced
Instructions
- Separate, rinse, and dry the leaves of the butter lettuce. Or, wash the lettuce in a salad spinner and set aside.
CHICKEN MIXTURE
- Heat up oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Add chicken, season it with salt and pepper, and cook until no longer pink.
- Add the mushrooms and onions, and cook until soft (about 5-6 minutes).
- Add the water chestnuts, ginger, and garlic and cook for 1 more minute.
SAUCE
- In a medium bowl, combine hoisin sauce, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame oil. Whisk to combine evenly. Reserve 1/2 cup of the sauce and set aside to use as a condiment for your wrap. Pour the remaining sauce over the chicken mixture and cover, cooking on low for another 5 minutes.
- Fill each lettuce leaf with 1/4 cup of the chicken mixture. Top with the reserved sauce, sesame seeds, and green onion.
Did you make this recipe?
You can tag me at @iamhomesteader.
Amanda, this looks delicious and I cannot wait to try it! I have a question-years ago, when you ordered this at PFChang’s, they would bring a set of 3 sauces which they mixed together, right there and it was so good! They no longer do that and I really miss it. Do you have any idea what those three separate condiments were? I wonder why they stopped doing that. I felt like it really elevated the lettuce cups. Thanks for the great recipe!
Can you freeze the chicken mixture?
Have had this with shrimp but the restaurant no longer sweves them. Would you use the same ingredients for seasoning??