Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Lettuce wraps are a great summer meal! They are deliciously satisfying, yet light and fresh. Plus, they wonderful enjoyed hot or cold, and can be prepped ahead of time. These lettuce wraps contain lean ground chicken, are packed with veggies, and simply seasoned to perfection with Bachan’s Japanese Barbecue Sauce. This sauce is a favorite in our house, and can be found in a large bottle at Costco, or in a variety of flavors in smaller bottles at your local grocery store. It contains Non-GMO soy sauce, cane sugar, mirin, tomato paste, organic ginger, green onion, organic rice vinegar, organic garlic, sea salt, and organic toasted sesame oil. No nasty chemicals or preservatives, just a perfect balance of asian flavors, similar to a teriyaki sauce.
The first thing I do is prep all the veggies for this recipe. In addition to the fresh romaine lettuce leaves we’ll be serving our chicken filling in, we’ll also have a variety of fresh crisp veggies to garnish the top. Julienned carrot, red bell pepper, and green onions add vibrant color and freshness to this dish.
We’ll also prep some additional veggies which we’ll cook and add to our chicken filling. This will not only add extra nutrition, flavors, and texture, but is also a great way to stretch a small amount of meat. I like to use zucchini and mushrooms for this. Any kind of mushrooms will work, I often choose Beech or Shiitake mushrooms if I have them. If not, simple creminis are great too. Just give them a chop and they’re ready for cooking. We’ll also chop some fresh garlic, then our prep work is done.
To cook the filling, heat a couple tablespoons of oil in a large pan of medium-high heat. Add the ground chicken, season with salt and pepper, and break it up as it cooks until it’s no longer pink and any juices released have evaporated. Transfer it to a plate and set it aside.
Returning the pan to the stove, reduce the heat a bit to medium, and add a couple more tablespoons of oil. Now add in the zucchini and mushrooms, season with salt and pepper, and cook a few minutes until water has been released and evaporated. Add the garlic, cooked ground chicken, some Bachan’s Japanese Barbecue Sauce, and red pepper flakes if desired. Cook another minute or two until the sauce has absorbed into the filling.
To serve, spoon filling into lettuce cups, and top with fresh carrot, bell pepper, and green onion. This recipe makes about 12 lettuce wraps. I recommend at least 3 if not 4 wraps per person.
We hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do!
Watch us make it here:
Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Ingredients
- 4 Tbsp olive oil divided
- 1 medium carrot julienned
- ½ red bell pepper julienned
- 3 green onions sliced
- 1 zucchini diced small
- 4 oz mushrooms chopped (Beech, shitake, or cremini are our favorites)
- sea salt and pepper to taste
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- ⅛ tsp red pepper flakes to taste
- ¼ cup Bachan's Japanese Barbecue Sauce to taste
- 12 romaine lettuce leaves we recommend small artisan romaine leaves
Instructions
- To cook the filling, heat a couple tablespoons of oil in a large pan of medium-high heat. Add the ground chicken, season with salt and pepper, and break it up as it cooks until it’s no longer pink and any juices released have evaporated. Transfer it to a plate and set it aside.
- Returning the pan to the stove, reduce the heat a bit to medium, and add a couple more tablespoons of oil. Now add in the zucchini and mushrooms, season with salt and pepper, and cook a few minutes until water has been released and evaporated.
- Add the garlic, cooked ground chicken, Bachan's Japanese Barbecue Sauce, and red pepper flakes if desired. Cook another minute or two until the sauce has absorbed into the filling.
- To serve, spoon filling into lettuce cups, and top with fresh carrot, bell pepper, and green onion.