Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Remember when the best thing ever was to go to PF Chang's and get an appetizer of Chicken Lettuce Wraps?  No, just me?? Anyway, they were dang good but when I saw that Chrissy Teigen's Cravings cookbook had a recipe to make a version at home, I knew I had to give them a try.  Besides a few fresh veggies I had to pick up at the store, I had almost everything in the pantry to make this quick and easy weeknight dinner that was maybe even better than the restaurant dish {hard to say - that original is good}.  I didn't have water chestnuts so I substituted celery to give them that nice crunch, and though the above picture looks pretty, there was no way those were going to be eaten cleanly by hand so I ended up using a knife and fork and basically making a chicken lettuce wrap salad.  Never mind that, they still tasted delicious and made excellent leftovers all week long.  Whether cooking yourself dinner or as an appetizer for guests, definitely give these a try for a quick and impressive meal.  You may just be mistaken for the PF Chang :)

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients

Sauce

3 Tblsp Thai sweet chili sauce

3 Tblsp hoisin sauce

3 Tblsp soy sauce

2 Tblsp Sriracha

2 Tblsp vegetable oil

1 Tblsp sesame oil

1 1/2 Tblsp unseasoned rice vinegar

2 Tblsp minced garlic {about 4 cloves}

1 Tblsp minced ginger

Filling

1 lb ground chicken

3 Tblsp vegetable oil

8 scallions, thinly sliced, white and green parts separated

1 Tblsp minced garlic {about 2 cloves}

1 Tblsp minced fresh ginger

1/2 lb white mushrooms, trimmed, cleaned, and finely chopped

1/2 cup finely diced canned water chestnuts {I didn't have these so used celery to get that crunch}

1 small red bell pepper, finely chopped

2 heads butter lettuce, iceberg lettuce, or romaine leaves

Instructions

1. To make the sauce, combine all above sauce ingredients into a bowl and stir.

2. In a bowl, mix 2 Tblsp above sauce with the ground chicken.

3. In a large skillet heat 2 Tblsp vegetable oil over medium high heat.  Add chicken and cook, breaking up meat with wooden spoon until browned, about 5-6 minutes.  Transfer meat to plate and set aside.

4. Add remaining 1 Tblsp oil to skillet, then add scallion whites, garlic, and ginger and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.  Add mushrooms and cook, stirring, until they release their liquid {about 3-4 minutes}.  Return chicken to pan, then add water chestnuts {or celery}, bell pepper, and rest of the sauce and cook, stirring, until cooked through and liquid has reduced and thickened, about 5 minutes.  Stir in scallion greens.

5. Serve as lettuce wraps, or on top of lettuce like a salad.

Serves 4-6

adapted from cravings

xoxo,

stephanie marie