Making a great chicken lettuce wrap in your own kitchen is easy. All you need is:
A few vegetables that add texture. I chose mushrooms and water chestnuts. Tons of ginger and garlic to boost flavor. If you don’t have ginger, you can use one more clove of garlic and skip the ginger. A simple sauce that brings out the flavor of the ingredients.
A lot of chicken lettuce wrap recipes use hoisin sauce during the stir fry part. I prefer to skip it during cooking and use it as a serving sauce, so it makes the wrap extra saucy. If you don’t have hoisin sauce, definitely try out my homemade version. It works great in this dish.
Sometimes I choose ground turkey with 20% fat over ground chicken, which produces more tender and juicier meat. If you use ground chicken breasts, pay extra attention to not overcook the meat. It will end up very tough and dry.
Cooking notes
I recommend browning the ground chicken first and taking it out before adding other ingredients. My recipe uses tons of mushrooms and water chestnuts. If you cook everything at the same time, the pan will be too crowded and difficult to keep at a high temperature. The chicken meat won’t brown properly. Instead, it will end up being boiled and losing all the juices.
What you don’t need to do is dice the mushrooms to tiny pieces – quarter them instead. It is true that Chinese stir fry recipes usually call for cutting all the veggies into the same size for even cooking and better presentation. But, in this case, mushrooms shrink a lot after cooking, so cutting them to bigger pieces will result in better mouthfeel. To make the preparation easier, use a garlic press to mince garlic and use a lemon zester to mince the ginger. The recipe below might look long, but you’d be surprised how quickly you can prep these ingredients. Serve the dish the family style without assembling it first, so the right-off-the-stove chicken won’t wither the lettuce leaves. Plus, it allows each family member to choose their own favorite toppings and sauce. It makes the dining experience much more fun.
Want to learn more Chinese takeout recipes? Check these out:
Shrimp Egg Foo Young Chinese Beef and Broccoli with Tofu (One Pan Take-Out) Moo Goo Gai Pan General Tso’s Chicken Shrimp Fried Rice (扬州炒饭, Yang Zhou Chao Fan)
Happy cooking, everyone! If you give this recipe a try, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it (once you’ve tried it), and take a picture and tag it @omnivorescookbook on Instagram! I’d love to see what you come up with.
