Sautéed ground chicken thighs, shiitake mushrooms and water chestnuts seasoned with Asian spices are served in a crispy cold lettuce leaf with a spicy hoisin dipping sauce. I can't think of a more playful appetizer to celebrate the Year of The Dragon!
Some of you probably know how much I love using lettuce leaves as a wrap for everything from Turkey Taco Lettuce Wraps to BLT Lettuce wraps. They are the perfect low-carb solution and don't interfere with the flavors of the filling. This recipe is no exception, you can taste all the Asian goodness... pure delight in every bite!
This recipe was ever so slightly adapted from my friend Bee, of Rasa Malaysia's first cookbook, Easy Chinese Recipes: Family Favorites From Dim Sum to Kung Pao. Whether you are celebrating The Chinese New Year, The Superbowl, or just having some friends over, I highly recommend making these... double or triple the recipe for a large crowd!
And speaking of Chinese New Year, I have a new cookbook giveaway this week! Two lucky winners will have a chance to win their own copy of Easy Chinese Recipes: Family Favorites From Dim Sum to Kung Pao. For a chance to win, visit Skinny Bits and leave a comment there (US residents only)!
Oh and one more thing I want to mention, if you want to turn this into a main dish, make some steamed rice and serve each wrap with rice and chicken, it's very good! Enjoy!!
Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Skinnytaste.com
Servings: 6 • Serving Size: 1 lettuce wrap • Old Points: 2 pts • Points+: 3 pts
Calories: 102.7 • Fat: 3.1 g • Carb: 9.6 g • Fiber: 0.9 g • Protein: 8.4 g • Sugar: 4.6 g
Sodium: 344.1 mg
Ingredients:
- 8 oz skinless, boneless chicken thighs, ground
- 1/4 cup water chestnuts, chopped fine
- 1/4 cup dried shiitake mushrooms
- 1 tbsp soy sauce (I used reduced sodium)
- 1/4 tsp dark soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp oyster sauce
- 1 1/2 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp rice wine or dry sherry
- 1⁄2 tsp sugar
- freshly ground white pepper, to taste
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 6 iceberg lettuce leaves, rinsed (careful not to break)
- 2 tbsp diced scallions
For the Spicy Hoisin Dipping Sauces:
- 4 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 1/2 tsp chili sauce, I used Sriracha
- 1 tbsp warm water
Directions:
Place mushrooms in hot water to soften a few minutes. Remove stems and chop fine.
Combine soy sauces, oyster sauce, 1/2 tsp sesame oil, rice wine, sugar, and pepper in a bowl.
Combine ground chicken (I put the chicken in the food processor), softened mushrooms and water chestnuts into a bowl. Pour over chicken; toss. Let marinate for 15 minutes.
Mix Spicy Hoisin Dipping Sauce ingredients in another bowl. Set aside.
Heat remaining sesame oil in a wok or skillet over high heat. Add garlic; cook until golden, about 10 seconds. Add chicken mixture; stir fry until browned, breaking the chicken up as it cooks, about 4-5 minutes.
To serve, spoon 1/4 cup of the chicken into each lettuce leaf. Garnish with scallions and a spoon a little Spicy Hoisin Dipping Sauce onto each one.
Serves 6.
























Looks great. Can't wait to try it. I love all your recipes and cook them every week!
ReplyDeleteCan you use regular ground chicken (or maybe even turkey) instead of grinding it yourself? I can't imagine it would make a big difference, but wanted to get your thoughts. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI use the ground turkey and I think it tastes better personally.
DeleteThese look absolutely delicious! I will definitely make them soon!
ReplyDeleteChar xo
www.itsacharmlife.blogspot.com
Sounds great! Never thought of grinding up thighs in a food processor but I'd try it! Love your recipes and always look forward to your new posts :)
ReplyDeleteSubstitutes for the mushrooms, please?
ReplyDeleteSure, I love the flavor of the thighs, but store bought ground chicken or turkey would work.
ReplyDeleteThe mushroom flavor is very subtle but if you must, leave them out and use more chicken and water chestnuts.
I love lettuce wraps, they're my weakness at PF Changs ;) I've attempted them a few times at home but never with chicken thighs. I bet that adds some extra flavor.
ReplyDeleteLettuce wraps are my life! I love them and I totally want that cookbook!
ReplyDeleteThis looks so yummy. I love all your recipes. Thank you for helping me stay healthy :)
ReplyDeleteYUMMY!! =)
ReplyDeleteThese look absolutely amazing, and super healthy too, I can't wait to make them, thanks!!
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ReplyDeleteLooks great! Can't wait to make it :)
ReplyDeleteOh how I love lettuce wraps. YUM!
ReplyDeleteThis is the second site *today* that I've seen this recipe ;-) and it's on my meal plan for tonight. Happy CNY!
ReplyDeleteYum, that looks easy enough. I've never really ventured into Asian cooking, though I love eating it.. I'll have to try this one soon! Thanks & have a great day! :)
ReplyDeleteI love to make these in the crock pot. Brown the ground chicken, add ginger and put in crock pot with hoisin, soy sauce and Sriracha. Cook on low just for 4 hours to combine flavors. Add water chestnuts at the end and stir.
ReplyDeleteI love all of your add ins (mushrooms and oyster sauce... excellent!).
This is super easy and we love to have this regularly!
This looks fantastic. We have a local Thai restraint that makes these and they are great. I am excited to give these a try. Your photos are great too!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteyummy yummy yummy. I cannot wait to try this. I bet its good with pork too.
ReplyDeleteMeghan
http://inthekitchenandonthecouch.blogspot.com/
Love cooking Chinese food and always looking for new, easy recipes. Lettuce wraps are my husband's favorite! Thanks.
ReplyDeleteDo you have a non spicy version for the dipping sauce?
ReplyDeleteI love chicken wraps! My favorite thai restaurant uses a darker green to wrap them in, I think a variety of kale. I'll have to try your recipe for the filling, though!
ReplyDeleteI love making lettuce wraps of all kind! I've found that Butter Lettuce actually works better than the iceberg because it's more pliable - the iceberg is so crisp that it can just snap, but the butter lettuce is nice and flexible and has a great flavor!
ReplyDeleteWhere do you get dark soy sauce? Is that different from the low sodium one?
ReplyDeleteDark soy is quite different from regular soy sauce and the low sodium version of regular soy sauce. It's thicker and sweeter and is used mainly in sauces and marinades.
DeleteYou need to drop by your local Asian grocery store. It's great when you can find one where the owners or cashier's speak English (or your local language) well. Then, they can steer you to the right version. There are all kinds of flavors of soy sauce, but the most commonly used are regular soy sauce and dark soy sauce.
Once I went to pick up some dark soy sauce, but the clerks didn't know English well enough to understand what I was looking for. They grabbed the guy stocking the shelves in the back who knew English well but didn't know what dark soy sauce was. Yow! Don't be discouraged, though! It all worked out in the end. Now, I go to a store where the nice Thai lady owner is married to an American. She speaks and understands English well and can help me find anything I need.
Looks delicious! Can't wait until my next shopping trip to get what I need to try these! Would sooooo love that cookbook too!
ReplyDeleteThank you for all the wonderful recipes!
We love food in this house and I could really use help in making some German recipes skinny if you are ever lost for an idea.... hint, hint.
I love lettuce wraps. I can't wait to try this!
ReplyDeleteAny suggestions for a vegetarian version? Tofu? How much and what kind?
ReplyDeleteAre there any substitutions for the oyster sauce, sesame oil or rice wine? I don't normally have these on hand, but I don't want to change the recipe too much if I would be missing the flavors if I used a substiute.
ReplyDeleteThis looks delicious! Thanks for the post and the free giveaway!
ReplyDeleteNo ginger?
ReplyDeleteThese sound like the lettuce wraps at Pei Wei! My husband and I were there for the first time this weekend and they were delicious. I knew right away I wanted to try and recreate them but you beat me to the punch! Which, is totally fine because that means less work for me! Thanks for another delicious recipe!
ReplyDeleteI love experimenting with Asian cuisine at home. This recipe looks great; bet the cookbook is full of good ones to try!
ReplyDeleteI went shopping for the ingredients and couldn't figure out the difference between dark soy sauce and regular soy sauce. I've never heard of dark soy sauce -- what is it?
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to trying it.
Dark soy is thicker and a bit sweeter than regular soy sauce. I don't think I've ever seen it in a regular grocery store's Asian food section. You probably have to go to the local Asian food store to find it.
DeleteYou should do that, anyway. The prices at Asian grocery stores are usually better and you can get all the ingredients you need for this and other Asian dishes. Yum!
The only thing that's odd about this delicious sounding recipe is that the Chinese use sesame oil as a seasoning and never, ever fry in it. Their oil of choice is peanut oil (smokes at a higher temperature than other oils). Peanut oil is what I'll use and then just add more sesame oil to taste into the meat mixture.
We're making this tonight! We did the Thai green curry coconut shrimp with cilantro last night and jaws were dropping!
ReplyDeleteI'm really looking forward to making this! And Gina, I just wanted to thank you. I stumbled upon your site before I found out I was pregnant. I plan on going back to WW post baby, but in the meantime I have tried so many of your delicious recipes and know that in part because of you I have had a very healthy pregnancy. I obviously haven't been worried about points and weight, but I know once I need to make that transition it will be smooth. This new mama and her baby boy thank you.
ReplyDeleteEmily
Oh. I will be trying this recipe. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThis looks wonderful! Thank you for sharing all of your fabulous recipes. Is it possible to leave the oyster sauce out? Or swap out with something else? We have seafood allergies in our family.
ReplyDeleteDark soy sauce can be replaced with regular if you can't find it. To make the sauce mild, leave out the red pepper sauce.
ReplyDeleteYes, better lettuce works great, I just have problems finding it. I also have used romaine.
I would imagine tofu crumbles would be the best vegan substitute for chicken.
Enjoy!
This is awesome! I made these last night for a football party using ground turkey...and that was before I saw this post. The whole time I was wondering what the nutritional value and pts values were. I kept thinking "I wish Gina had this on her site1" Delish. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThese look soooo good! I may have to try and find a way to incorporate them into the menu this week -- or next week! Thanks so much!
ReplyDeleteYumm...I love asian food but haven't made any in a while. This one looks super simple. Do you think you could make it with pork as well?
ReplyDeletesounds and looks yummy! Can't wait to try it (no mushrooms for me though!)
ReplyDeleteI just made these to take for lunch tomorrow. Really easy and super yummy. Even my normally picky husband liked them and my one year old wanted to try them so much he started crying! (I didn't let hi until we have allergy testing done this week). I don't think you should substitute anything for the sesame oil, you can't get that flavor from anything else.
ReplyDeleteJust made this for supper. I didn't have water chestnuts so I used thinly sliced celery. Also, I already had a cooked chicken breast in the fridge, so I diced it up and added once the veggies were semi-cooked. It was great!
ReplyDeleteI made these last night for dinner. Doubled the recipe. DH doesn't like mushrooms so I subbed finely chopped carrots. I also threw in some diced cole slaw mix to sneak some extra veggies in. Served it over cole slaw mix instead of wrapping in leaves. Really good...a definite repeater.
ReplyDeleteVery easy to make. My family enjoyed the dish and conveyed their thanks to you.
ReplyDeleteCurious if you know of any gluten free hoisin sauces? I'd love to make this for my husband but he has celiac disease.
ReplyDeleteGina, this looks delicious! I have been using the packaged Lee Kum Kee Panda sauce, and although it's good, wanted to make my own sauce. I wanted to get away fromall the preservatives. I am super excited to try this.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, I would love if you did a Larb Gai recipe and a Tom Yum Gai soup (w/o coconut milk). I just tried to make a tom yum from allrecipes.com and it was a disaster.
Also looking for a skinny chinese salad dressing.
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting this recipe. It is one of favorite dishes in a Chinese restaurant. I can't wait to try this at home. The book looks very interesting as well. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteThis was our dinner last night. Picky eater husband polished it all. Thanks Gina.
ReplyDeleteMiriam
This looks great, going to try it our for our "new recipe" dinner night. I might just go ahead and add cashews.
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ReplyDeleteI made this for dinner last night and it was a hit! Even my super picky husband enjoyed it (I of course couldn't tell him there were mushrooms in it haha).
ReplyDeleteThe sauce was definitely key, so if you do make this make sure you make the sauce that you put with it. I also only used one type of soy sauce, and it was totally fine.
I tried thie last night and my whole family devoured it! I used butter lettuce instead of iceberg, added almost twice the water chestnuts and mushrooms called for and used a tablespoon of rice wine (I used Sake that I already had in the fridge) in place of the warm water in the sauce. I am sure it would have been amazing even without the little tweaks. Can't wait to try more of your Asian recipes!
ReplyDeleteThese were awesome!! Thank you for such wonderful recipes!!
ReplyDeleteI made this tonight, and it was fabulous! I had been waiting all week to make it, it was worth it!
ReplyDeleteThank you for another wonderful recipe!
Gina, I love your recipes and I loved this dish. Served it with butter lettuce (and tortillas) and rice. But I felt the chicken mixture needed a more robust flavor, maybe ginger or maybe even the sauce mixed in. Will have to play with it, but really good. Thanks for sharing. Also LOVED your Salisbury Steaks.
ReplyDeleteI also love the lettuce wraps from PF Changs and I made these the other night, sans the mushrooms, and they were gobbled up like you wouldn't believe. My son had already eaten dinner and he still came down to get some, and he ate the rest of the chicken mixture for breakfast the next day. Need to make more tonight! YEEUMMY! Gina, your recipes give me something to look forward to in my inbox every day. Thank you so much.
ReplyDeleteI made these for dinner last night and they were amazing!!!! My husband loved them. These will be a regularly made meal in our house now. I too love the PF Chang's lettuce wraps and have been trying to find a decent recipe to make them since there isn't a PFs by me. So glad you shared this!! I think next time I might add a little of the dipping sauce to the chicken mixture to beef up the flavor!
ReplyDeleteGina -
ReplyDeleteI stumbled on your site a few weeks ago after rejoining WW. Thanks so much for all of the delicious recipes. I have always found WW recipes to be a bit bland. I made these lettuce wraps last night and they are amazing! Maybe even a little too amazing - my husband couldn't stop eating ;) I added a little fresh ginger and fish sauce to the chicken because I love both of those flavors. I am looking forward to having the leftover chicken with coconut rice tonight!
I made these tonight and while I thought the chicken mixture LOOKED rather bland and when I tasted it it didn't really burst with flavour either, when it hit the lettuce, got the onion and the spicy sauce on top it was FAB! My two suspicious children ate it no problem, though one did withOUT the lettuce. I didn't have any sesame oil so I just sprinkled sesame seeds on top. On the side I had dry fried green beans with ginger and garlic. All good!
ReplyDeleteI made this the other day for a get together and they were a hit! Liked them so much that I made them for my family 3 days later. Husband said this recipe was a keeper. Made it exactly as written minus the mushrooms ( couldn't find any) and water chestnuts (store was out). FANTASTIC
ReplyDeleteThank you Gina! Just made these with ground chicken breast and they tasted perfect! More Asian recipes please!!!
ReplyDeleteThese were delicious! Better than PF Changs, really! I made with turkey.
ReplyDeleteIs there a substitution for rice wine or sherry? I don't have either of those in my house and doubt I will use them for much more than this recipe, so I'd hate to buy a whole bottle, especially since I don't have a lot of storage space in my kitchen. Would rice wine vinegar work?
ReplyDeleteI'm really glad you all agree with me, these are phenomenal!
ReplyDeleteThe crazy life, I'm not sure if the points were the same since I made some adjustments to it.
Cassey, you could probably just leave it out.
Hoisin sauce...
ReplyDeleteKame brand Hoisin sauce is gluten-free.
These look amazing :) going to give them a try with some chicken breast and boston lettuce.
ReplyDeleteMade these for lunch today using chicken breasts. Delicious!!
ReplyDeleteI made these tonight and I had to make a couple slight adjustments; I couldn't find dark soy sauce so I used a little extra of the low sodium soy sauce. Also, I couldn't find dried shiitake mushrooms so I used dried porcini mushrooms. But even with these changes the wraps were incredible and my husband loved them as well. Thank you so much for sharing do many great recipes.
ReplyDeleteThese are going to be perfect for my dish to bring to the Super Bowl party! Yum!
ReplyDeleteSOOOO YUMMY! I am a WW leader and will be telling my members about this one. Put straight hot sauce on top of mine. So good.
ReplyDeleteGina, I have found rice vinegar, but not rice wine. Would that work, or do you recommend a different substitution? I'm making these tonight, and just realized that what I bought wasn't rice wine.
ReplyDeleteGina, these are wonderful! I am low carbing it this week and this satisfies the taste buds completely!! Excellent recipe! Love the sauce too!
ReplyDeleteHi Gina,
ReplyDeleteI made these tonight and they were awesome! I also made your eggplant parmesan last week and my family loved it!
So glad I stumbled on your website while looking for Weight Watcher recipes, it makes me look forward to cooking again. Although I'm not a fan of dark meat I'd bought a pack of chicken thighs from Costco to have on hand to feed the teenage boys that always seem to be at my house. I decided to try this recipe and they were delish! I had to debone the thighs but it was well worth it. Will definitely make this again. Kelly
ReplyDeleteJust made this tonight, my husband and I loved it! It will probably become a regular in our meal rotation thanks os much!
ReplyDeleteI made these tonight and they were fabulous!! I ended up just buying ground chicken and that made it even quicker to prepare! Thanks you!!
ReplyDeleteI can't use oyster sauce,what can I substitute it with?
ReplyDeleteThis was amazing!!! The only thing I changed was I used all regular soy sauce (couldn't find dark), and I added some cole slaw mix to bulk it up.
ReplyDeleteTried this today - YUM ! Had to make a couple of changes because I couldn't find ingredients... no dark soy sauce - just normal soy; couldn't find siracha chili sauce, so I had to play with that, couldn't find rice wine vinegar, so I used apple cidar vinegar, and then I used ground chicken.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely try this even if you can't find each ingredient - DELICIOUS !
So since it is Sunday...I was making several recipes to help get the week going. Shrimp Salsa was completed as written in the recipe but in the midst of fixing that I was also trying to get the Asian Chicken marinating. Because I was multitasking and not paying attention I became fixated on the Hoisen Sauce. Well I couldn't find any so I went online and found a make your own which I did. I then promptly poured it in with my chicken to let it sit and then realized that hoisen is not for marinating the chicken in...I'll let you know how chicken cooked in hoisen turns out! lol Redswrkr (not trying to be anonymous just don't fit in any categories)
ReplyDeleteI made these tonight for dinner and my boyfriend and I were blown away at how delicious these were! We have been on WW for 5 weeks now and are beginning to get bored and cranky with usual go-to foods. I found your site through Pinterest and am so excited to try out your recipes! Thank you for giving us the refresher we needed, something exciting, new and healthy.
ReplyDeleteI made these tonight and they were yummy! I didn't grind up my chicken thighs though (just diced them in small bite size pieces) and forgot to get hoisin to make the sauce but they still turned out super good! Thanks!!
ReplyDeleteI just made this and it was DELICIOUS!!! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe.
ReplyDeleteGreat recipe! Next time I make this, I'll sub in lean ground turkey. A great substitution for water chestnuts is sliced almonds.
ReplyDeleteMade a gluten-free, vegan version for me and the regular for my son and husband. Great combo of flavours and textures. There were fresh shitakes at the market, so I got those instead of dried and diced them up. Extra firm tofu for me (1/2 a block) and pulsed it in the food processor. Otherwise, I cooked it the same way that I cooked the chicken version.
ReplyDeleteNot kooky about the sauce as it overwhelmed the delicate flavours of the filling. A few chopped roasted peanuts along with the scallions made a wonderful addition. I like a ponzu sauce with it or a Vietnamese peanut sauce would be great.
Thanks for your meatless version!
DeleteMade this tonight. Yum! I combined two recipes. I recently got Ming Tsai's new cookbook, and he has a yogurt sauce (greek yogurt, chopped dried apricot, chili sauce, and scallions) that went great when mixed in w/ this! Love your recipes! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteMade this tonight! Was Fantastic:) love your recipes.. cant wait to try more!
ReplyDeleteI made this in the crockpot (on low for 5-6 hours) with ground chicken and it was super yummy!
ReplyDeleteGreat, I'll try that next time!
DeleteDo you know what type of dipping sauces are used at the cheesecake factory with their lettuce wraps?
ReplyDeleteThese were really tasty! I couldn't find the shitake mushrooms so I used finely chopped baby bella mushrooms. Tasted great to me! Thanks for the recipe :)
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to try these. They sound really great. And the idea for the peanut sauce is a good one. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteMy husband made these for me for valentines day....absolutely delish.....such a great recipe! Thanks Susan
ReplyDeleteJust made them, Got WOW from my husband :) Added chopped red bell peppers and doubled the seasoning. Thank You!!!!
ReplyDelete