Cashew Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Cashew Chicken Lettuce Wraps – delicious healthy dinner recipe! Lettuce Wraps filled with chicken and veggies in a delicious sauce and topped with crunchy cashews. Perfect for healthy meal prep!

This post originally published in 2013. Updated on January 3, 2018 because the photos made me want to cry. 

Hi guys.

Should we talk about resolutions? I love a new year and a fresh start and setting up intentions and goals. My current resolution list is just a bunch of tiny things that take up 3 pages of a google doc. They’re mostly like “Quit being super cheap and spend the $15 a month on Audible because you love listening to books while you cook”. Nothing life changing. Just little things that I hope will ultimately add up to make be a better person, better mom, better business woman over time.

I also tend to start eating healthier and cleaner but I think it’s more just getting back to normal. Because from Halloween to New Years, we all indulge a little more than usual, right? It’s less a resolution and more just getting back to what we were doing before we had bags and bags of tiny candy bars in our house at all times. 

Cashew Chicken Lettuce Wraps!

Cashew chicken used to be my faaaaavorite Chinese takeout order when we were in Colorado. The place by our house did it so well and then we moved to Texas and I can’t find good cashew chicken to save my life. So I switched my order to Mu Shu Pork but anyway.

That’s not what this post is about.

I’ve been making these Cashew Chicken Lettuce Wraps since I got into paleo eating, in like 2012. It’s not totally paleo because of the hoisin but you can leave that out if you are strict paleo. It’s delicious without it – I just started adding it in within the last year or so because at some point I became obsessed with adding hoisin to everything I eat.

So it’s chicken thighs (use breasts if you want) cooked with onions and green peppers and coated in a slightly sweet, slightly tart, slightly spicy sauce and then tossed with chopped water chestnuts for some crunch. And then finally the cashews. I like to add some while cooking so they soften slightly and then put more on top for extra crunch. Use whatever lettuce leaves you prefer – I love butter lettuce for these but went for the pretty ones for these photos.

It’s perfect for packing in a lunchbox. Just pack the lettuce separately from the chicken so it stays crisp.

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Cashew Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients

For the sauce:

• 1/3 cup coconut aminos or soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
• 3 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger minced
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes optional

For the wraps:

• 1 tablespoon coconut oil or cooking oil of choice
• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs diced
• salt and pepper
• 1 small white onion diced
• 1 green bell pepper diced
• 1/2 cup water chestnuts diced
• 1/2 cup cashews plus more for serving
• green onions diced
• lettuce separated and hard stems removed

Instructions

For the sauce:

1. Whisk all ingredients until combined. Set aside.

For the chicken:

1. Heat coconut oil in pan over medium heat. Season diced chicken with salt and pepper. Add to hot pan and stir fry until browned. Add onions and green pepper and cook until the onion is translucent and the chicken is cooked through. Add water chesnuts, sauce, and cashews. Cover and let simmer over low heat for about 5 minutes until sauce has reduced and cashews have softened slightly.
2. To serve, spoon chicken mixture into lettuce leaves and sprinkle with green onions and more cashews.

Things you may need for this recipe:

Want more healthy chicken recipes?

Baked Buffalo Chicken Nuggets

Honey Mustard Glazed Chicken Thighs

Hummus Turkey (or Chicken!) Lettuce Wraps

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