After a short break, Secret Recipe Club is back! This month I was assigned to Cooking with Chopin, Living with Elmo, a delicious blog written by a fellow mom of young boys.
My husband has been talking about lettuce wraps lately (and wanted one so badly that he made a bologna wrap one day. Yeah…) so when I stumbled across her recipe for Chicken & Red Pepper Lettuce Wraps, I was pretty excited. It’s very different from our usual wraps but I knew it would be a winner. Put bell peppers in anything and my husband would eat it.
We really did love this one. The orange zest gave it an unexpected brightness that went amazingly well with the heaviness of the hoisin sauce. And it’s just so fun to wrap stuff in lettuce wraps!
📖 Recipe
Secret Recipe Club – Chicken Lettuce Wraps
adapted from Cooking with Chopin, Living with Elmo
Ingredients
- 1 head iceberg lettuce
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
- Salt and ground pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large onion thinly sliced
- 1 red bell pepper ribs and seeds removed, thinly sliced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- ¼ teaspoon dried ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon orange peel
- ⅛ teaspoon red pepper flakes optional
- 1 8- ounce can water chestnuts
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch mixed with 1 tablespoons water
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoons hoisin sauce
Instructions
-
Cut base off of lettuce heads. Gently peel off leaves, wash, and pat dry with paper towels. Refrigerate until ready to serve the dish.
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Season chicken well with salt and pepper.
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In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over high heat. Add the chicken; cook, stirring constantly, until opaque throughout, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
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Add remaining 1 tablespoons of oil to pan, along with the onion and bell pepper. Reduce heat to medium. Cook, stirring constantly, until onion is tender and golden, about 6 minutes.
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Add garlic, ginger, orange peel, and red-pepper flakes and water chestnuts; cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 to 60 seconds.
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While garlic/ginger mixture is cooking, whisk the cornstarch and water together in a bowl. Add in the soy sauce, vinegar, and hoisin sauce; whisk.
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Pour cornstarch mixture over garlic/ginger mixture. Reduce heat to low. Add chicken to pan and toss to coat.
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Serve the chicken mixture wrapped in the lettuce leaves.
Amanda says
Wow that chicken is just gorgeous! I bet these wraps were absolutely delicious!
Kirstin says
I’ve always wanted to try these
Katherine Martinelli says
Yum!! I’ve totally had lettuce cups on the brain so this is perfect. I can’t wait to try! Great SRC pick :-D
yummychunklet says
What tasty looking wraps! Great to see you back on the SRC wagon.
Shelby says
Looks YUM. I am a sucker for the dipping sauces that comes with the wraps….and the sauce on this chicken sounds delish!
Carolyn says
I do love lettuce wraps! These look great, good pick for the SRC.
Noelle (@singerinkitchen) says
Unusual but delicious! YUM!
Kristy Lynn @ Gastronomical Sovereignty says
i make lettuce wraps often in our house – they’re so light and an easy way to stuff a bunch of vegetables into one meal. Unfortunately, my wrap peeling skills are yet to develop and thus our lettuce wraps end up being lettuce salads a lot of the time – do you have any suggestions for getting those crinkly little head hugging leaves off the stupid thing??
Jo says
Looks fantastic, going to pin this and give it a try in the next couple of weeks!
Erin @ Dinners, Dishes, and Desserts says
I love lettuce wraps, these look great! My husband would love these because of the bell peppers!
Living The Sweet Life says
YUMM!! I love the mixture of all of the spices for the chicken and that it’s all enclosed in a light and fresh lettuce wrap. Delicious ;)
Lisa~~ says
I do love that these are different than the usual lettuce wraps, looks delish!
If you haven’t already, I’d love for you to check out my SRC entry: Crunchy Fudgy Heart Bites
Lisa~~
Cook Lisa Cook
Veronica says
Oh man, I love the sound of the sweet and sour sauce for these wraps! Yum, yum! Great SRC pick!
Ginny says
Ahhh! I’d forgotten about this one. Your photo reminded me just how wonderful it is!
Melissa@IWasBornToCook says
This looks so good! Love the different textures. Nice choice!
Crystal @MrsHappyHomemaker.com says
I am so glad that SRC is back! And these lettuce wraps? Looks delicious!!
Laura says
I have yet to try lettuce wraps, but know that I’d love them. I love that you used chunk of chicken – as opposed to ground (yuck!). These look great!
Lisa @ Sweet as Sugar Cookies says
After seeing this, I really want to try it.
Nicole, RD says
I love lettuce wraps and that crunch from the waterchestnuts…the best!
nicole says
ooo this looks good. Recipe has lots of flavorful things in there. yum
Boston Bib Lettuce is also great for letuce wraps.