Meet my new obsession.
Lettuce wraps!
Although I have yet to learn how to actually make them into a decent wrap.
But hey, having no talent whatsoever to make cute little wraps doesn’t bother me at all. In fact, I don’t even mind that they look nothing even remotely close to a wrap.
Just scooping the mixture onto a lettuce leaf, closing it up as best as I can so that the delicious little bundle of wholesome goodness makes it all the way to my mouth without everything spilling all over the place is satisfactory enough for me.
Plus, it tastes just the same, really!
The first version I tried was a warm Ground Chicken and Butternut Squash.
OH YUMMY!!! What a winning combination that was. I chose to season this version with red miso paste and a hint of sambal oelek to give it a tiny bit of a kick.
Loved it. Absolutely loved it.
But seeing as how I already had a second version in mind, I made twice as much chicken so that I would have some leftover for the next day… you might want to do the same, for of course, I’ll be sharing that recipe as well… but you’ll have to wait until tomorrow!
I think I should’ve made 4 times the chicken, though. I had no idea that I was gonna like the lettuce wraps THAT much.
I just can’t get over how fresh and crisp they are… and how easy they are to prepare too!
What I really don’t understand is how come I had never tried them before…
No doubt, I’ll be making tons of flavor combinations and I get the feeling that they will be a big favorite of mine during my Lent Challenge.
I only need come up with a few versions that are Whole30 compliant! That shouldn’t be too hard to do.
Ooooh, I’m so excited!
Tell me, have you ever had lettuce wraps? Do they make your tummy dance too?
If you haven’t, you HAVE to try them and let me know what you think.
INGREDIENTS
- 175g chicken breast, ground
- Pinch salt and pepper
- ½ cup frozen green peas
- 150g butternut squash, cut into tiny cubes and steamed
- 1 tsp red miso paste
- 1 tsp water
- ½ tsp sambal oelek
- Boston or Iceberg lettuce leaves (8-10)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Steam the butternut squash in a steaming basket over simmering water until fork tender, about 4-5 minutes. Make sure that it retains a little bit of a bite, you don't want it to turn mushy on you when you mix it in with the chicken.
- Meanwhile, in a medium non-stick pan, cook the ground chicken breast with the salt and pepper until it turns completely opaque and begins to brown; Stir in frozen peas.
- Dilute the miso paste in the water, stir in sambal oelek. Add that to the cooked chicken and mix until well combined. Delicately stir in steamed squash.
- Transfer to serving bowl and serve with fresh lettuce leaves.
- Spoon a little bit of chicken mixture onto a lettuce leaf, roll (as best you can) into a wrap and enjoy!
- Repeat until you sadly run out of chicken mixture.
It all starts with a bowl of delicious stuffing
And a few leaves of fresh, crisp lettuce
I managed to make a somewhat decent wrap with iceberg lettuce…
But the poor thing was shamefully ugly!
Still, I think it qualifies as a wrap!
The Boston lettuce, however… didn’t look like a wrap at all! I think I need practice with this one.
But I find it tastes so much better, so I don’t mind the “not-so-much-looking-like-a-wrap” thing.
Just don’t tell the poor fellow that he looks so feeble
I love lettuce wraps! I make some with hoisin sauce, but it’s so high in sugar that I need to find a new recipe. I’ve also made tacos in lettuce instead of tortillas! Was delicious. Can be super healthy too if you make your own taco seasoning. How about fajitas lettuce wraps? yum.
Possibilities are endless. And I completely agree with you, they feel so fresh and love the crunch the lettuce gives
Gonna try these for sure.
Yeah… I used to love hoisin sauce, too… and oyster sauce, and mirin, black bean paste, as well as many, many more Asian sauces and condiments. I have given up on pretty much all of them, as most are loaded with sugar and other unwanted “nasties”. How unfortunate!
Love your idea of making tacos in lettuce leaves. I so have to try that. I get the feeling that I will do that fairly soon too! Thanks for the idea, Wendy!
This is a really great idea for BNS, we only use it in soup and pastas. Cannot wait to try it this way. Lovely site, and pictures by the way.
Thank you much, Lia! And I hope you like this new way of enjoying butternut squash!
Sonia, I don´t know how can you read my mind but i am not complaining. Just yesterday I was looking for a lettuce wrap meals that are made with ground meat and voila you posted about these on Facebook. Thanks so much! Am going to buy the ingredients now and cook it later.
Haha! This is awesome, Monika! And I have a second version coming up too that I made with leftover cooked ground chicken, bulgur and apples. Keep an eye out for it!
Nice! So made it today. Ate it almost all from the pan! Anyways…. Had to make lot of changes – couldnt find ground chicken so had to use ground beef steak. No butternut squash so i used mushrooms and bell peppers. Also your recipe calls for frozen peas but i cannot see them added anywhere in the description???
Also couldnt find sambal oelek so used garam masala. OK, so it might not be the same recipe at all but I tried:) And man, was it delicious!
HAHA! You sure made a lot of changes indeed! Sounds yummy though! And you are so right about the peas. I added them now. Thanks for pointing that out!
These look so healthy and I love the addition of butternut squash-it makes everything taste wonderful!
Butternut squash with chicken or turkey is seriously the best pairing ever