Kung Pao Chicken Lettuce Wraps
A take-out favorite made healthy and low-carb! Best of all, this comes together in 20 min from start to finish – it’s just that easy!
I am definitely a carbaholic but I’m still such a sucker for lettuce wraps. It’s the perfect way to sneak in some veggies without being too full or bloated for the rest of the day. And when it takes just 20 min to make the best lettuce wraps ever – well, I think I could give up my love for carbs then.
No, but really, these wraps have all the flavors of kung pao chicken – a Chinese take-out favorite – and it really takes just 20 min to whip up from start to finish. Yes, it’s just that easy. Best of all, you only need to dirty up one pan!
It’s also so much healthier, cheaper and quicker than all that take-out grease. You can’t beat that!
Kung Pao Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound ground chicken
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 zucchini, diced
- 1 8-ounce can whole water chestnuts, drained and diced
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 head butter lettuce
- ¼ cup chopped peanuts, optional
For the sauce
- 3 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons dry sherry
- 1 tablespoon chili garlic sauce
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons rice vinegar
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce, dry sherry, chili garlic sauce, brown sugar, rice vinegar, cornstarch, sesame oil and 1/4 cup water; set aside.
- Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium high heat. Add ground chicken and cook until browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the chicken as it cooks; drain excess fat.
- Stir in garlic and zucchini until softened, about 1-2 minutes. Stir in the soy sauce mixture until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Stir in chestnuts and green onions until tender, about 1-2 minutes; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- To serve, spoon several tablespoons of the chicken mixture into the center of a lettuce leaf, taco-style, garnished with peanuts, if desired.
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
Kung Pao Chicken is definitely a favorite at my house. Would so rather make this myself then order take-out! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for the nice recipe.
I used the sauce as a marinade and place 8 chicken tenders in the bag and turned it frequently for 4 hours, better if left overnight and then grilled the chicken tenders along with my other usual veggies. Turned out AWESOME!!!
SO easy and looks so tasty like all your delicious recipes! I’ve gotta make this soon!
We could eat Kung Pao Chicken and lettuce wraps for ALL the meals in my house, so this mashup is PERFECTO for us! Pinned 🙂
yummy, will try this for sure this week. thank you for the great idea !
My dad would absolutely adore these, love the health twist on Chinese take out!