Springtime Basil Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Everyone's favorite Thai dish has been lightened up. These basil chicken lettuce wraps are packed with protein yet light on the waistline. The addition of pineapple makes them nice and fresh and perfect for spring lunches or dinners!
Ingredients
Sauce:
- 1 tablespoon EACH: oyster sauce AND golden mountain sauce
- 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons EACH: fish sauce and sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
Lettuce wraps:
- 4 teaspoons oil
- 1 cup freshly chopped pineapple or tidbits
- 5 cloves garlic minced
- 1 Fresno chili finely chopped
- 1 1/4 pound boneless chicken see notes
- 1 1/2 cup Thai basil leaves
- bib lettuce leaves chopped cilantro, and toasted sesame seeds, for serving
Instructions
- Sauce: mix all the ingredients for the sauce along with 1 tablespoon of water in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Filling: Heat 1 teaspoon of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and saute the pineapple tidbits for just 30 seconds, remove or a bowl. Add the remaining oil, fry the chili and garlic for 30-45 seconds or until fragrant then, add the chicken. Crumble the chicken using a wooden spoon the way you'd crumble ground beef and let it cook for 2-3 minutes. Drizzle in the prepared sauce and stir to combine when the chicken is done, turn off the heat and stir in the basil and pineapple tidbits.
- Assemble: Allow the filling to cool for several minutes before filling lettuce leaves. Top with chopped cilantro and toasted sesame seeds if desired.
Notes
- you can use ground chicken or chop up your own chicken. I usually just mince up 1 1/4 pound of chicken breast into 1/4- 1/2 inch pieces here; this gives the lettuce wraps a little more satisfying than using the ground chicken.
