Healthy Chicken Lettuce Wraps (52 New Foods, Week 18) May 08 2012, 2 Comments

Plan a "build your own dinner" night with healthy chicken lettuce wraps, featuring fresh mint from the garden.

As much as I love my greens, I am certainly not a green thumb! So when it comes to our garden I always pick easy to grow, hearty plants that can tolerate a beginner like me. Mint is one of my best friends in this regard. Early this spring, we planted a small pot of mint and within a few weeks it was brimming over the pot, literally crawling it’s way into our kitchen. We decided to make it a feature in our new food of the week: Healthy Chicken Lettuce Wraps.

Feature Recipe: Healthy Chicken Lettuce Wraps from The Family Dinner

The Family Dinner has become one of my go-to books for easy, family friendly recipes. I can always rely on the fantastic Laurie David to come through with dinner suggestions that my whole family will love. Her recipe for healthy chicken lettuce wraps is no exception. We simplified the recipe a bit to work with what we already had in the pantry. Here’s how we made them:

Healthy Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Prep time: 15 minutes
Makes 4 to 6 servings

 
Ingredients for the chicken filling:

1 lb ground chicken
¼ cup chicken stock
¼ cup chopped mint leaves
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 slice fresh ginger, finely chopped
Juice from 1 lime
2 tsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp Asian fish sauce
1 Tbsp vegetable oil

Ingredients for the wraps:

1 lettuce head
1 cucumber, cut into long thin strips
1 large carrot, peeled and shredded
A handful of mint leaves
1 lime, sliced into wedges

Directions:

1)    Heat a wok, then add the vegetable oil, garlic and ginger. Sauté for 1 to 2 minutes.

2)    Add chicken stock, then the chicken, breaking it up into small pieces until browned.

3)    Add the fish sauce and mix well. Sauté a few minutes longer.

4)    Transfer the cooked chicken to a large bowl. Add the remaining ingredients for the chicken filling and mix well.

5)    Serve the fixings in individual bowls and let each person build their own wrap. Include a side of spicy green beans for an extra boost of color.

Crunch a Color Kids Vote: It’s a wrap!

What we liked: It’s flexible and fun! We started out with the Thai version of Laurie’s dish. With a simple tweak of the ingredients, swapping salsa for the fish sauce and including black beans in the mix, we created another version of this easy dish that was perfect for our Mexican fiesta night.  

What is your favorite easy weeknight dish? Do tell!

Next up: Artichokes
Despite their prickly appearance, artichokes were a winner at our table. Next week, we’ll feature an easy recipe that will make artichokes a welcome guest at your family dinner too!

Craving more new recipes to try? Catch up on last week’s recipe: Pineapple Smoothie.

About the author: Jennifer Tyler Lee is a mom of two children and the creator of Crunch a Color™ -- the award-winning game that makes healthy eating fun. Like most parents, she struggled to get her kids to eat healthy, balanced meals, so she decided to make it into a healthy eating game and she’s giving back to support non-profit children’s nutrition programs including Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution and FoodCorps. Watch her picky eaters tell the story of how they turned into healthy eaters playing the game. Follow @crunchacolor on Facebook and Twitter to tune into Crunch a Color's healthy eating adventure and Jennifer’s tips and kid-friendly, easy recipes.