This weekend, I planned an incredible bash for my girlfriends. We’ve been talking about getting together like this for years… and finally the stars aligned. The menu was set, the tarot card reader agreed to come, and I even set up my office for the readings. So excited!
And then, life happened. Several of my friends had an unexpected things come up and another wasn’t feeling well. Next thing you know, it was me and my full spread of party foods on Sunday. Thank goodness, I had planned a pretty healthy spread… and I’ve REALLY enjoyed eating these lettuce wraps this week.
I like to think my girls would have LOVED these. The basil adds SUCH a flavor punch. These are officially my new favorite lettuce wraps. I enjoyed them as lettuce wraps, and the filling makes a great salad as well.
Also of note, this recipe comes from the lovely Andie Mitchell, from her beautiful cookbook Eating in the Middle. And, because no one likes to rush around getting ready for a party… I toasted the cashews, sliced the basil, mixed the sauce, and sauteed the chicken the morning before. It was INCREDIBLY easy to throw this together in minutes in a skillet.
Basil Chicken Lettuce Wraps | No Thanks to Cake
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted cashews
- ¼ cup fat free, low-sodium chicken broth
- 3 Tbsp. hoisin sauce
- 2 Tbsp. low-sodium soy sauce
- 1 tsp. sugar
- 1 tsp. cornstarch
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 lb. extra lean ground chicken breast, uncooked
- 2 scallions, white and light green parts, chopped
- ½ cup fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped
- Boston or Bibb lettuce cups
- cooking spray
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 and spread your cashews across a baking sheet in a single layer. Place in the oven for 10 minutes or until golden and toasty. Set aside to cool and then chop into pieces once cool to the touch.
- Combine the chicken broth, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, sugar and cornstarch in a small mixing bowl and whisk together until well combined. Set aside.
- Prepare a skillet with cooking spray and add to medium heat. Add the garlic and stir. Cook garlic for around 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the ground chicken to the garlic and cook, breaking the chicken up into bite sized pieces using a spatula or wooden spoon, for 4-6 minutes until cooked through and browned. Note: Once done, I placed the chicken in my food processor, as usual.
- Add the scallions and the sauce mixture from step 2 and cook, stirring continuously, for another 2 minutes or until sauce thickens. Stir in the basil and cashews until well combine and remove from heat.
- Spoon the filling into the lettuce leaves and serve! I used bibb lettuce, and filled each lettuce cup with about 1 Tbsp. of the chicken mixture. While you could fill them with more, I love the idea of eating more little wraps.