Mushu Chicken Lettuce Wraps
with carrots / shiitakes / cabbage
Mushu Chicken is a classic Chinese take-out item that is easy and fast to make at home. We last featured this recipe in 2018, and it got great reviews for being quick and using few dishes to cook. To make these paleo-friendly, serve the flavorful filling in lettuce leaves.
Ingredients
- Bragg's / coconut aminos - 2 Tbsp
- Mirin - 1 Tbsp (sub rice vinegar)
- Honey - 2 tsp
- Water - 1/2 cup
- Arrowroot powder - 1 tsp
- Carrots - 8 oz, finely diced
- Mushrooms, shiitakes - 8 oz, sliced (look for pre-sliced)
- Green onions - 2 stalks, chopped, green and white parts separate
- Garlic - 3 cloves, chopped
- Chicken breasts, boneless and skinless - 1 1/2 lbs, thinly sliced
- Lettuce, romaine or iceburg - 8 leaves
- Oil, cooking - 1 Tbsp
- Coleslaw mix - 10 oz (sub thinly sliced cabbage)
- Hot sauce (opt) - for serving
Nutrition Facts
Prep
- Make stir-fry sauce - Mix together aminos, mirin, honey, water, and arrowroot powder. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
- Carrots - Dice carrots. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
- Mushrooms / Green onions / Garlic - Prep as directed. Store separately. (Can be done up to 3 days ahead)
- Chicken - Slice into thin strips. Season with some salt and pepper and tenderize with a fork. (Can be done 1 day ahead)
- Lettuce - Separate leaves.
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Make
- Heat a wok over medium-high heat. Add oil and then carrots and mushrooms. Saute until tender, ~3 minutes.
- Add in white parts of green onions, garlic, and coleslaw mix with a pinch of salt. Saute for 2 minutes to get coleslaw started cooking.
- Push all the vegetables to the side, forming a hole in the middle (like a donut). Place chicken in the donut hole. Give your sauce a stir, and then pour it over the chicken.
- Once sauce starts to bubble and darken, toss to mix. Continue to stir-fry until chicken is cooked through (since the chicken has been sliced into thin strips, this shouldn't take more than another 4 to 5 minutes).
- Let everyone assemble their own mushu lettuce wraps by topping lettuce leaves with filling. Finish them with hot sauce and green parts of green onion. Enjoy!
Nutrition Facts
Reviews
Ratings
44 reviews
Very tasty and I made a large serving so there was enough to fill everyone up, but still a light enough meal in the content so that no one felt weighed down. Really liked the lettuce wraps, and the family enjoyed the finger food aspect. Left out the honey to reduce sugar but no complaints from the family, and I did 1 & 1/2 portions of the sauce to make sure there was lots of flavor for everyone.
0 HelpfulOur whole family is down with a virus. I was looking for something really quick and this worked out perfectly. Plenty of flavor so we could taste what we were eating even with our head colds.
0 HelpfulI made the original GF. I used quinoa/tapioca tortillas. Used mostly shredded carrots, but didn't have enough so additional diced carrots. Cooked those first until bright orange. Them added onion and garlic until aromatic. Then added chicken so it could brown. I used dehydrated mushrooms that I soaked in water first, them squeezed out the extra water. Used the mushroom water in the sauce. I added cabbage and shredded carrots just before the sauce. I also drizzled sesame oil over it after it finished cooking. It was a little sweet for my taste, but I should have paid more attention. GF hoisin is fairly sweet. And I used soy free soy sauce which is also a little sweet. Between those and the mirin, I probably could have skipped the brown sugar. But it was not delicious and not at all soggy like some reviews found.
0 Helpful