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These slow cooker asian lettuce wraps are packed with savory asian chicken and fresh veggies all wrapped up together in a crunchy lettuce wrap. I made sure that every bite of this wrap is bursting with both texture and flavor!
If you are like me and you are trying to stick to a well balanced diet full of clean foods and nutrient rich ingredients, here are some recipes that are packed with flavors that you’ll love without all the calories: Asian Turkey lettuce wraps, cilantro lime shrimp lettuce wraps or mango shrimp lettuce wraps.
Asian Lettuce Wraps
I am serious about getting healthy in our house! Especially with summer coming and bathing suits and shorts calling my name. These asian lettuce wraps are perfect for my meal plan because they are delicious and flavorful and only 308 calories for each one! They are so versatile too and can be changed up easily to keep every meal interesting. I find that I do better at sticking with healthy eating when I am making flavor packed recipes that I love, planning my meals ahead of time, and changing ingredients often. I will definitely be making some variation of these wraps weekly as I get ready for summer time!
These chicken wraps actually remind me of something I would love to order at a nice Chinese restaurant. Now, I especially love these wraps because I can make them in my own at home! When I’m watching what I eat it is important to know every ingredient that is added into my meal, and it’s hard to control that when eating out! So, cooking at home is the best option. Plus, I can add my favorite lettuce wrap ingredients like edamame, carrots, and water chestnuts and leave out anything I do not want to include.
I am so excited now that I know how quick and easy these Asian chicken lettuce wraps are to make! I just throw everything in the crock pot and allow it to do all the work. The filling is ready to go at dinnertime and I can make the gorgeous wraps come together so quickly for my hungry family! Once you see how easy this is and how tasty these Asian wraps turn out, you will be adding it to your go to list of quick healthy recipes too!
What are Slow Cooker Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps?
This dish will definitely be worthy for your weekly meal plan. It is incredibly easy to throw together and is so good that it reminds you of something you would order at a restaurant. This Asian cuisine consists of chicken that is slow cooked with a bunch of fresh vegetables and then topped with a sweet and savory homemade sauce and served in a leaf of lettuce giving it a refreshing taste.
Lettuce Wraps Ingredients:
Fresh ingredients make for the most flavorful dishes. Especially with this recipe, having all the flavors cook together in the slow cooker helps create a taste that is hard to beat. Make sure you have all these ingredients when preparing for this dish.
- Chicken breast: Use 2 pounds of uncooked ground chicken, or you can use whole chicken and just shred at the end to make the base of your filling.
- Green onions: Use the white part of the green onions since they have a stronger “onion-like” taste add add great texture to the filling!
- Water chestnuts: Drain and chop before adding them to the crock pot.
- Shredded carrots: Packed with potassium, vitamin A and fiber, they are great way to sneak nutrients into this delicious wrap!
- Frozen sweet soybeans: Their taste is similar to a white bean and they add another layer of texture to this filling.
- Reduced sodium soy sauce: Be sure to use reduced sodium since many of the ingredients contain sodium.
- Chinese style hot mustard: A spicy mustard that you can buy pre-made or made fresh for each use by mixing a dry mustard powder with water, causing a chemical reaction that produces a sharp, spicy taste.
- Reduced sodium teriyaki sauce: This salty/sweet sauce gives the filling a tangy and gooey flavor and texture.
- Rice vinegar: Mild and slightly sweet flavor.
- Ground black pepper: To taste.
- Reduced sodium chicken broth: This will keep the chicken moist as it cooks.
- Hoisin sauce: A staple in most asian meals, this sauce gives the filling the great asian flavor you’d expect!
- Lettuce: Butterhead, iceburg, green leaf, or romaine lettuce all work great! Just be sure to choose a head of lettuce that has large and flexible enough leaves to use as a wrap!
Optional for topping
- Asian Chili Sauce: I love the spice of this chili sauce that’s made with Asian hot red chilies!
- Sesame seeds: The nutty, slightly sweet taste of these seeds makes the perfect topping!
Soy Peanut Dipping Sauce
The sauce is the key to the flavor of this lettuce wrap. And I beg you not to tamper with the sauce. It is the part of this recipe that took me years to perfect, and is absolutely delicious as-is!
- Soy sauce: Use reduced sodium if you are watching your sodium intake.
- Rice vinegar: Delicate, mild, and somewhat sweet in flavor.
- Sweet chili sauce: Spicy and sweet! Yum!
- Creamy peanut butter: If your peanut butter is too firm, heat it up slightly.
- Water: To thin out the thickness of the sauce.
That’s a Wrap!
Slow cooker recipes are definitely some of my favorite meals to make. The preparation is fairly easy and once that is done you get to have the delicious smell just waft throughout your house all day as it cooks. Here is how you can create this Asian cuisine. When making the sauce, if you use a thicker peanut butter that is solid at room temperature, you may need to warm it slightly before using it.
- Place ingredients in slow cooker: In your slow cooker, add the chicken, white parts of the green onions, water chestnuts, carrots, frozen edamame, soy sauce, mustard, teriyaki sauce, vinegar, and pepper. Pour broth over all.
- Allow to cook: Cook on low for 4-5 hours or high 2-2 ½ hours.
- Strain and Shred: Strain the mixture, then shred the chicken if needed.
- Sauce it up: Stir in hoisin sauce and the green onion slivers.
- Serve: Plate it up in a lettuce wrap with asian chili sauce or soy peanut dipping sauce on the side.
Tips For the Most Delicious Asian Lettuce Wrap:
When it comes to using a slow cooker it can be pretty straight forward. You prepare all your food and place it in there, turn the cooker to the right temperature setting and then let it sit for the majority of the day. Not too hard but there are some things you need to be aware of when cooking with one. Here is a list of tips I found helpful when making this recipe as well as others in a slow cooker.
- To prepare the lettuce wraps, it’s actually very simple! Just cut the bottom part of the head of lettuce off. Then carefully peel away each lettuce leaf! Don’t forget to wash and dry the lettuce leaves before serving!
- If using ground chicken, be sure to brown the ground chicken! Making sure the chicken is nice and crispy and brown is essential to the overall flavor and texture of this Asian lettuce wrap!
- Keep the lid closed: Every time you lift the lid to peek during the cooking process, it adds an additional 15-20 minutes of cooking time. Also any urges you feel of needing to lift the lid to stir can be ignored because it is not normally necessary and that too will slow down the cooking.
- Do not use frozen foods: Make sure when preparing your chicken that you have given it time to thaw out. This is important because placing frozen food in your slow cooker keeps it in the danger zone where bacteria can flourish. So just always remember no matter what you are placing in there, meat or vegetables, let them thaw out first!
- Adjust for high altitude: This is something that is easy to forget sometimes, when at a higher altitude, it is suggested that you add an additional 30 minutes for each hour of the set time due to it taking longer for things to cook.
What to Serve with Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps:
These lettuce wraps incorporate so many flavors that you can really get creative with what you want to add and serve with them. Choosing a side of rice or quinoa is always a nice touch and helps pull everything in together. Or if wanting to keep with the Asian cuisine another specialty you could whip up would be some Chow Mein. Also another favorite of mine that would go well with this meal is some Vegetable Lo Mein.
Storage, Serving and Swaps:
Now kick back, relax and let the slow cooker fill your home with the aroma of Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps that are about to become one of the easiest, tastiest meals you’ve ever made!
- Leftover filling can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days or frozen for up to 3 months. Fill lettuce cups just before serving.
- Other serving ideas: Try the filling over a bowl of noodles, cooked brown rice, or quinoa. Delicious!
- Swap out the chicken for ground turkey or ground beef!
- If you have a soy allergy, you can substitute coconut aminos for the soy sauce.
- If you have a peanut allergy any nut or seed butter could work here, but peanut butter definitely gives the best results!
- Instead of your crock pot, you can use a Wok, Sauté pan, cast iron skillet, or a regular sauté pan to cook the filling.
More Healthy Asian Recipes: