Tested Low-Calorie Recipe: Chicken Lettuce Wraps

As you might know, my favorite thing to eat when I go out is Cheesecake Factory's Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps because at 270 calories, it's a no-brainer. However, I wanted to try my hand at making them at home and am pleased to share with you a tested and tweaked version of this recipe (original recipe is 388 calories per serving of 4 wraps).

Original recipe

First, I swapped out the ground beef for ground chicken and reduced the amount of sauce to lighten the calories. It still remained flavorful. You can add a peanut sauce, but this tasted great even without any sauce! At only 318 calories per 4 lettuce wraps, this makes for a great family dinner option.

Low Cal So Cal's Chicken Lettuce Wraps

INGREDIENTS:

16 Boston Bibb or butter lettuce leaves
1 pound lean ground chicken
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large white onion, chopped
2 tablespoons of minced garlic
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 8 oz can water chestnuts, drained and finely chopped
1 bunch green onions, chopped
2 teaspoons sesame oil

DIRECTIONS:

1. Rinse whole lettuce leaves and pat dry, being careful not tear them. Set aside.

2. In a medium skillet over high heat, brown the ground chicken in 1 tablespoon of olive oil, stirring often and reducing the heat to medium, if necessary. Drain, and set aside to cool.

3. In the same pan, cook the onion, garlic, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, rice vinegar and stir until well-mixed.

4. Then, stir in chopped water chestnuts, green onions, sesame oil, and the cooked ground chicken. Continue cooking until the onions just begin to wilt, about 2 minutes.

5. Place chicken mixture into a large bowl. To serve, allow each person to spoon a portion of the meat into a lettuce leaf.

6. Wrap the lettuce around the meat like a burrito, and enjoy! Bon apetit!

NUTRITION INFO (per serving of 4 lettuce wraps, recipe makes 4 servings):

Calories: 318
Carbs: 18 g
Fat: 17 g
Protein: 25 g

For a little more flavor, add some more hoisin sauce, but you don't need to!

We made a huge batch of this by tripling the recipe and fed our group of 7 with a third of the batch left over for lunch the next day. This makes for a healthy, filling, flavorful dinner!

What's your favorite recipe to cook family-style?