Knock-Off P.F. Chang's Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps

A few months ago, I wrote about one of the few meals that I make (Kyle really does most of the cooking), to see the original blog post, click here.

But it's the spring, and that means getting ready for bikini season! We typically eat low-fat meats during the weeknight, what we affectionately call "Chicken Week." One of our favorites is my Knock-Off P.F. Chang's Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps. I use more cups than the average cook probably, but this is an excellent, quick, cheap, one-pot dinner!

During these chicken weeks, one of our most-used KitchenAid attachments is definitely the Food Grinder {product review coming soon}. Ground chicken, and really all ground meats are significantly more expensive than their whole-meat counterparts. By grinding our own, we can buy chicken breasts in bulk, vacuum seal and freeze them individually, and just pull out and grind as much as we want for one dinner. If you find yourself frequently using ground meats, I highly recommend it. Other benefits of using ground chicken over ground turkey include the texture. Often, ground turkey has a rubbery-ness that squeaks against my teeth. I know, that's a strange way to describe it, but it's just true. The Food Grinder attachment comes with 2 gradients so you can choose which size grind you prefer (Kyle usually ops for the larger setting).

So, down to business!

Prep Your Space

You know what I'm going to say here, start with a clean surface. I love my Clorox Pump 'N Clean. It's food safe but cuts through the grease. I always like to use this food-safe product when wiping down my surface, or the outside of my KitchenAid stand mixer. To me, it's better to be safe than sorry, and Clorox Pump 'N Clean is such an easy way to do that.

Gather Your Supplies

• KitchenAid Stand Mixer and Food Grinder attachment {or start with ground chicken}

• Large non-stick skillet

• Garlic Press

• Microplane

• Rice Cooker, Instant Pot Pressure Cooker, or small pot

• Knife, it can be a chef's knife, a paring knife, or just your favorite one

• Cutting board {{I am in love with my Jelli Nonslip Reversible Cutting Board that Kyle's mom got me for Christmas... and not just because it comes in my favorite shade of blue- not pictured, but you can see it in several of my other posts}}

• Can opener

• Herb scissors

• Mesh colander/ strainer

• small metal spoon

• wooden spoon

• measuring cups and spoons

Gather Your Ingredients

*This is a very easy recipe to alter for amounts. Kyle usually eats 1 lb of meat with dinner, and I have between 1/4 and 1/2 lb of meat, so we're constantly recalculating recipes to ensure that the ratios stay the same for our amounts

• 1 lb whole boneless skinless chicken breast (or 1 lb ground chicken)

• 1 large onion (yellow or brown)

• 1 1/2 tsp. canola or vegetable oil (if your pan is truly non-stick, then then you might not need this. I also like using spray cooking oil sometimes, it coats the pan nicely without adding all the calories of a full tsp of oil)

• 1/4 cup hoisin sauce

• 3 cloves garlic

• 1 tbsp. soy sauce + more for table

• 2 tsp. Asian sesame oil

• 1 tbsp. rice wine vinegar

• 1/2 tsp MSG

• 1/2 inch finger of fresh ginger

• pickled ginger (2 tsp. after mincing) + more for table

• 1/4 tsp Asian chile pepper sauce + more for table

• 1 can (16 oz.) water chestnuts

• 1 bunch green onions

• 1 head of Boston Bibb lettuce (you can also use iceberg lettuce, however, the Boston Bibb lettuce seems to hold up the best when making the wraps)

• toasted sesame seeds

• 1/2 (90 grams) dry jasmine rice

Step 1: Cook Your Rice

Thoroughly rinse your rice before cooking it. Using cold water and a mesh strainer, move the rice around the strainer until the water streaming from the bottom runs clear. When you first turn the water on, the water stream will be cloudy. This is the starch washing off the outside of the grains. Rinsing the rice yields fluffier, better cooked rice.

Cook your rice according to the instructions on the package. Or using a rice cooker. Typically the whole process takes about 20 minutes and {unless you're stopping to take pictures}, this is the perfect amount of time for preparing the rest of your dinner.

Step 2: Grind Your Chicken

Attach your Food Grinder to your KitchenAid, we use two bowls underneath to divide our chicken immediately. We we made this dish teh other night, Kyle prepped 1 lb of meat, and I prepped 8 oz, so we separated our ingredients from the beginning and cooked in 2 separate pans so that we could track our intake as accurately as possible.

Cut your chicken into strips that will fit into the input side of the Food Grinder.

Using your hands and the plunger, push the chicken through the Food Grinder.

Step 3: Your Mise En Place

The French expression mise en place directly translates to "putting in place" however, it is a culinary term which refers to all your little prep bowls are set and ready to get cooking! Left: my 1/2 recipe using 8 oz of chicken. Right: Kyle's full recipe using 1 lb of chicken.

To prep your sauce:

• Use the metal spoon to peel your fresh ginger

• Use the microplane to grate your fresh ginger

• Either with a knife or a garlic press, mince your garlic cloves

• Mince the pickled ginger

• In a small bowl, combine:

• hoisin sauce

• soy sauce

• rice wine vinegar

• asian chile pepper sauce

• fresh ginger

• pickled ginger

• garlic

• msg

Not your sauce:

• Drain and dice the water chestnuts

• Dice the onion

• Chop your green onion- if you like them to be small, use our herb scissors; as pictured here, Kyle cuts them on an angle about 1/4 inch long

• Peel the lettuce leaves away from the base, going slowly and making sure not to rip the leaves

Step 4: Get Cooking

Heat your pan on high, test the pan's heat by dropping in a few bits of ground chicken, if it sizzles. It's hot enough! If you don't think your pan is sufficiently non-stick, you may use a few teaspoons of canola or vegetable oil. However, I recommend using a spray cooking oil. If you hear the sizzling, drop in your chicken!

Cook your chicken until just white, keep the heat high, stir in onions to de-glaze the pan.

Add your sauce. Reduce heat to medium-high. Using your wooden spoon or flat wooden/ rubber spatula (remember not to use metal on non-stick pans), keep the sauce, onions, and chicken moving. The constant movement helps to mix the ingredients and also to prevent any part from burning.

Reduce heat to medium.

Stir in water chestnuts + sesame oil.

Simmer for 2-5 minutes. Basically just enough time for your rice to finish up and to set the table.

Transfer to a bowl and add green onions, stir.

Step 5: Serve + Enjoy!

I like to serve the filling in a bowl on the table with a spoon so that I can make my lettuce wraps right there.

Make sure you've got the Boston Bibb lettuce, cooked jasmine rice, toasted sesame seeds, soy sauce, Asian Chile Pepper sauce, and pickled ginger on the table so that each person can build their own wraps to their liking.

To build my perfect Knock-Off P.F. Chang's Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps, I take 1 leaf of Boston Bibb lettuce, line the bottom with a little bit of jasmine rice, add a few spoonfuls of my chicken filling, drizzle Asian Chile Pepper Sauce, lay a few pieces of picked ginger, drop a little bit of soy sauce, and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.

#dinner #cutdinner #chicken #asian #onepot #cheap #easy