Chicken Lettuce Wraps

We all love the lettuce wraps you find at Asian restaurants so I wanted to find a recipe that I could make at home and enjoy just as much. It’s light enough to eat on a hot summer night but still satiating. And there are a ton of veggies chopped in the chicken mixture so you can eat more than one and feel good about it. This recipe works well for those of you on a Paleo/lower carb type diet. Double the sauce recipe so that you can refrigerate or freeze the leftovers to use next time (you may be seeing a trend in my posts for developing a freezer stockpile). Prep once, eat twice!

And for those of you who are gluten free and/or soy free you can substitute coconut aminos or gluten free tamari for the soy sauce and fish sauce for the hoisin sauce. I made it this way last time but I need to perfect the revised recipe before I share it with you. For now, enjoy the original and if you make that perfect gluten/soy free version, please let me know!

Ingredients
1 lb ground chicken
2 T olive oil
1 cup carrots (diced)
1 red bell pepper (diced)
1 cup snap peas (diced)
1 cup onion (diced)
1 cup bean sprouts (diced)
Iceberg lettuce leaves
1/4 cup green onions (diced), optional garnish
2T sesame seeds, optional garnish
Apricot Sauce:
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 1/2 T chili sauce (use less if you don’t want it spicy)
3 T apricot preserves (if you buy pure fruit spread it may be less sweet so you may need to use more)
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
3 T hoisin sauce
1 T cilantro (minced)
1 teaspoon sesame oil (if you don’t have this, you can substitute olive oil)

Directions
In a large pan, saute veggies in oil until tender. While cooking vegetables, mix all ingredients for apricot sauce. Add ground chicken and continue to cook until chicken is cooked through. Add enough sauce to coat chicken and vegetable mix. You will likely have leftover sauce. Serve in lettuce leaves. Garnish with green onions and sesame seeds.