Eat less meat, not meatless, with these veggie-forward gluten-free chicken and mushroom lettuce wraps loaded with vegetables and flavored to perfection.
Combine all the "Marinade" ingredients in a bowl, cover, and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.
Heat avocado oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add onions and cook for 2-4 minutes until softened. Add ground chicken and cook until no longer pink, about 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add mushrooms to mixture and cook for 5-6 minutes until the mushroom liquid cooks off. Add red bell pepper and continue to cook for 1-2 minutes before adding the water chestnuts and cooking for another minute.
Combine all the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and whisk together until cornstarch is dissolved. Pour mixture of filling and allow the mixture to boil and bubble a little to thicken the sauce. Mix well and remove from heat.
Add a scoop of the filling to your lettuce cups and top with sesame seeds (optional) and/or chopped green onions (optional).
Notes
I like to use intact chicken thighs and/or breasts. I pulse them in my food processor to get the meat into small bits. You could use store-bought ground meat instead.You can use iceberg lettuce, butter lettuce or baby romaine for the lettuce wraps or cups. Don't have lettuce cups? Serve the mixture over white or brown rice. The rice will soak up all the juices and adds bulk to this recipe to make it even more filling.Adjust the heat (spice) by adding more or less chili garlic sauce and/or red pepper flakes. The recipe, as is, is a bit spicy, which I personally love.I recommend using fresh, boneless, skinless chicken thighs and grounding them yourself in your food processor. For an easy swap you could use ground chicken or turkey instead. Chicken breasts also work well.