My New Creation: Verde Chicken Lettuce Wraps

For what seems like ages, I have been wanting to try lettuce wraps.  I've seen them on T.V. and in magazines. A handful of times I've even seen them listed on a menu. Usually, though, I would bypass the wrap for something else I wanted to have. Yet, curiosity abounded. What did a lettuce wrap taste like? It looked like it could be good. In recent months, I started seeking out recipes on Pinterest for a lettuce wrap. I found a few, but hesitated on making any of them because they often seemed complicated or even had ingredients that I had no hope of finding in my local area.

Not long ago, I found a lettuce wrap recipe that appeared doable. Yay, me! I pinned it immediately. This morning, as I was working on my menu planning for the week before going grocery shopping, I decided that we would try the wraps, Chipolte Chicken Lettuce Wraps, for dinner tonight.

The wraps did not take a lot of effort to make, and ended up tasting delicious! My DH and I enjoyed them very much. I say this before getting into how to make them because I significantly changed the recipe. That was not my intent, but when you can't find an ingredient, you sometimes improvise. At least, that is what I do if I want to try something bad enough. However, despite my changes, I followed the basic idea of original recipe. Basically. (Some day, I do hope to try the recipe as it was written.)

The first thing you need to do is to roast some corn. Put one cup of corn that has been mixed with 2 Tbsp of olive oil, salt, and pepper, onto a cookie sheet. Place it under a broiler for about 7 minutes.

While the corn is roasting, you will work on the sauce. The sauce is what changed in my version. The original recipe calls for 2-3 chipolte peppers and adobo sauce. I had problems locating both items at our grocery store. I found dried chipolte peppers and picked them up. I fully intended on soaking them once I got home, but forgot. (My baby was hungry. I needed to nurse her and got distracted.) I tried to soak them about 15 minutes prior to prepping them, but that wasn't nearly enough time. So, the chipolte peppers were not used at all in my recipe. Instead, I used one jarred roasted red pepper.

The adobo sauce was impossible to find as well.* I searched on the internet for a substitute when I got home and found none. I realized that adobo sauce is just a spicy tomato sauce with a chipolte base. I decided I would use the salsa verde that I had left over from the tacos I made the other night.

So, back to the sauce. In a food processor, place 1/2 cup cilantro, the juice of a lime, 1 roasted red pepper, and 3 Tbsp salsa verde. Process this combo until fairly smooth. (It tasted pretty good. Lucky me!)

The chicken mixture

In the meantime, you will be heating up some chicken in a skillet. Now, the original recipe called for making the chicken right then. That step seemed pointless to me. My husband had recently grilled a bunch of chicken for recipes that call for cooked chicken, so I decided to use that chicken. I got about 2 1/2 cups of the pre-cooked & diced chicken and let it warm up in the skillet. Once the chicken was warm, I added the sauce to the chicken as well as the roasted corn and 1/2 of a roasted red pepper (another change...not a fan of bell peppers but I can handle them like this so it was my cheat so I would like it more).

I let the mixture sit on low heat as I readied the Bibb lettuce. You will want to wash the lettuce, drain it, and then pat it dry before serving (about 6-8 lettuce leaves).

The final step is to serve it all with about 3 chopped scallions on the side. You (hopefully) won't be disappointed! I'm so glad that my changes worked! It really was delicious. :)

*My husband pointed out to me that I could have picked up a can of chipolte in adobo sauce because it would have the 2-3 peppers and adobo sauce. It never dawned on me until I got home. Duh. Nearly 8 months of sleep deprivation is taking its toll. LOL

Verde Chicken Lettuce Wraps

2-3 cups cooked & diced chicken

1 cup frozen corn

1 lime, juiced

1/2 cup cilantro

1 jar of roasted red peppers

3 Tbsp salsa verde

3 scallions, chopped

Olive oil

Salt & pepper

1 head Bibb lettuce, rinsed and separated

1. Mix frozen corn with olive oil and salt & pepper. Spread out on a 

cookie sheet to broil for about 7 minutes.

2. In a food processor, add cilantro, lime juice, 1 roasted 

red pepper, and salsa verde. Process until smooth.

3. Heat up pre-cooked chicken in a skillet. Once warm, add sauce from 

the food processor, roasted corn, and a chopped up roasted red pepper.

4. Spoon chicken mixture into lettuce when served and 

add scallions as a garnish.