Teriyaki Chicken Lettuce Wraps

When I bought 3 heads of lettuce at the store last week because they were on sale for $.48 each, I knew that I would have to come up with something other then salad to put it all to use. Then it hit me....lettuce wraps! I had never made them before so I checked out a few recipes just to get an idea of what could/should go in them and then ran with what I already had on hand. Let me tell you that I am mighty proud of how these turned out. They are really simple, super cheap, and absolutely delicious. And I was able to stretch one chicken breast to feed our entire family! Not to say that we have a shortage of chicken around here...remember our 40 lbs from Zaycon Chicken? But even when we have plenty I like to stretch what we have as far as possible. This will definitely be a recipe that shows up on our dinner table again.

Teriyaki Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Start with the rice. I used 1 cup dry whole grain brown rice which takes longer to cook (about 45 minutes) but is full of fiber and cheap to buy in bulk. Once that was finished cooking I added about 1/4 cup of sweet Teriyaki sauce and let sit.

Then I cut up the chicken (I only used one breast, two would be good if you were wanting more) into small cubes, sprinkled it with seasoning salt, and cooked over medium high heat in a little bit of olive oil until cooked through and starting brown.

Now for the veggies. I used green onion, shredded carrots, and minced garlic because that is what I had on hand. You can of course use any variation of veggies based on what you prefer or have available. Once the chicken was fully cooked I lowered the heat (med low) and added the veggies for just a minute or two. At this point it was smelling AMAZING!

The last thing I added was roasted red pepper flakes. Because of the kids, I only put in 1/8-1/4 tsp which still gave it a slight kick but nothing they couldn't handle. I think this really made the flavor for me. I enjoy sweet with some spice! Once you have stirred in the flakes and let them cook for a minute, stir in the rice and keep over the heat until the entire mixture is heated through. At this point I just layered a few leaves of lettuce to make a cup and then dished up the rice and chicken mixture.

Doesn't get much easier than that!