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Chicken Lettuce Wraps

A dish of stir‑fried chicken with bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, black mushrooms, peanuts, and hoisin sauce served in lettuce cups.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Bamboo shoots and water chestnut share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 48 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Mince the chicken breast meat.

  2. Chop bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, and black mushrooms into small pieces, then boil them in hot water for one minute.

  3. Wash the lettuce thoroughly, tear into round leaves, and set on small plates.

  4. Mince the peanuts.

  5. Deep fry the rice noodles and set them in the center of the lettuce leaves.

Cook the filling

  1. Heat one teaspoon of vegetable oil in a pan and stir-fry the minced garlic first.

  2. Add the minced chicken and cook over medium heat until almost dry.

  3. Add the bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, and black mushrooms; stir-fry with soy sauce and sugar for one minute, then add a dash of white pepper and sesame oil.

  4. Remove the pan from the stove and pour the mixture over the fried rice noodles.

Assemble and serve

  1. Sprinkle the minced peanuts over the chicken mixture and scoop two spoonfuls into one lettuce cup.

  2. Drizzle hoisin sauce over the lettuce cup.

  3. Serve.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1050Calories
50 gProtein
65 gFat
73 gCarbs

Counts 12 of 15 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 12 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Rice1 cup cooked (158g) white206
Pine Nut1 oz (28g)191
Chicken100g cooked165
Peanut1 oz (28g)161
Sesame1 tbsp (14g)120
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Mushroom1/2 cup sliced (35g)15
Soy Sauce1 tbsp (15ml)9
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Lettuce1 cup shredded (36g)5
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Bamboo Shootsnot in our table0
Water Chestnutnot in our table0
Saucenot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Bamboo shoots + water chestnuttop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together48 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Water chestnut + lettucetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together25 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Bamboo shoots + lettucetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  4. Chicken + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,172 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).

  5. Peanut + ricetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together670 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Chicken breast
Provides the main protein, which firms up and turns the filling savory as it cooks.
Soy sauce
Adds salty, savory depth to the stir-fried filling.
Hoisin sauce
Adds sweet, thick, savory flavor to the finished lettuce cup.
Water chestnuts
Add a crisp, juicy texture that contrasts with the soft minced chicken.
Bamboo shoots
Add a crunchy texture to the filling.
Peanuts
Add crunch and a toasty, nutty flavor on top of the filling.

The step that matters

Cook the chicken until almost dry. Cooking the minced chicken until most of its moisture has evaporated concentrates its flavor and keeps the filling from making the lettuce cups soggy.

Swap the peanut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, bamboo shoots, water chestnut, mushroom, lettuce, rice, garlic):

  1. Sesamefits better
  2. Beansfits better
  3. Cashew nutfits better
  4. Peanutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, bamboo shoots, water chestnut, mushroom, lettuce, rice, garlic. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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