Lettuce Wraps with Cucumber-Cilantro Relish

Sometimes when you find an at-home {healthy} hack for a restaurant-style dish you just gotta share the deets—these lettuce wraps are it! They are packed with flavor + texture and make for an easy + delicious weeknight meal.

Bonus for anyone with dietary restrictions: they are naturally dairy-free and can be made gluten-free with a simple substitution. This dish is healthy and light AND the children (at least around here) scarf 'em down—I think they enjoy scooping and rolling up the lettuce on their own. Fun eats for the win!

You can either use (uncooked) lean ground turkey or leftover (baked or grilled) chicken from last night's meal. I'm all about a leftover re-purpose! Whichever poultry you choose, you will marinate it in a delicious blend of flavors, then quickly cook up on the stove and serve in cool, crisp lettuce wraps with a yummy cucumber-cilantro relish on top. What more can I say to entice you? Try this recipe. Trust me.

Time needed: 20-25 minutes | Serves 2-4 people

What You Will Need 
for the wraps

2 tablespoons honey

1 tbsp sriracha

1 tbsp chili garlic sauce (you could use 2 tablespoons of chili garlic sauce OR 2 of sriracha if you only have one of the ingredients on hand)

2 tbsp + 2 tsp low-sodium soy sauce (use Tamari as gluten-free substitute)

2-3 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 tsp ground ginger

1 ½ lbs lean ground turkey (or 3 cups cooked chicken as mentioned above)

1 tablespoon + 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil 
4 green onions, diced

2 tablespoons fresh garlic, minced

1 head of iceberg lettuce, washed and divided into leaves

Optional: grated carrots, additional soy sauce, chili-garlic sauce, sriracha, Chinese mustard

for the cucumber-cilantro relish
½ cup cucumber, diced

½ cup red onion, diced

½ bell pepper (any color), diced
handful of cilantro, washed & chopped

¼ tsp each salt & pepper

2 tsp lime juice

Directions
Step One

In a medium-size mixing bowl, stir together honey, sriracha, chili garlic sauce,  soy sauce, lime juice, ginger and 1 tbsp olive oil. Mix turkey into bowl and let marinate for 20 minutes (at room temperature).*If using pre-cooked chicken, process it down in a food processor to get the right texture (maybe pulse for 10ish seconds) and marinate the same amount of time.

Step Two

In a small mixing bowl, stir together the cucumber, onion, pepper, cilantro, salt, pepper and lime juice. Cover and put in refrigerator until ready to use.

Step Three

Heat remaining oil on medium in a medium-sized skillet. Sauté green onions for 3-4 minutes, add in garlic and sauté another minute or until slightly browned. 

Step Four

Add in meat mixture and cook, stirring/breaking up meat occasionally, about 6-7 minutes or until no longer pink. Add in remaining soy sauce and give it one final stir. *If using pre-cooked chicken shorten this time to 2-3 minutes, or until heated through.

Serve immediately with lettuce leaves and top with cucumber-cilantro relish + grated carrots, additional soy sauce/Chinese mustard/Sriracha/etc. Have edamame or an easy ginger salad as a side.

Enjoy, y'all!