Instant Pot Chicken Lettuce Wraps

 Ingredients

• 1 pound chicken breasts (**boneless & skinless. Chop or mince the meat finely. Thighs allowed too.)
• 6-8 lettuce leaves (**butter lettuce, romaine or iceberg. rinsed well.)
• 1/2 cup scallions (**only white part. chopped.)
• 1 cup mushrooms (**I used Baby Bella)
• 1/2 medium onion (**Use yellow onion. roughly chopped)
• 4 cloves garlic (**roughly chopped)
• 1/2 inch ginger (**peeled & roughly chopped)
• 1 small Jalapeno (**stalk removed & roughly chopped. Skip if heat intolerant)
• 1/2 tbsp red chili flakes (**skip if heat intolerant)
• 3 tbsp Olive Oil (**or any neutral oil)
• For the Sauce
• 2 tbsp Hoisin sauce
• 2 tbsp Sriracha Sauce (**skip if heat intolerant)
• 3 tbsp Soy Sauce (**use low sodium variety. You can use Tamari or Light Soy Sauce or even coconut aminos.)
• 1.5 tbsp rice vinegar
• 3 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp Sesame oil

Garnish

• scallions (**only green part. chopped.)

Instructions

1. Set the Instant Pot on SAUTE & set it on NORMAL heat.
2. Add oil & when the oil becomes moderately hot add the onion, garlic, ginger, scallions, Jalapeno and saute for a few minutes or until they begin to become limp.
3. Next, add the finely chopped chicken and give everything a good stir. Add the red pepper flakes and saute for 30 seconds.
4. Now, add the chopped mushrooms and saute until the chicken completely changes color and the veggies look nice and soft. Approximately, 3-4 mins.
5. At this point the veggies & the chicken will release lots of natural juices and that’s what we want to help build pressure in the Instant Pot. If the mixture feels dry than add 1/3 cups water.
6. CANCEL the SAUTE function. De-glaze the pot well by scrapping the sides & the bottom of the pot with the help of your spatula to loosen any bits & crumbs. Close the lid of the Instant Pot & SEAL the VALVE. No need of adding any extra liquid.
7. PRESSURE COOK on HIGH for just 1 minute.
8. When the pressure cooking cycle is over the Instant Pot will begin to beep. Do a QUICK PRESSURE RELEASE manually by moving the VALVE from the SEALING to the VENTING position.
9. Open the lid carefully. You’ll end up with perfectly cooked chicken with some amount of liquid.
10. Now, add all the sauce ingredients mentioned above in the “For the Sauce” section. Mix well.
11. CANCEL the Pressure cook function and set the Instant Pot on SAUTE. Set it on HIGH heat.
12. Simmer the sauce until it thickens. Took me about 5-6 mins approximately. The sauce should beautifully cling to the chicken but should not drip from the spoon. The chicken should be ultra moist but not soggy with runny sauce.
13. Now, add the sesame oil and give everything a good mix. You’ll have a super moist, saucy, oily chicken ready to be served on the lettuce leaves.
14. How to assemble the Chicken Lettuce Wraps?
15. Rinse the lettuce leaves very well. Drain off the excess water.
16. Arrange each lettuce leaf separately in a large plate. Scoop out enough chicken from the pot on top of the leaves. You should get 6-8 chicken lettuce cups in total. Enjoy!