We have a lot of recipes on this site. Some of them we know are obvious reader favorites, and others are sort of hidden gems. This Asian lettuce wrap recipe I felt was one of those hidden ones, which is why I didn’t even notice when somehow it didn’t make it over to our new site when we re-designed. But apparently a lot of you noticed! We got tons of facebook comments and emails from panicked readers asking where the recipe was because it was a family favorite. (I wish I had known that- it might have not gotten axed in the cook book cuts!) Thanks to some helpful facebook fans, I was able to track down the recipe so I could get it back on the site. It’s been a long time since I made these, and seriously I forgot how good they were. No joke- I couldn’t stop eating them!
So today’s post is short and sweet. I wanted to get this recipe back up and in our index. I did make some minor changes, mostly to make measuring and prepping easier (and not as time consuming), and also to improve the sauce. This recipe was originally created for a healthy food month so it’s incredibly lean and filled with good-for-you ingredients (unlike those famed restaurant lettuce wraps which are calorie-packed and fattening). These are lean chicken and vegetables which get tons of flavors from fresh ingredients like garlic, lemon, ginger, and onion.
The easiest way to eat Asian lettuce wraps is to roll them up sort of like a burrito. You can dip the roll into the sauce, but since the chicken mixture is crumbly and the sauce is thin I find it easier to just drizzle some on top before rolling it up.
You could serve these as an appetizer, or pair them with some fried rice for a great dinner!
Asian Lettuce Wraps
Ingredients
- 2 tsp canola oil
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
- 1 lb ground chicken*
- 3 ounces mushrooms finely chopped (about 8 small mushrooms)
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 4 cups bagged coleslaw mix or thinly shredded cabbage
- 1 8 oz can sliced water chestnuts drained, rinsed, and finely minced
- 1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions
- 4 Tbs soy sauce
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 lemon zested and juiced (about 3-4 Tbs juice)
- 1/2-1 tsp sriracha or other hot sauce 1 tsp of Sriracha is fairly spicy in my opinion, so if you want less or no kick, just give it a little, or you can leave it out completely
- 1/3 C roughly chopped cilantro
- 1-2 heads iceberg lettuce
- DIPPING SAUCE
- 4 Tbs soy sauce
- 4 Tbs rice vinegar
- 3 Tbs water
- 2 tsp honey
- 1-2 tsp finely minced fresh ginger
Instructions
- Heat a very large skillet to medium-high heat on the stove top. When hot, add vegetable oil and then garlic and ginger. Saute for about 30 seconds, until fragrant, and then add ground chicken, chopped mushrooms, and kosher salt. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring often, until chicken is cooked through. (*At this point, sometimes I have some extra liquid in the pan from the chicken. If it's quite a bit, I tilt the pan and spoon it out so the chicken can cook and not boil.) Add cabbage/coleslaw, water chestnuts, and green onions. Cook for about 2 minutes, until cabbage starts to wilt. Add soy sauce, sesame oil, the zest from the lemon and the lemon juice, and hot sauce to taste. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro.
- To prepare dipping sauce, combine all ingredients and whisk to combine.
- To serve, carefully remove the individual leaves from the head of lettuce. (The closer you get to the center, the easier it becomes!) Place chicken mixture in the leaves and serve with sauce.
Notes
Nutrition
Asian Lettuce Wraps
Recipe by Our Best Bites
2 tsp canola oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 lb ground chicken*
3 ounces mushrooms, finely chopped (about 8 small mushrooms)
1/2 tsp kosher salt
4 C bagged coleslaw mix or thinly shredded cabbage
1 8oz can sliced water chestnuts, drained, rinsed, and finely minced
1/2 C thinly sliced green onions
4 Tbs soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 lemon, zested and juiced (about 3-4 Tbs juice)
1/2-1 tsp sriracha or other hot sauce (1 tsp of Sriracha is fairly spicy in my opinion, so if you want less or no kick, just give it a little, or you can leave it out completely)
1/3 C roughly chopped cilantro
1-2 heads iceberg lettuce
*To prepare your own ground chicken, cut boneless skinless chicken breasts into large chunks and pulse in a food processor until ground.
Dipping/Drizzling Sauce
4 Tbs soy sauce
4 Tbs rice vinegar
3 Tbs water
2 tsp honey
1-2 tsp finely minced fresh ginger
Heat a very large skillet to medium-high heat on the stove top. When hot, add vegetable oil and then garlic and ginger. Saute for about 30 seconds, until fragrant, and then add ground chicken, chopped mushrooms, and kosher salt. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring often, until chicken is cooked through. (*At this point, sometimes I have some extra liquid in the pan from the chicken. If it’s quite a bit, I tilt the pan and spoon it out so the chicken can cook and not boil.) Add cabbage/coleslaw, water chestnuts, and green onions. Cook for about 2 minutes, until cabbage starts to wilt. Add soy sauce, sesame oil, the zest from the lemon and the lemon juice, and hot sauce to taste. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro.
To prepare dipping sauce, combine all ingredients and whisk to combine.
To serve, carefully remove the individual leaves from the head of lettuce. (The closer you get to the center, the easier it becomes!) Place chicken mixture in the leaves and serve with sauce.
Yield: about 5 C chicken mixture. Makes 14-16 lettuce wraps.
And hey- if you already love this recipe, or another recipe that you’ve never commented on, make sure to leave a comment today! That’s one of our best indicators of the kinds of things you all like (and therefore the kinds of recipes we create for you). Plus it just makes us super happy to hear from you guys 🙂 Thanks to everyone who asked about these lettuce wraps- it’s going to be appearing a lot in my own menu this month!
Questions & Reviews
Totally made this for dinner. My sister isn’t a fan of lettuce so I fried some wonton skins for her. I am totally in love with this and my husband may hate me tomorrow since I want to make it again for dinner! Lol!
These were delicious, easy, awesome! I loved the simple, easy to find ingredients! I will definitely make these again! I highly recommend!
This my first comment on your site, ladies, and I just have to say, I love your recipes. I have yet to make one that I do not love! I made these lettuce wraps the other day, though, and I have to say they were a little labor-intensive with all of the chopping! I will definitely use some of the shortcuts next time (coleslaw mix, ground chicken, etc.) OR I will try to do all of the chopping the night before while I am watching The Biggest Loser :). I do have a question, though. I left out the ginger, because we are not big ginger fans, and used lemon juice from the bottle, because there were no fresh lemons at Wal-Mart the day I went, and the filling seemed a little bland. Could these two ingredients make that much of a difference? Also, I did not make the sauce, as my husband is trying to do a low carb diet and didn’t want the added sugar from the honey. I am a novice cook, but would love to be an expert cook, so any constructive criticism you have is welcome!! Thank you!
Andrea, yes- definitely use the short-cuts, that’s what they’re there for! I often prep this recipe early in the day, or the day before and that makes it a snap to throw together. Ginger is definitely a major flavor component here, and I always encourage the use of fresh lemon, especially in a recipe such as this. Bottled juice tends to be bitter, and lack flavor. Plus you missed out on all of the flavor of the zest. Also, the dipping sauce has tons of flavor, so if you left all of those things out then I’m not surprised they turned out bland! Try the recipe as written next time and see what you think. And hey- congrats on leaving your first comment, I hope there’s more to come! 🙂
I made these for dinner tonight, everyone loved them, though we didn’t eat them as there were intended. I counld’nt keep the filing in the lettuce, so I just tore my lettuce in pieces, hubby decided he needed a tortilla and sour cream, and he added the fried rice to that and made a type of taco. He thought it was awesome that way. So, even though we didn’t eat it quite as intended, we all loved it! Thanks for another great recipe!
Wow! You can definitely tell that these are healthy, but they were ridiculously delicious. They were really filling, as well. My husband and I were surprised at how full we were after just one. My husband feels like the dipping sauce could be a little sweeter, but I thought it was good.
Made these the other night and wrote about them on my blog! Thanks, they were delicious!
Made these for dinner the other night – they were a hit! I loved the lemon on the chicken and the dipping sauce was fabulous!
Ooh..this looks sooo yummy. And believe or not, its looks easy enuf for someone like me try making..hehe
Look at you with a “Print This” box!!! Woo-hoo! Can’t wait to make this for dinner…I’m starving just looking at the pictures. I think I’ll have to add toasted cashews to add a little of the guilty-pleasure quality!
OMG!!! I love these! And the leftovers are great too! They have quickly become a staple on my menu!!!