Quick and easy Asian Lettuce Wraps are delicious! Made with ground chicken, shiitake mushrooms, water chestnuts with a spicy hoisin sauce.
Asian Lettuce Wraps
Some of you probably know how much I love using lettuce leaves as a wrap for everything from Turkey Taco Lettuce Wraps and Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps to BLT Lettuce Wraps and Thai Chicken Peanut Lettuce Tacos. They instantly make the dish low in carbs and calories and don’t interfere with the flavors of the filling. This Asian Lettuce Wrap recipe is no exception. Inspired by the restaurant, PF Chang and so delicious, I can’t wait for you to try them!
This healthy chicken lettuce wrap recipe was slightly adapted from my friend Bee’s (of Rasa Malaysia) first cookbook, Easy Chinese Recipes: Family Favorites from Dim Sum to Kung Pao. Her book is full of her favorite Chinese dishes with fast and simple recipes. Whether you are celebrating the Chinese New Year, watching a football game, or just having some friends over, I highly recommend making copycat recipe. If you want to make this quicker, you can buy ground chicken and use it in its place. This makes 6 wraps as an appetizer, to make it a meal, I would double the recipe to serve 4.
What lettuce is best for lettuce wraps?
I have a few favorite lettuce options for lettuce wraps. Each leaf should be deep enough to hold the filling, without wilting when adding warm food. The best lettuce for lettuce wraps are sturdy head lettuces such as iceberg, bibb, Boston, endive and little gem.
Asian Lettuce Wraps Ingredients
- Boneless, Skinless Chicken Thighs: I made my own ground chicken by putting it in a food processor. However, you can buy packaged ground chicken to save time.
- Water Chestnuts for crunch but swap them with chopped celery if you prefer.
- Dried Shiitake Mushrooms: If you can’t find dried mushrooms, fresh, chopped shiitake or cremini mushrooms will work.
- Marinade: Reduced-sodium soy sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, rice wine or sherry, sugar, white pepper
- Garlic: Finely chop two cloves of garlic.
- Lettuce: Iceberg, bibb, Boston, endive and little gem
- Scallions or green onion: Garnish the wraps with diced scallions.
- Spicy Hoisin Dipping Sauce: Hoisin sauce, chili sauce (like sriracha), warm water
How to Make Asian Lettuce Wraps
- Mushrooms: Place the mushrooms in hot water for a few minutes to soften, remove the stems, and finely chop.
- Make the sauce/marinade by combining all the ingredients from the soy sauces to pepper.
- Marinade the chicken, mushrooms, and water chestnuts for 15 minutes.
- Mix the spicy hoisin dipping sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
- Sauté: Heat the sesame oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the garlic for 10 seconds, and then add the chicken mixture. Stir fry for four to five minutes.
- Serve: Spoon a quarter cup of chicken into each lettuce leaf, and top with scallions and dipping sauce.
What to Serve with Asian Lettuce Wraps
- Turn these chicken lettuce wraps into a big chopped salad by simply serving the chicken and veggies over a bowl of lettuce.
- These are meant for sharing, but you can easily make a main dish out of it, just add some steamed rice to the wraps or on the side.
- Or serve the wraps with some sides like Asian Cabbage Mango Slaw, Edamame Fried Rice, or Cauliflower Fried Rice.
Variations:
- Meat: Swap ground chicken for lean ground turkey, ground pork or ground beef.
- Vegetarian Lettuce Wraps: Substitute tofu crumbles or chopped portobello mushrooms for chicken.
- Mushrooms: The mushroom flavor is subtle, but if you’re not a fan, omit them and use red peppers or yellow bell peppers.
- Soy Sauce: These Asian lettuce wraps use two different types of soy sauce. Dark soy sauce is thicker, sweeter, and darker than the regular kind, but if you don’t have it, substitute more soy sauce or oyster or hoisin sauce. You can also use tamari or coconut aminos for gluten-free alternatives to low sodium soy sauce.
- Oyster Sauce: Sub oyster sauce with fish sauce or hoisin.
- Garlic: Swap it for fresh grated ginger, or use both.
- Pepper: Freshly ground black pepper will work in place of white pepper.
- Nuts: Top your wraps with chopped cashews or peanuts for extra crunch.
- Mild Dipping Sauce: Omit the sriracha.
More lettuce wrap recipes:
- Thai Chicken Peanut Lettuce Tacos
- Turkey Santa Fe Lettuce Wraps
- Chicken and Shrimp Larb
- Steak Taco Lettuce Wraps
- Chicken Club Lettuce Wrap Sandwich
Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Ingredients
- 8 oz skinless, boneless chicken thighs, ground
- 1/4 cup water chestnuts, chopped fine
- 1/4 cup dried shiitake mushrooms, If you can’t find dried, fresh, chopped shiitake mushrooms will work
- 1 tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce
- 1/4 tsp dark soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp oyster sauce
- 1 1/2 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp rice wine or dry sherry
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- freshly ground white pepper, to taste
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 6 iceberg lettuce leaves, rinsed (careful not to break)
- 2 tbsp diced scallions
For the Spicy Hoisin Dipping Sauces:
- 4 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 1/2 tsp chili sauce, I used Sriracha
- 1 tbsp warm water
Instructions
- Place mushrooms in hot water to soften a few minutes. Remove stems and chop fine.
- Combine soy sauces, oyster sauce, 1/2 tsp sesame oil, rice wine, sugar, and pepper in a bowl.
- Combine ground chicken (I put the chicken in the food processor), softened mushrooms and water chestnuts into a bowl. Pour over chicken; toss. Let marinate for 15 minutes.
- Mix Spicy Hoisin Dipping Sauce ingredients in another bowl. Set aside.
- Heat remaining sesame oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic; cook until golden, about 10 seconds. Add chicken mixture; stir fry until browned, breaking the chicken up as it cooks, about 4-5 minutes.
- To serve, spoon 1/4 cup of the chicken into each lettuce leaf. Garnish with scallions and a spoon a little Spicy Hoisin Dipping Sauce onto each one.
