Better (and faster!) than takeout, these chicken lettuce wraps combine diced chicken and veggies in a quick garlicky soy and ginger sauce.
Holly’s Recipe Highlights
- Flavor: Savory, nutty, with the perfect touch of Asian-inspired flavors.
- Prep note: Prep the lettuce a day ahead and store them with a paper towel in the bag or container to keep them crisp.
- Budget tip: Add cooked white or brown rice to the chicken to stretch the recipe further.
- Serving suggestions: Chicken lettuce wraps are a fun family meal; set out a variety of toppings and condiments to share!
Ingredient Tips For Chicken Lettuce Wraps
- Chicken: Use boneless, skinless chicken breasts or swap it for ground chicken or ground turkey.
- Lettuce: Use any kind of lettuce for wraps, we love Bibb (or Butter) lettuce leaves or iceberg lettuce.
- Veggies: Bell peppers add color and flavor while water chestnuts add crunch.
- Sauce: This sauce is made from basic ingredients likely already on hand. Spice it up with a bit of sriracha or sambal. Drizzle the finished chicken lettuce wraps with a little hoisin sauce for serving.
Extras: Set out a colorful assortment of shredded carrots, cabbage, zucchini, cucumbers, chopped mushrooms, or chopped peanuts for extra crunch.
Tasty Asian Inspired Favorites
Did you make these chicken lettuce wraps? Leave a comment and a rating below.
Chicken Lettuce Wraps
This tasty chicken stir fry is full of bold flavor and wrapped up in crisp, fresh lettuce leaves. It’s perfect as a light meal or a fun appetizer everyone will love.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts diced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 green onions sliced, whites & greens separated
- 8 ounces water chestnuts 1 can, drained and chopped
- ¼ cup diced red bell pepper
- 1 head butterleaf lettuce or iceberg lettuce, for serving
- toppings as desired
Sauce
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce plus extra for serving
- 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil
Instructions
- Combine diced chicken with cornstarch. Refrigerate while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
- Combine all sauce ingredients and set aside.
- Heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add ginger, garlic and the whites of the green onions and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
- Add chicken and cook until almost cooked through, about 3-4 minutes. Add water chestnuts, bell pepper and sauce. Simmer 2-3 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
- To serve, place a scoop of the warm chicken filling in a lettuce leaf. Add desired toppings and drizzle with a little bit of hoisin sauce.
Notes
If you’ve had lettuce wraps at PF Changs, they are served with crispy rice noodles. I opted not to include the rice noodles in this recipe to make it a little bit healthier. If you want to add them they are fairly simple to fry up!
Heat 2 cups of vegetable or peanut oil to 350°F. Separate your noodles and drop one in. If it crisps up right away, your oil is ready. Drop noodles in the hot oil in small batches until they crisp up (just takes a few seconds). Drain on paper towels. Serve with lettuce wraps.
Nutrition Information
Calories: 80 | Carbohydrates: 13g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 0.4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 0.4mg | Sodium: 386mg | Potassium: 186mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 1136IU | Vitamin C: 12mg | Calcium: 20mg | Iron: 1mg
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Appetizer, Chicken, Dinner, Entree, Lunch, Party Food, Sandwich, Snack
Cuisine American, Asian© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
Recipe inspired by Food Network Magazine
I signed up for the Spend with Pennies annual meal plan. This recipe was on my meal plan for this week, however, the recipe that printed off is not the same as this one on the site. The ingredients on the meal plan recipe is missing some of the ingredients (the chicken is missing, the cornstarch for the sauce, and the oil for sauteeing). It turned out delicious, but was VERY saucy and difficult to eat.
Sorry for the confusion Maria, this recipe has since been updated. I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe!
Made this for my mother and sister-in-law. It was perfect for lunch instead of a boring sandwich, something different and tastey! I prepped everything: diced up chicken, grated ginger, minced garlic, sliced green onions (wrapped white and green separately), diced water chestnuts, diced red bell peppers. I either wrapped them separately or put them in separate ziplock bags. Made sauce and put into a container. So all I had to do was use mom’s frying pan to start cooking! went super fast, and was ready in no time. I put extra hoi sin sauce on my wraps. Delicious!!! They asked for the recipe. Filling but not heavy.
That’s a great prep ahead tip Laurie! I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe.
Can I prepare chicken to corn starch stage and then freeze until I want to cook it at the cottage?
Hi Pat, we haven’t tried freezing it at that stage but it should work well. Let us know how it turns out!
My husband and 3 children loved it (ages 5, 11, and 16). Will definitely be making again!
Can you use Romaine lettuce for this recipe or does it taste better with Iceberg/Butter lettuce?
Thank you for posting it looks great!
I find Iceberg/Butter are my favorites with this recipe but romaine will work if its all you have on hand.
Looks delicious but I can’t find a hoisin sauce in our area. What can I use as a substitute? Thanks.
You can buy hoisin sauce on Amazon. You could try teriyaki sauce, but it tends to be thinner, so try adding a little less at first. Enjoy Gayle!
What are the ingredients for the Asian sauce?
The sauce ingredients are listed in the recipe.
Sauce
1 tablespoon hoisin sauce plus extra for serving
1 tablespoon lime juice
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
2 teaspoons cornstarch
A restaurant in Morgantown, WV, called Chili’s, has or had a lettuce wrap that was so good and served it with two sauces, one sort of sesame ginger and one sort of a peanut butter with some spice. Loved both sauces. I like these because they are not overly filling and fun.
Hi Holly,
I just love lettuce and the combination of flavor for your wraps look delicious! Have a great St. Patrick’s Day and thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday!
Come Back Soon,
Miz Helen
Sounds super yummy!
These look delish. My daughters and I are on diets now, and this fits!
I love lettuce wraps. You can put just about anything in them to eat.
I love lettuce wraps and cannot wait to make these thanks!
boy oh boy! how many times I use similar ingredients then have so many added carbs by using taco shells, over rice, pasta, etc. Have to try lettuce leaves and this entire recipe is a must do!!!