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Lettuce Wraps are a flavorful, healthy lunch, dinner, or appetizer. Simple ingredients, big bursts of flavor, and light on calories!
Featured with this Recipe:
If you’re slowly coming out of a heavy holiday food coma like we are, you’ll appreciate this Lettuce Wraps recipe! Healthy veggies and tender chicken in a tangy rich sauce wrapped in crisp lettuce leaves make this the perfect post-holiday lunch or dinner! We order lettuce wraps all the time when we go out to eat, but this homemade recipe tastes even better!
Ingredients in Lettuce Wraps
- Head of butter lettuce
- Large carrots shredded with a peeler
- Ramen noodles cooked and drained-discard seasoning
- Chicken breasts boiled and shredded
- Mushrooms chopped and sautèed (optional)
- Peanuts chopped
- Newman’s Sesame Ginger Dressing
Vinegar Cucumbers
- Cucumber peeled and sliced
- Fresh cilantro chopped
- Rice wine vinegar
- Water
- Sugar
- Kosher salt
Homemade Peanut Sauce
- Peanut butter
- Soy sauce
- Rice vinegar
- Honey
- Minced garlic
- Sriracha hot sauce
- Water
Other Ingredients Options
If you want to add more toppings or substitute an ingredient you don’t like, here are some great options!
- Bell peppers
- Onion
- Green onions
- Red pepper flakes
- Water chestnuts
- Celery
- Low sodium soy sauce
- Hoisin sauce
Fresh and Delicious
I love this recipe because it uses so many fresh vegetables but also has so much flavor! We use the marinade for the cucumbers all the time just to snack on tasty cucumber slices. And the peanut sauce recipe is also a staple for Asian noodles or as a dipping sauce for grilled chicken. But put all these flavors together into one wrap and you will begging for more and wish you had doubled the recipe for leftovers. At only 350 calories a serving, these are a great high protein (33 grams) and low calorie option for healthy eating or for those counting macro nutrients.
Questions About Lettuce Wraps
For this recipe, we love using butter lettuce because it’s sturdy yet soft and perfect for holding all the delicious filling. But you could use iceberg, green leaf, romaine, or even Boston lettuce. Iceberg is best for crispness but it can be tough to roll. Experiment with your favorites and find what you like best.
All of the light, crunchy veggies and tender chicken are gluten-free. First, swap out the ramen noodles for rice noodles. For the sauce, find a gluten free soy sauce. There are a few good options out there, so just swap regular soy sauce out for a GF variety like tamari or coconut aminos and you’re good to go!
These healthy lettuce wraps are the perfect meal to start with when you’re trying to change your holiday eating habits. They’re primarily made with crisp vegetables and low fat chicken, so they rank high on the health meter. The lettuce wrap sauce is where only a few calories will live, but the flavor is out of this world! Everything in moderation, that’s our motto!
We use chicken in the lettuce wrap recipe because the sauce compliments the meat so beautifully. But you could easily use ground turkey, ground pork, shredded beef, or even ground beef in this recipe.
More Delicious Salads and Wraps
Craving lighter fare for the new year? These delicious and healthy salads and wraps are light on calories, not on flavor!
How to Make Lettuce Wraps
Lettuce Wraps
Ingredients
- 1 head butter lettuce
- 1 large carrot shredded with a peeler
- 1 vinegar cucumber recipe (see below)
- 1 package ramen noodles cooked and drained-discard seasoning
- 1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts boiled and shredded
- 3-4 mushrooms chopped and sautéed (optional)
- homemade peanut sauce (see below)
- 1/2 cup peanuts chopped
- 1 bottle Newman’s Sesame Ginger Dressing
Vinegar Cucumbers
- 1 cucumber peeled and sliced
- 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro chopped
- 6 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Homemade Peanut Sauce
- 3 tablespoons peanut butter
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon sriracha hot sauce
- 1/4 cup water
Instructions
- Prepare the Peanut Sauce by mixing all the ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer and cook 1 to 2 minutes to thicken. Set aside and bring to room temperature.
- Cut the cucumber into thin wedges and marinate in the sauce while you prepare everything else.
- Core out the butter lettuce and pull off large leafs. Rinse and dry each leaf individually.
- Cook and shred the chicken, stir in the peanut sauce, then gently stir in the mushrooms (we sometimes marinate the chicken in some of the peanut sauce and grill and dice it instead).
- Place the noodles, shredded chicken, vinegar cucumbers, carrots, and chopped peanuts in individual bowls on the table so everyone can build their own lettuce wrap.
- To make each lettuce wrap, start with a large leaf of butter lettuce. Layer noodles, chicken, vinegar cucumbers, carrots, and chopped peanuts on the lettuce. Drizzle Newman's Sesame Ginger Dressing on top and enjoy!
- If you want a little more heat, sprinkle some extra sriracha on the top!
Notes
Recipe Tips:
- To make this recipe gluten free, swap the ramen noodles for rice noodles, then find a gluten free soy sauce. There are a few good options out there, so just swap regular soy sauce out for a GF variety like tamari or coconut aminos and you’re good to go!
- If you are not a fan of chicken you can easily swap it out for pork or beef.
Nutrition Information
I haven’t tried this yet, however, you mention you only need to swap out regular soy sauce for GF soy sauce to make it gluten free. You also need to eliminate the ramen noodles and sub with a GF pasta that is cooked, which is trickier to work with as they go from hard to over done in a matter of a minute or two.
The wraps all looks so healthy and appetising. I ALWAYS buy my ingredients with good intentions, but never actually follow thru with it. The ingredients then ends up in the bin as I dont make the time to prepare it. I’ll definitely try it again.
Thank u once again
Hi, never mind, i found the recipes in your chicken satay posting. thanks very much!
Hi, were you able to fix the link to direct us to the chicken satay recipe? also, what is the sauce for the cucumbers? the recipe looks wonderful and am looking forward to trying it! thank you, sue lee
What is the marinade on the cucumbers?
I will have to fix the link, it should direct you to the chicken satay recipe.
Have you fixed the link to the marinade and peanut sauce? Can’t seem to click it. Really want to try the recipe! Looks delicious.
I just fixed it, sorry, some of our links were broken on the site and we thought we had caught them. Thanks for bringing it to our attention! 🙂
I've always done zucchini on my lettuce wraps with a sauce I make, but never thought about the noodles. And ever since my trip to disney I've looked for a peanut sauce – will give this one a try. Thanks for sharing! I'm hungry now that I saw lettuce wraps!
I've tried several lettuce wrap recipes, but also have never used noodles in them. The marinated cucumber is an interesting addition also.
Your lettuce wraps look wonderful and easy to do. I've never seen noodles used, but then I am not a lettuce wrap expert. I'm going to try these. Thanks!