These Asian Lettuce Wraps are seriously packed with flavour. Ground chicken in a delicious hoisin sauce mix, stuffed in to a lettuce leaf with carrots and noodles and then topped with plenty of crunch. Ready in under 20 minutes, they are fresh and tasty and a lovely light lunch or snack.
At just 175 calories per lettuce cup, this is a deliciously light and low carb option. Lettuce leaves make handy little cups to stuff, and this Asian chicken is our favourite thing to stuff them with, and then of course load them with sesame seeds, cashews and chillies for extra texture and flavour.
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Why you will love them
- Low carb
- Just 175 calories per wrap
- An easy hoisin sauce
- A delicious new way to enjoy chicken
- Easy to adapt with prawns or tofu
- Great for party food
Ingredients needed
- Lettuce leaves - this is what holds the asian lettuce wraps all together. Instead of using a bread based wrap, using lettuce makes them a great lower carb alternative. We used the inner leaves of a round lettuce, however you could use romaine.
- Chicken - we ground up chicken breast to keep this nice and lean. You could do the same with boneless and skinless chicken thighs for a juicier dish.
- Shallots - you could swap these for brown onion, however shallots are a little sweeter.
- Garlic - crush it fresh or save yourself some time and use a jar of lazy garlic.
- Ginger - this adds so much flavour to the dish. You could use a jar of lazy ginger too.
- Carrots - a great way to add some colour and nutrients to this meal. You could swap it for courgette (zucchini) instead, or use a mixture of the two.
- Noodles - this makes the asian lettuce wraps more filling. We used thin wholewheat noodles, however you could use chunkier noodles like udon.
- Hoisin sauce - this is a little cheat ingredient, as store bought hoisin sauce adds so much flavour.
- Sesame oil - you could use olive oil, however sesame oil has much more flavour and adds to the Asian flavours.
- Soy sauce - keep the salt levels lower by using reduced salt soy sauce.
- Lime juice - this adds so much zesty freshness to the dish and really lightens it up.
- Sriracha - we would happily put this stuff on everything. It adds a kick of heat to the sauce, however you could leave it out or swap it for your favourite chilli sauce.
A full ingredients list with measurements is in the recipe card below.
Step by step
One: Put the chicken in a food processor and blend until mince.
Two: Put the hoisin sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil, lime juice and sriracha in a bowl and mix well.
Three: Put some oil in a large frying pan and add the shallot, garlic and ginger and gently cook for 2 minutes.
Four: Add the chicken mince, break it down in to small pieces and gently cook for 5 minutes.
Five: Add the noodles to a pan of boiling water and simmer for 4 minutes (or according to packet instructions).
Six: Add the hoisin sauce mix to the chicken and stir well and gently cook for 3 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.
Seven: Drain the noodles and add to the lettuce leaves.
Eight: Top with carrot.
Nine: Add the cooked chicken mixture.
Ten: Top with red chilli, crushed cashews, fresh coriander, spring onions and sesame seeds and serve.
What chicken to use
These Asian lettuce wraps use ground chicken breast. If you can find this in your supermarket and want to save yourself some time, then buy it ready ground (chicken mince).
However, we just put a chicken breast in to a food processor and blend it until it was all ground up. You could also do the same with boneless and skinless chicken thighs.
Do I have to use chicken?
If you didn't want to use chicken for these Asian lettuce wraps, then you could swap it for lots of crunchy stir fried vegetables, or even king prawns (shrimp) or tofu.
You could also swap ground chicken for ground beef, turkey or pork.
What lettuce is best?
We used the inside leaves of a round lettuce, as they are a little crunchier than the outside leaves so they hold together better. However you could also use little gem, cos or romaine lettuce for this recipe.
Sauce
The sauce is really what makes this dish as amazing as it is, and it really is amazing. We have used a really good quality store bought hoisin sauce and then mixed in a little soy sauce, some lime juice to freshen it up, a little sesame oil and then some sriracha for a kick of heat (you could use sweet chilli sauce instead if you want).
This sauce really does have everything - it's salty, spicy, with a little bit of freshness from the lime. It really brings the chicken to life. We use this as a stir fry sauce too.
FAQs
We try to make these fresh as much as possible, however if you end up making too much of the chicken mixture, then that will store in an air tight container in the fridge for a couple of days.
Some times we purposely make too much of it and then store to add to stir fries and noodle dishes for the next 2 days. It's great in a wrap too.
Healthy is such a subjective word, however we think this is a nutritious meal option. Using lettuce for the wraps makes these a lower carb option. We have also used wholewheat noodles to increase the fibre. You could bulk them out with more vegetables by mixing courgette with the carrots. Keep the salt levels down by using reduced salt soy sauce.
I really don't think you need to serve these with anything, as they have pretty much everything you could need. The chicken it loaded on top of carrots and noodles and then sprinkled with nuts, seeds, onions and chillies. What else could you need?
If you are serving these up at a dinner party, then maybe some prawn crackers and a few different dips like some extra hoisin sauce and a homemade satay.
We just pick them up like a taco and eat them. It can get pretty messy (not the best first date food), so you can use a knife and fork if you prefer.
If you want to make a meat free version of this, then you can swap the chicken for tofu. Marinate the pressed tofu slices in the sauce before frying.
More Chinese recipes
If you’ve tried these lettuce boats, let us know how you got on in the comments below.
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Recipe
Asian Lettuce Wraps
Ingredients
- 6 Lettuce leaves
- 1 Chicken breast
- 1 tablespoon Olive oil
- 4 Shallots - diced
- 3 Garlic clove - crushed
- 30 g (1 oz) Fresh ginger
- 0.5 Carrot - grated
- 1 nest Dried wholewheat noodles
- 100 ml (0.5 cups) Hoisin sauce
- 2 tablespoon Soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon Sesame oil
- 0.5 Lime - juice only
- 2 tablespoon Sriracha sauce
- Red chilli, crushed cashews, fresh coriander, spring onions and sesame seeds - for serving
Instructions
- Put 1 Chicken breast into a food processor and blend until mince.
- Put 100 ml Hoisin sauce, 2 tablespoon Soy sauce, 1 tablespoon Sesame oil, juice of 0.5 Lime and 2 tablespoon Sriracha sauce into a bowl and mix well.
- Put 1 tablespoon Olive oil in a large frying pan and add 4 Shallots, 3 Garlic clove and 30 g Fresh ginger and gently cook for 2 minutes.
- Add the chicken mince, break it down into small pieces and gently cook for 5 minutes.
- Add 1 nest Dried wholewheat noodles to a pan of boiling water and simmer for 4 minutes (or according to packet instructions).
- Add the hoisin sauce mix to the chicken and stir well and gently cook for 3 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.
- Drain the noodles and add to 6 Lettuce leaves.
- Top with 0.5 Carrot (grated).
- Add the cooked chicken mixture.
- Top with Red chilli, crushed cashews, fresh coriander, spring onions and sesame seeds and serve.
Notes
- You could use chicken thighs instead of breast.
- We used round lettuce, but you could use little gem, cos or romaine.
- Swap the chicken for stir fry veggies, prawns or tofu.
- You could use sweet chilli sauce instead of sriracha.
- Leftover cooked chicken mixture will store in the fridge for 2 days in an air tight container.
- If you want the sauce a little thicker, than add a cornflour slurry.
Barbara Johnston
Gorgeous. We loved these and will be making them again
Tracey Bentley
The sodium level is more than the healthy DAILY Amount and that’s only 1 meal , otherwise sounded good
Dannii
That was a miscalculation on the sodium level - it has been adjusted now. Thanks for pointing that out. It is still fairly high, due to the soy and hoisin sauces, but it is now below the recommended amount.
Jessica Formicola
We made these wraps for dinner last night and they were incredible! Thanks so much for sharing the recipe!
veenaazmanov
Love all the yummy combinations. This is so crunchy and definitely healthy too. I am drooling with the flavorful sauce over it. Yum
Sara Welch
These are my favorite item to order when eating out! Excited to give these a try tonight; they look amazing!