Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Chicken lettuce wraps are one of my favorite things to order when I’m dining at an Asian restaurant. I love PF Chang’s lettuce wraps, but I honestly love this homemade version even more! I’m absolutely obsessed with the savory, yet slightly sweet combination of flavors. And the crunch of the crisp lettuce and water chestnuts take these wraps to the next level. Chicken lettuce wraps are light, flavorful and healthy. I’ve been making this homemade version on repeat. Sometimes I even change things up and serve them in a Cut Da Carb Crunchwrap (not sponsored). My family gobbles up this tasty Asian-flavored chicken, whether we serve it in lettuce cups or tortilla wraps!

If you’re in need of a quick and delicious lunch or dinner, this chicken lettuce wraps recipe is a definite crowd pleaser. Give this recipe a try and you’ll want to make these again and again!

Ingredients needed

Once you have the ingredients required to make these easy lettuce wraps in your kitchen, you’re going to want to meal prep these weekly! I do! Here’s everything you’ll need:

Lettuce for Wraps

My favorite lettuce to use for wraps is butter lettuce (also known as Boston or Bibb). The flavor is mild, the leaves are nice and crisp, and they are the perfect size to hold the filling.

Green leaf and iceberg lettuce will also work. Iceberg has a great crispness, but breaks easily, so it can be harder to wrap. In a pinch, Romaine lettuce is also doable, but the size and shape isn’t the best for holding the filling.

To prepare the lettuce for the wraps, carefully separate the lettuce leaves from the stem. Gently rinse the leaves and pat dry with a paper towel. Try to keep the lettuce leaves whole and if desired, slice off any of the white or hard ends that won’t wrap up nicely.

Filling

The filling is made up of ground chicken or turkey, water chestnuts, onion, garlic, and ginger. Feel free to bulk up the filling with more veggies, like finely diced bell pepper, carrot and/or mushroom.

Sauce

The sauce is incredibly tasty! And I always use the ingredients listed below, but feel free to make substitutions based on your taste preferences and what you have available.

• Hoisin sauce. I love the sweetness of this sauce and it also acts to thicken the sauce.
• Soy sauce. I use regular all purpose soy sauce. Feel free to use a low sodium variety or sub with coconut aminos.
• Rice vinegar. It adds a hit of acid and works well to balance the flavors.
• Sesame oil. Love the authentic Asian flavor this oil adds and the toasted sesame oil from Trader Joe’s is SO delicious.
• Sriracha sauce. Totally optional for drizzling over the top of the wraps to add a kick of heat. You can sub with Sambal Oelek.
• Salt & black pepper. You probably won’t need too much salt with all of the sauces we’re using, but ground chicken does require more seasoning than most ground meats to avoid being bland. Taste and add salt and pepper as you see fit.

How to make this recipe

Even though these wraps look fancy and taste amazing, the recipe is really quite easy to make. Here’s the simple method:

Full, printable recipe at the bottom of the page.

1. Cook veggies and chicken. Heat a bit of olive oil or avocado oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the onion to the pan and cook a couple of minutes and until soft. Add the water chestnuts, garlic and ginger; stir around for a few minutes and then add in the chicken and cook until no longer pink.
2. Add sauce ingredients. Stir in the hoisin sauce, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame oil. And then, mix in the sliced green onion.
3. Continue to cook. Turn the heat to low and continue to cook the mixture for a few more minutes to let all of the flavors meld.
4. Serve and enjoy! Assemble with rice (if preferred) in lettuce leaves. Top with sriracha sauce and dig in!

Meal prep options

I love that this ground chicken filling is high in protein and low in fat. I’ve been making a batch a couple times a month, and using it for lunches or dinners through the week. Sometimes I use extra lean ground turkey in place of the chicken. The sauce is so flavorful that even when using extra lean ground meat, the meat doesn’t taste dry or bland.

This recipe has turned out to be so great for meal prepping; the filling stores and reheats beautifully. In fact, the filling gets more flavorful everyday — it’s so good!

How to store. I store the filling in an airtight container in the fridge separate from the lettuce that’s washed, dried, and stored in its own container. If I plan to make a Crunchwrap, I also sauté strips of bell pepper and onion to fill my wrap. Come lunch time, I heat up a portion of the filling and layer it in the prepped lettuce wraps or fold the filling into a Crunchwrap and heat it in my air fryer for 7 minutes at 370ºF — lunch in a flash!

Tips for recipe success

• Cutting the lettuce for wraps. To cut lettuce, simply cut the bottom part of the head of lettuce off. Then carefully peel away each lettuce leaf. Don’t forget to wash and dry the lettuce leaves before serving!
• Optional serving idea. Sometimes for smaller children it works best to serve the filling over noodles or rice, or with a side of cauliflower stir fry, because it’s much easier for them to eat with a spoon than wrapped in a piece of lettuce!
• Soy sauce swap. If you have a soy allergy, feel free to use tamari sauce or coconut aminos instead of soy sauce.

Variations

These Asian chicken lettuce wraps are SO good as-is, but feel free to get creative with your ingredients! Here’s some options to customize this meal:

• Protein. Feel free to sub the ground chicken with any favorite ground meat. Much of the time I use extra lean ground turkey. You could also use ground beef or ground pork.
• Nuts. Try subbing the water chestnuts with walnuts or add chopped peanuts or cashews to the top of the wraps. You can also simply leave out the water chestnuts, if you’re not a fan or don’t have them on hand.
• Add-ins. To bulk up the filling, add in about 1 cup of each veggie that you prefer – finely diced carrots, finely diced mushrooms, finely diced red pepper.
• Wraps. Serve the chicken filling in a tortilla, whole wheat wrap, Cut Da Carb Crunchwrap, pita, lettuce wrap or over rice noodles – the possibilities are endless!
• Spicy. If you like added heat, add some sriracha or crushed red pepper flakes or ground chipotle pepper to the filling.

If you try this easy chicken lettuce wrap recipe, let me know! Leave a comment and if your family loves it as much as mine does, be sure to give it a five star ⭐️ rating! Also, tag @kimscravings on Instagram with a picture of your creation. It’s so fun to see what you’re cooking! Be sure to subscribe to our mailing list to receive more healthy delicious recipes straight to your inbox.