Easy Asian Lettuce Wraps Recipe

Asian lettuce wraps, made right, have an addictive flavor and a satisfying crunch. You know this if you’ve ever enjoyed the lettuce wraps at P.F. Chang’s. This dish is also super healthy and a go-to entree for anyone who’s watching their carb intake.

This Asian lettuce wraps recipe is easy to prepare with ingredients you may already have on hand. The only thing I had to buy to make this was the water chestnuts, which are readily available at Walmart or any grocery store. (You can buy them on Amazon, too, but I wouldn’t recommend it. The prices are crazy high for some reason.)

Ingredients for easy Asian lettuce wraps

You’ll need these items to prepare this Asian lettuce wraps recipe:

• Butter lettuce leaves
• 1 lb ground turkey
• Oil for the pan
• 1 onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• Soy sauce
• Hoisin sauce
• Rice wine vinegar
• Hot chili oil
• Canned, sliced water chestnuts
• Green onions
• Sesame oil

Substitutions

Meat. You can use any ground meat in this recipe. I prefer ground turkey or ground pork, but ground beef works too. Depending on the fat content of the meat, you may need to drain off some fat after you remove the meat from the pan.

Lettuce. Butter lettuce is usually the go-to for lettuce wraps. They hold up best if you use two lettuce leaves for each wrap. You can also use stiffer romaine leaves, the ones closer to the heart.

My favorite choice is Mann’s Better Crunch lettuce. It comes in a plastic container like butter lettuce with four heads inside. You simply pop the leaves off each head. They have a nice shape and are tough enough to handle a decent-sized wrap.

Vinegar. Use any lighter vinegar you have if rice wine vinegar isn’t available.

Hoisin sauce. There are some reasonable substitutes for hoisin sauce, but I’d only resort to this in an emergency. The hoisin sauce is responsible for most of the flavor in this dish, so any substitute will change the outcome significantly. If you must use something else, try teriyaki sauce instead.

Chili oil. You can omit the chili oil or use something else to add heat. Cayenne pepper works. You’ll only need a dash. Or try 1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes.

How to make this easy Asian lettuce wraps recipe

Here are the steps to prep Asian lettuce wraps at home.

1. Start chopping

This recipe comes together quickly if you’re organized to start. First, chop 1 large onion and 4 green onions. Then peel and mince 2 garlic cloves.

Also wash your lettuce leaves, separate them, and pat them dry.

Now combine these ingredients into a small bowl:

• Minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon hot chili oil

In another small bowl, combine:

• Drained, sliced water chestnuts from an 8-oz. can
• Chopped green onions
• 2 tablespoons of sesame oil

2. Cook the ground turkey

Pour 1 tablespoon of oil into a skillet and turn the heat to medium high. Add 1 lb of ground turkey and cook, stirring to break the meat into small pieces. It should take about 5 minutes of cooking and stirring for all the pink to disappear. That’s the sign that your meat is fully cooked.

Using a slotted spoon, take the cooked meat out of the pan and move it to a bowl.

If there is a layer of fat left in the pan, drain it off.

3. Make the sauce

To the same pan, add the onions and cook over medium heat. You can choose how “done” you like your onions. I prefer them to be slightly soft as they have a milder flavor that way. So I fry them, stirring, for 4 or 5 minutes. But if you like full-onion flavor and a bit of crunch, you can limit the cook time to 1 minute.

Next, add the garlic-and-soy sauce mixture to the onions in the pan. Stir to combine. Then add in the water chestnuts, green onions, and sesame oil. Stir again.

Let the sauce heat and bubble gently for about 2 minutes. Add the cooked ground meat back into the sauce and turn off the heat. Stir to distribute the sauce and veggies throughout the meat.

4. Wrap and serve

Wrapping lettuce wraps is way easier than rolling a burrito. Layer two leaves of lettuce and spoon the turkey mixture down the center. Repeat until you’re out of ingredients. Serve and enjoy.

More recipes with hoisin sauce

If you bought hoisin sauce to make these wraps, you don’t that partially empty jar to sit in your fridge until the end of time. Follow up your Asian lettuce wraps with these other delicious hoisin-sauce recipes:

Hoisin Meatballs Recipe

Asian Pork Meatballs Recipe

Grilled Chicken Lo Mein Recipe