Beef Lettuce Wraps

There are a few things in life that feel non-negotiable, and for me and my bestie, P.F. Chang's chicken lettuce wraps sit firmly at the top of that list. Every single time we go—or even just order in—we always add them to the order. No hesitation, no discussion. It’s happening.

Do we regret it later when we’re completely stuffed before the main course even hits? Maybe a little. Do we stop ordering them? Absolutely not. They’re that perfect balance of savory, slightly sweet, and totally crave-worthy that makes you forget things like “portion control” and “good decisions.” Besides the main dish can be a good leftover the next day.

Naturally, I’ve made it my personal mission to recreate that magic at home. I’ve come close once.

This particular recipe caught my attention because it swaps out the usual chicken or pork for beef—an unexpected twist. And while it turned out undeniably delicious (no complaints from my kitchen), I’ll be honest: I still think chicken or pork is the way to go for that classic lettuce wrap experience.

That said, the recipe itself is solid. I didn’t change a single thing—and it didn’t need it. One small note from my kitchen experiment: I skipped adding salt and pepper to the beef beforehand, trusting that the soy sauce in the recipe would bring enough seasoning. Turns out, that was the right call. If you do decide to add salt, wait until after the beef is cooked and go easy—otherwise, you risk pulling out too much moisture and ending up with dry meat. And nobody wants that in their lettuce wraps.

All in all, a fun and flavorful take on a favorite, even if I’m still chasing that P.F. Chang’s-level perfection.

Beef Lettuce Wraps

Recipe from Feel Good Foodie

Serves 6

• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 small onion minced
• 8- ounce can water chestnuts drained and minced
• For the Sauce:
• 3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon creamy peanut butter
• 2 garlic cloves grated
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• To Serve:
• Green onions thinly sliced
• Crushed peanuts
• Butter lettuce or bib lettuce or iceberg lettuce

In a small bowl, add the sauce ingredients, and whisk until well combined.

Heat the oil on medium heat in a medium size frying pan. Add the ground beef and the onions and cook until the beef is browned and the onions are translucent, about 5-7 minutes.

Stir in the water chestnuts and the sauce, and simmer on low heat until the sauce thickens, and everything is heated through, about 3-4 minutes.

Serve on butter lettuce or iceberg lettuce topped with green onions and crushed peanuts, if desired.

Shawarma-Spiced Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Another shawarma related recipe. I didn't realize I was duplicating ethnic flavors when I ordered, but it was worth it. This was amazing. 

I like a good lettuce wrap. The fresh lettuce has a nice crisp crunch to it and really makes a great carrier for the amazingly flavorful filling. The shawarma spices are so warm and so yummy. The house smells amazing too I might add. 

I'm always skeptical about toppings. I like things pretty plain, but I figured I might as well go all in since all the ingredients are in front of me. I will admit I am really glad I did. The pickled onions are a new favorite for sure. But what surprised me the most were the sliced almonds. They added another level of texture that really put this meal over the top. And the creamy garlic sauce on top is like the cherry on top of a sundae. So good. 

It’s all ready in a quick 30 minutes—just keep napkins handy until you master your lettuce wrap-eating technique.

Shawarma-Spiced Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Recipe from Hello Fresh

Serves 2

• 2 lemons (though one large might work too)
• 1 roma tomato, diced
• 1 1/2 T sour cream
• 2 T mayo
• 1 tsp garlic powder, divided
• 1 T shawarma spice blend (Common ingredients are ground cumin, coriander, paprika, garlic powder, turmeric, and black pepper)
• 1 small red onion, half sliced, half diced
• 1 head romaine lettuce
• 1/2 oz sliced almonds
• 1/4 c chicken stock
• 10 oz chicken, diced (You can also used ground chicken or ground turkey)

Halve, peel, and thinly slice half the onion; finely dice remaining half. 

Quarter lemons. 

Trim and discard root end from lettuce; separate leaves. 

Dice tomato.

 In a small microwave-safe bowl, combine sliced onion, juice from one lemon, 1⁄2 tsp sugar, salt, and pepper. Microwave for 30 seconds; set aside to pickle, stirring occasionally. 

In a separate small bowl, combine sour cream, mayonnaise, 3⁄4 tsp garlic powder, and a squeeze of lemon juice. (You’ll use the rest of the garlic powder in the next step.) Season white sauce with salt and pepper.

Heat a drizzle of oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add diced onion and a pinch of salt; cook, stirring, until slightly softened, 2-3 minutes. 

Add chicken, Shawarma Spice Blend, and remaining garlic powder; season with salt and pepper. Cook, breaking up meat into pieces, until browned and cooked through, 4-6 minutes.

Stir in stock, then reduce heat to medium low and simmer, scraping up any browned bits from bottom of pan, until slightly thickened, 1-2 minutes. Taste and season with salt and pepper if desired. 

Divide lettuce between plates. Fill with turkey, tomato, and as much pickled onion as you like (draining first). 

Drizzle wraps with white sauce and as much hot sauce as you like; sprinkle with almonds. Serve with any remaining lemon wedges on the side.

Middle Eastern Steak Pita Wraps

Wow. Hello Fresh... outstanding. 

I love pitas in general, this on is shawarma esk and man o man...yummy. I do love a good shawarma. 

I'm sure I've told the story of our first shawarma in Saudi and how it had cold French fries in it. Anyhow, you'd think that'd turn me off shawarmas, but it did not. 

The pita and the salad on the side was a LOT of food, so if you make it know you'd better be hungry. 

Middle Eastern Steak Pita Wraps

Recipe from Hello Fresh

Serves 2

• 1 red onion, sliced
• 1 baby lettuce (romaine)
• 1 lemon
• 10 oz Ranch Steak (skirt steak)
• 1 T Shawarma spice blend (I have no idea what's actually in this)
• 4 oz cherry tomatoes, quartered
• 1/2 c feta cheese, crumbled
• 1.5 oz Greek Vinaigrette
• 2 pitas
• 1 oz Smokey Garlic Herb Sauce (also no idea where you'd get this)

Halve, peel, and thinly slice half the onion (whole onion for 4 servings). Halve lemon. Trim and discard root end from lettuce; chop leaves into bite-size pieces. (this assumes you washed it already)

Pat steak dry with paper towels, then thinly slice. Season with Shawarma Spice Blend, salt, and pepper. 

Heat a drizzle of oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add steak; cook, stirring occasionally, until cooked to desired doneness, 4-6 minutes.

While steak cooks, in a small microwave-safe bowl, combine onion, juice from half the lemon, and a pinch of salt. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave until onion is tender, 30-40 seconds. Set aside to pickle. [JW notes: I honestly thought this wouldn't work. Worked like a charm]

Add lettuce, tomatoes, feta, and vinaigrette to a large bowl; toss to combine.

Wrap pitas in damp paper towels and microwave until warm and pliable, 20-30 seconds. [JW Note: If you have a tortilla warmer that would work too. 

Place steak in a line across the middle of each pita. Top with as much salad as you like. Drizzle with smoky garlic herb sauce; top with as much pickled onion (draining first) as you like and as much hot sauce as you like. 

Fold pitas in half to form wraps. Divide wraps between plates and serve with any remaining salad on the side.

Sabrina’s P.F. Chang’s Chicken Lettuce Wraps

I don't think you can ever go wrong with chicken lettuce wraps. I am not a fan of ground chicken, but in this recipe I don't seem to mind it at all. 

This is my favorite recipe, but I'm always looking for another "favorite" to add to the list. I've made several versions of lettuce wraps throughout the years, and I think I'll always be looking to make new ones. Only because I like trying "new" recipes. 

This recipe was delicious. I normally don't make the dipping sauce but was feeling it tonight and boy am I glad I did. It really added to the flavor of these. Messy, very messy, but worth it. Have several napkins available as they are quite drippy. 

Sabrina’s P.F. Chang’s Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Recipe from Dinner Then Dessert

Serves 4

Dipping Sauce

• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 3 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1/8 teaspoon chili oil
• 1 tablespoon chopped chives
• 1/4 teaspoon Chinese hot mustard
• 1 teaspoon Sriracha

Main Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 pound ground chicken
• 18 ounces water chestnuts , one can drained and minced
• 16 ounces straw mushrooms , one can drained and minced
• 1 clove garlic , minced
• 2 stalks scallion , chopped
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons mirin
• 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• Serve With:
• 4 leaves iceberg lettuce

Prepare Dipping Sauce

Combine granulated sugar, soy sauce, rice vinegar, chili oil, chopped chives, Chinese hot mustard, and Sriracha in a bowl. Whisk the sauce ingredients together and then set the sweet and savory sauce aside while you cook the chicken.

Cook Chicken

Brown the ground chicken in a skillet on medium-high heat with half the vegetable oil until fully cooked. Heat until chicken crumbles easily. Remove the ground meat mixture from skillet and set to the side to cook the veggies.

Saute Vegetables

In the same skillet, add the rest of the vegetable oil and sauté the minced water chestnuts, mushrooms, garlic, and scallions for about 5 minutes.

Combine and Serve

Finally, put the chicken back into the skillet with the veggies, add soy sauce, mirin, oyster sauce, and rice vinegar and stir for 2-3 minutes. Serve the chicken mixture in lettuce cups and serve with the dipping sauce. Enjoy your Asian lettuce wraps with juicy chicken!

To make the dipping sauce, add the ingredients (from the sugar to the sriracha) in a small bowl and whisk until fully combined.

In a large skillet add two tablespoons of oil and brown the chicken in it on medium-high heat, about 7-8 minutes.

When browned remove chicken, add in the rest of the oil and sauté the water chestnuts, straw mushrooms, garlic and scallions for 3-5 minutes.

Add the chicken back into the skillet along with the soy sauce, mirin, oyster sauce and rice vinegar and stir to coat and combine everything.

Serve in lettuce cups and top or dip into the dipping sauce as desired.

Chicken Bacon Ranch Lettuce Wraps

This hardly feels like a "new" recipe, but since I've technically never made a chicken lettuce wrap in this house, I'm counting it. 

I modified it every so slightly by making it a BBQ chicken bacon ranch lettuce wrap. OMG it turned out so good. 

My ranch dressing got a little out of control on the squeeze out of the bottle. I'd go lighter on that tomorrow for lunch for sure. 

These were delicious and I think they may become a constant for lunch. It'd be easy to prep and have ready.

Chicken Bacon Ranch Lettuce Wraps

Recipe from Life in the Loft House

Serves 4

• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut in 1-inch pieces
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
• 4 slices cooked bacon chopped
• 4 Romaine lettuce leaves
• Ranch dressing

Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add oil. Season chicken pieces with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning.

Cook and stir chicken for about 10 minutes, or until chicken is thoroughly cooked.

Divide the cooked chicken and bacon between the four pieces of Romaine lettuce leaves. Drizzle desired amount of Ranch dressing on each lettuce wrap. Enjoy!

Chicken Shawarma

Some day I'll have a shawarma that is like the one we had in Saudi. Though that one had a cold French fry in it and Mom's had a pickle no French fry. <shrugs>. 

This recipe was NOT it. I felt like this recipe had all the good things to it, but something went terribly wrong, somewhere. 

The chicken had a weird texture, I blame it being marinated for too long. The recipe says 8-24 hours, but that is way too long for an acid like lemon and chicken for me. So I only marinaded it for 4 hours and I think that made the chicken mushy. 

It was also WAY too salty. That was my fault though. I halved the recipe for everything but the salt. Don't ask. I'm not sure why I thought 2 tsp salt for 6 is also 2 tsp salt for 3. Again <shrug>.

I won't likely make this recipe again. I have a dozen more shawarma recipes to try. Maybe the next one will remind of me the one from Saudi.

Chicken Shawarma

Recipe from Carlsbad Cravings

Serves 6

CHICKEN MARINADE

• 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs pounded to an even thickness
• 1/4 c extra virgin olive oil
• 2 T lemon juice
• 1 T balsamic vinegar
• 1 T EACH ground cumin, ground coriander
• 2 tsp EACH smoked paprika, ground cardamom, salt
• 1 tsp EACH garlic powder, onion powder, ground turmeric
• 1/2 tsp EACH cayenne pepper, allspice, pepper

CILANTRO YOGURT SAUCE

• 1 c Greek yogurt
• 1/3 c packed cilantro
• 1/3 c packed parsley
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 T lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp EACH ground cumin, salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper

FOR WRAPS

• 6-8 pitas
• Romaine lettuce chopped
• Roma tomatoes sliced
• cucumbers thinly sliced
• red onions thinly sliced
• 1 recipe hummus (or store-bought, optional)

MARINATE CHICKEN

Whisk all of the Marinade ingredients together in a large bowl or freezer size plastic bag. Add chicken and turn to coat. Marinate in the refrigerator 8 to 24 hours. Let chicken sit at room temperature for 20-30 minutes before cooking.

YOGURT SAUCE

Make the yogurt sauce and prep your toppings while the chicken is marinating. Add all of the Sauce Ingredients to a blender and blend until the herbs are chopped, scraping down the sides of the blender as needed. If you would like a thicker sauce stir (don’t blend) in additional yogurt. Cover and chill in the refrigerator until you’re ready to serve.

HOW TO COOK CHICKEN ON THE STOVE

Heat one tablespoon vegetable oil a large cast iron skillet or grill pan over medium high heat. Working in batches, add chicken in a single layer and cook for 4-5 minutes. Turn chicken over, cover, and reduce heat to medium. Cook approximately 3-5 additional minutes (depending on thickness of chicken), or until chicken is cooked through. Transfer chicken to a cutting board and let rest 5 minutes before slicing.

HOW TO COOK CHICKEN ON THE GRILL

Grease and preheat the grill to medium heat, 375-450°F. Grill chicken, covered for 5-7 minutes per side, or until chicken is cooked through and an internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F. Transfer chicken to a cutting board and let rest 5 minutes before slicing.

HOW TO COOK CHICKEN IN THE OVEN

Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray. Add chicken to baking sheet in a single layer so they aren’t touching. Bake at 425 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until an internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F. Transfer chicken to a cutting board and let rest 5 minutes before slicing.

ASSEMBLE WRAPS

Top warmed pitas with hummus, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, chicken and Cilantro Yogurt Sauce.

Top 10 Favorites for 2024

Here we are at the end of 2024. Quite the year when it comes to trying new recipes. I hit my goal of 170 new recipes. That's a CRAP ton of new recipes. 

As I continue to try new recipes one thing becomes crystal clear to me, all the recipes I try are almost always close to one I tried in the past - only with slight variations. I have a "style" in my cooking and it's pretty clear. 

This years saw some amazing recipes and some not so amazing. Here's my list of my top 10 favorites this year. 

You can see the full list of my favorites here. 

Top 10 Favorites for 2024

#10 Korean Meatballs

#9 Creamed Broccoli

#8 Chili Lime Chicken Lettuce Wraps

#7 Spanish Garlic Green Beans

#6 Hamburger Macaroni Skillet

#5 Shish Tawook

#4 Cucumber Hummus Bites

#3 Marry Me Chicken Soup

#2 Wendy’s Chili Copycat

#1 Shepherd’s Pie

And if you're interested in stats like I am (or is it that I'm just a data nerd), here are the stats for this year. 

Month over month looks like I maintain a pretty good average. May was the month I traveled for a couple of weeks, so that explains the low number of recipes. December is clearly the most I've made, and that's primarily because I was focused on hitting my annual goal. 

Year over Year you can tell when I truly started tracking and cooking like a crazy person. Covid got me cooking and I never looked back. 

Ground Chicken Lettuce Wraps

THESE have been my favorite lettuce wraps, but there's a new favorite in town.

The sauce for these were over the top delicious! The hoisin makes the sauce. It's a bit sweeter and a bit more savory, but the balance is perfect. 

These will be on the favorite list for this year for sure.

Ground Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Recipe from The Big Man's World

Serves 4

• 1 pound ground chicken
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 8 ounces water chestnuts diced
• 1 small bell pepper diced
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 1/2 inch ginger chopped
• 1 small onion finely diced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 head romaine 8 large leaves

LETTUCE WRAP SAUCE

• 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• 1/2 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch

In a small bowl, whisk together the hoisin sauce, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, and cornstarch, until combined.

Heat the oil in a non-stick skillet and place over medium heat. Once hot, add the chicken, break it apart, and stir fry for 2-3 minutes until no longer pink.

Push the chicken to one side of the pan, add the chestnuts, bell pepper, garlic and onion and stir fry for several minutes.

Add the sauce and cook everything together for 1-2 minutes, until everything is evenly coated.

Place the filling in the lettuce cups and serve immediately.

Chili Lime Chicken Lettuce Wraps

When I have lettuce wraps they are usually more Asian inspired, like PF Changs. And those are among my favorites. 

THIS recipe has blown all those away. The limey-ness of this recipe was so spot on. Sometimes I don't feel like you get all the lime flavor in a marinade. You sure do in this one. 

The aioli added just a little more lime and cilantro kick to it. 

I also grilled my chicken instead of sauteing it. I just feel like grilling gets a much better flavor (and less mess). 

I did only marinade this for 2 hours. With that much lime you need to be careful you don't over marinate and "cook" the chicken (think ceviche).

All in all, this one's getting added to my favorites. I'd make this again and again. 

Chili Lime Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Recipe from Ruled.me

Serves 3

For the marinade:

• 2 T olive oil
• 1 T white wine vinegar
• Zest from two limes
• 2 T lime juice
• 1 clove of garlic, pressed
• ½ tsp chili powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp red chili pepper flakes
• ½ tsp paprika
• ¼ tsp granulated stevia erythritol blend
• 1 T finely chopped cilantro

For the chicken:

• 1 ½ T butter
• ½ pound chicken breast, cut into small bite-sized pieces

For the aioli:

• 3 T mayonnaise
• Zest from one lime
• 1 tsp lime juice
• ½ tsp finely chopped cilantro
• 1 clove garlic, pressed

3 large lettuce leaves

For the marinade:

In a small bowl, combine all marinade ingredients and mix until they are evenly incorporated.

Transfer pieces of chicken breast into a dish for marinating.

Pour the prepared marinade over the chicken and then stir to ensure that all sides of the chicken are coated.

Cover the dish and then place in fridge to marinate for 1-2 hours.

For the chicken:

In a large saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Once the butter has melted, increase heat to medium-high.

Add marinated chicken, leaving space in between each piece. If needed, the chicken can be cooked in several batches. Allow the chicken pieces to brown before turning.

Once the chicken has browned on all sides, transfer meat to a plate lined with a paper towel to soak up excess oil.

For the aioli:

In a small bowl, add all ingredients and stir until combined.

For the lettuce wraps:

To assemble the lettuce wraps, evenly distribute the sautéed chili lime chicken onto each of the lettuce leaves. Next, spoon on the desired amount of aioli onto each lettuce wrap and serve.

Peanut Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Here we go! New year, new goal. 170 new recipes is the magic number for this year. It'll be a stretch, but that's what some goals are all about. 

Damn Delicious got this recipe right! Even not including some of the ingredients (they didn't make it on my grocer list for some reason) this recipe was spot on. The combo of flavors mix together to give you that beautiful sweet and umami flavor. Then you add the peanut sauce to it and WOOWZA! That's a home run. 

What did I mess up? Well, I didn't get carrots or mushrooms for some inexplicable reason. I checked my grocery and they were not on them. So I added some cabbage that I had on had. Not a bad addition I'd say. 

I added about a Tablespoon of soy to the chicken mixture. It needed a little more salty to balance the hoisin. 

To the peanut sauce, I added about 4 tablespoons of warm water. The recipe says 3 ish, but I wanted my sauce to be thinner. Didn't impact the flavor I don't think. 

Peanut Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Recipe from Damn Delicious

Serves 4

• 1 T vegetable oil
• 1 T toasted sesame oil
• 1 pound ground chicken
• 1 (3.5-ounce) package shiitake mushrooms, diced
• 1 carrot, peeled and diced
• 1 shallot, minced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 T freshly grated ginger
• 1/4 c hoisin sauce
• 2 tsp chili garlic sauce
• 1 tsp fish sauce
• 2 T chopped fresh cilantro leaves
• 1 head butter lettuce

FOR THE PEANUT SAUCE:

• 3 T creamy peanut butter
• 1 T reduced sodium soy sauce
• 1 T freshly squeezed lime juice
• 2 tsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp chili garlic sauce, or more, to taste
• 1 tsp freshly grated ginger

To make the peanut sauce, whisk together peanut butter, soy sauce, lime juice, brown sugar, chili garlic sauce and ginger in a small bowl. Whisk in 2-3 tablespoons water until desired consistency is reached; set aside.

Heat vegetable oil and sesame oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add ground chicken, mushrooms, carrot and shallot. Cook until browned, about 5-7 minutes, making sure to crumble the chicken as it cooks; drain excess fat.

Stir in garlic and ginger until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Stir in hoisin sauce, chili garlic sauce and fish sauce until heated through, about 30 seconds. Remove from heat; stir in cilantro.

To serve, spoon several tablespoons of the chicken mixture into the center of a lettuce leaf, taco-style, drizzled with peanut sauce.

Kung Pao Chicken Lettuce Wraps (Recipe 43 of 150)

Photo from Damn Delicious

Every time my BFF and I go to PF Changs I order Kung Pao Chicken and we order the lettuce wraps as an appetizer. So when I saw this recipe I thought, "Best of both worlds". And I was not wrong. 

This is a SPICY recipe. I didn't put in all the chili paste and I'm glad I didn't. Whoa! 

The overall flavor is good. It was a little too vinegar-y for me. I added a bit more brown sugar (low carb brown sugar too) to balance out the vinegar. That seemed to help a little. Regardless, this was a solid low carb meal. Well, I made it low carb by using the low carb brown sugar. 

Looking for a quick, flavorful meal without a ton of calories? This is it.

Kung Pao Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Recipe from Damn Delicious

Serves 4

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 pound ground chicken
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 zucchini, diced
• 1 (8-ounce) can whole water chestnuts, drained and diced
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 head butter lettuce
• 1/4 cup chopped peanuts, optional

FOR THE SAUCE:

• 3 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons dry sherry
• 1 tablespoon chili garlic sauce
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons rice vinegar
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil

In a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce, dry sherry, chili garlic sauce, brown sugar, rice vinegar, cornstarch, sesame oil and 1/4 cup water; set aside.

Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium high heat. Add ground chicken and cook until browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the chicken as it cooks; drain excess fat.

Stir in garlic and zucchini until softened, about 1-2 minutes. Stir in the soy sauce mixture until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Stir in chestnuts and green onions until tender, about 1-2 minutes; season with salt and pepper, to taste.

To serve, spoon several tablespoons of the chicken mixture into the center of a lettuce leaf, taco-style, garnished with peanuts, if desired.

Thai Lettuce Wraps (Recipe 16 of 150)

Whenever my BFF and I go to PF Changs we order their lettuce wraps. We each have two and then immediately regret it because then our meal shows up and we're mostly stuffed. I guess that's what happens when you eat more protein than carbs. Ahem. 

Tonight's recipe screw up was somewhat intentional. Ok. It was completely intentional. But only because I didn't read this recipe fully until tonight. See, I assumed the "chicken" in this recipe would be ground chicken. All the other recipes I have are, so why would this one be any different? Well, it is. 

So, how'd I fix this? Simple, and I might say probably more delicious. 

I cooked the chicken in a skillet, added the garlic. The sauce I made on the side, took out about 1/3 of a cup and poured the rest over the chicken. Let that simmer and cook for a bit. I used the other sauce to drizzle over each lettuce burrito. 

Thai Lettuce Wraps
Recipe from Food Network

Serves 4

Chicken and Marinade:

• 1/3 c hoisin sauce
• 1/3 c soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons grated ginger
• 1 T Sriracha
• 1 T rice wine vinegar
• 3 cloves garlic, grated
• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
• 2 T chopped peanuts
• 2 T chopped fresh cilantro

Lettuce and Fillings:

• 8 butter lettuce leaves
• 1 c bean sprouts
• 1 c thinly sliced red cabbage
• 1 c julienned carrots
• 1 c cucumber slices
• 1 c cooked thin rice noodles
• 1/3 c sweet chili sauce
• 1/3 c hoisin sauce

For the chicken and marinade: Mix the hoisin sauce, soy sauce, grated ginger, Sriracha, rice wine vinegar and grated garlic in a large bowl or resealable plastic bag. Add the chicken strips and marinate, refrigerated, for 2 hours.

Heat a grill pan over high heat.

Remove the chicken strips from the marinade and grill until cooked through, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to a serving platter and sprinkle with the peanuts and cilantro.

For the lettuce and fillings: Set out the lettuce, bean sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cucumbers and rice noodles on the serving platter.

To assemble, use the butter lettuce leaves to contain the chicken and fillings. Add some chili and hoisin sauce, then roll them up and eat!

PF Chang's Chicken Lettuce Wraps (Recipe 52 of 125)

Whenever Blueberry and I go to PF Changs we order the Chicken Lettuce Wraps for an appetizer and them immediately regret it because we're too full for our main meal. 

I've made copycat recipes before of PF Chang Lettuce Wraps. This one was particularly good as I recall. 

But any time I see a "copycat" recipe I gotta try it. Tonight I made this for Blueberry and I.  For 5 minutes we said nothing. The only sounds coming out of us were "mmmmm" and "OMG Sooo good". 

Make this recipe. If you like lettuce wraps, this is a recipe for you. 

PF Chang's Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Recipe from Damndelicious.net

Serves 4
**NO way this only serves 4. I doubled the recipe and we have enough each for one more meal. If you are only doing this as an appetizer, maybe. But if it's YOUR main meal, no way it feeds 4...more like 2.

• 1 T olive oil
• 1 pound ground chicken
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 onion, diced
• 1/4 c hoisin sauce
• 2 T soy sauce
• 1 T rice wine vinegar
• 1 T freshly grated ginger
• 1 T Sriracha, optional
• 1 (8-ounce) can whole water chestnuts, drained and diced
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 head butter lettuce

Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium high heat. Add ground chicken and cook until browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the chicken as it cooks; drain excess fat.

Stir in garlic, onion, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ginger and Sriracha until onions have become translucent, about 1-2 minutes.

Stir in chestnuts and green onions until tender, about 1-2 minutes; season with salt and pepper, to taste.

To serve, spoon several tablespoons of the chicken mixture into the center of a lettuce leaf, taco-style.

P.F. Chang's Chicken Lettuce Wraps

P.F. Chang's Chicken Lettuce Wraps are one of my favorite things to order at PF Chang's. I've tried a couple of lettuce wrap recipes and this one is by far the closest. 

The only change I'd make next time is to NOT mis-meausure the soy sauce (I used 1/2 c versus 1/4c - big difference). 

Make this...you won't be disappointed. It's low carb, and can be gluten free if you use tamari instead of soy sauce. 

P.F. Chang's Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Recipe from Cookingwithkarli.com

Serves: 4

1 lb ground chicken

1/2 onion, diced

1/4 c soy sauce

1/4 c hoisin sauce

1 tsp minced garlic

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp sesame oil

1 5 oz can water chestnuts

3 green onions, sliced

1 head of lettuce

Brown the ground chicken. 

Add the onion, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, minced garlic, ground ginger, sesame oil and water chestnuts. Let simmer until the sauce has reduced, approx. 3 minutes.

Toss the green onions into the pot and stir in before serving.

Serve inside a lettuce leaf.

Calories: 332 cal

Carbohydrates: 14g

Protein: 35g

Fat: 16g 

Fiber: 4g

Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps

My bestie and I used to go to PF Changs all the time because we lived so close to it. Their lettuce wraps changed my life. I'd often order them for dinner instead of an appetizer. Since I first discovered them I've been testing/tasting lettuce wraps looking for one that's the closest.

This one isn't it. This one is good, but no PF Changs.

I swapped out the protein for ground pork because that's what I had on hand. I actually think that was a mistake and what may have made this not GREAT. It is however, one of THE LOWEST carb recipes I've every made.

Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Recipe from MyRecipes.com

Serves 4 as a meal, more as an appetizer
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Photo from MyRecipes.com

1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 teaspoon hot chili sauce with garlic
1 teaspoon dark sesame oil or olive oil
1 pound ground chicken
1/4 cup chopped green onions (about 3 onions)
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
3 tablespoons chopped dry-roasted peanuts [I completely forgot to add these]
12 iceberg lettuce leaves

Combine first 4 ingredients in a small bowl; stir well.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook 5 minutes or until done, stirring to crumble. Add onions, and sauté 3 minutes. Add lime juice mixture, cilantro, and mint; sauté 2 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in peanuts.

Spoon 1/4 cup chicken mixture onto each lettuce leaf, and roll up.

Calories 83
Fat 5.6g
Protein 7.2g
Carbohydrate 1.6g
Fiber 0.5g

Thai Turkey Lettuce Wraps

My second delivery of Home Chef showed up this weekend. The first delivery went to CH since I was in Arizona unexpectedly.  She said the recipes were just so-so. I really enjoyed the Plated recipes so we'll see how these go. 

This recipe was easy to follow and delicious. Unfortunately the lettuce received in the kit was all wilted and unusable. I had to improvise and use some old lettuce I had. Overall, not lettuce wraps. 

The slaw included had a Sesame dressing that was out of this world.

Thai Turkey Lettuce Wraps

Recipe from Home Chef

1 head of Butter Lettuce

2 green onions

12 oz ground turkey

3 oz Hoisin sauce

2 tsp Sriracha

3 oz water chestnuts

1 tsp ginger, minced

4 oz slaw

3 oz Asian Sesame Dressing

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Prepare your ingredients by separating the lettuce leaves and washing them. Trim and thinly slice the green onions on an angle, keeping the whites and green portions separate. 

Heat a medium non-stick pan with 2 tsp olive oil (I didn't need the oil) over medium-high heat. Add ground turkey and cook, breaking up with a spoon, until lightly browned and no pink remain, 8-10 minutes. 

Add Hoisin sauce, Sriracha (to taste), water chestnuts, white portions of the green onions, and ginger to pan.  Cook, stirring occasionally, 3-4 minutes. Taste and season with salt and pepper. 

Place a lettuce cup on work surface. Fill with a few spoonfuls of turkey mixture and top with slaw mix. Repeat for each lettuce cup.

Slaw mix is basically the slaw mix you buy in the store. You'll need to find an Asian Sesame dressing or something similar. 

Top with green portions of green onions and devour. 

Chinese Turkey Lettuce Wraps

It used to be that eating healthy was gross. The flavorless food they used to shove down our throats just didn't cut it.

These days there are so many healthy recipes out there it's hard to argue that you can't eat healthy.

This recipe is off one of my favorite sites, Can You Stay for Dinner.  The author, Andi, has lost 130+ lbs and has kept it off for years.  She put her mother on a diet last year and I grabbed most of the recipes she posted for that plan.

This recipe is delicious.  It's flavorful, filling, and so ... did I say flavorful. Yum.

Chinese Turkey Lettuce Wraps

Photo from ME!

Recipe from CanYouStayforDinner.com 

4 servings

• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 2 T soy sauce
• 1 T brown sugar
• ¼ cup hoisin sauce
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 pound 93% lean ground turkey breast
• 2 cups finely chopped button mushrooms
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1” knob of fresh gingerroot, finely minced
• 3 large carrots, grated (about 1 ½ to 2 cups)
• 6 scallions (green onions), finely chopped (about 1 ½ cups)
• 1 (8-ounce) can water chestnuts, drained and finely chopped
• 1 head iceberg lettuce

 In a small bowl, whisk sesame oil, soy sauce, brown sugar, and hoisin sauce. Set aside.

Add olive oil to a large skillet or wok set over medium-high heat. Add ground turkey and cook for 5 minutes, using a spatula to crumble the meat. Add the mushrooms and cook for 3 minutes, stirring frequently, until the turkey is no longer pink and the mushrooms have begun to soften. Add salt, chili powder, garlic, and ginger, and stir to combine.

Add the reserved soy sauce mixture to the pan and stir to coat all ingredients. Cook for 3 minutes to allow the sauce to thicken slightly. Add carrots, scallions, and water chestnuts, and give the whole pan one final stir. Remove from heat.

To serve: Divide lettuce leaves among four plates. Spoon a small amount of turkey into each lettuce leaf and fold to eat.

Chicken Stir-Fry Wraps

Being the chicken is likely the most consumed meat of the decade, I'm constantly trying to find interesting ways of preparing it. If left unchecked, I can get quite tired of chicken. Pork doesn't "agree" with me, so I'm limited to my white meat selection.

This particular recipe was 1) easy and 2) good. I didn't actually buy lettuce to do the wrap thing with, but it was tasty all the same.

Chicken Stir Fry Wraps

Recipe from Everyday food

Photo courtesy of
Everyday Food

Serves 4

• 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, halved horizontally and thinly sliced
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, halved and thinly sliced
• 1 large red bell pepper, ribs and seeds removed, thinly sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons grated peeled fresh ginger
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch, mixed with 1 tablespoon water
• 12 to 16 Boston lettuce leaves (about 2 heads)

Directions
Season chicken with salt and pepper. In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over high heat. Add half the chicken; cook, stirring constantly, until opaque throughout, 2 to 4 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Repeat with remaining chicken.

Add remaining tablespoon oil to pan, along with the onion and bell pepper. Cook, stirring constantly, until onion is tender and golden, about 4 minutes (reduce heat if browning too quickly).

Reduce heat to medium; add garlic, ginger, and red-pepper flakes; cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 to 60 seconds.

Stir in soy sauce, vinegar, and cornstarch mixture; remove from heat. Add chicken and any accumulated juices; toss to coat. Serve in lettuce cups.