Cashew Chicken Lettuce Wraps that are better-than-take-out and made from scratch in less than 30 minutes! Grilled chicken smothered in the tastiest general-tso's inspired sauce with crunchy cashews, spooned into a crisp green lettuce cup.
We had a very BUSY weekend — swimming, BBQ's with friends, errands, and a blown-out tire. I'm in need of an easy, stress-free dinner tonight and these lettuce wraps are at the top of my list!
They are not only incredibly easy, they are packed with sooo much flavor. I find myself making “yummy” noises with every bite. Does anyone else do that? My husband makes fun of me, but it's totally subconscious. When I love what I'm eating it's hard to keep quiet! hahaha.
Cashew Chicken Lettuce Wraps start with chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces and sauteed over medium heat. Add a simple asian sauce that thickens right in the pan with the chicken. Stir-in some cashews at the end, and spoon everything into a lettuce cup.
What is the best lettuce to use for lettuce wraps?
You can use any type of green leafy lettuce for lettuce wraps, but popular types of lettuce include Boston bib lettuce and romaine hearts. The great thing about lettuce wraps is that they are easily modifiable when it comes to the filling and the wrapping. Cabbage leaves would also be a yummy substitute.
I often make these as a main dish, served with fresh fruit (or even a side of fried rice as well, if you want a “heartier” meal). You could also serve them as an appetizer.
Consider trying these delicious lettuce wrap recipes:
- Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps
- Avocado Chicken Salad Lettuce Wraps
- Asian Turkey Lettuce Wraps
- Greek Yogurt Chicken Salad Lettuce Wraps
- Spicy Chicken Lettuce Wraps
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Recipe
Cashew Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into small pieces
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth or stock
- 2 Tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
- 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
- 1 Tablespoon rice vinegar
- 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
- 3 cloves garlic , minced
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil or substitute canola oil
- 1 - 2 teaspoons Sriracha hot sauces to taste
- 3/4 cup unsalted cashews
- 1 head green leafy lettuce (romaine, bib, or butter)
- 5 green onions , chopped, divided
Instructions
- Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper.
- In a small bowl stir together the chicken stock, soy sauce, ginger, hoisin sauce, vinegar, and cornstarch.
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper and add to hot skillet. Cook, flipping once, until cooked through, about 5 minutes.
- Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Reduce heat to low, add the sauce from the bowl and continue to cook, stirring, until thickened. Add sriracha hot sauce, to taste. Stir in cashews and most of the green onion, reserving a big handful for garnish at the end.
- Serve in cold lettuce cups. Top with remaining chopped green onions if desired.
- Next time try one of these lettuce wrap recipes!
Nutrition
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Have you tried this recipe?!
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This was delicious!! Will definitely make again.
This was really good and really easy. I used boneless skinless thigh because I didn’t notice that I had grabbed thighs out of the freezer instead of breasts. I also did not salt the chicken as I was sure that hoisin sauce would provide sufficient salt, and I was right. I put a layer of shredded carrots and lots of chopped green onions over the top for presentation. It was very pretty.
This Cashew Chicken Lettuce Wrap is so good! I used Coconut Secret Gochujang Soy-Free Korean Fermented Chili Paste in replace to sriracha. Still so delicious and it’s healthy.
It tasted just as great as I anticipated.
Easy too
Outstanding recipe! We had our sons and daughter-in-laws over Sunday, we had an wonderful time.
I added bok Choy, onions, carrots, Garlic, red and green peppers. We made it spicy hot. The Romain heart lettuce was a perfect pocket for the wrap. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Excellent pairing with sushi.
Great dish and super fast and easy! Be sure to use low sodium soy sauce. I only had regular and it made the dish super salty even though I left out the salt for seasoning the chicken. I also used unsalted peanuts instead of cashews. This will become a regular at our house.
Great recipe! My family loves it! I just do 1lb of chicken and then add broccoli and carrots for some veggies.
This recipe was really good! I definitely will make it again. I made it as the recipe called for but my cashews were lightly salted and it still worked out great. I served it on what I call adult ramen (the good rice, brown rice and quinoa kind) with a side of sautéed pea pods. I tried a small lettuce cup as well and that is great too.
Delicious!
We made this tonight for dinner, and it was a hit. So quick, easy, and tasty! We had everything on hand for this meal, so I didn’t even need to go to the store. We decided to serve this with rice and stir fry veggies instead of in lettuce cups. I just doubled the sauce part but kept everything else the same, and then cooked up some jasmine rice (2.5 cups uncooked) to go with it, and a steam bag of stir fry microwave vegetables. It fed our family of 9 with leftovers to spare! It’s DEFINITELY IMPORTANT to use low sodium soy sauce. I used regular soy sauce, and it was a tad too salty. It would have been just right with low sodium, like the recipe asks for.
Thanks for this recipe and dinner inspiration! We will make this again.