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Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps

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Healthy food has never tasted so AMAZING! These Thai chicken lettuce wraps are bursting with bold flavor, and fresh ingredients. They can be enjoyed as a main dish or served as an appetizer.
Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps in romaine leaves on a plate.
I LOVE any foods that fall in the Thai/Indian categories because they always contain fresh ingredients and bold flavors. These lettuce wraps are packed with so much flavor! Every time I make them I’m reminded how incredibly delicious they are.

The filling is full of veggies, protein and a delicious thai/sweet chili/peanut sauce everyone that will leave everyone at the table feeling satisfied. You can watch your hungry family load their plates with seconds, thirds, or even fourths and smile that they’re not only loving these Thai chicken lettuce wraps, but they’re eating healthy!

Start by chopping your chicken into very small pieces, and chopping all of your veggies.

Add the chicken, onion, garlic, salt and pepper to a large skillet and cook until no longer pink. Add the chopped veggies and saute until tender.

Side by side photos of a skillet with the ingredients for Thai chicken lettuce wraps including chicken, garlic, onion, carrot, cabbage.

 

Make the sauce (this can be made in advance and stored in the fridge). Fresh chopped ginger really tastes the very best in the sauce (you can buy a small piece of ginger root for this recipe, and store the extra in your freezer for another day).

Add the sauce and cilantro to the skillet and toss everything to combine.

A bowl with the sauce ingredients for Thai chicken lettuce wraps. The sauce is then added to a skillet with the chicken and vegetables for the lettuce wraps.

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.

A few tips for this recipe:
Substitutions:

This recipe is easily adaptable to use what you have in your fridge. You could add other chopped veggies, like celery, bok choy, bean sprouts, shredded Brussels sprouts, zucchini or summer squash.  Saute the veggies until tender, when you add them to the skillet. If you add a lot of extra veggies to this recipe, you may want to make a little more sauce.

You could also substitute the chicken for ground turkey, pork, or tofu, or leave it out completely for a vegetarian option, adding extra veggies instead.

Ingredient prep:

I use a box grater to shred my carrot. Then I use a paper towel to scoop up the pile of shredded carrot and squeeze the liquid out of it.

I also pat the chicken dry with paper towels after I’ve chopped it into small pieces. Removing the excess liquid helps the chicken brown better when you saute it in step 2.

The sauce for these lettuce wraps can be made 2-3 days in advance, making for even faster dinner prep!

Overhead view of a white platter filled with Thai chicken lettuce wraps

 

Consider trying these delicious lettuce wrap recipes:

 

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4.94 from 16 votes
Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps lined along a white plate.
Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Print Recipe
Prep Time
15 mins
Cook Time
10 mins
Total Time
20 mins
 

Healthy food has never tasted so AMAZING! These Thai chicken lettuce wraps are bursting with bold flavor, and fresh ingredients. They can be enjoyed as a main dish or served as an appetizer.

Course: Appetizer, Main Course, Salad
Cuisine: Thai
Keyword: healthy lettuce wraps
Unit: clove, cup, head, heaping Tablespoon, pound, teaspoon
Servings: 4
Calories: 150 kcal
Author: Lauren Allen
Ingredients
  • 2 teaspoons olive oil
  • 1/2 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts (or tenders), chopped into very small pieces*
  • 4 cloves garlic , minced
  • 1/2 cup yellow onion , chopped
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 carrot , shredded
  • 1/2 cup cabbage , finely shredded (red, green, or napa)
  • 3 green onions , chopped
For the sauce:
  • 1/3 cup sweet chili sauce
  • 1 heaping Tablespoon peanut butter , smooth or crunchy
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated ginger (or 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger)
  • 2 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup fresh cilantro , chopped
  • crushed red pepper flakes to taste
  • 1 head Boston Bib lettuce (or romaine)
Instructions

  1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium. 

  2. Add chicken, garlic, onions, salt and pepper and cook, tossing occasionally, until chicken is cooked through. 

  3. Add the carrots, cabbage, and green onions, and cook for 2 more minutes.

  4. In a small bowl combine the sweet chili sauce, ginger, peanut butter, soy sauce, and crushed red pepper. Stir until smooth. 

  5. Add sauce to the pan. Add cilantro. toss everything until combined. 

  6. Spoon mixture into individual lettuce cups. Should fill about 8 lettuce cups.

  7. You might also like Cashew Chicken Lettuce Wraps!

Recipe Video

Recipe Notes

*You could substitute 1/2 pound ground chicken or turkey

Tips for this recipe are listed in the post above!

Have you tried this recipe?! 
RATE this recipe and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.

 

I originally shared this recipe in January 2014. Updated January 2018

Healthy food has never tasted so AMAZING! These Thai chicken lettuce wraps are bursting with bold flavor, and fresh ingredients. #healthy #lettucewraps #withpeanutsauce #thai #cleaneating
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Comments

  1. YUM Lauren! Those look amazing. I love chicken recipes that are a little bit different like this one, cause we eat a lot of the basic chicken dishes and lately I am just not in the mood for the same old!

    Reply

  4. These are amazing! I was also looking for a different “chicken” recipe. I made these for my husband on Friday evening and – as I type- I am standing in my kitchen on Sunday evening making them again! They are so delish

    Reply

  7. We really liked these! If you didn’t want to go carb free you could totally serve this over brown rice. We found that it could have used an extra chicken breast to make the meal go farther, and there is plenty of sauce that would of covered it. Thanks for sharing, we enjoyed it!

    Reply

    • Hi Debbie,
      You could try chopping the breasts into large chunks and then sticking them in your food processor. Just pulse 3-4 times until you get small little bits of chicken.

      Reply

  9. Liked this a lot! Only change, I made was to use Sriracha instead of red pepper. Wasn’t super spicy, could have been hotter for my taste but my sister is a bit of a spice wimp.

    Reply

  10. Sounds like a great recipe. I would suggest substituting the canola oil with coconut oil as it is much better for your body than canola oil.
    Will try it soon
    Thanks for posting

    Reply

  12. Made these for dinner last night…was looking for something a little different than our usual lettuce wraps. These were great! That peanut butter sauce was really something special. Can’t wait for left overs for lunch today.

    Reply

  13. These Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps are fabulous! With only minor modifications, I was able to serve this to my multiple food allergy kid. We had to leave out the peanut butter, but they were so good anyway. Next time I might add a peanut sauce dip on the side for those who want to add it later. This will definitely be added to our “favorite dinners” list.

    Reply

  15. This is my family’s favorite Thai lettuce wrap recipe. I ‘lost’ track of the recipe one time and was in big trouble, ha. I finally found it again and have made multiple copies on multiple devices so as not to lose it ever again. The ingredients are so simple but the sauce is so delicious and gets better with multiple warmings even though it doesn’t last that long around here. Love it so much!

    Reply

  16. wow….we made those last night…the wrap was just so delicious….Thanks for sharing this recipe….can’t wait to make them again….Probably next week !

    Reply

  17. These were great. My only ‘complaint’ would be about serving quantities. I tripled the recipe to feed 5 people (2 men, 3 women), with leftovers for lunch. It fed us with a couple of us getting seconds but I expected there to be leftovers. Perhaps they were just too good and we ate too much 🙂

    Reply

  18. Can you boil the chicken and shred it first? If I had chicken breasts what would be the best way? These look great!

    Reply

  19. I tried it …..it is delicious…….especially the peanut butter sauce……and its easy to make ………my husband loved it !shan

    Reply

  20. I tried it …..it is delicious…….especially the peanut butter sauce……and its easy to make ………my husband loved it!

    Reply

  23. I made these tonight for dinner. The only change was I used ground turkey instead of chicken. They were a huge hit! My kids ages 13 and 16 loved them, they asked to have them for dinner again tomorrow. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply

  24. Absolutely awesome! Only change wa I used 1/4 cup chili garlic sauce instead of sweet chili sauce because it’s what I had. It gave it a nice kick but warn guests before they automatically add something hot if they usually like it spicy.

    Reply

  27. These were a great find, thank you so much for sharing! I made a batch on Sunday night to use for my lunches going forward during the week. Normally when I do this after the 2nd or so time I’m tired of the dish but not with these lettuce wraps! I used ground chicken and it was super easy to work with. Doubled the veggies. I also didn’t have sweet chili sauce when it came time to cook so I improvised with some honey and sriracha. Can’t wait to try some of your other dishes!

    Reply

    • I agree–this is one of those recipes I never get tired of! So happy you enjoyed it (I love the idea of meal prepping this!), and I hope you get to try some of my other recipes! Thanks 🙂

      Reply

  28. I made these for my girls last week and tonight for valentine’s day I’m making it again for my husband and daughters..I’m also making the red velvet cookies for dessert…yum ☺

    Reply

  29. These are incredible! My new favorite healthy meal. I can’t get over how good they are and EASY. Thanks for the great recipe.

    Reply

  30. I’ve been making these for a few years now… a total weeknight favorite! I’m just getting back into my kitchen after a few months of bad morning sickness… guess what was on my list first? Thank you for the recipe!

    Reply

  32. So yummy!!! I made a couple adjustments in the I used 2lbs ground turkeys for doubled the sauce. I had garlic chili sauce on hand so used that instead and added honey we don’t use soy sauce in my house so I subbed that for liquid aminos. This is so tasty and incredibly healthy!!

    Reply

  34. Out of all recipes found online, these seemed the easiest… My husband like them! I just realized I forgot the peanut sauce ( I’m not fond of it) and he green onions, yet he gobbled up two servings. Not bad for a first time! He suggested less salt in the future but loved them otherwise.

    Reply

  36. First of all, I love your site! Your instructions are always so easy to follow and everything we have tried has been amazing. Not to mention how much we LOVE this recipe! We have made these lettuce wraps 3 times in the past two weeks. 🙂

    Reply

  37. Made these to bring along as a dish to a friend BBQ. They went down a treat! Lots of fresh flavours and something colourful to add to the table. Delicious!

    Reply

  38. Lauren – My entire family LOVES these. I have made them every week for a month. They make awesome after school snacks. I’m about to write a blog post with my Favorite Things for Teachers. This recipe is one of my favorite 5 things.

    Reply

  40. curious about doubling recipes in the instant pot. the taco bowls for instance, can I double it in a standard size instant pot? Thanks! Love. your site.

    Reply

  41. Seeing how there are already so many comments about this dish just shows how yummy this recipe is!! My family, including my 3 yr old daughter, LOVES LOVES this meal.
    I tend to triple it so we can have leftovers for a few days and i also love to switch out the cabbage for zuchini. I could not say enough about how good this receipe is. SO YUMMY!!!

    Reply

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