Enjoy these Healthy Chicken Lettuce Wraps in under 30 minutes – for a healthy, flavorful low-carb wrap! Choose the protein of your choice (chicken breast, ground chicken or turkey, etc.) and load it up with a savory sauce and cashew nuts piled up into fresh crispy lettuce – way better and healthier than any restaurant!!
For those days when you want something lower carb than chicken burritos and even lighter than these low-carb chicken enchiladas!
Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Chicken lettuce wraps are on the menu of most restaurants these days. Truth is I never order them anymore because of the price. Even more truth – we rarely eat out except for sushi. That’s what happens when you learn how to cook.
Instead when I get a craving for takeout, I make dishes like chicken tacos (including ground chicken tacos and buffalo chicken tacos), tostadas, and – for those days, I want something lighter- these healthy lettuce wraps with low fat chicken or turkey. Combine the meat with cashews (always!), firm veggies I have on hand, and a fair amount of delicious healthy sauce for a simple low-carb lunch or dinner.
This chicken lettuce wraps recipe beats any restaurant’s menu. Flavorful, crunchy and saucy low carb dinner or appetizer. It can be prepared ahead and served with a side like quinoa, rice, or even a baked potato for extra hungry people like my husband.
Once you make these easy chicken lettuce wraps, you will stop eating out too!
Ingredients for Lettuce Wraps
To make teriyaki chicken lettuce wraps you need simple ingredients you probably have on hand already. I swear I cook with same 30 ingredients over and over.
- Chicken breasts or thighs, or ground chicken or ground turkey
- Cashews
- 1 head of lettuce
- Firm veggies like zucchini and bell pepper – You could also use cooked veggie leftovers, like grilled zucchini.
- Onion, garlic, ginger and green onion
- Soy sauce, maple syrup, vinegar and cornstarch
Don’t feel intimidated if you are missing something. Just use what you have on hand (and those veggies starting to go a little wrinkly in the back of the fridge!)
Healthy Chicken Lettuce Wraps Sauce
When it comes to Asian dishes like beef stir fry, chicken stir fry and teriyaki chicken, I always make my own sauce. I never buy pre-made sauces because they are loaded with sugar, sodium and preservatives. They are the worst of all processed foods!
All there is to a healthy Asian sauce is:
- Cold water so cornstarch dissolves.
- Soy sauce or liquid aminos.
- Any sweetener like maple syrup, honey, agave, sugar etc.
- Any light colour vinegar like rice vinegar or just white or white wine vinegar.
- Cornstarch or arrowroot powder or none. Not the end of the world.
What Kind of Lettuce Works?
The best lettuce choices for cashew chicken lettuce wraps:
- Iceberg lettuce – It is what PF Chang’s serves their ground chicken lettuce wraps in. It is not my favorite for a few reasons. Its leaves are hard to separate and I find them tasteless and watery. It is also hard to find organic and you know me and my Dirty Dozen.:)
- Romaine lettuce – It is the same lettuce you use for making Caesar salad. It is often sold in plastic bags, hearts only. Super easy to separate and buy organic. Romaine leaves are also sturdy which are perfect for holding the filling. I don’t love the longboat look though.
- Butter lettuce – Also known as Boston bibb lettuce is my favorite. It has soft texture paired with sweet taste and pretty round shape. Easy to separate and you might need to stack a few leaves on top of each other. It is not always available and can be pricey off season but I still buy it for lettuce wraps.:)
I feel like the butter lettuce I grabbed (pictured) had leaves a bit too small. But hey, it worked and was locally grown.
How to Make Chicken Lettuce Wraps
- Make sure all ingredients are ready before cooking. It is kind of like stir fry situation.
- Toast cashews first and set aside.
- Cook onion, garlic and ginger for 1 minute. Then add chicken and cook for 10 minutes.
- Whisk sauce ingredients in a bowl and to the skillet with chicken. Also add zucchini and bell pepper at the same time—Cook for 1 minute.
- To assemble chicken lettuce wraps, use 2-3 stacked lettuce leaves and spoon desired amount of filling on top.
Tips for Best Lettuce Wraps
- Make sure chicken and veggies are diced and minced where required.
- If you don’t have cashews use almonds or skip. I did not like the taste of walnuts.
- Use well pre-heated skillet.
How to Store
Chicken lettuce wraps taste best fresh. Obviously, because of the nature of my job where I cook dinner at lunchtime, I just reheat filling in the skillet before dinner. I place skillet in the fridge, remove straight to the stove and voila. Saves washing dishes.
You can refrigerate filling for up to 3 days.
What I also like to do is to separate, wash and dry leaves from entire head of lettuce. Then I wrap them in a linen towel. And it kind of will be moist from the leaves because it’s impossible to dry lettuce completely. And it’s perfect. You can refrigerate lettuce this way for up to 3 days too. When it’s time to eat, healthy dinner becomes easy-peasy.
Serving Ideas
This Asian lettuce wraps recipe is perfect for a low-carb dinner. I stack 2-4 layers of leaves to load up on fiber and avoid late night hunger.
However, they can also be served as a light main alongside several sides for those particularly hungry (my husband, for sure!). In that case, I suggest serving these lettuce wraps alongside dishes like:
- Rice: You can serve the chicken lettuce wraps over a bed of brown rice or add even more flavor to the meal through the likes of this rice and beans.
- Quinoa: Like this Instant Pot quinoa, Mediterranean quinoa salad, or quinoa tabbouleh salad.
- Cauli Rice: Alternatively, you can serve the wraps with another low-carb alternative in the form of cauliflower rice; Cauliflower fried rice, Thai cauli rice, and cilantro lime cauliflower rice are all delicious options!
- Roasted veggies: Like this roasted sweet potatoes, asparagus, or brussels sprouts.
You can also serve the wraps as an appetizer or as part of a party spread alongside other simple appetizers like parmesan mushrooms or healthy salads like this healthy chicken salad.
It’s perfect for a hot summer day or equally amazing at a winter Super Bowl party.
Kids love-love the filling in warm flour tortilla. Just heat tortilla in a cast-iron skillet until bubbles appear on each side. Your teenagers will be kissing you “Good night, mom!”.
Hope you enjoy these healthy chicken lettuce wraps! And I would love to hear below how much you enjoy them:)
More Healthy Chicken Recipes
- Healthy chicken stir fry
- Thai chicken curry
- Healthy chicken salad
- Grilled chicken salad
- Healthy chicken alfredo
- Healthy chicken pot pie
- Thai chicken salad
You might also want to browse through my complete list of 30-minute meals!
Healthy Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs chicken breast diced
- 1 small onion finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1/2 inch knob ginger minced
- 1 small zucchini diced
- 1 small bell pepper diced
- 1 cup cashews coarsely chopped
- 2 green onion sprigs chopped
- 1/4 cup cold water
- 2 tbsp soy sauce I used aminos
- 2 tbsp maple syrup or honey
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 head of butter iceberg or Romaine lettuce, leaves separated
- 1 tbsp avocado or any oil for frying
Instructions
- Make sure all ingredients are chopped and ready.
- Preheat large ceramic non-stick skillet on medium heat and add cashews. Pan fry until toasted, stirring constantly. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
- Return skillet to medium heat and swirl oil to coat. Add onion, garlic and ginger; cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
- Add chicken and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Right before chicken is done cooking, in a small bowl add cold water, soy sauce, maple syrup, rice vinegar and cornstarch; whisk with a fork. Add to the chicken along with zucchini and bell pepper; cook for 1 minute or until sauce has thickened. Stir in cashews and green onions.
- Serve chicken lettuce wraps immediately. To assemble, use 2-3 stacked lettuce leaves (depending on its thickness) and spoon desired amount of filling on top. If someone is very hungry, serve over a bed of brown rice or quinoa.
Store: Refrigerate filling in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Reheat on a skillet before assembling lettuce wraps. You can also refrigerate washed lettuce leaves wrapped in linen towel for up to 3 days.
Notes
Nutrition
Recipes and images are a copyright of ifoodreal.com. It is against the law to republish recipes anywhere including social media, print and all world wide web. Nutritional info is provided for informational purposes only and to the best knowledge.
Great recipe! It wad yummy and my kids loved it too. Thank you so much
You are very welcome!
Hi ! I’m going to try this recipe tonight, it looks delicious !
I was just wondering, when you put 300 calories, is that for just one small wrap?
Thank you!
Hey Clara! The nutritional info is for 2-3 wraps (depending on how big your wraps are). I updated the recipe card to reflect this. Thanks for bringing up a great question!
Hi Olena,
I’ve never commented on anyone’s blog before, but I am so happy to have found you! I really appreciate your no-nonsense approach, your healthy relationship with food, and your commentary on parenting picky eaters. I have 5 kids and its sort of like cooking for a dinner party every night–I am not a chef, and infact really dislike cooking a lot. However, I have found your variety of meals is terrific, your recipes are easy to follow, and your grounded sense of things refreshing. Thank you for being my go-to meal prep site!
PS. I made the lettuce wraps last night, and they were a hit!
Awe, thanks so much for your wonderful feedback Tami! Glad you are enjoying the recipes.
I made the Healthy Chicken Lettuce Wraps but I used 74% lean ground turkey!! Absolutely delicious!! Actually have now made it several times! Can’t thank you enough
I really appreciate this wonderful feedback Paul!
I’ve made a lot of your recipes and this is my favorite one yet! Made it for lunch for 2 people, cut the recipe down to 1/3. Probably had more chicken than called for, guess-timated on the sauce ingredients. So quick to make. And OUTTA THIS WORLD tasty. Going into the regular rotation immediately…
Woohoo! Love receiving this type of feedback!
Love it
Super easy to make and even more fun to present! I didn’t have rice vinegar so I used champagne vinegar and it worked just as well. I skipped the ginger too, since I am not a fan and it was still amazing. I served it with brown rice 1 minute rice in the cups that you can microwave. Made a great presentation.
Thanks for sharing Jennifer!
OH. MY. GOSH. This is AMAZING! I made these tonight, and they are so yummy! I will definitely be making this much more often.
Awesome!
There’s so many good reviews! I can’t wait to try this.
Hi Adelyn! I hope you enjoy it.
So good! I made this recipe tonight, and it is AMAZING!
Thank you for the awesome review!
It’s delicious! I think a trick is dicing everything, including the chicken, into small pieces. I’ll definitely make this again. I did not have rice vinegar on hand (it’s here somewhere!), so I used white wine vinegar which worked. I’m trying to eat more healthily, and this recipe fits the bill!
That’s so great Margie! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review.
This recipe was delicious!! I’m going to double the recipe next time (except cashews) so we can have left overs! Very good and loved the flavor. Next time I’m going to try it with your fried cauliflower recipe instead of the lettuce wraps. Yum! Thank you Olena! We can’t wait to cook up more of your recipes!
I am thrilled that you liked this recipe so much Jessica! Please don’t hesitate to let me know what you think of any of my other recipes 🙂
We used ground turkey. My son is allergic to all nuts so we omitted those. I didn’t have zucchini so I used asparagus. And I used apple cider vinegar instead of rice vinegar. They were delicious. My 7 year old couldn’t stop eating them and my 2 year old was eating up the filling. Definitely a new regular at our house.
Glad the recipe was a hit for you and the substitutions worked out!
My husband loves these. This has become a weekly meal at our house. Easy and delicious!
Thank you!
So happy this is part of your go-to dinner rotation!
Even my picky eater ate these!
Delicious and easy to make.
Love hearing that Kelli!
How many pounds of ground turkey would you use if you did not use the 1.5 pounds of chicken breast?
Same or 1 pack, it’s just a little over 1 lb.
Wonderful. what is the caloric content?
Oops sorry. Will add tomorrow.
I love this recipe thank you! Also, how many calories is in this meal? And what’s the serving size?
You are so welcome, Nichole! Nutritional info card is located inside each recipe card. 🙂
I still cant find the calories anywhere
Nutritional information is located at the bottom of every recipe. Sometimes you have to wait a minute or so for the info to load on the webpage. For the Chicken Lettuce wraps, there are 328 calories per serving (a serving size is 2-3 wraps depending on the size of lettuce you use.) Hope that helps.
This recipe was pretty good. I didn’t have zucchini so I substituted with other vegetables. Also, I didn’t have chicken breasts so I used chicken parts and left it as parts. So I had one piece of chicken with each lettuce wrap. Three wraps was able to fill me up.
Glad you made this chicken lettuce wraps work and enjoyed it. 🙂
Yummy!! Full of flavour and very satisfying !
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Karen! Thank you for the wonderful review!
I found this recipe as we are trying to eat healthier. We made them tonight and they were so good! And I’m the type of person who never ends up like what I make. We will be making this over and over again. Thanks!
You are very welcome, Burke!
Delicious!! I doubled the recipe and it was gone almost instantly. I also added some all spice to give it an extra something.
Yay! So happy to hear.:)
If you mention PF Chang – I am in!! 🙂 Yes, butter lettuce is a perfect variation – it looks and tastes superior to any other lettuces. Loved your sauce too! Thanks, Olena!
You are very welcome!
sounds very good where are the nutrition facts or how many servings
Inside the recipe card.:)
OH MY!! Absolutely DELICIOUS!!!
Wahoo!!!!! First review and it’s a keeper.:) Awesome.
Delicious and so easy!!!