Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Published Mar 20, 2013•Updated Aug 31, 2023
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Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps are a simple, fresh weeknight meal that is packed with protein and just enough spice to keep you wanting more. With 330 calories and 38 grams of protein per serving this is a delicious dinner that you can feel good about.
I love the flavor of these lettuce wraps – a simple peanut sauce with a bit of spice, but there’s something addictive about the contrast of crisp lettuce, saucy chicken, and crunchy peanuts. It comes together super fast. Just make the sauce, add the chicken to a wok and pour the sauce over top. You can adjust the spice in any direction you prefer – the sauce is delicious with any amount of heat.
Bangkok
Something unique happens twice every day during rush hour on Bangkok’s public train system (BTS). At exactly 8am and 6pm the national anthem begins to play and people stop walking to listen and show respect. No matter how fast you are moving, when the music plays, you stop, and you listen.
It’s such an impressive sight that when my sisters were visiting last summer, they joined in my morning commute on more than one occasion. We’d park ourselves in the BTS station at 7:55 and wait for the music that freezes everyone in their tracks.
When I first moved here, it felt like a battle of will for me to join in this practice. I’m in a rush, how can I stop!? But I’ve learned to appreciate it. It’s hot here. A minute break never hurts.
And when the music ends, we all start right back up in the myriad of directions we are headed. It felt a bit like that instant when the anthem ends and I begin speed-walking again when Frank and I returned from vacation, and were thrown back into work mid-week. I was headed in a particular direction before we left, and I was moving fast.
Just as the vacation shook me a bit out of my routine, the break from cooking gave me reason to change direction a bit in my cooking. Our dinner routine has been streamlined since we returned – for simplicity sake (not to mention to make up for the indulgences of the beach). We’ve wanted quick, healthy, delicious meals. I wanted to savor the vacation for a bit longer and enjoy good food at home.
It’s easy to gain momentum and keep moving in a particular direction. But a change of pace is always a good thing.
Pausing to listen to a song, or say, to sit on the beach and read the Hunger Games for a few days can make all the difference.
More Thai Recipes
- Thai Red Curry with Chicken
- Thai Basil Chicken (Pad Krapow Gai)
- Thai Green Curry with Chicken
- Thai Minced Chicken Salad (Laab / Larb Gai)
- Thai Chicken Satay
- Thai Rice and Meatball Soup
- Thai Beef Salad (Nam Tok)
- Easy Pad Thai
- 20 Minute Thai Chicken Peanut Noodles
- Thai Glass Noodle Salad (Yum Woon Sen)
- Thai Chicken Pizza
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Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Equipment
- Mixing Bowl
- Wok or Saute Pan
Ingredients
For the Sauce:
- 1 Tbsp Sesame Oil
- 1 Tbsp Rice Vinegar
- 1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
- 1 clove Garlic, minced
- 2 tsp finely grated Fresh Ginger
- 1 Tbsp Honey
- 1 Tbsp Creamy Peanut Butter
- 1 Tbsp Coconut Milk
- 1 Tbsp Sriracha (reduce if you prefer less spice)
- 1/2 tsp Cornstarch
For the Chicken:
- 2 tsp Sunflower or Vegetable oil
- 16 oz Chicken, finely chopped (460g)
- 12 large outer leaves Iceberg Lettuce
- 1/3 cup Toasted Peanuts
- 6 Thai Chilis, thinly sliced (optional – these can be spicy!)
- 1 Lime, cut into wedges
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk together the ingredients for the sauce (sesame oil, rice vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, honey, peanut butter, coconut milk, Sriracha, and cornstarch). Whisk until evenly combined (some small lumps of peanut butter may remain).
- Heat a large wok or sauté pan over high heat. When the pan is hot, add the oil (it should shimmer). Carefully add the chicken to the pan and cook, stirring continuously until the chicken begins to brown on the outside, 3-4 minutes. Add the prepared sauce to the pan all at once. Cook, stirring continuously, until the sauce has thickened slightly and the chicken is cooked through, about 2 minutes.
- Transfer the chicken to a serving dish. Serve immediately with the lettuce leaves, peanuts, chilis, and lime wedges on the side. Spoon about 1/4 cup of chicken mixture, peanuts, and chilis on top of each lettuce leaf and squeeze a lime wedge over the top just before eating.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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What a cool story! I think all of us could use a reason to slow down each day – if only for a couple of minutes! I love these lettuce wraps!
Delicious! I just bought some Thai chili seeds so I could grow my own. Pinning this!
I’m hooked on the things, so I’ll definitely be looking to grow them when we get back to the US! Looking forward to seeing everything you’ve got growing this year, Debra!
Oh, I always loved chicken lettuce wraps! One of my favorite appetizers!
Jess! I have had lettuce wraps on the brain lately. No jokes, I have probably five or six tabs open on my computer with lettuce wrap recipes. I have a brick of tofu in the freezer which I’m envisioning thawing, pressing, crumbling (magical things happen to tofu after it’s been frozen) and then using in lettuce wraps. The sauce looks great, and it might just work if I sub in my frozen tofu for the chicken.
Oh, and your vacation looked awesome. The (maybe a tad sunburned?) photo of you and Frank especially, because it is Still Snowing Here (that’s 5 months with snow on the ground, just in case you were counting. I am.)
Yum Katie! I’ve never frozen tofu, but had no idea what I was missing – Frank is out of town next week, so I might have to give the recipe a try next week with tofu instead of chicken. Despite our best efforts to stay entirely in the shade, there’s never much hope for Frank and I – we’re both so fair skinned! We are genetically better suited for your snow-covered part of the world. 😉
What a wonderful idea. It must be quiet an amazing site in such a fast-paced city.
Taking a little break every day is a must!
It’s funny, I’m not a lettuce eater but fill it with meat and I love it!