I adore lettuce wraps. Similar to my Vietnamese salad rolls, they have all the crunchy textures and bright flavors I can’t get enough of!
When I finally tweaked a recipe to make ones like I had had in the restaurants, I was ecstatic!
I like these lettuce wraps even more than any I’ve tried, and I always know what’s in them when I make them myself.
I am so sick of eating out and dealing with reactions post consumption!
These are so easy to make and perfect for a warm weather day. They are a bit messy to eat, my leaves always fall apart, but use a napkin and dig in…these are healthy and delicious! OR if you are super creative like my friend, check out her picture of her adaptation to make these hold together better….smart momma!
OR you can even serve it all atop some Instant Pot rice instead!
I discovered the original recipe in a Cooking Light Magazine years ago, but have greatly tweaked it to make it my own, super flavorful allergy-friendly version.
Additional quick and easy gluten free dinners:
- My ground beef stir fry is loaded with veggies and ready in a flash!
- Cajun chicken bites are a family favorite!
- Gluten free panko chicken is crispy, crunchy, and delish! No egg required.
- I want to try this crushed garlic and red pepper chicken stir fry!
Best types of lettuce for lettuce wraps:
AAA, the million dollar question! Here are some options! You get to choose your adventure here!
- Butter lettuce is tender and easy to fold
- Red Leaf and Green Leaf are nice and big, and usually have a big enough leaf to wrap around the filling, even with the NOT so bendy center ridge.
- Romain is nice and crunchy, but is better used chopped as base for a salad style, OR use it a bit like a shovel and scoop up the filling WITH the leaf.
- Iceberg lettuce is super crunchy and generally nice and big and bendy.
Regardless of which one you choose, for lettuce wraps, simply cut off the bottom of the head, and carefully peel away each individual leaf (this is more challenging with Iceberg).
Asian Lettuce Wraps Recipe:
If you try these crunchy and flavorful lettuce wraps, be sure to come back and leave a comment below!
Asian Lettuce Wraps - Allergy-Friendly
Ingredients
- 6-8 ounces cooked rice vermicelli OR gluten free spaghetti, miracle noodles, or zucchini noodles (you could also omit this completely if you'd like!)
- 1 pound ground meat beef, chicken, and pork all work
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 cup julienne cut carrots I like to buy these ready to go to save time. Grated would also work.
- 1 1/2 cup broccoli slaw if available, omit if you'd like. Cabbage slaw would be good too!
- 1 1/2 cup chopped cucumber
- 1 medium red bell pepper chopped
- 3 tablespoons cilantro chopped, or more to taste
Sauce:
- 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce about $4 for large bottle of the high quality Three Crabs brand in an Asian grocery
- 2 teaspoons organic sugar or equivalent in stevia, a few drops
- 2 teaspoons coconut aminos or gluten free soy sauce
- Sriacha to taste an amazing Asian hot sauce...LOVE it!!
- 1 head Boston/Butter/Green/Red Leaf lettuce washed and separated into leaves. Se notes in post above.
Instructions
- Cook pasta/noodle of choice according to directions. Drain and rinse under cold water and set aside. If you are using zucchini noodles, no cooking is necessary, just heat them gently at the end with all the ingredients!
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add ground meat to pan. Cook about 3 minutes, stirring to crumble.
- Stir in garlic, and cook for 2 minutes or until browned.
- Stir in noodles, carrots, and the next 3 ingredients (through bell pepper), to warm the ingredients.
- Turn the heat off and toss in the cilantro.
- Combine juice, sugar or stevia, fish sauce, and tamari in a small bowl, stirring until sugar dissolves.
- Add juice mixture to beef mixture; tossing gently to coat. Grab a lettuce leaf and use it to spoon up the filling. Enjoy!
Nutrition
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they look delicious!
These were such a hit in our household! Everyone LOVED them! I solved the messy problem by using IKEA baggie clips. Spoon filling into lettuce leaf, wrap like tortilla and clip 3/4 of the way down!! Works like a charm! Thanks Tessa!!!
I tried this tonight.I liked it but wasn’t a fan of trying to eat with my hands. 🙂 It was nice and light for this hot day though. My husband? “This is the weirdest thing I’ve ever eaten.” Um, yeah right. My boys (5 and 7)? Giggled at the presentation but ate veggies they normally don’t! My 2-year old? Ditched the lettuce, ate the rest. Overall, a winner with some filler leftover. Thank you!
It is definitely a messy endeavor!! I usually rolls the lettuce like a tortilla and take bites of it simultaneously with the filling. Glad you liked it, thank for letting me know how it turned out for you! And any recipe that gets our kids to eat veggies is always a good thing! Wish I had more of those…..!
Hi Tessa,Sofia Yrazabal here 🙂 I made this tonight and it was delicious! Thank you for sharing!!!!
So glad you liked them…I could go for some right about now too..even with our oh so lovely weather we're having! Thanks for letting me know!