Easy Sesame Chicken Lettuce Wraps

If you are a fan of the lettuce wraps at P.F. Chang's restaurants or the Cheesecake Factory, you are sure to love these Easy Sesame Chicken Lettuce Wraps! They make for a great main dish option or a delicious appetizer. We use simple ingredients and simple steps to help you create a delicious meal that comes together in less than 30 minutes. What more could we ask for? 

What ingredients do you need?

Yellow onion

You'll need to chop half of a yellow onion for this recipe. The onion adds a great flavor to the chicken and is a must-have ingredient for this recipe in our opinion!

Ground Chicken

We have loved using ground chicken for this recipe, but if you have ground turkey on hand that could also work well. You'll need one pound of ground chicken for this recipe, which is typically the amount found in one pre-packaged container at the grocery store.

Water chestnuts

Water chestnuts are an ingredient commonly found in lettuce wrap recipes. While they don't hold much flavor on their own, they add a great crunchy texture. The texture is similar to what you would find when biting an apple or piece of jicama.

Sesame oil, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, honey, rice vinegar, sriracha, cornstarch

These ingredients make up the delicious sauce that coats the ground chicken. We love that these ingredients are simple and something that we usually have on hand. A lot of lettuce wrap recipes call for hoisin sauce, but we have found that we don't use hoisin sauce for many other recipes and end up creating waste when we don't finish the bottle. We promise that this sauce will not fall flat on flavor!

The sesame oil has a delicious flavor that combines well with the other ingredients. You can use fresh garlic and fresh ginger, or you can buy the pre-bottled or pre-frozen varieties at the grocery store. The honey and soy sauce add the perfect salty-sweet flavor, and the rice vinegar adds acidity to the sauce. If you need a gluten-free option, ensure the soy sauce you use is gluten-free or replace with coconut aminos. Sriracha adds a great flavor and a little bit of a kick to the chicken, but if you aren't a fan of spice feel free to omit it. Then we mix the cornstarch or arrowroot starch with cold water and add it to the chicken. This helps the sauce thicken up so it isn't so runny when eating the lettuce wraps. 

Butter lettuce

Butter lettuce is the best lettuce option for these lettuce wraps. It is the type of lettuce you will most commonly see used at restaurants. The lettuce leaves are the perfect size and shape to hold the ground chicken and toppings. It is also a very crisp lettuce. You can find butter lettuce at most grocery stores! You will often find a head of butter lettuce still connected to its root ball. This is to help prevent the lettuce from wilting because the lettuce leaf is more delicate than some other varieties of lettuce. You will need to separate and wash each lettuce leaf, which you can do quickly by cutting off the root ball when ready to use. 

Toppings of choice

There are so many options when it comes to toppings for lettuce wraps! Some of our favorite toppings include chopped green onions, chopped peanuts or cashews, cilantro, shredded carrots, shredded cabbage, sesame seeds, red pepper flakes, peanut sauce, lime wedges, etc. If you are a fan of peanut sauce, try out our favorite recipe here!

What equipment do you need?

• A large skillet and rubber spatula
• A knife and cutting board
• Measuring cups and spoons
• A small bowl

How do you make these lettuce wraps?

• Begin by heating 1 tsp of sesame oil and the onion in a large frying pan over medium heat. Let the onions begin to soften for 1-2 minutes.
• Add the ground chicken to the frying pan. Continue to stir and break the chicken into small pieces as it cooks. You want to make sure that the pieces of chicken are broken up into finer pieces to help with more even distribution of the sauce and to also have pieces that fit well on the lettuce leaves. Cook for about 6-7 minutes until the chicken is no longer pink and is completely cooked through. Carefully drain any excess juice. Turn the heat down to medium-low.
• Add the chopped water chestnuts to the pan and mix well. Next, add ginger, garlic, 1 tsp of sesame oil, soy sauce or coconut aminos, honey, rice wine vinegar, and sriracha to the chicken mixture. Mix well.
• In a separate small bowl, combine the cold water and arrowroot starch or cornstarch and mix until the starch is dissolved into the water. Add the mixture to the frying pan and mix until combined.
• Continue to stir while the mixture thickens, about 4 minutes. 
• Wash and dry the butter lettuce. Serve the chicken inside the lettuce cups, and sprinkle with green onion, crushed peanuts, and any other toppings you would like.

Anything else to consider?

While these lettuce wraps are great on their own, we also like to serve them with white rice or brown rice to help bulk up the meal to be a more filling option. You can also easily double this recipe if you are serving more people!

Are these lettuce wraps (GF/DF)?

These lettuce wraps can be gluten-free as long as the soy sauce used is gluten-free. They are also dairy free!

Kid-Friendly Serving Tips

If you are looking to make this meal and serve it to your baby or young toddler, here are a few tips to help!

• Consider removing some of the chicken for your young baby/child before adding the honey or soy sauce. It is recommended that infants under one year of age do not consume honey due to the risk of botulism. Infants and young children also need less sodium than adults, and soy sauce has high amounts of sodium. If you are looking for more insight here, take a look at our nutrition post How to Feed Your Baby During the First Two Years.
• Serve the chicken with finely shredded carrots and rice to create a more balanced and satisfying meal. If your child has a hard time eating rice, try to form it into a log, ball, or patty shape. You could also mix it with something like mashed avocado or hummus to help it stick together better. 
• If you are having trouble building a meal for your child, consider including something with carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber at each meal. This will help them feel more satisfied and full for longer periods of time. 

Do you like these sesame chicken lettuce wraps? Give some of these recipes a try!

• Green Curry
• Thai Crunch Quinoa Salad
• Spring Roll in a Bowl
• Teriyaki Salmon Bowl

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If you make these Easy Sesame Chicken Lettuce Wraps, please let us know how they turn out in the comments below and/or rate the recipe! Don’t forget to tag us on Instagram to show us your finished product—it makes our day every time we see you trying the recipes we love!

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The recipe can be found on My Fitness Pal by searching "BWB Sesame Chicken Lettuce Wraps."

The nutrition content provided for each recipe is an estimate created through the My Fitness Pal database. Please be aware that the nutritional content of each recipe may vary based on the products you use, the precision of your measurements, and the source you use to obtain nutrition data. While we try to provide accurate information, we give no guarantee regarding the accuracy of the nutritional information provided.