These Thai chicken lettuce wraps make a delicious appetizer or lighter main dish that you can make at home. They are full of flavor!
I love making my restaurant faves at home. These were inspired by the lettuce wraps at PF Chang, and they are absolutely delicious.
Side note: If you like Asian-restaurant-inspired recipes, you may also want to check out chicken fried rice and Thai coconut tofu soup. 😉👌🏻
And if you need a vegan/ vegetarian version of these lettuce wraps, check out my tofu lettuce wraps recipe.
Ingredients
For tastiest results, always use the highest quality ingredients you have access to.
To make this Thai chicken lettuce wraps recipe, you will need the following:
- sesame oil
- onion
- garlic
- ginger
- ground chicken
- Tamari (low sodium) or soy sauce, coconut aminos
- Thai sweet red chili sauce (we love Trader Joe’s)
- lime juice
- maple syrup or honey, agave
- cashews
- scallions/ green onion
- cilantro
- shredded carrots
- Sesame seeds (optional, for topping)
- butter lettuce
Butter lettuce is my favorite, and it is what I highly recommend and am using here. Feel free to substitute with your favorite large leaf lettuce.
You can use soy sauce, Tamari (gluten free), or coconut aminos. I prefer low sodium, but again, any type works. As well as the sweetener of your choice (honey, maple syrup or agave).
Making Thai chicken lettuce wraps
Here is how you can make Thai chicken lettuce wraps. It is super simple, y’all.
Make the garlic, ginger pan sauce. Heat up a pan to medium high heat and add the oil. Once the oil is hot, add in the onions. Toss and let cook for 2-3 minutes until the onions start to brown and turn translucent. Then add in the garlic and ginger. Toss that all together and let it cook for 2 minutes.
Cook the chicken. Add the ground chicken to the pan, tossing it in the pan sauce while breaking it up with a wooden spoon or spatula. Season the chicken with a little salt and pepper and let it cook until it starts to turn golden brown and there is no more pink, about 3-4 minutes.
Make the Thai chili sauce. Meanwhile, add the soy sauce, chili sauce, lime juice, and honey to a small bowl and mix to combine.
Add the sauce to the chicken. Sprinkle the chopped cashews over the chicken in the pan and pour in the sauce. Toss that all together, reduce the heat to low and let that all cook for 2 more minutes.
Remove the pan from the heat and let it cool for a few minutes, then stir in the carrots, chopped scallions and cilantro.
Assemble the Thai chicken lettuce wraps
To assemble the lettuce wraps, open one of the lettuce leaves and add a large spoonful of the chicken mixture into the wrap and top it with some of the pan sauce and sesame seeds.
Continue until you have made all of the lettuce wraps. Y’all enjoy, and let me know if you try it!
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Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps
These Thai chicken lettuce wraps make a delicious appetizer or lighter main dish that you can make at home. They are full of flavor!
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon sesame oil
- ¼ cup onion diced, I used yellow. White onion works too.
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 tablespoon fresh minced ginger or ginger paste
- 10 oz ground chicken
- ¼ cup Tamari (low sodium) or soy sauce, coconut aminos
- 2 Tablespoon Thai sweet red chili sauce (we love Trader Joe's)
- juice of 1 lime
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup or honey, agave
- ⅓ cup cashews chopped – raw or roasted/salted
- ¼ cup scallions chopped
- ¼ cup cilantro fresh, chopped
- ¼-½ cup carrots shredded
- Sesame seeds for topping
- 1 head butter lettuce – leaves removed rinsed and dried – see notes
Instructions
- Make the garlic, ginger pan sauce. Heat up a pan to medium high heat and add the oil. Once the oil is hot, add in the onions. Toss and let cook for 2-3 minutes until the onions start to brown and turn translucent. Then add in the garlic and ginger. Toss that all together and let it cook for 2 minutes.
- Cook the chicken. Add the ground chicken to the pan, tossing it in the pan sauce while breaking it up with a wooden spoon or spatula. Season the chicken with a little salt and pepper and let it cook until it starts to turn golden brown and there is no more pink, about 3-4 minutes.
- Make the thai chili sauce. Meanwhile, add the soy sauce, chili sauce, lime juice, and honey to a small bowl and mix to combine.
-
Add the sauce to the chicken. Sprinkle the chopped cashews over the chicken in the pan and pour in the sauce. Toss that all together, reduce the heat to low and let that all cook for 2 more minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and let it cool for a few minutes, then stir in the carrots, chopped scallions and cilantro.
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Assemble the lettuce wraps. To assemble the lettuce wraps, open one of the lettuce leaves and add a large spoonful of the chicken mixture into the wrap and top it with some of the pan sauce and sesame seeds. Continue until you have made all of the lettuce wraps.
Recipe Notes
Nutritional information is approximate and was calculated using a recipe nutrition label generator. It will vary, based on how much filling you put in your wraps, but info is for approximately 2 wraps.
Notes
To prepare the lettuce, carefully tear each leaf away from the bulb and rinse each leaf carefully under light running water. Then place the clean leaves on a clean paper towel to dry before using them to assemble the wraps.
Jack says
My family and I love this recipe! Having kids with a picky palate, it’s always great to find a new dish that everyone loves. Question: can you freeze the chicken mix for use later? I’d love to make a big batch so as to use all the veggies and freeze for another dinner. Thanks
Marjorie @APinchOfHealthy says
I am so glad you are enjoying this Jack! 🙌🏻 It is always going to taste best freshly made, and I have not tried it myself yet. So I couldn’t say for sure how freezing would go. If you end up trying that, I’d love to hear how it turns out.
Alice K Carmack says
I didn’t have sweet chili sauce but substituted apricot jelly and a tsp of red chili flakes! Turned out delish.
Marjorie @APinchOfHealthy says
I am so glad you enjoyed it Alice! ❤️
Nilsa Acosta says
I made this recipe for friends and family a couple of weeks ago. They loved it so much that I had to forward the recipe to them. I made it again for myself yesterday and it was just as delicious. Thanks for the great recipe.
Marjorie @APinchOfHealthy says
I am so happy to hear this Nilsa!❤️
Haley says
I love this recipe but I messed it up because I got confused with “garlic ginger pan sauce” in step 1. I mixed the ingredients out of order and added them before they should’ve been added.
Other than that, great recipe! Thank you
Marjorie @APinchOfHealthy says
Thanks for the feedback Haley! Glad you enjoyed them.
Nilsa Acosta says
Just made it and it’s delicious.
I tried sending you a pic but it post.
Jeanette says
Delicious recipe and I love that it’s healthy. I share it with all my friends and family and they love it too!
Marjorie @APinchOfHealthy says
So glad you are enjoying it. ❤️
Bev Reid says
Great recipe! I didn’t have ground chicken so subbed diced chicken breast. Other than that, followed the recipe exactly. We ate and enjoyed every bite! Will be making these frequently. Thank you!
Marjorie @APinchOfHealthy says
So glad you enjoyed it Bev!
Jenna says
I don’t usually write reviews, but this was so good that I had to let people know! Probably one of my favorite dinners I’ve ever made at home.
Now, I know people hate when someone writes a review telling everyone how good the recipe is, but then goes on to tell all the ways they changed the recipe, so let me apologize in advance.
After reading several reviews that said it was too salty, I decided to make a couple small changes:
I used a little less soy sauce (I used reduced sodium Kikkoman soy sauce), I added maybe another tablespoon of the sweet chili sauce (I used Mae Ploy brand), and I didn’t add any salt to the chicken where it says to salt and pepper the chicken in the pan. Otherwise, I followed the recipe to a T and it was fantastic!
I loved it as a lettuce wrap. My husband wanted something more substantial, so I think I’m going to have him try it over rice next time. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! It’s going to be a frequent menu item in our household.
Marjorie @APinchOfHealthy says
Yay Jenna! I am so glad you enjoyed it.
Corazon Dunn says
I must say, that this recipe is soooo delicious! I made it for us , but didn’t add nuts instead I put some chopped water chestnuts! Thank you for sharing!♥️
Marjorie @APinchOfHealthy says
Yay! So happy to hear that, and I bet water chestnuts were so good in this.🙌🏻
Paige says
Sounds tummies. In the nutrition facts it doesn’t say what a serving is. Just trying to watch sugar and carb intake. Please let us know. Thanks! Paige