These tofu lettuce wraps are crazy delicious and make a great appetizer or lighter meal that will become one of your favorites.
These are better than anything you can get in a restaurant! Plus, they happen to be vegan/ plant-based. If you’d rather have meat in your lettuce wraps, you might want to check out Thai chicken lettuce wraps here.
How to make tofu lettuce wraps
First, gather your ingredients.
Ingredients
For tastiest results, always use the best quality ingredients you have access to.
To make these tofu lettuce wraps, you will need the following:
- sesame oil
- onion
- garlic
- ginger (fresh minced, or ginger paste)
- 14 ounce block extra firm tofu
- Tamari, low sodium or soy sauce OR coconut aminos
- Thai sweet red chili sauce (we love Trader Joe’s)
- juice of 1 lime
- maple syrup or agave
- cashews – raw or roasted/salted
- green onion/ scallions
- fresh cilantro
- carrots, shredded
- Sesame seeds
- 1 head butter lettuce
Cooking the filling
To make tofu lettuce wraps, first make the filling. 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 tofu. Use your hands to crumble the tofu into the pan, tossing it in the pan sauce while breaking it up with a wooden spoon or spatula. Season the tofu with a little salt and pepper and let it cook until it starts to turn golden brown, about 4-5 minutes.
Make the Thai chili sauce. This sauce really ties everything together for theses tofu lettuce wraps. Add the soy sauce, chili sauce, lime juice, and honey to a small bowl and mix to combine.
Add the sauce to the tofu mixture. Sprinkle the chopped cashews over the tofu 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.
Assembling tofu lettuce wraps
To assemble the tofu lettuce wraps, open one of the butter lettuce leaves and add a large spoonful of the filling mixture into the wrap and top it with some of the pan sauce and sesame seeds.
Continue until you have made all of the tofu lettuce wraps. Serve and enjoy!
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Tofu Lettuce Wraps
These tofu lettuce wraps are crazy delicious and make a great appetizer or lighter meal that will become one of your favorites.
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon sesame oil
- ¼ cup onion diced I used yellow. White onion works too.
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 tablespoon minced ginger fresh minced, or ginger paste
- 14 ounce block extra firm tofu – with water pressed out
- 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 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
-
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 tofu. Use your hands to crumble the tofu into the pan, tossing it in the pan sauce while breaking it up with a wooden spoon or spatula. Season the tofu with a little salt and pepper and let it cook until it starts to turn golden brown, about 4-5 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 tofu. Sprinkle the chopped cashews over the tofu 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 lettuce wraps. To assemble the lettuce wraps, open one of the lettuce leaves and add a large spoonful of the tofu 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.
brin says
positively scrumptious! i wish that i had read through the comments to see that others had used soy sauce but it was really salty, as i used soy sauce and it was pretty salty, but still good! i personally chipped the tofu into 1/2 inch cubes and marinated it in the sauce beforehand and it was a real time saver! 10:10 would recommend!
Lydia says
This was tasty but a total salt bomb, not sure what I did wrong?
Marjorie @APinchOfHealthy says
Hi Lydia! You could use low sodium soy sauce/ Tamari, or reduce the soy sauce/ Tamari to your liking.
Keely says
This was absolutely delicious! I didn’t have tamari so used soy sauce, which made it a tad salty, so will use tamari next time ,my partner love it too !
Marjorie @APinchOfHealthy says
Yay Keely! Tamari is just gluten free soy, FYI. Either works great. I like the low sodium versions of both, for the reasons you mention. Feel free to adjust to your preference next time, of course. I am so glad you enjoyed it!
Lisa Brunelle says
Looking forward to making this. I am slightly confused by it though. Step 4- (add sauce) to tofu -sprinkle cashews over top-(pour in the sauce). Is there a second sauce? Also pictures shows Chile paste- is there any difference to Chile sauce suggested in the instructions? As well is there any difference using the teaspoon of maple/agave syrup or using honey that is suggested in the instructions?
Marjorie @APinchOfHealthy says
Hi Lisa! Just the one sauce, added with the cashews. Any sweetener should work well. And I used chili sauce/ paste interchangeably, whether correct or not. 🙂 I think most grocery store brands refer to it as “chili sauce.” Enjoy!
Christine Liardi says
Is the amount of chili paste/sauce missing from the ingredients in the recipe?
Marjorie @APinchOfHealthy says
Hi Christine! The amount is 2 Tablespoons, shown in the recipe card below. Enjoy!