Healthy Chicken Lettuce Wraps

These simple to make Healthy Chicken Lettuce Wraps are a perfect weeknight dinner the whole family will love! They are better than PF Chang’s lettuce wraps, and take less than 30 minutes to throw together! {Gluten and dairy free}

These healthy chicken lettuce wraps are one of my favorite easy dinners to whip up for those busy weeknight meals! They are so flavorful yet not to overwhelming with spice that the kids love them! Trust me, it’s one of the “most asked for dinners” here at our house, which is saying a LOT.

Copycat PF Chang’s Lettuce Wraps

I absolutely love good Asian food, and PF Chang’s is one of my favorite go-to restaurants when the craving for Asian cuisine hits. Of course we have to order the lettuce wraps every time because they are SO. DANG. GOOD. Am I right?

So naturally I had to try to recreate them at home and… winner winner chicken dinner! They tasted even better than the lettuce wraps from the restaurant! We hardly feel the craving to go out anymore, because we can just make them better ourselves at home. Plus, they really are a breeze to throw together!

Easy and Healthy Chicken Lettuce Wraps

I love making this recipe for dinner, because it is so simple. You really just brown the ground chicken with some onion, then whisk up a few ingredients to make a quick sauce, pour it over the chicken, spoon into lettuce leaves and ta da! That’s it folks. Super easy, right?

The key to these lettuce wraps is all about the sauce. That’s where the flavor is at! It’s sweet, salty, tangy and has just the right amount of spice for the whole family! Plus, there’s a few spoonfuls of peanut butter in it which let’s face it – kids will eat anything with peanut butter in it.

I used ground chicken in these Healthy Chicken Lettuce Wraps (hence the name), however I’ve also substituted ground turkey and it tastes just as delicious. Really, it’s just preference and what you have on hand!

My secret weapon in this recipe is adding some grated carrots right at the end. No one can tell they are in there but they add wonderful flavor, a little crunch, and I get to sneak more veggies into my kids diet. Win win! Plus, this is one of the ONLY times my kids will eat lettuce. They think it’s fun to make “boats” out of the leaves, which is totally fine by me as long as they eat their dinner – which they do quite happily.

What Kind of Lettuce Should I Use?

Well, it really depends on preference and what your goal is. Are you serving these for a party? Are you trying to get the most nutrition from them for your family?

Fancy Version: I used butter lettuce in the photos because in my opinion it makes for a really beautiful presentation. So I would definitely go for this one if you are serving these at a party where you want the visual wow factor. However you should note that these are NOT my personal favorite because they don’t have as much crunch to the leaf, which I really like in lettuce wraps.

Most Nutritional: I would have to vote romaine lettuce as the winner in this category. It’s got a wonderful crunch, but still has that dark leafy green edge that is full of vitamin C, potassium, folic acid and lutein. Green leaf lettuce also ranks high in nutrition – containing the highest amounts of vitamin K, niacin and riboflavin – however it doesn’t have as nice of crunch factor as the romaine lettuce.

Flavor Flavor!: Ice burg lettuce is definitely the most common for lettuce wraps, because of it’s flavor! It has a wonderful watery crispy crunch to it when you bite down, allowing the flavor of the chicken inside to come through. My kids definitely like this one the best, but they will really eat type of lettuce with this recipe!

So in my opinion? I would probably vote romaine. It’s the one I have on hand the most in my fridge for the exact same reasons. It has more nutrition than ice burg lettuce, and still has a great crunch to it making it perfect for these healthy chicken lettuce wraps!

More Healthy Dinner Recipes You’ll Love!

• Mediterranean Buddha Bowls with Turkey Meatballs
• One Pan Balsamic Herb Veggies and Sausage
• Butternut Squash Black Bean Turkey Chili
• The BEST 5-Ingredient Crockpot Chicken Tacos
• Easy From Scratch Hawaiian Haystacks
• Chicken and Asparagus Stir Fry from my friend MinShien at Joyous Apron

I hope you enjoy these Healthy Chicken Lettuce Wraps as much as we do! Make sure you don’t forget to pin this recipe for latter, I promise your family will thank you!

Healthy Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Print Recipe

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

5 from 4 reviews

These simple to make Healthy Chicken Lettuce Wraps are a perfect weeknight dinner the whole family will love! They are better than PF Chang’s lettuce wraps, and take less than 30 minutes to throw together! {Gluten and dairy free}

• Author: Chelsey
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 15 minutes
• Total Time: 30 minutes
• Yield: 10-12 lettuce wraps 1x

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

For the Sauce:

• 3 tablespoons soy sauce (or GF soy sauce*)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1/2 tablespoon water
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/2 tablespoon ketchup
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chili garlic sauce

For the Meat:

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 lb. ground chicken
• 1/2 yellow onion, minced
• dash of salt and pepper
• 2 teaspoons garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger
• 1/2 of an 8oz can of water chestnuts, drained and chopped
• 1 large carrot, peeled and fined grated
• 4-5 green onions, diced

For Serving:

• lettuce (you can use romaine, butter lettuce, ice burg, green leaf, etc. See notes in blog post on each.)
• chopped peanuts
• extra sliced green onion (optional)

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

1. Mix all of the ingredients for the sauce together in a small microwave safe bowl. Heat for 30 seconds and stir to melt the peanut butter and incorporate it into the sauce. Set aside.
2. Heat the vegetable oil in a large pan over medium high heat. Add the ground chicken and season with a dash of salt and pepper to taste.
3. Cook the chicken for 3-4 minutes, breaking it apart with a spatula into small pieces. Once it’s about half way cooked add the yellow onion and continue to cook for another 4-5 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the onions are soft and translucent.
4. Once the meat is cooked through, add the garlic and ginger and cook for 1-2 minutes.
5. Add the chopped water chestnuts and shredded carrots and cook for an additional 1-2 minutes or until the vegetables are slightly softened.
6. Pour the sauce over the chicken along with the sliced green onions. Stir to combine and let simmer for another minute to thicken.
7. Remove from heat and spoon the chicken into your lettuce leaves, topping with chopped peanuts and green onions. Serve and enjoy!

Notes

*Make sure to use GF soy sauce if you are gluten free (I like the La Choy brand, it’s always gluten free!)

Print Recipe