Once the weather gets warm enough to eat fresh, local lettuce, we start putting lettuce wraps on the menu a couple times a month. We change things up from using ground beef, turkey, or even shredded chicken. We also play around a bit with the toppings. Usually, we throw in some rice and/or water chestnuts and whatever veggies sound good.
A lot of recipes I’ve looked up in the past use a hoisin-based sauce, which we typically don’t keep on hand. I don’t know why. I always have fish sauce, chili paste, and lots of international-aisle based faves, but hoisin isn’t one of them.
However, I do LOVE a good Asian-style peanut sauce. Alissa and I talk about peanut sauces way more than is probably normal. We ALWAYS say we could totally drink it. Most times we make these type of sauces, we don’t really measure much. It’s never turned out bad. The more you make it, the faster you’ll be able to detect if you need a tad more rice vinegar, soy sauce, or honey/maple syrup. You just know.
So, I decided to smother some lettuce wrap filling in one of our favorite sauces. Great decision making. That, combined with one of my favorite superhero shortcut staples–frozen riced cauliflower–is dinner perfection.
Easy Lettuce Wraps with Peanut Sauce Step-by-Step
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You’ll need a pound of ground beef, turkey, or chicken. You could probably use pork too, actually.
Next, you need a vehicle for your filling. We use Romaine hearts a lot, but butter lettuce, living lettuce, and probably even iceberg could work.
You need a 10-12 ounce bag of frozen riced cauliflower and a can of water chestnuts (they’ll be fine without, but do provide a good crunch.)
For the sauce, we’re mixing up natural peanut butter (other nut butters or nut-free should work okay, but the drippier the better). You’ll also need coconut aminos or soy sauce. I definitely prefer aminos. Once you start using it, it’s hard to go back. That gets combined with maple syrup, rice vinegar, a bit of sesame oil if you have it, some ground ginger and garlic, and a little water to thin it out.
I like to use my immersion blender to get it super smooth super fast, but a whisk or fork could mix it fine.
Set that sauce aside. Lick the fork or whisk. Don’t resist.
Now. Brown your meat. Add the cauliflower rice and chopped water chestnuts. Let that heat through and pour on the sauce.
Stir to combine and serve immediately by piling the filling high on the lettuce leaves!
Pin this easy lettuce wraps with peanut sauce recipe to your favorite healthy recipe Pinterest board :)! Take them for a spin in this Healthy Summer meal plan!
Lettuce Wraps with Creamy Peanut Sauce
Equipment
- Large Skillet
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef turkey, or chicken
- 3 pack of organic romaine lettuce hearts
- 1 10- ounce bag frozen riced cauliflower
- 1 can water chestnuts chopped
- Optional: Green onions for serving
- Sauce:
- 1/4 cup of peanut butter drippy, natural works best
- 1/4 cup coconut aminos or soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons of maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons of rice vinegar
- Optional-1-2 teaspoons of sesame oil
- 1-2 tsp sriracha
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- 3 tablespoons of water to thin out
Instructions
SAUCE:
- Combine all ingredients in a wide-mouth jar and shake vigorously. You can also whisk or blend a few times with an immersion blender to get it nice and smooth.
- WRAPS:
- Cook ground meat in a large skillet. Add chopped water chestnuts, and riced cauliflower. Heat through.
- Add sauce to turkey mixture.
- Serve immediately on lettuce leaves. Add sliced green onions if you’d like.