Easy Garlic Sesame Chicken Lettuce Cups. Sticky Garlic Sesame honey sauce sauteed with ground chicken (or turkey!) and wrapped in green leaf lettuce. These honey and soy sauce Asian chicken wraps are a quick skillet recipe to make for lunch or dinner and perfect to serve as an appetizer or main dish.
This homemade version is inspired by PF Chang’s Lettuce Wraps and it’s now made with a tastier Asian sauce for better flavor. They are so easy to make and can be ready in 25 minutes! At only 100 calories per serving cup, you’ll be making this Asian Lettuce Wrap recipe over and over again for years to come!
A Healthy Chicken Recipe
Dinner doesn’t have to be complicated. Some of my favorite meals are made in under 30-minutes and right now I can’t get enough of these Garlic Sesame Asian Chicken Lettuce Cups. I make these as a healthy alternative to Chinese take out that we normally order. At the start of the New Year, I decided I wanted to focus on healthier homemade recipes by recreating some of my favorite Asian restaurants inspired recipes and these Chicken Lettuce Wraps were at the top of my list.
This Asian Lettuce Wrap recipe is easy to control with healthier ingredients like ground chicken and honey in place of processed sugar. Plus, this recipe is SO easy to adapt to your dietary needs or personal taste preferences.
Lettuce Wrap Sauce
The secret to making a delicious and flavorful Asian sauce isn’t that hard. I usually start my sauce with a combination of soy sauce and honey. It’s my favorite flavor combination when it comes to making homemade Chinese American fusion recipes. From there, I like to add a little ketchup, minced garlic, rice vinegar, and sesame oil. To give it a little kick, I add red pepper flakes.
To bring this dish together, I always add a generous amount of sesame seeds and green onions. Asian dishes are just not the same without fresh green onions and they perfectly complement the garlic sesame sauce on these gluten-free lettuce wraps.
If you’re looking to try a new Asian recipe this or eat healthier this year, then try these Asian Chicken Lettuce Cups. Everyone raves how delicious my garlic sesame sauce is! I use this same sauce in a number of my Asian inspired recipes on the blog. It’s a family favorite to make with baked chicken but I just love how easy it is to use ground chicken with this honey garlic soy sauce.
I always keep Asian wraps on hand for a quick weeknight dinner. I even make it with a side of fried rice or quick cream cheese Rangoon. Plus, if making extra meat, it can be stored in an airtight container and reheated for lunch the following day.
KETO CHICKEN WRAP ALTERNATIVE
To make this recipe even healthier, A few readers have suggested using sugar-free maple syrup in place of the honey and granulated sugar in this recipe. Replace the soy sauce with coconut aminos (found in the soy sauce aisle) to keep these keto chicken lettuce wraps on track.
Meal prep these healthy chicken wraps ahead of time and pack the ground chicken next to paper towel wrapped lettuce. I like to make a double batch of chicken lettuce wraps on Sunday then portion it out for lunch throughout the week.
Chicken Lettuce Wraps Tips
The key to creating a savory lettuce wrap starts by combining soy sauce and honey. Ground chicken works just as well as ground turkey for this recipe. Ground turkey is much easier to find in the grocery store. Be aware that ground chicken can quickly overcook and turn rubbery. Once the ground meat is cooked and combined with the garlic sesame sauce it cooks down, thickens, and coats the ground chicken.
Serving Asian Chicken Cups
- Serve the chicken in lettuce – Finally, add a scoop or two of the Garlic Sesame Chicken to a bibe of butter or green leaf lettuce. TIP: If the lettuce leaf is falling apart, just use two!
- Add some heat- For added heat, try fresh peppers just as habanero, jalapeno, and serranos. For extra hot heat, use red chili peppers. Just 1-2 small chili peppers is enough hot spice for the whole chicken skillet recipe.
- Meal Prep – Add a few scoops of filling to a meal prep container. Don’t forget to pack a few bibs of lettuce, too.
- Make it a meal – Serve this Chinese Lettuce Wraps as a main meal or with Vegetable Fried Rice, plain steamed white or brown rice, 15-minute Vegetable Lo Mein.
For more Asian Garlic Sesame recipes, try this popular Garlic Sesame Chicken, Garlic Sesame Chicken Egg Roll Bowls, Sticky Garlic Sesame Meatballs, and Garlic Sesame Noodle Bowls.
Try these Korean Chicken Lettuce Wraps or these Crack Chicken Lettuce Cups next!
Asian Garlic Sesame Chicken Lettuce Cups
Ingredients
- 1 lb ( 16 oz. ) ground chicken or ground turkey
- 5 large garlic cloves, minced
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup honey
- 2 tbsp ketchup
- 1 tsp rice vinegar
- ¼ tsp sesame oil
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes, more to taste
- 1 bunch green onions, diced
- 1 head green lettuce or butter lettuce, washed and dried
- 1 tsp sesame seeds, to garnish
Instructions
- Carefully, tear lettuce leaves at the bottom of the root. Rinse under water then allow to completely dry.
- In a large rimmed skillet set over medium heat, cook ground chicken. Break ground chicken up into little pieces using a spatula. Cook until no longer pink and all the liquid has cooked off; about 6-9 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine soy sauce, honey, ketchup, rice vinegar, sesame oil, minced garlic, and red pepper flakes.
- Pour garlic sesame mixture into skillet. Toss the mixture together until chicken takes on the color of the sauce. The skillet should come to a simmer, cook until most of the liquid is thick and absorbed by the chicken.
- Spoon lettuce cups with chicken. Garnish with diced green onions and sesame seeds.
Nutrition
11 Comments
shelby
06/11/2019 at 10:48 amgreat recipe!
Robin
08/21/2019 at 4:04 pmLove this recipe, and my kids devoured it! Thanks!
Lynn
01/13/2020 at 4:23 pmThis recipe is great!
Can you freeze the meat?
Jessica Knott
02/04/2020 at 10:02 amOf course! Just defrost it before using and add a little water to it. It may need a little more sauce but should work perfectly.
Michelle
01/30/2020 at 8:43 pmQuestion: is the nutritional value based on one lettuce cup or ten?
Jessica Knott
02/04/2020 at 9:55 amThis one is based on one. 109 calories per cup, roughly.
Nick
03/20/2020 at 9:17 pmHi Jessica… this looks great and I like to serve it over rice. Is there enough sauce do do this or would I need to increase the sauce ingredients.
Thank you, Nick
Jessica Knott
05/05/2020 at 5:52 pmIf you’d like the rice saucy, yes, double the sauce. That sounds delish!
Rosetta
06/07/2020 at 6:21 pmWas looking for a summer recipe for ground turkey and saw just made it tonight for dinner and it was awesome. Quick easy and tasted great. Will add to me list of favorite meals to make going forward.
Jenny O.
06/16/2020 at 3:54 pmMy whole family loved these, even my husband who is very picky! Used lettuce fresh from our garden. This will definitely be a repeat recipe!
Camille B
07/28/2020 at 8:11 pmDelicious and incredibly easy for a weeknight dinner! We ended up serving the filling over brown rice with a side of broccoli because we didn’t have lettuce on hand. This is definitely a versatile recipe and will be added to our recipe collection. Thanks so much!