Thai Lettuce Wraps with Peanut Satay Sauce

My Thai lettuce wraps recipe keeps the peanut satay on top instead of stirring it into the filling. I brown ground chicken in sesame oil with ginger and garlic, then simmer it with carrot and red pepper in a sticky honey-soy glaze. Everything gets spooned into cold butter lettuce and topped with a coconut peanut satay. Lime, cilantro, and chopped peanuts go over the top.

Most Thai chicken lettuce wraps stir the peanut sauce into the filling. In my recipe, I keep the two separate, and I think they’re so much better that way.

The filling gets its own glaze first: honey, soy, and rice vinegar thickened with a little cornstarch, so the chicken and vegetables come out glossy and seasoned rather than plain. The satay stays where it belongs, spooned over the top right before you eat. Cook peanut sauce into ground meat, and it disappears into it, diluted and muted. Keep it out, and it lands as its own creamy layer against the warm filling and the cold lettuce. There’s ginger and garlic in the pan, carrot and red pepper for crunch, and lime, cilantro, and chopped peanuts over everything at the end.

I like to set everything on the table and let people build their own Thai lettuce wraps. They’re messy to eat, which I think is most of the appeal. The satay is the same one I use on my Thai chicken skewers, so it’s worth making extra.

Is this an authentic Thai recipe?

No, it’s not. There’s no single traditional Thai dish this is a version of. Lettuce wraps in this form are a Western restaurant invention, and a Thai cook wouldn’t recognize carrot, red pepper, and baby corn in a cornstarch-thickened glaze as belonging to any particular dish from home.

What it does carry is the flavor logic. Thai cooking works by balancing salty, sweet, sour, and hot in the same mouthful, and that’s what’s happening here: fish sauce and soy for salt, honey and brown sugar for sweetness, lime and rice vinegar for sourness, and sriracha for heat. The aromatics are the ones you’d find in a Thai kitchen too: ginger, garlic, lime, and cilantro, and peanut satay is genuinely Thai, even if it’s usually served alongside grilled meat rather than spooned over a lettuce cup.

So my recipe is a Western dish built on Thai flavors, and I think you are going to love it.

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Thai Lettuce Wraps Recipe

Prep: 20 minutes mins

Cook: 20 minutes mins

Total: 40 minutes mins

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Ground chicken cooked with ginger, garlic, and vegetables in a sticky honey-soy glaze, spooned into butter lettuce and topped with coconut peanut satay. Lime, cilantro, and chopped peanuts finish it.

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Ingredients

Peanut Satay

• ▢ 1 cup coconut milk (from a can)
• ▢ 3 tablespoons all-natural peanut butter
• ▢ 1 tablespoon EACH: brown sugar, fish sauce, and low-sodium soy sauce
• ▢ 1 teaspoon Sriracha
• ▢ 1 tablespoon lime juice

The Sauce

• ▢ ¼ cup EACH: honey, chicken stock, and low-sodium soy sauce
• ▢ 1 tablespoon EACH: cornstarch, toasted sesame oil, and rice vinegar

The Thai Lettuce Wraps

• ▢ 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
• ▢ 1 lb ground chicken
• ▢ 1 small yellow onion (minced)
• ▢ 1 tablespoon minced ginger
• ▢ ½ teaspoon EACH: salt and pepper
• ▢ 3 cloves garlic (minced)
• ▢ 1 medium carrot (diced)
• ▢ 1 medium red bell pepper (diced)
• ▢ 14 ounce can baby corn (drained and cut into bite-sized pieces)
• ▢ ½ cup chopped green onions (cut on a diagonal)
• ▢ ¼ cup cilantro
• ▢ Bibb lettuce or butter lettuce (to serve)
• ▢ Lime, cilantro, chopped peanuts (to garnish)

Instructions 

• Add the coconut milk, peanut butter, brown sugar, fish sauce, soy sauce, and sriracha to a small pot over medium heat. Whisk well and then let it heat until it thickens. Remove the pot from the heat and whisk in the lime juice.
  1 cup coconut milk, 3 tablespoons all-natural peanut butter, 1 tablespoon EACH: brown sugar, fish sauce, and low-sodium soy sauce, 1 teaspoon Sriracha, 1 tablespoon lime juice
  
• Make the sauce next by whisking the ingredients together in a small bowl.
  ¼ cup EACH: honey, chicken stock, and low-sodium soy sauce, 1 tablespoon EACH: cornstarch, toasted sesame oil, and rice vinegar
  
• Heat the sesame oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the chicken, onion, ginger, garlic, salt, and pepper and cook until the chicken is no longer pink and any liquid has evaporated from the pan, about 7 minutes.
  1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil, 1 lb ground chicken, 1 small yellow onion, 1 tablespoon minced ginger, ½ teaspoon EACH: salt and pepper, 3 cloves garlic
  
• Add the carrot and bell pepper and cook for 2 minutes, until they begin to soften. Add the corn and the sauce and stir until the sauce is bubbly and thick. Stir in the green onions and cilantro.
  1 medium carrot, 1 medium red bell pepper, 14 ounce can baby corn, ½ cup chopped green onions, ¼ cup cilantro
  
• Fill the lettuce wraps and then top with some satay sauce and any or all of the garnishes.
  Bibb lettuce or butter lettuce, Lime, cilantro, chopped peanuts
  

Video

Nutrition

Serving: 1 serving = ¼ of the recipe, Calories: 518kcal (26%), Carbohydrates: 53g (18%), Protein: 29g (58%), Fat: 24g (37%), Saturated Fat: 8g (50%), Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g, Monounsaturated Fat: 9g, Trans Fat: 0.1g, Cholesterol: 98mg (33%), Sodium: 1482mg (64%), Potassium: 1121mg (32%), Fiber: 5g (21%), Sugar: 29g (32%), Vitamin A: 3935IU (79%), Vitamin C: 50mg (61%), Calcium: 49mg (5%), Iron: 3mg (17%)

© Author Kristen Stevens

We have thoroughly tested this recipe for accuracy. However, individual results may vary. See our full recipe disclosure here.

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