Incredibly easy and flavorful chicken lettuce wraps with cucumbers, cilantro, and green onions.
Serve them alongside Pineapple Rice for a complete and tasty meal!
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Korean Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Korean chicken lettuce wraps just might be the easiest weeknight dinner. It’s a light recipe that you can put together the night before and cook the next day to have dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes.
These chicken lettuce wraps are quickly marinated in a flavorful sesame oil and chili garlic sauce, cooked on the stovetop, and served inside a crisp lettuce wrap with sliced cucumbers, green onions, and cilantro.
The marinade is only 4-ingredients and it’s the perfect combo of sweet and spicy. Plus the toppings are very adaptable. You can add what you like!
What Type of Lettuce is Best for Lettuce Wraps?
You can use any type of green leafy lettuce for lettuce wraps, but popular types of lettuce include Butter lettuce, iceberg lettuce, and romaine hearts.
Butter lettuce leaves have the right texture and shape to hold the filling. Plus the taste is mild and goes with any filling.
Iceberg lettuce is a great choice too. It provides a cool, crisp crunch. While romaine hearts provide a perfect lettuce boat for the wrap.
How to Make Korean Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Marinate the chicken: In a bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, and chili garlic sauce. Add chicken and toss to combine. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour up to overnight.
Cook the chicken: Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken with the marinade to the pan and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently, or until the chicken is cooked through. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Assemble and serve: Add chicken to lettuce and top with cucumbers, green onions, and cilantro. Drizzle with homemade peanut sauce or sweet chili sauce.
Toppings for Chicken Lettuce Wraps
These Korean chicken lettuce wraps are perfectly good topped with cucumbers, green onions, and cilantro. But you can certainly add more toppings if you like, such as:
- Julienned carrots
- Cooked thin rice noodles
- Cilantro lime coconut rice
- Thinly sliced red cabbage
- Bean sprouts
What Sides Go with Lettuce Wraps?
- Chili Garlic Edamame
- Chili Garlic Rice Noodle Salad
- Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup
- Crunchy Asian Chopped Salad
- Asian Green Bean Recipe
- Chopped Kale Salad with Peanut Vinaigrette
Love lettuce wraps? Try Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps, Blackened Salmon Lettuce Wraps, or Spicy Coconut Shrimp Lettuce Wraps.
Print
Korean Chicken Lettuce Wraps
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 30 mins
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Main
- Method: Saute
- Cuisine: Korean
Description
Incredibly easy and flavorful chicken lettuce wraps with cucumbers, cilantro, and green onions.Ā
Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp. low-sodium soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
- 1 1/2 Tbsp. sesame oil
- 1 Tbsp. chili garlic sauce
- 1 1/2 lbs. skinless, boneless chicken breast or thighs, thinly sliced into strips
- 2 tsp. avocado oil
- 2 tsp. toasted sesame seeds
- 1–2 heads of butter lettuce, leaves separated, washed, and dried
- 1/2 English cucumber, thinly sliced on diagonal or 2–3 mini cucumbers
- 4 green onions, thinly sliced on diagonal
- Fresh cilantro leave
- Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper
- Lime wedges, to serve, optional
- Sweet chili sauce, to serve, optional
Instructions
- In a bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, and chili garlic sauce. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Add chicken to the marinade and toss around to coat evenly. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour up to overnight.
- Heat oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add chicken with the marinade and cook for about 3-5 minutes or until cooked through, stirring frequently. Do not overcrowd the chicken. Cook in batches if need to. Sprinkle the cooked chicken with sesame seeds
- To assemble a chicken wrap: Add chicken to a lettuce wrap. Top with cucumbers, green onions, and cilantro. If desired, add a drizzle of sweet chili sauce and serve with lime wedges.
Notes
- Chicken: If the chicken breast is thick, sliceĀ in half lengthwise and then into thin strips.
- Toppings: You can customize the toppings to suit your taste. See post for more ideas.
- Sauce: These lettuce wraps also taste good topped with a little peanut sauce, sweet chili sauce, or some of the reserved marinade. Sweet chili sauce is our favorite. It gives the wraps just a little sweetness.
- Leftovers: Store chicken and toppings in separate containers for up to 3 days in the refrigerator.
- recipe lightly adapted from Cooking LightĀ
Keywords: easy, weeknight, kid friendly
Tracey says
Thank you, Katya! I used to live in Seoul many moons ago, and the flavors in the marinade were SPOT ON. Since my kid and I are trying to eat healthier, especially later in the day, this was a perfect dinner, 2 nights in a row. Night 1 in Chinese lettuce, night 2 in iceberg. Experimented with sweet chili sauce, peanut sauce, mango chili sauceā¦
Fantastic! His eyes were wide and happy. š
★★★★★
Melinda says
My husband said, “Save this recipe!!” That’s always a good sign. š
The total time needed said 30 minutes, so in my typical fashion, I started 30 minutes before I needed dinner ready. Turns out I was supposed to marinate the chicken for an hour. -_- Well, I didn’t have that kind of time, so it marinated for like 2 minutes before I just fried the chicken and the sauce together. It worked just fine and the chicken was delicious!
Oh, I also used Tapatio as the chili garlic sauce haha.
★★★★★
Katya says
That’s always a winner! Thank you Melinda for the feedback.
Linda says
These are tasty, simple and so easy to play around with toppings! It’s a win/win to me however I want to suggest that if anyone is going to use the marinade for a sauce on these wraps PLEASE reserve some of the marinade BEFORE you add the chicken and DO NOT use it after the chicken has been sitting in it. I’m sure this is what you meant but in reading it you didn’t specify when to reserve the marinade and I would hate to see anyone getting terribly sick if they decided to use it after they have marinaded the chicken in it!
★★★★★
Katya says
Thank you Linda!
olga says
So many of your recipes are so light but so filling and I appreciate that so much. these are great!
★★★★★
Stephanie says
Wow! It is very natural and you do it with green vegetable. I like it very much and thank you to share a Awesome recipe.
★★★★★
Jill says
These are a staple in my home. I make them almost every week, they’re great! Light, easy and delicious. I love cucumbers so the addition of those is heaven for me. I do add rice (minimal for me, but my bf likes it) and onions, peppers and carrots to the mix to extend the servings a bit and add in more veggies. Thank you so much!
★★★★★
Katya says
Thanks so much Jill! So awesome that you’re loving these!
Maria says
This looks very nice! I definitely have to try it! Thanks for sharing.
★★★★★
Katya says
Thanks Maria! Hope you get a chance to try them out.
Jennifer Ellis says
I recently tried a different recipe using chili garlic sauce and found it a little -too- spicy for me. Do you think this would work well using sweet chili sauce instead?
Katya says
Hi Jennifer: I think it should work fine but you will get a slightly different taste.
Sam says
I found this recipe this morning and I loved the look of it so much I rushed to the grocery store the grab the bits I was missing and made it for dinner. I have to tell you, it was AMAZING. Mouthwateringly fabulous. The marinade smells fantastic and tastes just as good. I am so happy you shared this wonderful low carb recipe. Maybe now I’ll stick to my new years resolution haha. Much love
★★★★★
Katya says
Thanks so much Sam! So glad you got a chance to make these. It’s definitely one of our family favorites. Have a great day!
Crystal Petersen says
Hi This recipe looks wonderful. I have just been diagnosed with fatty liver and being at risk for becoming diabetic. This looks like something that i could eat ( I would use less sugar) for the strict diet my Dr has recommended. I was wondering if there is anywhere I could find the nutritional info for this recipe?
★★★★★
Katya says
Hi Crystal, unfortunately I do not have nutrition info on this recipe at this time. You can google nutrition calculator and plug in the info yourself. Hope that helps! Thanks.
Sabrina @ Familynano says
I am a huge fan of lettuce wrap recipes too, so bring them on! Love how easy this recipe is to pull together.
Thanks Katya
★★★★★
Katya says
Thanks Sabrina!
Kyle King says
Very good. I enjoyed it through every bite.
★★★★
Katya says
So glad you did Kyle! Thanks for sharing your pics š
Sammie L says
Hi Katya,
Just made these tonight and they were a hit! Everyone loved them and they looked so beautiful. The chicken caramelized so beautifully and the marinade was amazing! I am already getting excited about playing with the recipe — maybe I’ll add some bean sprouts and drizzle some lime on top, and maybe I’ll even sautee/stir fry up some red and orange bell peppers and water chestnuts to add more veggie goodness. With that said, these were *amazing* as is. LOVED ’em!
Thanks again! š
Sammie
★★★★★
Katya says
Ahh..yes! You can do so much with these lettuce wraps. Load them up with so many delish veggies. Thank you again. I really appreciate all your detailed feedback and photos! Happy 4th to you!
Nguyet @ Taming of the Spoon says
These look so good. I am always looking for new healthy chicken recipes to try. Will have to make these soon!
Katya says
Thanks Nguyet! I hope you enjoy them as much as we do!!! Let me know how you like them.
Thalia @ butter and brioche says
I am just loving these chicken lettuce wraps. They look so incredibly healthy and light.. and would definitely make a super easy and delicious weeknight meal. Perfect for the summer weather here in Australia!
★★★★★
Katya says
Thalia I’m so jealous of your summer weather! It’s negative 8 today…completely brutal and cold. I love chicken lettuce wraps too but hardly make them so I’m trying to change that š
Liz @ Floating Kitchen says
These look fantastic! I absolutely love lettuce wraps. And love all the spicy flavors here, too!
Katya says
Thanks girl! Me too!!!! But hardly ever ever make them at home š