Quick and Easy Asian Turkey Lettuce Wrap Recipe

This Asian lettuce wrap recipe uses ground turkey for a quick and easy meal. Ground turkey and water chestnuts are stir fried in a sauce made of Asian pantry staples like hoisin and sesame oil. Scoop it into a lettuce leaf, wrap, and eat! The whole thing comes together in about 30 minutes. These turkey lettuce wraps are perfect as an appetizer or as a low carb lunch.

Lettuce Wraps: P.F. Chang’s Copycat or Beacon of Asian Authenticity?

The funny thing about Asian lettuce wrap dishes is that if you Google recipes, the top results are all P.F. Chang’s copycats. I do not frequent P.F. Chang’s myself, but apparently their lettuce wraps are all the rage. Funnily enough, P.F. Chang’s is known in Asian communities as being a fancier version of Panda Express: Asian food for the non-Asian palate. You go there to enjoy orange chicken, not to expect anything like the food in Asia. Lettuce wraps, however, are common to many Asian countries – China, Korea, Thailand, and I’m sure there’s more.

And the sauce for these lettuce wraps is a mish mash of Asian pantry staples: hoisin, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame oil. All the best Asian flavors mixed into one.

So maybe P.F. Chang’s is onto something after all. Note to self: give P.F. Chang’s another try.

Where to Find Ingredients for Asian Lettuce Wraps

Speaking those Asian pantry staples, these days you can find many of them at your typical American grocery store (think Kroger or Safeway) in the international aisle. I’ve even found the water chestnuts at a QFC before – they come pre-sliced in a tin can similar looking to canned tuna. And don’t worry about having them sit in your fridge forever; you’ll use them for more than one recipe. My quick pickled cucumbers, for example, use rice vinegar, and my instant pot char siu ribs use hoisin.

If you live in an area where Asian groceries are not readily available, there’s always good ol’ Amazon of course. Feel free to also skip the water chestnuts and shiitake mushrooms entirely, if you wish. I do like the water chestnuts for the extra crunch they give in the filling, but they can be subbed with another crunchy vegetable diced up small. I would not advise skipping or subbing any of the sauce ingredients, however.

How to Serve Asian Lettuce Wraps

To serve these turkey lettuce wraps, I usually place a bunch of lettuce leaves and the ground meat separately on the table for my family to help themselves. They can be an appetizer or a side dish that’s part of a larger family meal. Often I eat this by itself as a low carb lunch. It gives me my protein and my veggies, and it actually takes good.

And there you have it! So easy, so quick, SO YUMMY.

If you try this out, let me know by rating this recipe, leaving a comment below, or find me on Instagram!