You can call them “Lettuce Tacos”or you can call them “Lettuce Bundles” or you can call them anything you like – maybe salad without a fork?  Wrapping a warm or cool filling in a lettuce leaf is a delicious way to use leftovers or “planned-overs” (extra food you prepare so you have it on hand for some future purpose). You can eat eat them one-handed while you finish some other task. They’re terrific party food.  You can assemble them quickly for a dine-and-dash dinner on a workday night when your Karate class starts at 6:45 and you don’t want anything heavy on board.    You can make them with a friend for a fast shared meal on Tuesday “cheap tickets” movie night, ’cause you know there will be popcorn later.

You can make them “diet” or lush.

You can make them ANY WAY YOU LIKE!

Just my kind of recipe!

Lettuce Wraps — A Concept

Ingredients:

Some kind of lettuce

Some kind of protein (which could be chicken, pork, beef, tofu, shrimp, or even beans. What’s in your fridge?  Got any lobster?)

Some kind of onion

Some kind of vegetable for crunch (and healthy eating)

Some kind of fruit or pickle for flavor and contrast

Some kind of binding/moistening ingredient

Some kind of seasoning

Something crunchy for textural interest

Like it so far?  For me, a perfect dish needs components both soft and crunchy, and a balance of sweet, salty, acidic and umami (meaty) flavors.  Take all the suggestions below with a grain of salt (pun fully intended).  Feel free to substitute according to your whimsical palate, or the contents of your
fridge.

it all depends on what you can find in your fridge.

Some kind of lettuce:

Anything from iceberg to Boston Bib.  Soft leaves, like butter lettuce, do a better job of actually “wrapping”.  Romaine is my go-to, partly because it’s already shaped like a taco shell, and partly because I love the crispy ribs.  You can get nice packages of red or green single lettuce leaves in most major grocery stores, but they’re mighty perishable, so use them up quickly.

Iceberg lettuce leaves roll well, and make a particularly nice, sweet, crunchy container for salty warm fillings.  I have heard of a fully-dressed hamburger served sandwiched between layers of iceberg leaves instead of a bun.

Adding wraps to your summer menu planning is an excellent reason to plant a row of lettuces in your flower bed, or a window box if your yard is like mine – full of bunnies.

Nice red-leaf lettuce wraps packed for lunch.  Chicken “Waldorf” salad — chicken, celery, apple and pecan, dressed with 1 Tbsp mayonnaise and 1 Tbsp Greek Yogurt. Don’t forget salt and pepper!

Some kind of protein:

2 1/2  ounces of meat is a single serving, according to Canada’s Food Guide. 2 1/2 ounces is about half a largish chicken breast.

When you supplement your protein choice with an equal volume of veggies and/or fruit, you have healthy eating on a lettuce leaf. Lettuce Wraps are a great way to stretch a little protein into a full and satisfying meal.  This is NOT an excuse to eat six strips of bacon, though — the Food Guide stipulates “lean meat”.  You can use bacon, just not a ton of it.

At the right is my mise en place for chicken/mango salad.  When you put the fruit and vegetables together, it’s the same volume as the chicken. (I didn’t use ALL those almonds….)

Some kind of onion:

You can use green onions, red onions, yellow onions, shallots. You can use lots, or a little, caramelized or raw.  I like green onion tops because their flavor is sharp and their color is pretty.  If chives were growing in my garden, I would use them. Dried chives will work in a pinch, or you can use my favorite garlic/onion/herb no-salt seasoning blend if your fridge is totally empty.  If you hate onions, leave them out, but I think this an essential element in most flavor combinations.

“Planned-over” steak on fennel and tomato salad, dressed with olive oil and lemon juice, garnished with black olives, fennel fronds and aioli. No onion component in this one, but a little red onion would have been nice.

Some kind of vegetable for crunch and healthy eating:

Celery springs to mind almost immediately, but you could use grated carrot, jicama, cucumber, bean sprouts (wash them well), water chestnuts, corn kernels (fresh, or just thaw some frozen), fennel, cabbage, zucchini – use what you have, or what you can pick up in a small quantity. Peppers!  Slaw mix is a great multi-tasker – use it plain or dress it up.  Julienned fresh daikon, or daikon quick pickle (from the Bahn Mi Burger recipe) would be great.

Avocado and Egg Salad with Carrot Pickle Chips in butter lettuce, the best wrapper ever. (Pop thinly sliced carrot in with your dill pickles.  They add extra crunch and color.) Celery, green onions and avocado extend a hard-boiled egg into a generous lunch.

Some kind of fruit or pickle:

This is entirely optional, and depends on the flavor profile you’re seeking.

Orange, mango (fresh or frozen), any kind of berry, apple, grapes, dried cranberries or any other kind of dried fruit – all these figure in the world of chicken salad recipes, and all of them will work with a variety of proteins.  Just a note – if you want warm/hot filling in your lettuce wrap, stick with a dried fruit, as raw fruit will throw so much juice, it will dribble down your chin and stain your shirt.

If fruit doesn’t appeal, try a pickle.  Although we already touched on pickles as a crunchy element, also consider the zing of dill pickles, capers, olives, pickled peppers, pickled onions – any kind of relish or pickle can perk up an otherwise lackluster mixture.  A spear of pickled asparagus or a hot pickled green bean?  How about chutney?

A simple snack of ham, cheese, and dill pickle with a little mayo all rolled up tidily in iceberg lettuce leaves. The pickle adds zing!

Some kind of binding/moistening ingredient:

This is an important consideration.  Define your flavor profile here:  are you looking for a classic chicken or tuna salad, or do you want something vaguely Chinese, something more Tex-Mex, something with Thai flavors, curry, or maybe something more Mediterranean?

For “Chinese” flavor, choose from soy sauce, Hoisin sauce, sesame oil (just a drop or two), oyster sauce, teriyaki sauce.

For “Thai” flavor, choose soy sauce, fish sauce, lime juice, a pinch of brown sugar, coconut milk, even Sweet Chili Dipping Sauce or peanut sauce.  Heat it up with Sriracha.

For Tex-Mex, use salsa, or mayo and Frank’s Hot Sauce.

For Mediterranean, use olive oil, lemon juice and lots of herbs.

For a curried treat, use curry powder, chutney and yogurt.

A hot filling is self-saucing.  This is Thai Green Curry Shrimp and celery on zucchini noodles, ready to wrap in red lettuce leaves.

Mayonnaise works with all cold applications:  add just a little Dijon mustard for zing, or jazz it up with hot sauce or chipotle peppers.  I almost always use half mayo, half Greek yogurt, in an effort to reduce calories from fat.  Second choice?  Ranch dressing!  Third choice?  Creamy Caesar!    Any kind of bottled salad dressing will work, from Raspberry Vinaigrette to Green Goddess.  If all else fails, a little old-fashioned bottled Zesty Italian will cover a lot of bases.

Sometimes a layer of something sticky is better than a dressing.  Try guacamole or hummus.  My mother used to love lettuce and peanut butter sandwiches….

Some kind of seasoning:

Salt and pepper are a given.  Otherwise, augment your flavor profile.  A little smoked paprika or chipotle powder with Tex-Mex is nice.  Tarragon or Herbes de Provence are classic with a mayonnaise chicken salad mixture.  Chinese five-spice can be interesting.  If you have fresh herbs languishing in your fridge, this might be the place to use them up. Citrus juice or zest counts as seasoning too.  You can use cheese as a seasoning – sharp cheddar, blue, feta, smoked Havarti, parmesan….

Oriental Chicken Salad with celery, water chestnuts, red pepper and mango, dressed with hoisin sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil and lime juice. Frozen mango would have worked just as well as fresh, I figure.

Something crunchy for textural interest:

This would be your “garnish”, and it’s absolutely optional; if the lettuce is crispy enough, don’t complicate the plan.  I always have toasted flaked almonds in a baggie in my freezer, but any kind of nuts that work with your other flavors are good (pecans, walnuts, macadamias, pine nuts).  Sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, chia – all good.  Croutons (crushed for ease of eating), or buttery browned coarse breadcrumbs.  Chow mein noodles.  Broken taco chips.  Whatever!

Pork Tenderloin in BBQ sauce on sweet potato hash browns, confetti coleslaw for additional veg, and just a few crushed Doritos for crunch!

Lettuce Wraps work well with either hot or cold fillings.

Cold fillings couldn’t be easier – mix all ingredients together, stuff in lettuce leaf, eat.

Warm takes a bit of planning.  You can mix everything together, give it a little nuke in the microwave, pour off the liquid that the ingredients will inevitably throw off, and proceed with the “stuff, eat” steps of production…

…or…

You can assemble your ingredients in a frying pan, not unlike making a little stir-fry.  This way you have the option of starting with cooked or raw protein.  The sauté method lets you control the moisture of your mixture, critical in controlling how much juice rolls down your arm when you eat your wrap!

Lettuce wraps are faster than fast food, and twice as good for you:  it’s a sandwich, minus the bread.  Get your hands dirty — play with your food!