One of my favourite Chinese starters – Lettuce Wraps with pork or chicken, loads of hidden crunchy vegetables in a tasty savoury brown sauce, bundled up in fresh lettuce. Also known as San Choy Bow, it’s arguably the ultimate “just happens to be healthy” food in the whole wide world …..
The Chinese name for Lettuce Wraps is San Choy Bow which is how it’s written in menus at Chinese restaurants here in Sydney, though the spelling varies widely from place to place and I’m yet to find a definitive answer for what the proper spelling is.
I may not know how to spell it, but I do know you’re going to love them!!
HOW TO MAKE LETTUCE WRAPS
Lettuce wraps are a fantastic quick and easy meal that also happens to be healthy. A quick stir fry made with chicken, pork or turkey, some chopped vegetables cooked with a savoury Chinese sauce, spooned into lettuce cups, then wrapped into a roll shape to eat.
For a great Lettuce Wrap, it all comes down to the sauce. It takes more than just a splash of soy sauce to make a truly delish Lettuce Wrap.
Get the sauce right and you can pretty much put anything into the filling. And it is one of those rare recipes that is genuinely great made entirely vegetarian. I would just as happily scoff down a meat free version of this as I would a traditional pork version.
WHAT GOES IN A LETTUCE WRAP FILLING
I’m yet to find a reliable resource that specifies exactly what should go into a Lettuce Wrap filling. I don’t think there are definitive rules, but the common ingredients I see at Chinese restaurants are pork, water chestnuts and onion.
After this, things get a bit blurred. Baby corn, shiitake or other mushrooms and carrots are almost always in the filling. Then sometimes there are bean sprouts. And those that border more towards “Western” Chinese have all sorts of other vegetables in it, like normal corn, capsicum etc.
So I’ve made a version that is akin to what Chinese restaurants serve. It’s basically entirely brown – no pops of colour. While it’s not typically served with peanuts or shallots/scallions on top, I really love the extra something-something this adds. 🙂
STEP IT UP: WATER CHESTNUTS
If you can find them, I really urge you to use Water Chestnuts. It doesn’t have a strong flavour, but the unique thing about Water chestnuts is the texture. Even canned, it is crunchy and a bit juicy and it’s a quintessential part of the Chinese Lettuce Wrap experience. ☺️ Nowadays in Australia, they are found in both the Asian section and canned vegetable section of supermarkets.
As for what lettuce to use for Lettuce Wraps, the softer the better. Crispy lettuce like iceberg and Cos lettuce will crack when folded, causing all the tasty juices to run out while eating them.
So use lettuce with softer leaves. Butter lettuce or Bib Lettuce (in the States) are ideal.
Enjoy!– Nagi x
- 1 1/4 tsp cornflour / cornstarch
- 3 tbsp water, separated
- 1 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce (Note 1)
- 1 tsp dark soy sauce (Note 1)
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 2 tbsp Chinese cooking wine (Note 2)
- 1 tsp white sugar (can omit)
- 1 tbsp peanut oil
- 1 clove large garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp ginger, minced
- 300g / 10oz pork mince (ground pork) (Note 3)
- 1/2 onion, finely chopped
- 1 small carrot, finely chopped
- 100g/ 3.5oz canned water chestnuts, drained and finely chopped (Note 4)
- 5 baby corn, canned or fresh, finely chopped (Note 4)
- 5 mushrooms, finely chopped(shiitake is best, I used Swiss Brown)
- 8 leaves large or 16 - 20 small lettuce, preferably soft (Note 5)
- Crushed peanuts
- Finely sliced scallions / shallots
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Mix cornflour with 1 tbsp water until lump free. Then add remaining Sauce ingredients and mix.
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Heat oil in a wok or large skillet over high heat. Add garlic and ginger, give it a quick stir then add onion.
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Cook for 1 minute then add pork. Cook pork until it turns white.
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Add all the vegetables. Cook for 2 minutes until the carrot is softened and pork is cooked through.
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Add Sauce and cook for 1 1/2 minutes or until it thickens and glossy, coating the Filling.
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Transfer Filling into serving bowl. Lay out lettuce leaves, peanuts and scallions on the side.
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To serve, spoon some Filling into a lettuce leaf. Top with peanuts and scallions, bundle it up and enjoy!
1. The light soy sauce adds the salt and the dark soy sauce adds a touch of colour. You can sub the dark soy with more light soy sauce, or just sub both the light and dark with ordinary soy sauce. The filling will just be a bit lighter in colour. Don't just use all dark soy sauce - flavour is way too strong - or with a thick sweet soy sauce like kecap manis.
2. Can sub with dry sherry or chicken broth.
3. Also great with chicken but I prefer pork because it's not as lean and has slightly more flavour. Chinese restaurants typically use pork. Never seen it with beef or lamb! Can also sub with 2 1/2 cups of chopped veggies of choice.
4. See in post for a photo of water chestnuts. These are a key ingredient in San Choy Bow as served at Chinese restaurants here in Australia. They have a natural light flavour, but it's the texture that is unique - a fresh crunchiness.
Nowadays these are sold in both the Asian and canned vegetable section of major supermarkets.
5. Typically served at Chinese restaurants using crisp iceberg lettuce leaves which are cut into neat rounds so they are all the same size. My preference is to use soft lettuce leaves like Butter Lettuce or Bibb Lettuce (US) because iceberg has a tendency to crack when rolled to eat, causing juices to run out. I used Baby Gem Lettuce in the photos which come in twin packs at Woolworths.
6. I use 3/4 cup of each vegetable (inc onion) so in total I use 2 1/2 cups of chopped vegetables. You can substitute with whatever chopped vegetables you want, though I urge you to stick with the onion.
The meat can be substituted with 2 1/2 cups of any vegetable or chopped firm tofu. For a super quick version, make this with pork + frozen diced vegetables. Works a treat!
This recipe makes enough for 3 as a main (4 if it's 2 adults and 2 kids) or around 6 as a starter.
7. Nutrition per serving, assuming 4 servings. This is a fantastic healthy dinner!
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* Originally published February 2017, post writing tidied up and new photos added May 2018.
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
San Choy Bow (Chinese Lettuce Cups) recipe video!
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Hi. Did your soy sauce note mean that I could swap out Kecap Manis for the soy sauces as a variation? Same quantity? I’m going to try this tomorrow. Looks delicious. I am yet to find dark and light gluten free soy so it’ll just be regular soy sauce this time but I’ve just found a gf sweet soy which I haven’t used yet. Thanks for the yummy recipes.
Hi great recipe, can I use turkey mince for this?
YES!!
Have you ever added in finely diced Chinese sausage? Vancouver BC which has a huge Chinese population has pretty authentic Chinese restaurants and my recollection has the water chestnuts, pork and Chinese sausage along with dry thin white noodles. Usually served on iceberg lettuce, fill with the white crispy noodles then add the meat mixture with a dollop of a sweetish sauce. Hoisin maybe? Thinned out a bit? Going to try this soon.
Gosh YES! Chinese sausage goes in lots of stuff around here!
made this last night, just love it can not stop eating, did not have water chestnuts so used chopped celery instead at the end loved the crunch
That’s so great to hear Carol! Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed this! N x
This is my first go at recipes on this blog…and oh my! I am a HUGE FAN! I made these with ground chicken, just as the recipe states. I added the water chestnuts. Served with the Bibb Lettuce leaves as recommended and a little squirt of Sriracha. Perfection. Husband and I are fighting over who gets to take the leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Thank you a million times over!
Glad you enjoyed this Beth!!! Thank you for taking the time to leave feedback! N x
Love the San Choy Bow. Never had it with water chestnuts though, how do the chestnuts affect the flavour?
Hi Alex! They don’t really, they don’t actually have much flavour at all, but they add great texture 🙂 Juicy soft crunch!
I found a recipe sheet for this in Coles last week(an MKR recipe). I was googling to see the country it’s from and stumbled on your recipe. so glad i did before making it. You have better ingredients.Only thing i might use from their recipe is thinly sliced pork steak instead of mince 🙂
I hope you love it Cindy!! This is truly a personal favourite. So healthy too! N xx
Fab recipe – so easy to create and v tasty, Thank you for sharing.
Love hearing that Elizabeth! So pleased you enjoyed this 🙂 N x
I just made this, amazing I am so glad I stumbled across your website, All the recipes looks so easy. I have a shopping list ready to go and get all the that is needed for the week of cooking great tasty food
Thankyou so much for sharing your recipes
I use to have a san choy bow recipe (in one of my 245 cookbooks) but couldn’t find it 🙁 so I decided to google a recipe hoping to find one similar and I stumbled across your website….AND OH MY GOD – I’M OBSESSED!!!
Everything I make = amazing. I’ve told everyone at my work, my friends my family!
I’ve gone veggo since I first made this, so looking forward to trying it with the ‘veggie mince’!
PS – This recipe is SO MUCH better than the original one I was looking for!!
Thanks! xx
WHOOT WHOOT WHOOT!!! 🙌🏻
This. Was. Awesome!!!
There were three of us and I set the recipe for 8 (1.5lbs of ground pork)… we ate every last spoonful. This is an absolutely wonderful meal. We look at carbs and gluten-free recipes because we have a T1D and celiac kiddo, and this recipe is absolutely spot-on on both counts while also being fantastically delicious, easy, and enjoyable to prepare.
I used ground pork, and used chicken broth instead of Chinese cooking wine (didn’t have any, but will try next time). We used the onions, carrots, shiitakes, and water chestnuts for veggies. I forgot the peanuts but did use some scallions on top; we also used Bibb (or Boston) lettuce which was perfect… it was just a superb dinner.
My teens said it was the best dinner they’ve had recently!
Nagi, I’ve made both your crispy buffalo wings (amazing) and now San Choy Bow in the last few days… this is now my absolute favorite food blog.
Thank you so much for sharing your unique, healthy, and delicious take on these recipes!!!
Great recipe – I loaded up on the water chestnuts as I love the crunch – sauce mixture was spot on.
Thanks for sharing!
🙌🏻🙌🏻 N xx
Sung Choi Bao is the original spelling. Ive been to china and this is how it was spelt on the menus haha thankyou for recipe making this now.
Ah ha!!! Thanks!
Hi Nagi, I’m a big fan of your blog. Thankyou.
I’ve just tried this recipe , thinking of having it as a help yourself starter for a dinner party next week. Would be perfect.
Baby gem lettuce was ideal.
The only issue is mine seemed a touch too strong in flavour.
If I wanted to adjust Slightly, what would you suggest?
Hi Libby! Help yourself starter is a terrific idea 🙂 if the flavour was too strong for your taste, I would reduce the light soy sauce down to 2 tsp. That will reduce the saltiness 🙂 N x
More onion for sweetner, brown or palm sugar. For i bite add ginger before chilli. And if using pork, salt that sob. Just taste test lovely lady
These were delish and full of flavour. I used iceberg lettuce which held together nicely accompanied with steamed pork buns. Will be searching for more yummy recipes.
That’s terrific to hear Claire! I’m so pleased to hear that. 🙂 N xx
I might try this recipe tonight. I moved to Ireland last year and it took me months to find out that here it’s called “yuk sung”, i asked the waitress what was the different between this and sun choy bow and she said that it was the same but one was Cantonese and the other mandarin name.
Hope you enjoy it Maria! 🙂 N xx
Nice to see it in something other than the ubiquitous boring iceberg lettuce. We often had it in Australia, and love it. Hadn’t seen it in the UK till today, only the restaurant gave it a completely different name – Yok Chom. It certainly looked and tasted the same anyway.
I don’t know that name! I must look it up! N xx
This was super easy to make and the family gave it a big thumbs up for flavour. I didn’t use strong enough lettuce so it was a bit of a “serving” bust for me first night but second night I served it with rice and it hit all spots!!!!
Oh I do that ALL the time 🙂 Or the lettuce is too crisp or so delicate it tears 🙂 Luck of the draw sometimes! N xx