Thai Lettuce Wraps is one of those meals that will make you forget you’re eating healthy! A traditional Thai dish called Larb Gai, they’re quick to make and full of fresh flavours from herbs and lime, plus a nice hit of chilli. Use chicken mince or pork mince, bundle it up in lettuce or serve it over rice!
Thai Lettuce Wraps – Larb Gai
Thai is one of the most popular Asian foods in Sydney. And there’s so much to love about it – noodles, curries and soups, grilled chicken, fried rice and Thai Fish Cakes. And of course, everybody’s favourite Thai Chicken Satay with peanut sauce!
But when you feel like something lighter (read: lower cal!) but still loaded with Thai flavours, these Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps are fabulous.
Larb Gai, Laab Gai, Lahb Gai, Laap Gai…….searching for a recipe like this where the name has been interpreted in so many different ways is always interesting! Depending on what you search will return a myriad of results!
Thai Lettuce Wraps are a celebration of fresh flavours and textures. The perfect balance of sweet, savoury, sour and spiciness with aromatic herbs and the fresh crunch from lettuce. Utterly addictive!
Larb Gai is the Thai version of everybody’s favourite Chinese Lettuce Wraps, San Choy Bow!
It’s all about the fresh flavours!
Like many South East Asian dishes, these Thai Lettuce Cups are about fresh flavours. There’s few ingredients in the sauce – just lime juice, fish sauce and sugar. Much of the flavour comes from a decent wack of Thai aromatics – ginger, garlic, chilli and lemongrass – which we sauté until golden and the smell drives us crazy before we add the chicken, sauce and fresh herbs.
What goes in Thai Lettuce Wraps
Here’s a visual of what goes in the chicken mince filling for Thai Lettuce Wraps.
I typically default to a chicken filling, but this recipe works just as well with pork mince as well (that’s ground pork for those of you in the States!).
Lettuce for lettuce cups
For the lettuce wraps, don’t get too hung up on finding the perfect lettuce! Once it’s all bundled / scrunched up and you start devouring, nobody remembers whether your lettuce leaves were the perfect size or symmetrical, or a convenient cup shape. All anyone can think about is how divine it tastes!
TIP: Crisp or soft lettuce works just fine, so go with what you prefer or what looks good at the store. Crisp lettuce leaves are mostly in a cup shape – as pictured below (small cos lettuce aka romaine lettuce) – and soft lettuce leaves can be any shape as they are soft enough to wrap around the filling.
How to make Thai Lettuce Wraps
It’s no different to any stir fry – mix up the sauce first, sauté the aromatics first (garlic, ginger, chilli, lemongrass) then add the meat then sauce. You’ll be done cooking in 5 minutes flat!
How to serve
I always serve it in a DIY arrangement because I’m a fan of interactive food – plus I get to skip plating up for everyone! I put the filling in a bowl alongside a pile of lettuce leaves with lime wedges and some peanuts sprinkling.
SAUCE OPTION: Typically I serve it just like that, but when I want to go all out, I make Thai Peanut Sauce as well. It’s the sauce from my Thai Chicken Satay recipe which actually makes more than you need for one batch of Satay. So freeze the leftovers then pull it out when you make Thai Lettuce Wraps!
What to serve with Thai Lettuce Wraps
These are typically offered as a starter at Thai restaurants – one piece per person. As for what main to have, you could really choose any Thai main dish – there’s nothing I wouldn’t choose in my collection of recipes! Here are some favourites:
Thai Main Dish Suggestions
The other option is to make a meal out of these lettuce cups by adding some sides to fill it out – and add some extra greens if you like. If you add one rice side and one salad, that will make quite a substantial meal for 4 people. Here are some suggestions!
Dishes to make a complete meal
– Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Thai Lettuce Wraps (Larb Gai, Laab Gai)
Ingredients
- 2 tsp cornflour / cornstarch OR 2 tbsp uncooked rice (any rice is fine) (Note 1)
- 3 tbsp water
- 2 1/2 tbsp lime juice (1 to 2 limes)
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 tsp brown sugar
- 2 tbsp peanut oil (or other high smoke point cooking oil)
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger , grated or very finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves , large, minced
- 1 lemon grass stalk , white and very pale green part only, finely chopped (Note 2)
- 2 Thai or birds eye chilli , deseeded and finely chopped (adjust to taste)
- 1 lb / 500g chicken mince (ground chicken) OR pork
- 1/2 red onion , cut into 4 wedges then finely sliced
- 1/3 cup coriander/cilantro leaves , plus extra to garnish
- 1/3 cup mint leaves , plus extra to garnish
Serving
- 3 tbsp crushed peanuts (optional)
- 6 - 8 small to medium lettuce leaves (I used baby cos / romaine) (Note 3)
- Extra lime wedges, chilli
Instructions
- Sauce: Place water and cornflour OR rice powder into a small bowl. Mix into a slurry. Add lime juice, fish sauce and sugar and mix to combine. Set aside.
- Heat peanut oil in a wok (or heavy based fry pan) over medium high heat. Add ginger, garlic, lemongrass and chilli and sauté for 45 seconds to 1 minute until fragrant. Do not let the garlic burn, it will taste bitter.
- Add the chicken and turn up the heat to high. Cook the chicken, breaking up the mince into small pieces.
- Once the chicken turns white and is almost cooked through (about 3 to 4 minutes), add Sauce. Cook for 45 seconds to 1 minute to coat the chicken and for the sauce to thicken.
- Remove wok from heat. Stir through onion, coriander/cilantro and mint.
- Spoon filling into a bowl, and serve with lettuce, peanuts, extra herbs and lime wedges on the side - leave everyone to make their own. Spoon filling into lettuce cups and garnish with what you want!
- Sauce option: Take it over the top by serving with Thai Peanut Satay Sauce, as pictured in the first photo in post! It's extra amazing (though not traditional!)
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Originally published January 2015. Updated with new photos, new process photos, new video and most importantly, Dozer added!
More Thai Food favourites
Life of Dozer
On auto pilot, I labelled this photo “Dozer guarding front door”.
LOL, what a joke! If a robber ever broke in, he’d lead them straight to all my valuables!
Made this last night for the second time, Absolute Winner!
That’s great to hear Kailey!!
This has become a regular in our household….love it , thank you so much. We have it with lettuce and rice. So light and delicious.
Terrific to hear Libby! Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed it – N x
I was looking for a recipe to use up the ingredients I bought to make your Thai beef salad and this is perfect especially since it’s a refreshing and healthy recipe that helps you survive the heat…
This, your Thai chicken meatballs and a pot of freshly steamed sweet Thai rice – perfect dinner!!! My husband loves it!!!!
YUUUUUUUMM!!!!!!
Another keeper… fresh, delicious, easy! When we lived in NYC, terrific Thai food was easy to find.
We haven’t found a great place here, so I’m making it at home when the craving hits. This is
definitely going into the rotation. Thanks!
That’s so great to hear Fiona! Thanks for letting me know! N x ❤️
can you share your recipe using won ton cups please?
Hi Beverly! Use the wonton cups in this recipe 🙂 -> https://www.recipetineats.com/thai-chicken-salad-wonton-cups/
Is this dish best served hot or cold? Making it for the fair! 🙂
Hi Morgan! The filling is best served hot or warm, the lettuce should be cold 🙂 N x
We’ve tried so many of your recipes & our teenage daughters (reformed FUSSY eaters) have grown to trust them so much it’s crazy. Our 16 yr old daughter will NOT eat onions. She HATES them. I play a game with her where I hide one tiny piece of diced onion under the pepperoni on her pizza. It’s not really a ‘game’ because she doesn’t know, but she finds it every time. She hates them. I’ve explained to her that she will love them when she’s older because almost no recipe is complete without them. She disagrees.
So, I was happy this recipe has big onions so she could pick them out easily. SHE DIDN’T!!! SHE ATE THEM!!! She said it was delicious & she knew the flavour wouldn’t be complete if she picked them out. She was very happy she ate them.
WE SCORED Josie!!!! That is incredible, I have a HUGE smile plastered on my smile reading that!!! Ba ha ha, so funny that she doesn’t eat onion, as you say, it is in EVERYTHING!!! 🙂 She doesn’t even like slow caramelised onions????
I actually have a reader who is allergic to onion but she still makes a lot of my recipes by substituting either leeks or the while part of scallions/shallots which works just as well. 🙂
We did SCORE!!! She doesn’t even like caramalized onions. Or at least she didn’t used to, I guess we’ll see now!
Try mincing the onions! My 10 year old loves onions. But in the beginning she didn’t, so we started mincing and she never knew 😊 now she even eats raw onion!
Hi Nagi, I just came across your site last week and this was the first recipe I tried – my boyfriend and I liked it so much, we made it again last night. With what we had on hand – no peanuts, ground turkey instead of chicken, romaine instead of iceberg lettuce – it was still so delicious! Thank you for sharing and I look forward to trying more recipes from your site!
Hi Grace! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe and I love that you made it using what you had! That’s what cooking is all about 🙂 Thank your for coming back to let me know you enjoyed it!! 🙂
These were F A B U LO U S! It does take a bit of dicing, but I do not mind- the effort is SO WORTH IT! Nagi I used 2 huge chicken breasts- for 4 people- and cut into EXTREMELY small pieces. Other than that I followed your recipe to the T. I did have light soy sauce on the side if someone wanted along with the peanuts, OH and I did have small julienned carrots in a bowl to add ( I needed to use!). As I said before, I have made lettuce chicken wraps, but not with a real recipe, just on a whim, but Nag this was really really great. Having just made Beef Rendang, I had the lemongrass, ginger, peppers and I had purchased rice powder from the Asian market. Our family used to eat at PF Changs , it seemed like the ‘BIRTHDAY’ restaurant choice, and I have to say these rank up with their Chicken Lettuce Wraps, but FRESHER! WHAT DID I DO BEFORE you!!??? These are a keeper, and probably a monthly dish, BUT they will be doubled next time. Lisa from, you know… Portland, Oregon- known as the mini San Fran!
Thanks Lisa, I’m SO GLAD you enjoyed this!! The flavours are fabulous, aren’t they? So fresh but punchy, classic Thai 🙂 Oh, and an idea to bulk it up without sacrificing taste is to add diced water chestnuts or even frozen diced vegetables! I’m so impressed that you had all the ingredients on hand! I rarely do 🙂 But it’s easy to get all these ingredients at my local supermarket so it’s easy! 🙂
Chewtown is a great blog, isn’t it? I haven’t had a fail with any of her recipes. I have made these before and they were a huge hit. I want some now. 🙂
I ate 2 of those in a tow, straight off the backdrop board! So classless 🙂
Lettuce cups make for such ideal appetizers for a party. Lovely pics
Thank you so much! 🙂
Dear Nagi.
This is one of my fave dishes at Thai restaurants if done well. I like the addition of peanuts and apart from being delicious, the advantage of cooking this at home is I love the iceberg lettuce icy chilled, especially in summer now.
I do too! I even bought a lettuce storage especially to keep it nice and crisp!!
This is bursting with flavours and it is definitely better to eat anything in your hands (especially lettuce) when possible. Great flavours and stunning photographs 😀
Thank you Merryn, for your kind words!
This recipe sounds so amazing…fish sauce, lemongrass, brown sugar – yum! I also love all the fresh herbs you included. Also, I have to tell you that your photography is absolutely amazing. The styling and the food – it’s all so beautiful! Pinned! (:
Thanks Connie!!
Yay! Larb gai is my all time favourite thai salad. Happy to hear that you liked the recipe enough to make it yourself (with your own gorgeous twist of course) So wonderful meeting you and getting to know you. Can’t wait to catch up again soon. x
So glad you approve! Phew! Always a bit nervous sharing recipes from bloggers I admire! 🙂
Fresh and crunchy and delicious for sure. I love this kind of food. Its just the sort of thing that my son doesn’t like and that is annoying
Ha ha!! I wouldn’t have liked this as a kid either 🙂 Make it when he’s away !
Nagi,
Asian lettuce cups are one of my most favorite things to eat! like ever. These are gorgeous and so beautifully shot! wow!! I am literally drooling!
Thank you Alice, you’re so sweet!
I love ground chicken and always choose it instead of pork, because they are as tasty and low in calories. This is a wonderful appetizer and so glad you introduced another amazing blog!
I agree with you Maggie, when I’m counting calories, I always go for ground chicken. 🙂
Whoa! Talk about some serious flavors going on here! I often make lettuce wraps at home but they’re more Chinese inspired, in terms of flavor. I never thought to prepare them using the flavors of Thailand – which is kind of crazy when I think about it, because I really love the bright and vibrant notes of Thai cuisine! You are so inspirational, Nagi! I wish I had like 10 of these right now!
I’m SO making these this weekend 🙂
I love san choy bau!! Which reminds me, I should share a recipe soon. Might have to check out what YOU’ve done! 🙂
I so miss eating good larb. I used to live in Laos and larb was a staple at the restaurant I lived next door to – which was probably a good thing or I would have been the side of a house, their food was so good. You are definitely going with traditional way of eating larb. Nothing uncivilised about it!
Oh, I forgot that Larb is originally from Laos!! I haven’t actually tried a Laos recipe yet, must do so soon!