Korean chicken lettuce wraps are an easy, healthy, quick, and delicious Asian Appetizer, side dish, or low carb main. I've tested these Asian lettuce cups with both Korean Gochujang chicken thighs (stir fry) and ground chicken- scroll down to see which one works better! (short marinade.) Leftovers can be mixed with greens to make Gochujang Chicken Salad or chicken fried rice/ noodles.
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🥘 Ingredients
You will need a few simple ingredients for this Asian chicken lettuce wrap (1 of our favorite recipes):
- chicken thigh: I tested minced chicken and chicken thigh- the latter tastes better. However, please remember to remove the skin- if not, your filling will be very oily! If your chicken has a lot of fat, either remove it or use less cooking oil.
- Gochujang paste: you want the gochujang in the tub (usually a red tub) and not the gochujang sauce in the squeeze bottle. If you can't get Korean Gochujang where you live, click through for a homemade recipe.
- Mirin: Although this is a Japanese condiment, I use it for its sweetness. If you want to be authentically Korean, use soju and increase the amount of white sugar added. (Or you can add Asian pear juice for natural sweetness, but you'll need to head to the Asian grocery store for that.)
- Light Soy Sauce: You can substitute with fish sauce but not with salt, sweet soy or dark soy. (Fish sauce to soy sauce may not be a 1:1 substitution as the saltiness of the soy sauce and fish sauce are different.) A gluten-free substitute is coconut aminos but I've not tested it personally.
- White Sugar: I have not tried this with maple syrup or honey or light brown sugar (Don't use dark brown sugar- we don't want the meat to taste of molasses!)
- Sesame oil: accentuate the flavor by garnishing the wraps with toasted sesame seeds at the end
- Fresh Garlic cloves: this is used in most Korean cuisine recipes so having garlic in your freezer is a good meal prep tip if you cook a lot of Korean food
- Fresh Ginger
- Gochugaru red pepper flakes: these Korean red chili flakes are optional, to make the dish more spicy, you can add some Korean chili powder. Go sparingly though as it can be very spicy (the spiciness varies from harvest to harvest.)
Note: I tested adding green bell pepper to the gochujang chicken stir fry, but it releases water which makes the filling too watery for a lettuce wrap (you'll need to add cornstarch.) Works well for a standalone dish though.
Wrapping meat in vegetables is common in South Korea. For the Asian lettuce cups, the best lettuce would be:
- butterhead lettuce such as Boston Bibb lettuce or butter lettuce (for the right-sized lettuce cups)
- romaine lettuce or iceberg lettuce (for something sturdier but the leaves are usually too big- don't overdo the meat mixture or it'll spill out)
Optional Garnish: thin slices of spring onions and lightly toasted sesame seeds
🔪 Step-by-Step Instructions
1a. Remove the chicken from the fridge, cut into 1 inch chunks.
1b. Mix the gochujang paste, soy sauce, sugar, mirin, sesame oil, and gochugaru chili well.
1c. Add the chicken into the gochujang mixture, ensuring each piece is well-coated and leave for 20 minutes. (You're simultaneously marinating and letting the chicken come back to room temperature.)
2a. Add vegetable oil to the pan/ large skillet over medium heat to medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, carefully add the ginger and garlic. Stir fry for 1-2 minutes.
2b. Once fragrant, add the marinated meat (including the korean chili paste marinade juices) and stir fry till cooked. (About 7-10 minutes for me.)
2c. To assemble the Korean lettuce wraps: place a Tablespoon or two of chicken filling in each green leaf (depending on the size of the lettuce) and garnish with sliced green onions and sesame seeds.
Serve with these Asian lettuce wrap sides.
🥡 How to Store
Store leftover filling and leftover lettuce leaves in a separate container for no more than 2 days.
Make sure the chicken filling is thoroughly heated before serving.
🥗 Suggested Accompanying Recipes
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Korean Chicken Lettuce Wrap (30 min)
Equipment
- 1 Salad spinner to dry the leaves. you can also pat dry with paper towels.
- 1 Wok or large skillet
- 1 heat proof spatula
- 1 Knife & chopping board
Ingredients
Foe the lettuce cups
- butterhead lettuce such as Bibb or Boston lettuce (for the right-sized lettuce cups) Substitute: romaine lettuce or iceberg lettuce (for something sturdier but the leaves may be too big) Wash and dry the leaves before serving.
For the chicken filling
- 1.32 lb chicken thigh, skinless, boneless 600g. remember to remove the skin- if not, your filling will be very oily! If your chicken has a lot of fat, either remove it or use less cooking oil.
- 4 Tablespoons Gochujang paste You want the gochujang in the tub (usually a red tub) and not the gochujang sauce in the squeeze bottle. If you can't get Korean Gochujang where you live, click through for a homemade recipe.
- 2½ Tablespoons Mirin Although this is a Japanese condiment, I use it for its sweetness. If you want to be authentically Korean, use soju and increase the amount of white sugar added.
- 1½ Tablespoons Light Soy Sauce You can substitute with fish sauce but not with salt, sweet soy or dark soy.
- 1 Tablespoon White Sugar
- ½ Tablespoons Sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon Gochugaru these Korean red chili flakes are optional, to make the dish more spicy, you can add some Korean chili powder. Go sparingly though as it can be very spicy (the spiciness varies from harvest to harvest)- start with ½ teaspoon, taste, and increase to 1 teaspoon if necessary.
- vegetable oil Neutral oil for stir-frying
- 5 cloves Fresh Garlic peeled and minced
- 1 inch Fresh Ginger Peel off the skin with the back of a spoon then mince
Optional Garnish
- Scallion Sliced
- 1 Tablespoon white sesame seeds dry toasted
Instructions
- Remove the chicken from the fridge, cut into 1 inch chunks.
- Add the chicken into the gochujang mixture, ensuring each piece is well-coated and leave for 20 minutes. (You're simultaneously marinating and letting the chicken come back to room temperature.)
- Add vegetable oil to the pan over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, carefully add the ginger and garlic. Stir fry.
- Once fragrant, add the chicken chunks and stir fry till cooked. (About 7-10 minutes for me.)
- To assemble: place a Tablespoon or two of chicken filling in each lettuce (depending on the size of the lettuce) and garnish with sliced scallions and sesame seeds.Note: you can serve assembled or have a DIY style party and let your guests make their own. For the latter, serve the chicken filling and lettuce wraps in separate platters.
Notes
Note: the nutritional information is an estimate automatically calculated using the WPRM recipe maker and I am not responsible for its veracity.
Nutrition
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R says
Made the chicken to eat with rice but doubled the portion and used the extra for wraps and it was so good. Used tortilla instead of lettuce!
Zen says
Thanks R, tortiall wraps with spicy chicken sound so good!