Cashew Chicken Lettuce Wraps that are better-than-take-out and made from scratch in less than 30 minutes! Grilled chicken smothered in the tastiest general-tso’s inspired sauce with crunchy cashews, spooned into a crisp green lettuce cup.
We had a very BUSY weekend — swimming, BBQ’s with friends, errands, and a blown-out tire. I’m in need of an easy, stress-free dinner tonight and these lettuce wraps are at the top of my list!
They are not only incredibly easy, they are packed with sooo much flavor. I find myself making “yummy” noises with every bite. Does anyone else do that? My husband makes fun of me, but it’s totally subconscious. When I love what I’m eating it’s hard to keep quiet! hahaha.
Cashew Chicken Lettuce Wraps start with chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces and sauteed over medium heat. Add a simple asian sauce that thickens right in the pan with the chicken. Stir-in some cashews at the end, and spoon everything into a lettuce cup.
What is the best lettuce to use for lettuce wraps?
You can use any type of green leafy lettuce for lettuce wraps, but popular types of lettuce include Boston bib lettuce and romaine hearts. The great thing about lettuce wraps is that they are easily modifiable when it comes to the filling and the wrapping. Cabbage leaves would also be a yummy substitute.
I often make these as a main dish, served with fresh fruit (or even a side of fried rice as well, if you want a “heartier” meal). You could also serve them as an appetizer.
Consider trying these delicious lettuce wrap recipes:
- Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps
- Avocado Chicken Salad Lettuce Wraps
- Asian Turkey Lettuce Wraps
- Greek Yogurt Chicken Salad Lettuce Wraps
- Spicy Chicken Lettuce Wraps
You can also FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM and PINTEREST for more great recipes!
Recipe
Cashew Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into small pieces
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth or stock
- 2 Tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
- 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
- 1 Tablespoon rice vinegar
- 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
- 3 cloves garlic , minced
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil or substitute canola oil
- 1 - 2 teaspoons Sriracha hot sauces to taste
- 3/4 cup unsalted cashews
- 1 head green leafy lettuce (romaine, bib, or butter)
- 5 green onions , chopped, divided
Instructions
- Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper.
- In a small bowl stir together the chicken stock, soy sauce, ginger, hoisin sauce, vinegar, and cornstarch.
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper and add to hot skillet. Cook, flipping once, until cooked through, about 5 minutes.
- Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Reduce heat to low, add the sauce from the bowl and continue to cook, stirring, until thickened. Add sriracha hot sauce, to taste. Stir in cashews and most of the green onion, reserving a big handful for garnish at the end.
- Serve in cold lettuce cups. Top with remaining chopped green onions if desired.
- Next time try one of these lettuce wrap recipes!
Nutrition
Did You Make This Recipe?
Tag @TastesBetterFromScratch on Instagram with #TastesBetterFromScratch!
Have you tried this recipe?!
RATE and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.
This post contains affiliate links.
Sesame oil listed in ingredients but directions doesn’t say when to add it. I don’t believe using it a oil to cook chicken works. I added to the chicken when cooked.
Made this for dinner tonight. Added a Serrano pepper for some heat. Thank you!
Thank You FOR SHARING Lauren 👍🏼👏🏼♥️These LOOK YUMMY😋❗️G-d♥️Bless
This recipe is amazing! I made it exactly as listed, and added one small can of diced water chestnuts for extra crunch. Served it over romaine lettuce leaves, as well as jasmine rice. This is one of few recipes my entire family of 6 loves.
The filling is delicious! Anything with cashew and chicken are a match made in heaven. We made ours with corn tortillas and chopping up the lettuce as a garnish instead. Thank you for the recipe!
If I don’t have unsalted, could I use salted roasted cashews?
Yes, that will work fine!
This was delicious!! Will definitely make again.
This was really good and really easy. I used boneless skinless thigh because I didn’t notice that I had grabbed thighs out of the freezer instead of breasts. I also did not salt the chicken as I was sure that hoisin sauce would provide sufficient salt, and I was right. I put a layer of shredded carrots and lots of chopped green onions over the top for presentation. It was very pretty.
This Cashew Chicken Lettuce Wrap is so good! I used Coconut Secret Gochujang Soy-Free Korean Fermented Chili Paste in replace to sriracha. Still so delicious and it’s healthy.
It tasted just as great as I anticipated.
Easy too
Outstanding recipe! We had our sons and daughter-in-laws over Sunday, we had an wonderful time.
I added bok Choy, onions, carrots, Garlic, red and green peppers. We made it spicy hot. The Romain heart lettuce was a perfect pocket for the wrap. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Excellent pairing with sushi.
Great dish and super fast and easy! Be sure to use low sodium soy sauce. I only had regular and it made the dish super salty even though I left out the salt for seasoning the chicken. I also used unsalted peanuts instead of cashews. This will become a regular at our house.
Great recipe! My family loves it! I just do 1lb of chicken and then add broccoli and carrots for some veggies.
This recipe was really good! I definitely will make it again. I made it as the recipe called for but my cashews were lightly salted and it still worked out great. I served it on what I call adult ramen (the good rice, brown rice and quinoa kind) with a side of sautéed pea pods. I tried a small lettuce cup as well and that is great too.
Delicious!
We made this tonight for dinner, and it was a hit. So quick, easy, and tasty! We had everything on hand for this meal, so I didn’t even need to go to the store. We decided to serve this with rice and stir fry veggies instead of in lettuce cups. I just doubled the sauce part but kept everything else the same, and then cooked up some jasmine rice (2.5 cups uncooked) to go with it, and a steam bag of stir fry microwave vegetables. It fed our family of 9 with leftovers to spare! It’s DEFINITELY IMPORTANT to use low sodium soy sauce. I used regular soy sauce, and it was a tad too salty. It would have been just right with low sodium, like the recipe asks for.
Thanks for this recipe and dinner inspiration! We will make this again.
My family loves this dinner! It comes together so quickly and it’s delicious! I add a side of rice for my little kids and it’s a perfect weeknight meal for the whole family.
Seriously one of the best recipes I’ve ever made! I add one tsp Cholula or Tabasco and one tsp of the chili garlic sauce.
As per suggestions from Pinterest I increased the amount of chicken in the sauce and decreased the hoisin to 2 tbl (not much different from the recipe, so not sure if it really matters) I also added shredded carrots, but it’s good even without them. All around, well done!! My kids liked it all! (except for the carrots because, vegetables!)
Thank you!
So yummy! I used General Tsao’s sauce from Trader Joe’s and added celery. Very tasty and easy to make.
Will this recipe keep for a couple days in the refrigerator or can you freeze ?
Yes to the fridge and the freezer. Enjoy.
Thank you for the reply!!!
Can you serve the leftovers cold or should it be re-heated before serving?
I prefer it hot but technically it’s safe to eat as long as it was fully cooked, properly cooled, and you eat it within 4 days of it being in the fridge.
Can I use liquid amino‘s instead of soy sauce?
Yes that should be fine!
I would add a drop to some set aside of the main sauce mixture, the amino soy stuff sometimes can lend a bitter taste when combined with certain ingredients. Let us know!
Can I add chili garlic sauce instead of sriracha?
Sure!
My husband and I loved this!
I used the Costco pre-cooked chicken strips for this recipe to cut down prep time. It’s delicious! I serve over romaine and/or riced cauliflower!
Highly recommend it!
I just made these. I tweaked them for keto by omitting the hoisin sauce, stir frying in coconut oil, and using zanthan gum as the thickener in the sauce. We loved them. These were absolutely delicious and will go on my very short list for outstanding recipes. Thanks so much ?
I was stunned at how gorgeous these turned out!!! I made them on steamed pak choi and they were delicious!
made a few tweaks .. added cilantro and and bed of rice.. also some onion bell pepper and raw shredded carrot amazing! thank you 🙂 boyfriend and our friends loved it
Can you freeze this or how long will it keep in the fridge, would need to make in advance for a party
Thanks
Irene
Hi Irene,
You could freeze the filling without the cashews. I would reheat the filling and mix the cashews in before serving!
Can i use ground chicken instead. Hopefully you can get back to me soon cause I would like to make this on Friday for my guest . Thank you do much and I love your recipes
Sure, ground chicken would work great 🙂 Hope everyone loves them
This is yummy goodness? Thank you for sharing this recipe
Wow! Amazing! I’ve always been scared to attempt Chinese food at home, but this recipe was easy and turned out better than I could have hoped.
Thanks Melissa! I have some really great asian inspired recipes on here, so I hope you get to find a few more! So happy you liked the lettuce wraps 🙂
Just made this for dinner and served with rice and veggies. Was excellent and the whole family enjoyed it. Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks for sharing Angela! I’m so happy everyone liked it.
So quick, easy and delicious!
Will it make a huge difference if I leave out the hoisin sauce?
Jenny, did you try leaving out the hoisin sauce? I’m wanting to make this but don’t like using bottled sauces with a bunch of ingredients, wondering if I can sub garlic, sugar, etc for the hoisin.
Just made these for dinner with roasted broccoli and brown rice. So delicious and easy! Thanks for a yummy, healthy and easy dinner.
Thanks for sharing-I’m so happy you liked them! Love what you served them with.
How many lettuce cups equals one serving?
It really depends on the size of your lettuce and how much filling you add, but about 3 lettuce cups.
We love your recipes and follow you on Instagram. Could you include the calories? We are recording them each day
Thank you so much! I am in the process of adding a nutritional label to each of my recipes 🙂
Is it 400 calories for one lettuce wrap
Hello! This recipe is absolutely delicious!!!! Do you happen to know how many carbs/sugars/fiber/protein is in one serving?