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September 16, 2025
Thai Lettuce Wraps (Larb Gai) Recipe
Thai Lettuce Wraps is a kind of meals that may make you overlook you’re maintaining a healthy diet! A conventional Thai dish referred to as Larb Gai, they’re fast to make and stuffed with recent flavours from herbs and lime, plus a pleasant 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 without doubt one of the hottest Asian meals in Sydney. And there’s a lot to like about it – noodles, curries and soups, grilled chicken, fried rice and Thai Fish Truffles. And naturally, everyone’s favorite Thai Chicken Satay with peanut sauce!
However while you really feel like one thing lighter (learn: decrease cal!) however nonetheless loaded with Thai flavours, these Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps are fabulous.
Larb Gai, Laab Gai, Lahb Gai, Laap Gai…….trying to find a recipe like this the place the identify has been interpreted in so many alternative methods is at all times attention-grabbing! Relying on what you search will return a myriad of outcomes!
Thai Lettuce Wraps are a celebration of recent flavours and textures. The right stability of candy, savoury, bitter and spiciness with fragrant herbs and the recent crunch from lettuce. Completely addictive!
Larb Gai is the Thai model of everyone’s favorite Chinese language Lettuce Wraps, San Choy Bow!
It’s all in regards to the recent flavours!
Like many South East Asian dishes, these Thai Lettuce Cups are about recent flavours. There’s few components within the sauce – simply lime juice, fish sauce and sugar. A lot of the flavour comes from a good wack of Thai aromatics – ginger, garlic, chilli and lemongrass – which we sauté till golden and the scent drives us loopy earlier than we add the chicken, sauce and recent herbs.
What goes in Thai Lettuce Wraps
Right here’s a visible of what goes within the chicken mince filling for Thai Lettuce Wraps.
I sometimes default to a chicken filling, however this recipe works simply as effectively with pork mince as effectively (that’s floor pork for these of you within the States!).
Lettuce for lettuce cups
For the lettuce wraps, don’t get too hung up on discovering the right lettuce! As soon as it’s all bundled / scrunched up and also you begin devouring, no one remembers whether or not your lettuce leaves had been the right dimension or symmetrical, or a handy cup form. All anybody can take into consideration is how divine it tastes!
TIP: Crisp or smooth lettuce works simply effective, so go together with what you like or what seems good on the retailer. Crisp lettuce leaves are principally in a cup form – as pictured beneath (small cos lettuce aka romaine lettuce) – and smooth lettuce leaves might be any form as they’re smooth sufficient to wrap across the filling.
Easy methods to make Thai Lettuce Wraps
It’s no totally different to any stir fry – combine up the sauce first, sauté the aromatics first (garlic, ginger, chilli, lemongrass) then add the meat then sauce. You’ll be finished cooking in 5 minutes flat!
Easy methods to serve
I at all times serve it in a DIY association as a result of I’m a fan of interactive meals – plus I get to skip plating up for everybody! I put the filling in a bowl alongside a pile of lettuce leaves with lime wedges and a few peanuts sprinkling.
SAUCE OPTION: Sometimes I serve it similar to that, however after I need to go all out, I make Thai Peanut Sauce as effectively. It’s the sauce from my Thai Chicken Satay recipe which truly makes greater than you want for one batch of Satay. So freeze the leftovers then pull it out while you make Thai Lettuce Wraps!
What to serve with Thai Lettuce Wraps
These are sometimes supplied as a starter at Thai eating places – one piece per particular person. As for what predominant to have, you could possibly actually select any Thai predominant dish – there’s nothing I wouldn’t select in my assortment of recipes! Listed below are some favourites:
Thai Important Dish Ideas
The opposite possibility is to make a meal out of those lettuce cups by including some sides to fill it out – and add some further greens in the event you like. In case you add one rice facet and one salad, that may make fairly a considerable meal for 4 folks. Listed below are some ideas!
Dishes to make an entire meal
– Johnsat x
Watch make it
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
- 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!)
Notes
1. Sauce thickener – The traditional way in Thailand to thicken sauces is to toast then grind rice. A quicker way to do this is to use cornstarch / cornflour which is what I typically use.
Traditional ground rice: Heat a wok (or heavy based fry pan) over high heat. Add the rice and dry cook for 5 minutes until it turns dark golden brown. Remove into a mortar and pestle and ground into powder. Use in place of cornflour in recipe.
2. Lemongrass – use fresh or paste. If using paste, add it with the chicken and use 1 tbsp.
For fresh, poeel the stringy, tough, outside layers off the lemongrass and just use the bottom 7 – 10cm / 3 to 4″ of he lemongrass.
3. Lettuce – soft or crisp works fine, don’t get too hung up on lettuce shape / type. For crisp, look for leaves that have a natural cup shape. If lettuce is soft, it’s perfect for bundling up into rolls!
4. Source: Adapted from a recipe by Chew Town and with reference to various Thai cooking books.
5. Nutrition assumes 3 servings as a light main.
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