Sesame Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Healthy & Delicious

Summertime is usually the time of year when everyone is more focused on health and wellness. That tends to lead to eating lighter meals that are full of nutritional value. More bang for your buck! That’s where these Sesame Chicken Lettuce Wraps fit in perfectly.

We’ve all had some version of a lettuce wrap from one of our favorite restaurants. They are so delicious! But did you know that making them from home is not only super easy but a lot more affordable?

Not to mention the fact that you can control the amount of salt etc that goes into them. Many of the restaurant versions contain a lot of sodium. Having control over what goes into your meals and how they are prepared is key to staying on track.

The bonus that comes with these Sesame Chicken Lettuce Wraps is that they are great for meal prepping. You can make the filling and the whole grain brown rice ahead of time and have a few meals throughout the week. Wash the lettuce leaves in advance too to make it easy.

Extra veggies please!

I love adding in extra veggies where I can. This is especially helpful so you don’t get bored of eating veggies the same way or if you have some picky kiddos. Often times, when you sneak them into certain dishes you can’t even taste them but will still get all their nutritional goodness.

For this recipe I chose celery, carrots, and red bell peppers. When you dice them up super small for the recipe filling, they are much easier to eat. You could also try zuchinni or bell pepper. Just be sure to chop them up super small. I always live by the mantra of “eat the rainbow” with all of my meals. The more color variety the better.

Key flavors

The key flavors for these Sesame Chicken Lettuce Wraps are super important. For me, the recipe wouldn’t be the same without any one of them. These lettuce wraps need garlic, ginger, sesame oil and coconut aminos. The perfect combo!

I don’t know about you but garlic is one thing I can never have enough of. It’s so good for you! If you are still new to stronger flavors like garlic and ginger, I suggest you start small. You can always taste as you go along and add more as needed.

When adding things like ginger or garlic, you can use the graded version of the actual ingredient or the dried version. While fresh usually provides the best flavor, the dried version is just as good and is often what most of us have on hand.

Soy vs Coconut Aminos

In recent years I have started replacing recipes that usually use soy sauce with coconut aminos. If you are anything like me, you may have had no idea what coconut aminos were. I’m really glad I took the time to try them and understand why this is a good swap to make.

I personally don’t eat a lot of soy products if I can help it. You can find many opinions on this but a diet with a lot of soy can ultimately have some adverse health benefits. Just google it.

Another reason I avoid soy sauce specifically is because it does contain gluten. I have been following an anti-inflammatory type diet and have switched to gluten free options. A lot of people don’t know that soy sauce contains wheat so keep that in mind.

The good thing is that there are a lot of gluten-free options out there and coconut aminos are one of them. You’ll find the flavor of coconut aminos to be a lot sweeter than soy sauce and the flavor profile is a bit different. But once I made the switch, I have found I like it a lot better. It’s really good!

These Trader Joe’s coconut aminos are gluten-free, soy-free, non-GMO, certified organic, MSG-free, kosher and vegan. That seems to cover a lot of specific diet needs.

They are made when coconut sap is extracted from coconut blossoms. That is the flowering part of the tree where coconuts grow. They go through a fermentation process and are then combined with mineral rich sea salt. This makes for a healthier version of soy sauce that also contains amino acids.

Coconut aminos are low on the glycemic index at only 35, are a good source of B vitamins and lower in sodium than regular soy sauce. They are also high in antioxidants which have shown to be an added benefit for a healthy immune system.

Recipe Tips:

-You can also use sturdy Romaine lettuce hearts for these lettuce wraps if you want. I just love the taste of butter lettuce and it’s easy enough to fold into a “wrap” when eating.

-Lean ground turkey or beef would also work great in this recipe. It’s really just a preference. I stick to a lean 96/4 ground chicken.

-Make ahead of time for some easy lunch or dinner meal prep.

Sesame Chicken Lettuce Wraps

I hope you enjoy these Sesame Lettuce Wraps. Be sure to tag me on social media if you make them. You can also follow me on Instagram HERE to stay up to date on the latest health and wellness tips and all of my recent recipes.

Looking for another easy, healthy recipe? Check out my Coconut Curry Bowl HERE.