Vietnamese Lettuce Wraps are a lower-cal version of Vietnamese rice paper rolls. The fresh herbs and peanut dipping sauce are key here! Everything else you can switch: prawns for shredded chicken, fish or even tofu, with any shreddable veg you want. Excellent no-cook meal!
Vietnamese lettuce wraps
These lettuce wraps are not strictly Vietnamese authentic (as far as I know), but they certainly embrace all that we love about Vietnamese food – fresh and light yet never boring, using an abundance of crunchy vegetables, herbs and a killer peanut dipping sauce.
That’s definitely a signature of Vietnamese food – wickedly good sauces that make everything delicious! Honestly, you could just smother a bowl of otherwise bland boiled vegetables in that sauce and it will make it 100% scoff-able!
Ingredients in Vietnamese lettuce wraps
Here’s what you need to make these. Yes there are a fair few components. But once you gather everything, it’s just a matter of a bit of chopping then piling everything on platters for people to help themselves. No cooking! 🙌🏻
Natural peanut butter – Pure peanut butter is made with JUST peanuts – no sugar, oil or other additives – so the peanut flavour is stronger. It’s also thinner which makes it more suitable for making sauces – commercial spread will make the sauce much thicker. You’ll find natural peanut butter in the health food section or alongside other spreads in regular grocery stores.
Hoisin – Sweet and savoury, this is a flavour shortcut so don’t skip it!
Lime juice – For fresh tang. Substitute with rice vinegar.
LOW FAT coconut milk – Thinner than full fat (so the sauce isn’t too thick) and also the coconut flavour is not as strong so it doesn’t overwhelm the other flavours. If you only have full fat, that’s fine, just thin it with a little water, directions in the recipe notes.
Garlic – Because it makes it better.
Sambal oelak – A chilli paste with flavourings, for a bit of heat. It doesn’t make this sauce spicy. Substitute with any other chilli sauce or paste (just add a bit and taste) or feel free to leave it out.
Dark soy – Deepens the sauce colour and adds flavour plus salt. You can substitute with regular or light soy sauce, but the sauce colour will be a bit paler.
Sugar – For a touch of sweetness. If you use full fat coconut milk or commercial peanut butter spread, you might not need this.
Salt – Just the soy isn’t enough, and adding more made it too soy-saucey, I found, and overtook the peanut flavour. So I switched to adding a bit of salt.
Prawns/shrimp – Here in Australia, we are blessed with great prawns! Sold pre-cooked, boiled straight out of the water to lock in freshness. However, feel free to cook your own, I’ve included directions in the recipe notes.
Other protein options – Because the peanut sauce is so good, you can literally use any protein even if it’s plain! Think – shredded poached chicken, or leftover pan-fried fish or salmon (flake into big chunks), and even non-Asian foods like bits of roast beef. And of course, leftover Lemongrass Chicken or Pork would literally be perfect. 🙂
Lettuce – Use any lettuce you want suitable for wrapping or stuffing. I’ve used baby cos (romaine) which are nice and crisp, which are natural boat-shapes making them ideal for making lettuce wraps. Butter lettuce, which have soft leaves so they wrap without breaking, are also ideal. Iceberg lettuce can also be used.
Beansprouts – Perky and fresh, and no chopping! (Tip: Store in a container of water, fully submerged, change the water every couple of days. They will stay fresh for a week, compared to 2 – 3 days in the bag).
Cucumber – Julienned. Not too finely, a bit of crunchy is nice!
Fresh herbs – The classic combination of mint and coriander/cilantro, to be used in abundance! For those of you who can’t stand coriander/cilantro, use more mint plus chives and/or green onion (cut into batons).
Vermicelli noodles – or glass noodles. These fill out the meal a bit so it’s not just vegetables. But if you’re really counting carbs, you could omit them or opt for a lower-carb option like konnyaku (konjac) which are the famous Japanese zero-calorie noodles that you can even find in regular grocery stores these days (like this one at Woolworths in Australia).
Peanuts – for sprinkling.
Birds eye chilli – for an optional hit of fresh heat and a lovely sprinkle of red colour on the platter.
QUICK PICKLED VEGETABLES – optional!
You can totally just use plain carrots, finely julienned using a shredded or box grater, or some nifty knife work.
Or you can add great extra flavour into your wraps by making Vietnamese pickled vegetables! These are the same pickles used in Banh Mi and it’s one of the things that makes it so special: the crunch with the tang balanced with a bit of sweet. Here’s what you need:
Carrot and daikon (white radish) – These are two pickled vegetables commonly used in Vietnam, including in Banh Mi. They are cut into thin batons so you get a terrific crunch (albeit pickled-softened-crunch!) when you bite in them. Don’t be tempted to shortcut cutting the vegetables by using a box grater. I tried (the lazy cook in me couldn’t resist) – and it just wasn’t the same. A big vinegary pile of coleslaw-like mush. I missed the crunch!
Rice wine vinegar – This is the vinegar used for the pickled vegetables, an Asian vinegar made from rice. Substitute with apple cider vinegar.
Salt and sugar – For pickling. These pickled vegetables are a bit sweet and bit salty, nice balance between the two.
Pickled vegetables for banh mi
How to make Vietnamese Lettuce Wraps
It’s no cook, if you use pre-cooked prawns like I do!
Vietnamese Lettuce Wraps with Prawns
Soak vermicelli noodles in boiling water for 5 minutes (or whatever your packet says). Then drain, rinse under water (so they don’t stick together) and allow excess water to drain off thoroughly before using (about 5 minutes in the colander).
Quick pickled vegetables – Dissolve the sugar and salt in hot water, then mix in the vinegar.
Pickle the carrot and daikon for 2 hours then drain. Or keep them in the pickling liquid for weeks!
Cut the prawns in half horizontally and remove the vein (that’s a nice word for poop shoot which I really wanted to avoid writing, but for clarity, decided I better include it 😂).
I like to cut the prawns thinner because they sit inside lettuce wraps better. I find whole prawns a little too chunky, though if I was using small prawns I would use them whole.
Lay it all out on a platter
Basically, once the above prep has been done, you just lay everything out on a giant platter or in various bowls, plonk it on the table and tell people make your own dinner! 😂
Vietnamese lettuce wrap platter
ASSEMBLING THE LETTUCE WRAPS
And as for the lettuce wrap part, there really are no rules. But here’s a guide for the order in which I do it:
