Turkey Hoisin Lettuce Wraps

Turkey Hoisin Lettuce Wraps are a go-to weeknight dinner at my house. They are quick to cook, but taste like you've spent hours in the kitchen! Perfect if you have company coming over1

Lettuce wraps are a meal that the whole family can enjoy; kids love to play with their food, so let them! They can wrap and roll their dinner into edible parcels. Adults love lettuce wraps because they are getting a meal that's not only flavourful, but jam packed with vegetables!

Every time I make this lettuce wrap recipe, I tend to substitute some of the vegetables I use according to what I have in the fridge. The recipe is great for all veggie ingredients, as long as they are in same size small pieces for cooking times. Sometimes I include small broccoli florets, cauliflower, pieces, etc. However, the veggies I always use are celery, carrots and red pepper. I think that this meal needs some crunch and colour - the small pops of red and orange really brighten the dish up.

Hoisin sauce is a key ingredient in this lettuce wrap recipe. It is a thick, sweet and salty sauce often used with meat in Chinese or Asian-style cooking. It's found in most groceries stores and is wonderful as a glaze on chicken or in stir-fry dishes. Hoisin sauce can also be used as a condiment or dipping sauce for spring rolls.

Lettuce wraps are usually eaten with iceberg lettuce. It is a hardier lettuce that holds the filling contents well. I sometimes like to use a more leafy green lettuce, such as Butter Lettuce (or Bibb lettuce) for more nutritional content. It's a bit trickier to wrap, as Butter Lettuce has a thinner leaf, but you taste much more of the filling flavours with every bite.

The most labour intensive part of this dish is chopping all of the vegetables. Sometimes, if I'm really organized, I will do a bit of meal-prep on the weekend (i.e. chopping the veggies) so that this dinner can be cooked in a matter of minutes!

To make the lettuce easier to wrap, I usually cut the stem and the thickest part of the rib from the lettuce leaf. If you make a triangle (image below) with the tip pointing up toward the lettuce leaf, it makes the wrap easier to fold.(see Recipe Notes below for more tips for wrapping).

I hope you enjoy one of my favourite weeknight meals!

Krista

Turkey Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

1/2 cup diced carrots (+ 1/4 cup julienned for garnish)

1/2 cup diced celery

1/2 cup chopped onion

2 teaspoons grated ginger

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 cup red bell pepper, diced

1/2 cup green bell pepper, diced

1/2 cup cremini mushrooms, chopped small

1 pound extra lean ground turkey

4 tablespoons hoisin sauce

1/2 - 1 teaspoon sriracha sauce (any hot sauce will do - if you don't want any spice, omit*)

salt and pepper, to taste

32 butter lettuce leaves, washed & de-stemmed

1/4 cup green onion, finely sliced for garnish

Method

Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet on medium heat. Add carrot, celery, onion and ginger. Cook for 5 minutes stirring occasionally until onions are translucent and vegetables are softened. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute.

Add red and green peppers, mushrooms and turkey. Stir to cook for 3-5 minutes until turkey is no longer pink and vegetables are soft.

Add hoisin sauce, sriracha sauce*, salt and pepper to taste. Stir to mix. Cook for 3-5 minutes until mixture is warmed and moisture is cooked off. Add 1/2 of the green onion mixture.

De-stem lettuce leaves by cutting a triangle shape, starting from the middle centre of the stem going down to the thickest part at the bottom (see photo below).

Spoon about 1 tablespoon of turkey mixture onto each lettuce leaf. Top with remaining green onion and julienned carrots to garnish. Drizzle an extra bit of sriracha sauce over the top for extra heat.

Roll ends first, then sides of lettuce leaf to hold in filling.

Makes 24 - 32 wraps.

Mixture can easily be re-heated.

Recipe Notes:

*There is an art to rolling a lettuce wrap, it's kind of like rolling a burrito. Entire YouTube channels are dedicated to this. I like to overlap the two sides where I've removed the stem. I then spoon 1-2 tablespoons of filling into the centre. I add my toppings and then I tuck the folded stem and the leaf top over the filling. Then I tuck in one of the remaining sides and roll the wrap until there is no more leaf left.

*This recipe can be made vegetarian by substituting the turkey with Beyond Meat or other ground round products.