One of my favourite Chinese starters – Lettuce Wraps with pork or chicken, loads of hidden crunchy vegetables in a tasty savoury brown sauce, bundled up in fresh lettuce. Also known as San Choy Bow, it’s arguably the ultimate “just happens to be healthy” food in the whole wide world …..
This is a reader-favourite recipe included by popular demand in my debut cookbook “Dinner”!
San Choy Bow – Chinese Lettuce Wraps
The Chinese name for Lettuce Wraps is San Choy Bow which is how it’s written in menus at Chinese restaurants here in Sydney, though the spelling varies widely from place to place and I’m yet to find a definitive answer for what the proper spelling is.
I may not know how to spell it, but I do know you’re going to love them!!
How to make Lettuce Wraps
Lettuce wraps are made with ground / mince meat and vegetable filling with a savoury Chinese sauce spooned into lettuce cups, then wrapped into a roll shape to eat.
For a great Lettuce Wrap, it all comes down to the sauce. It takes more than just a splash of soy sauce to make a truly delish Lettuce Wrap.
Get the sauce right and you can pretty much put anything into the filling. And it is one of those rare recipes that is genuinely great made entirely vegetarian. I would just as happily scoff down a meat free version of this as I would a traditional pork version.
What goes in a Lettuce Wrap filling
I don’t think there are definitive rules for what goes in Lettuce Wraps, but the common ingredients I see at Chinese restaurants are:
pork (chicken and turkey are ideal subs)
water chestnuts
onion
After this, things get a bit blurred. Other common ingredients which I’ve included in my recipe are:
Baby corn
Shiitake or other mushrooms
Carrots
And those that border more towards “Western” Chinese have all sorts of other vegetables in it, like normal corn, capsicum etc.
Make it real with water chestnuts!
If you can find them, I really urge you to use Water Chestnuts. It doesn’t have a strong flavour, but the unique thing about Water chestnuts is the texture.
Even canned, it is crunchy and a bit juicy and it’s a quintessential part of the Chinese Lettuce Wrap experience. ☺️ Nowadays in Australia, they are found in both the Asian section and canned vegetable section of supermarkets (Woolies, Coles etc).
Lettuce wraps are a fantastic quick and easy meal that also happens to be healthy. In Chinese restaurants, it’s served with crisp Iceberg Lettuce which tends to crack when folded. For a more practical option, use soft lettuce leaves like Butter Lettuce or Bib Lettuce (US).
Enjoy!– Nagi x
More quick and easy Chinese restaurant favourites
Chop Suey (Chicken Stir Fry)
Browse all Chinese restaurant recipes
Watch How To Make It
This recipe features in my debut cookbook Dinner. The book is mostly new recipes, but this is a reader favourite included by popular demand!
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San Choy Bow (Chinese Lettuce Wraps)
Ingredients
Sauce
- 1 1/4 tsp cornflour / cornstarch
- 3 tbsp water, separated
- 1 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce (Note 1)
- 1 tsp dark soy sauce (Note 1)
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 2 tbsp Chinese cooking wine (or sub Mirin or dry sherry, Note 2)
- 1 tsp white sugar (can omit)
Filling (Note 6)
- 1 tbsp peanut oil
- 1 clove large garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp ginger, minced
- 300g / 10oz pork mince (ground pork) (Note 3)
- 1/2 onion, finely chopped
- 1 small carrot, finely chopped
- 100g/ 3.5oz canned water chestnuts, drained and finely chopped (Note 4)
- 5 baby corn, canned or fresh, finely chopped (Note 4)
- 5 mushrooms, finely chopped(shiitake is best, I used Swiss Brown)
Serving
- 8 leaves large or 16 – 20 small lettuce, preferably soft (Note 5)
- Crushed peanuts
- Finely sliced scallions / shallots
Instructions
- Mix cornflour with 1 tbsp water until lump free. Then add remaining Sauce ingredients and mix.
- Heat oil in a wok or large skillet over high heat. Add garlic and ginger, give it a quick stir then add onion.
- Cook for 1 minute then add pork. Cook pork until it turns white.
- Add all the vegetables. Cook for 2 minutes until the carrot is softened and pork is cooked through.
- Add Sauce and cook for 1 1/2 minutes or until it thickens and glossy, coating the Filling.
- Transfer Filling into serving bowl. Lay out lettuce leaves, peanuts and scallions on the side.
- To serve, spoon some Filling into a lettuce leaf. Top with peanuts and scallions, bundle it up and enjoy!
Recipe Notes:
*
* Originally published February 2017, updated for housekeeping matters.Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
When Dozer ate a lady beetle… 🤣
Yum! Making this tonight. Have been keen to find a good finger-licking sauce, I am sure yours will be fab like all your other recipes! My “must have” ingredient is toasted pine nuts (instead of peanuts). Thinking ill westernise it with some cauliflower rice (hiding the veggies from the kids here…).
Ooooh……the warm nutty crunch of pine nuts would be AMAZING!!!
I made the last night and my family loved it?Another fantastic recipe! Thank you Nagi.
I’m so pleased to hear that Gill, thanks for letting me know! N x
Yessss! I’ve been looking for a San Choy Bow recipe for ages! Thanks! I love your recipes so much Nagi!
Thanks Georgie! I do hope you try it – I think this is a classic!
I have had this for a long time. So versatile.
The life of Dozer is pleasing.
I think he is rather pleased with his life too…. 😉
OI was going to say ( before I read an expert above) that i think this dish is a little like Spag Bol there are so many versions of it who knows what goes in there and how you spell it!. When i worked at an asian restaurant we used to prepare the iceberg lettuce just like Eha suggests with the kitchen scissors so they were all the same size. i do love iceberg with this kind of thing.
OMG I don’t have the patience to trim them into perfect rounds! 🙂 That’s why you’re the REAL chef here Tania! 🙂 N x
You, my dear lady, are my kindred spirit. I ADORE Sang Choy Bao. Adore. If I could only eat ONE dish every day for the rest of my life, this would be it. So many flavours, so much goodness. And it’s wrapped in lettuce – which is a vegetable – so it must be healthy, right?!
I am a long time “other lettuce leaf” user when it comes to Sang Choy Bao. We use baby cos lettuce leaves, because we like how the leaves make little boats, allowing for maximum filling. So it’s more a “cup” than a “bun” or “wrap”, as the “bao” part suggests. We also drop a dollop of hoisin sauce on top of the meat mix – try it on your next outing. You’re welcome. 🙂
This is on the menu for next week. Can’t wait!
YES! So you get why I don’t use ice berg!!!!
My goodness, such beautifully colourful photos, Nagi.
What a gorgeous recipe. I’m afraid I can’t help you with what they should be called as I’ve never heard of them (!!), but they sure do look delicious!
Helen! OMG your beautiful boy….I got all sappy reading the post!!! He’s SO DARN CUTE! N xx
Your recipe sounds good. I suppose shrimps could go into the veggie mix too. In Hanyu Pinyin Mandarin Chinese it is sheng cai bao. Sheng (1st tone) means raw or live or uncooked, while cai (4th tone) means veggie, and bao (1st tone) means packet or wrap. However most Chinese restaurants around the world are run by Cantonese, and in their dialect it’s pronounced sung choy bao ( no “correct” spelling, as there’s no official spelling for Cantonese, unlike Hanyu Pinyin for Mandarin). It doesn’t matter, so long as you can be understood when you order it!
That’s so helpful Bernie, thank you so much for sharing that information!!! And YES to adding shrimps! N xx
Hi Nagi
I am Chinese and I am going to go out on a limb here…and say there is no “correct” spelling, its kind of a meaningless distinction because its a completely different language. The one I have seen most often is sang choy bau.
A friend of mine (also Chinese) refuses to order this dish in restaurants because when his dad used to own a restaurant, a lot of leftovers ended up in the sang choy bau! But I still order it anyway because its so yum…
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! Now I know! It was driving me a bit nuts, I was researching and researching! I think leftovers ending up in sang choy bau is proof that it really is SO YUM no matter what goes in it! (I do hope by leftovers, he meant leftover ingredients…. not leftover FOOD!)
Nagi, 10+10! I don’t care what YOU Call IT Or spelling this is My kind of Food, love IT . Thank YOU. PS did YOU exsaust Dozer, Shame on YOU.! He most certanly needs Me to be there and keep an Eye on YOU. Have good w/ End .
Aww VERA! I’m so glad you like this kind of food, it is totally my kind of food too! PS I always exhaust Dozer, I have to otherwise he is annoying! 🙂
*smile* This must have been one of the first Chinese dishes I ate decades ago [probably in Hong Kong] and also made at home. As you say” easy and fool proof – methinks I usually spell it ‘san choi bao”? Basically same ingredients as yours tho’ have not used corn. But funny – I hate iceberg lettuce as it is SO worthless nutritionally, but I like the crispness of it in this dish. Know what you mean about leaf size, but kitchen scissors soon fix that 🙂 !
I remember you aren’t a fan of iceberg! I have a couple of great salads that I use them for so I must admit, it’s a regular in my shopping basket 🙂 N xx
Oh, Nagi – You really make everything look so easy! I’m afraid to cook Chinese or Asian food. But, I think you changed my mind and I will try your recipe. I love all the ingredients!
Really? But it’s so easy! Well, I think the thing is that there is a lot of common ingredients and once you wok-fry once, it’s pretty much the same for all!
Thank you, Nagi! Now if I could only learn how to make the Thai basil rolls from my favorite Thai place–so good, I often consider ordering these as an entire rather than an appetizer!
Oooh! You meant the betel leaves? Or are they wrapped in Thai Basil? I don’t think I’ve seen Thai Basil rolls but the betel leaves ones are one of my all time FAVES!!! Betel leaves are hard to find though, that’s why I haven’t done a recipe for it 🙂
I love anything wrapped in lettuce but these do look extra tasty! Now, I’m picturing you in a restaurant ordering these delicious appetizers. After eating one or two 😉 you decide to deconstruct to investigate the ingredients. Anyway, that’s what I’d be doing whether it’s proper etiquette or not. I am dying to make your version of these colorful appetizers. And I’m sure they are very good for me too. Have a wonderful weekend. xoxo
Two? You think I’d stop at TWO? 😉 ❤️ Happy weekend to you too Marissa! N x
I love Chinese lettuce wraps…crunchy and fresh tasting….I will try your version soon…Thanks
Hope you do Lyn! It really is SO GOOD!!!