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!
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
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… 🤣
Hi Nagi, than you this is delicious!!! and Hubby can’t get enough. I had made a large batch and wondering if the filling is suitable for spring rolls? a bit concerned it maybe a little too runny.
It may be a little too saucy sorry Dianne! N x
This is delicious! All 3 children enjoyed it so it is a winner.
Can it be frozen?
Delicious and easy to follow recipe. A tasty weeknight meal where everyone can help themselves. Thanks Nagi.
Delicious! Easy to make and a hit with all the family. Thank you.
Made these tonight with chicken instead of pork. They were amazing! Made with the spring rolls. Nagi’s recipes haven’t ever failed me yet! Better Han take out!
Woah what a compliment, thanks so much Kathleen! N x
Hi Nagi, have you tried making the meat mixture in advance and reheating it? Just wondering if that would work as I’m all for making life as simple as possible when friends come round.
Hi Mary, yes it’s fine to make and then reheat! I would just reheat on a low setting in the microwave 🙂 N x
This is a great recipe! Didn’t make any changes, delicious exactly as written. Here in California we top our lettuce cups with hoisin sauce or a plum sauce. Thank you for this recipe!
If I double up the meat shoul I also double the sauces and veges? Thank you.
Hi Mel, yes if you double the meat, all the other ingredients should be doubled. You can adjust the servings size here and all the ingredients will adjust for you. N x
My son, his wife and my toddler grand sons enjoyed this meal I brought for them last night. I made the x5 and the serving dish was empty at the end of the meal. Served this with fried rice and Chinese veges for an authentic Chinese dine in for them. Thank you for this recipe.
If you want to see Dozier crack and eat a pecan then crack one in front of him, at his level where he can see what you are doing, then feed him some of the pecan meat. Then crack another one and place it in front of him and let him do the rest! I believe he will get the jest of it rather quickly! Pecans are a natural food of dogs raised with pecan trees.
Love all your recipes! This is wonderful. FYI; Most golden retrievers love pecans but what is unique is some of these dogs crack the shells with their teeth and pick out the meat. Does Doizer? The lady bug incident made me think of it. We had pecan trees and my dog used to eat a few every day.
Woah, I can honestly say Dozer has not eaten a pecan like this 😂
Another fantastic recipe. Whole family loved it. I omitted the baby corn and used pork mince. Next time I will double so we can have the leftovers the next day. Delicious.
Thanks so much, Nagi; you are a inspiration. I was wondering what to cook for family dinner tomorrow that will tempt mr 8 yr old gluten and dairy free vegetarian. He will just love this.
That was delicious!!! My husband was blown away! What an easy recipe to double to have for leftovers or guests.
So very delicious…finger licking good in fact! I instead used the carrot shredded & raw for extra crunch when I sprinkled on the crushed nuts and shallots. Definitely will make this again. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Nagi,
I love your recipe but I need to ask one question. Sometimes in restaurants there’s a very crispy addition to the mince? Could this be bean vermicelli or something like.? Grateful for your advice
Hi Kat, all restaurants have their own recipes – I’ve seen bean sprouts, vermicelli but most commonly water chestnuts for crunch 🙂 N x
Loved the recipe followed it exactly and used Chinese cooking wine and it had amazing flavour.
Wahoo, that’s great to hear Grant!
Made this with beef mince tonight & it tasted amazing. Thank you for all the amazing & diverse recipes. 💗
Hi Nagi! I’ve been eyeing your recipes for some time. I made this tonight and turned out AMAZING! Thanks for all the excellent food!
I have made these several times now and it is absolutely fantastic. Just like how they do it in restaurants. Thank you so much!
this looks delicious, just have to ask for a little guidance re: concern for shellfish allergies; this recipe and many others call for either oyster sauce, fish sauce or mirin…my reaction to shellfish is very aggressive so I need to know…can you give suggestions for substitutes that will yield similar flavors or advise if these items are usually not from shellfish? I know sometimes the name of a sauce may not reflect what is actually in it, just being careful. I have never purchased fish or oyster sauce or mirin out of fear, mostly.
Hi Gail, it depends on the individual recipe. You can get a mushroom based “oyster sauce” which is the best sub for oyster – soy is generally a good sub for fish. Mirin doesn’t contain any shellfish 🙂 N x
OK, good to know about the mushroom based oyster sauce, I’ll look for it. Thanks! I really want to try these soon.