Chicken Satay Lettuce Wraps with an easy coconut-peanut dipping sauce, tons of veggies and vermicelli noodles are a delicious dinner idea!
How to make this recipe
- Make marinade. Marinate chicken that has been cut into small cubes for 20 minutes.
- Mix together peanut dipping sauce and prepare veggies.
- Cook the vermicelli noodles.
- Put marinated chicken on small skewers and grill for 10 minutes. Flip halfway through to make sure it is fully cooked.
- Assemble lettuce wraps by putting some vermicelli noodles, red cabbage, red pepper, cucumber and Harvest Snaps in each.
- Remove chicken from heat and place one skewer on top of each wrap.
- Garnish with cilantro and serve with peanut dipping sauce. Enjoy!
Ingredients and substitutions
- Chicken breasts – for ease use boneless skinless chicken breasts. Chicken thighs also work well.
- Boston lettuce – iceberg lettuce, romaine lettuce leafs and butter lettuce are all great options for making lettuce wraps.
- Vermicelli noodles – in a pinch, rice noodles or mung bean vermicelli noodles will also work for this recipe.
- Red pepper – use another bell pepper colour of your choice or replace altogether with a vegetable of your choice.
- Cucumber – julienned carrot sticks can also be used for a similar added crunch to the recipe.
- Red cabbage – regular Napa cabbage can be used or use a slaw mix for easier assembly.
- Cilantro – if you're not a fan of cilantro, feel free to leave out this garnish.
- Harvest Snaps – add for crunch and flavour or leave out altogether.
Peanut dipping sauce
- Coconut milk – use full fat coconut milk from the can for the best results.
- Peanut butter – almond butter or another nut or seed butter will work well if you have a peanut allergy.
- Lime juice – fresh or bottled lime juice is recommended.
- Sriracha – sambal oelek or another chili pepper hot sauce can be used to replace Sriracha.
Chicken marinade
- Lemongrass – lemon zest is a common replacement for lemongrass.
- Olive oil – use any neutral oil such as canola oil, vegetable oil or avocado oil.
- Lime juice – fresh or bottled lime juice is recommended. In a pinch use lemon juice.
- Garlic – use fresh or jarred minced garlic. In a pinch use garlic powder.
- Ginger – use fresh or jarred ginger. In a pinch use ginger powder.
- Soy sauce – coconut aminos or tamari are great substitutions for soy sauce.
- Turmeric – use cumin, dry mustard powder or paprika. These substitutions may alter the marinade a little bit.
- Chili powder – use crushed chili flakes or cayenne.
- Coriander – use cumin, garam masala, or curry powder.
What is chicken satay?
Satay is a Southeast Asian dish, usually found in Indonesian and Thai cuisines, that is composed of a grilled meat on a skewer that is served with a sauce. Most popularly, satay is served as a chicken skewer with a peanut sauce. Though chicken satay is the most popular, this dish is also commonly made from beef.
While the grilled and skewered meat is the main part of the dish, the star of this recipe is the dipping sauce. The dipping sauce is usually a peanut sauce that is ultra creamy and has added kick from a chili sauce (such as sambal oelek, an Indonesian chili sauce).
Storing and reheating
This recipe is so delicious that you may not have any leftovers, but in case you do, this dish is also easy to store for later. Store the leftover chicken and veggies separately in the fridge. The chicken skewers and vegetables will last for 3-5 days.
Storing the chicken and vegetables separately is ideal because the vegetables will stay fresh for longer and the chicken will be easier to reheat. You will also want to store the peanut sauce separately.
When ready to enjoy these lettuce wraps, sprinkle some water overtop of the chicken skewers and reheat for 1-2 minutes in the microwave, then top over fresh lettuce and the leftover veggies if you're looking to serve this meal again. If you'd like, you can reheat the vermicelli noodles or enjoy them in the lettuce wraps cold. Reheat the peanut sauce until warmed and enjoy!
Freezing the chicken
Unfortunately, lettuce wraps do not freeze well but you can freeze the leftover cooked chicken!
Store the skewers in freezer safe containers or freezer bags for up to 3 months. Defrost in the fridge overnight, making sure to sprinkle some water overtop and then reheat in the microwave for 1-2 minutes. When ready to serve, assemble the lettuce wraps and top with the warmed chicken, fresh vegetables and warm peanut sauce.
More lettuce wraps recipes
Meal prep tools
- Grab some glass meal prep bowls for your leftovers.
- And of course I get all of my chicken from Butcher Box!
- Order some coconut aminos if you're looking for a gluten-free alternative to soy sauce.
Chicken Satay Lettuce Wraps
Ingredients
- 1 lb chicken breasts
- 1 head Boston lettuce
- 1 cup cooked vemicelli noodles
- 1/2 red pepper
- 1/2 cucumber
- 1 cup red cabbage, sliced
- 1/3 cup chopped cilantro
- 1 cup lightly salted Harvest Snaps
Peanut dipping sauce
- 1/2 can full fat coconut milk
- 2 tbsp peanut butter
- 2 tsp lime juice
- 1 tsp Sriracha
Chicken marinade
- 1/2 stalk lemongrass, minced
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp lime juice
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tbsp freshly grated gingerroot
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp coriander
Instructions
- Preheat BBQ to high heat. Mix together marinade for chicken and cut chicken into small cubes. Marinate for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, mix together peanut dipping sauce and prepare veggies. Cook the vermicelli noodles for 2 min in boiling water.
- Stick chicken on small skewers and grill for 10 minutes, flipping halfway through. Meanwhile assemble lettuce wraps by putting some vermicelli noodles, red cabbage, red pepper, cucumber and Harvest Snaps in each.
- Remove chicken from heat and place one skewer on top of each wrap. Garnish with cilantro and serve with peanut dipping sauce. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Alexandra says
Hello just wondering how many wraps are considered for a serving size?
Taylor Stinson says
I don’t provide servings by number unfortunately! You will need to take the number of servings listed and divide into portions. Each portion is a serving. The reason I don’t give out serving sizes is because you need to make sure to divide it all evenly as even just a one cup serving size or 2 lettuce wrap serving size could have vastly different nutritional info if the chicken, etc isn’t divided up completely evenly.
cecilia says
Great recipe, full of healthy and delicious ingredients. Fast to make apart from marinating time, but with a bit of planning this is easy too.
Love the vibrant, beautiful photos that go with this recipe!
A winner I am cooking tonight!
Thanks, Taylor!
Lindsay | With Salt and Pepper says
Ha! I love that messy sandwiches bother you! I LOVE sandwiches, but I swear the ones I love the most end up all over my face and hands and it does drive me nuts. These lettuce wraps sound so good and I love the crunch of the snaps. Great idea 🙂