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… 🤣
I can’t wait to make this tonight.
I’ve got steak and kidney puddings to use up for my husband and I. My teen son doesn’t like steak and kidney pudding, so has asked for your chicken fried rice. I saw these as a side-dish suggestion. I know now that these will be demolished by all of us!
Made last night after dinner for lunch today with guests. It was SO easy, incredibly flavoursome & a big hit with everyone. Will be making again tomorrow to use up the other half of veg & freeze. I also did what Karen (below) suggested & used Poonsin Asian veg can with 1 reconstituted shitake mushroom.
Delicious!
I used a tin of Poonsin. brand Asian veggies which has baby corn ,water chestnuts, bamboo shoots and bean sprouts,
No mushrooms because I didn’t have any. Will definitely be making again.
By far this is the best Sang Choy Bow I have ever had. It is my favorite food and I get really upset when I find a Chinese resturant that I like and they change their recipe hahaha. I will never buy it out again. I don’t add the corn or carrot, but I do add lightly toasted pine nuts and use shiitake mushrooms. I make it a lot, it’s the best x
I’ve been making minced chicken lettuce wraps for years, as I’m an expat in the netherlands from SF CA, where the Chinese food has always been first rate! I saw this on Masterchef and love the twist my favorite- Thank you… last season I also got to see Nagi on Masterchef, I was so excited! Only thing I would add is… a bit of sambal or pepper sauce to add some spice! But not for everyone. Cheers.
I add a cup of fresh bean sprouts just before serving instead of the water chestnuts. Still gives it that crunch.
Another fantastic recipe, my fussy toddler also devoured. Thankyou Nagi! P.S I was so excited to see you and Dozer on playschool the other day!
Delicious! Everyone in my family loved it.
Delicious! Better than take away. We loved it
I love making this for the family. Great way to get heaps of vegetables. My husband and i eat with lettuce leaves and i cook rice for the kids. Guess its basically a stirfry but everything is chopped up small, so easy for the kids to eat and harder for them to avoid the vegetables they would otherwise pick out 🙂
Chinese cooking wine, Mirin & Sushi seasoning – are they similar or interchangeable? Which ones have alcohol?
Thanks 🙂
So delicious and very quick to make! I loved mine with sriracha mayo and pickled ginger. Yum!
love you nagi love your food
Delicious! The whole family loved it! We didn’t add the corn or mushroom (kids 😅) and it didn’t s definitely a new family favourite!
I’ve made recipes before but they not like restaurants make them I followed this recipe and it came out better than restaurant thank uou
I agree the prep takes longer due to all the dicing, but well worth the effort. Made these for the second time last night and my husband went back not just for seconds, but for thirds, and then I caught him having a few more bites while he was dealing with leftovers (it’s just us two so we usually have some). Light, but still filling as a main.
Hey Nagi,
Could I freeze this mix? I’m wanting to make a care package for a friend and include some healthy meals like this.
Let me know!
Thanks,
Steph
Loved this recipe and will definitely make again. Bloody hell, the vegetables take ages to cut up, just give yourself time.
I also used turkey mince as hubby alergic to pork and not a keen fan of chicken! (ahhh!)
I would used Cos lettuce instead of iceberg as Nagi does say, iceberg does break open.
Loved this recipe and will definitely make again. Bloody hell, the vegetables take ages to cut up, just give yourself time.
I also used turkey mince as hubby alergic to pork and not a keen fan of chicken! (ahhh!)
Would definitely make this again but would used Cos lettuce instead of iceberg.
Definitely consider using a food processor, it works like a charm. I have a mini one and it’s all i use for this. I figure the chop size should be similar to that of the crumbled cooked meat. I figured once it’s cooked, it doesn’t really matter how uniform or pretty my chop is. It’s a game changer for me.
Made this minus the sugar and oyster sauce and added more cooking wine. It was delicious!