Cashew Chicken Lettuce Wraps {30-Minute Meal}
Light, healthy and packed with flavor, these cashew chicken lettuce wraps are so delicious and super easy to make (one skillet!).
Had this dish actually been posted in 2015 (it was made, photographed, and devoured last year, just preempted in favor of, you know, cookies and stuff), it would probably have made my favorites list.
No offense, shrimp and mango lettuce wraps but these cashew chicken lettuce wraps have you (just slightly) beat.
One of those meals I could seriously eat day in and day out, and maybe I just will, these flavorful wraps are healthy (I know, I know, such the tag word this month) and so super easy to prepare.
Every time I post a new lettuce wrap recipe, I gush.
Maybe it’s just me and lettuce wraps. We have a thing for each other.
All I know is that I’d pretty much be happy living on a deserted island with these cashew chicken lettuce wraps for the rest of forever (ok, ok, I’d bring my family and deodorant, too).
Oh, and just because I forgot to photograph these babies topped with the chopped cucumbers and tomatoes doesn’t mean you should forget to add them.
The hint of fresh and crunchy with the flavors and textures of the cashew + chicken is almost too much.
What To Serve With This:
Fresh fruit
5-Minute Skillet Broccoli
Pao de Queijo or Cilantro Lime Rice (or both!)
One Year Ago: Korean Beef and Rice {Or Quinoa}: Simple 20-Minute Meal
Two Years Ago: White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies Perfected
Three Years Ago: Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps {Quick and Delish}
Cashew Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ cup finely diced yellow or white onion
- 1 cup finely diced, or shredded carrots
- 3-4 cloves garlic, finely minced or pressed through a garlic press
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts or chicken thighs
- 3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoon pure maple syrup
- ½ cup chopped raw cashews, lightly toasted, if desired
- Bibb or green leaf lettuce leaves for wrapping
- Chopped cucumbers and tomatoes for serving
Instructions
- In a large 12-inch nonstick skillet, heat the oil over medium heat and add the onion and carrots. Add the garlic, salt and pepper and cook for 2-3 minutes, until the vegetables start to soften.
- Season the chicken pieces lightly with salt and pepper and add to the skillet with the onions and carrots. Cook, stirring often, until the chicken pieces are cooked through, 4-5 minutes.
- Stir in the soy sauce and maple syrup and cook over medium heat for 2-3 minutes, letting the soy sauce and maple syrup bubble and simmer.
- Stir in the cashews, cooking until they are just heated through. Season to taste with additional salt and pepper, if needed.
- Serve in lettuce leaves topped with tomatoes and cucumbers (the freshness adds a delicious element to the flavors!).
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: adapted slightly from Tiffany S. (a MKC reader who sent it to me)
88 Comments on “Cashew Chicken Lettuce Wraps {30-Minute Meal}”
I decided to finally comment on the website because I get so many meals here! This one is now a regular on my family meal plans! Super easy and healthy! Overall my kids like it and I love it!
Loved this recipe! I made one change because my maple syrup had expired, so I replaced it with 1/3 cup of apricot preserves. This was a big hit in our house.
This recipe (and many other of Mel’s recipes) are on my weekly or bi-weekly meal plan. This recipe is not only delicious, it’s SUPER easy to make and so FAST. I almost always have the ingredients on hand (just need to remember to thaw some chicken) and I just can’t recommend it enough. In fact, we rarely, if ever, get Chinese take out anymore because Mel has a copycat for all of our favorites and they are delicious and don’t give us that heavy feeling after eating restaurant food.
I do love the cucumbers on top of this and garden tomatoes, but I also added some finely diced red bell pepper in the chicken and that was amazing too. Otherwise, no changes here.
These were amazing!!! I added some cooked brown rice because I was nervous we wouldn’t be able to fill up on them- wrong! The cashews added the perfect texture. I didn’t expect to love the cucumber on top but it was a great addition! Definitely adding to our rotation!
This was a family hit! I made a plant based dish version for my vegetarian son and a regular version for the rest of the family. A big thumbs up all around the table. Thank you for yet another great recipe.
Made this tonight for my family. So good! Thank you Mel.
I can’t believe I haven’t made these before tonight! So, so good! I had some water chestnuts and added them which added some extra crunch. Next time I need to double the recipe because my son ate so much. Thanks for another home run!
These were delicious! I made them mostly because we needed a dinner that didn’t include sour cream and cheese as we like a lot of those meals. I doubled for our family of 5 and we nearly finished it. Next time I’ll triple it. I thought it would be a meal my kids would tolerate, but they loved it and asked to have it make a more regular appearance.
We just tried these and everyone loved them, even our self-proclaimed chicken hating 3 year old! Thanks for another great recipe!
Thanks, Janay!
These are our favorite! We do triple the recipe for a family of 6. And have rice with them for a main dish. The sauce is the best!!
These are part of my normal rotation. So good and so easy! I double it otherwise I can eat the whole thing in one sitting.
This was so simple and quick to prepare and absolutely delicious!! We had an unexpected dinner guest and I was nervous, since I had not made this before. I shouldn’t have been nervous at all, your recipes never fail me! Everyone, even my three picky eater kids loved this meal! I had rice and lettuce so they could choose what to eat it with. It was great on both. Sadly, there wasn’t any leftover! This recipe is going in the rotation! Thanks for making me look like a rockstar!
We all loved these!
So good! We top with the sweet chili sauce as well. Fast and amazing. Kid approved!
Mel! Since getting married last summer my husband and I have made a goal of always eating dinner together every night. If it weren’t for all your amazing recipes, I don’t know how successful we would be! Your meals are always easy and delicious and I always look forward to your new recipes! We probably try 3 of your recipes each week and many make it into our rotation of faves. Tonight we are trying these! Thanks again for all you do
This totally made me smile, Giuliana! Thank you so, so much! What a great goal…you’ll never regret that time spent together!
Mel, I can’t tell you how many times you’ve saved dinner in my house over the last decade! All these years and I’ve never had a fail recipe from your blog! Made these last night for my boyfriend and I, and our 3 pickyish kids that all have very different tastes (ages 12, 9, and 7). They all loved it. Earlier this week my own girls and I destroyed your Hawaiian chicken thighs as well. 2 winners in 1 week! Thanks!!!
Thank you so much! So, so happy these two meals (and sounds like others) have been winners!
This is in our monthly rotation. Healthy and delicious!
These were a great 20 minute meal. Full of flavor. I will try over rice next time.
Sooooo Good. Also good with honey substituted for maple and a little siracha added in. Mel, you’ve done it again.
Hi! I need to make this for an event so I need a large quantity. Do you think it would freeze well? I am thinking I should add the cashews after thawing and reheating?? What are your thoughts?
That’s a good question, Christine – I’ve never frozen it so I don’t know how it would fare, but I definitely think it’s worth a try, especially if you add the cashews right before serving.
We make this at least monthly. So easy to throw together and very easy to substitute or add different veggies to depending on what I have on hand. My kids love it on rice and sometimes try the lettuce too (win!). Hubby and I love the lettuce wraps.. Thanks Mel!
Chicken was delicious but I just couldn’t get on board with the lettuce wraps LOL. Next time I’ll add a little ginger to the chicken and serve over rice or noodles. Thanks Mel! I’m still giving these 5 stars despite the lettuce not working for me, because the chicken was on point!
Super delicious and so easy! Yum yum!
Just made these last night and were a hit with my whole family. Even my picky 5 year old ate it! They were so quick and easy to make. Will definitely be in the regular dinner rotation!
These were fantastically lovely, quick & easy!
My cucumber had gone rogue so I added chopped water chestnuts like another reader commented and then a bit of oyster sauce because I love it– turned out perfect!
Also used romaine hearts and ate them like tacos or “boats”, as my kids called them 🙂
These have become a staple at our house….hanks Mel!
Delicious! I substituted red bell pepper for tomato on top (personal preference) but otherwise made no changes and it was AMAZING! Thank you for the delicious recipe!
So delicious! I’m definitely adding this to my go-to recipes. Thanks, Mel, for making life a little easier for me.
Made these last night for my family. There were a huge hit! We couldn’t believe how easy they were to make and how great it tasted. Paired with your cilantro lime rice we couldn’t get enough. Thank Mel
We love this one!!
Thanks so much for the weekly meal plan! Made these tonight and they were delish!!
Once again your recipe didn’t fail me. This was light and refreshing. Although I love comfort food the light meals on the belly are also wonderful. Thanks again for a wonderful recipe that will for sure make it into my rotation. Although too many of your recipes are making it into my rotation pretty soon my rotation will be every 2 years.
🙂
FABULOUS recipe! And, the addition of cucumbers made it some special! THANK YOU!
I just made these last night and all 3 kids plus my husband and I devoured them. That. is. rare. I was so happy to see my kids shoveling down carrots, onions, and lettuce like it was candy. I didn’t have maple syrup, so I used honey. We also stretched the chicken further by adding quinoa to our wraps. So easy, so healthy, so yum. We’re making this often!
Yet another delicious and easy recipe, even my 19 month old loved it! Thanks so much!
Loved this recipe. It was hit for our family! I felt like a rockstar in the kitchen. Thank you Mel.
Mel, these were so delicious. A hit with the entire family! I only wish I had thought to double the recipe, and to make some rice to go with it. We all were wishing for more! Oh well- next time!
This was DELICIOUS. We have nut allergies in our house so I subbed water chestnuts in place of the cashews. Still amazing.
What kind of lettuce do you use for your lettuce wraps? We usually have romaine lettuce, but the leaves don’t seem big enough most of the time.
I use bibb or green leaf lettuce leaves for wrapping.
My husband has declared this one a keeper! We loved it. Thanks for another awesome recipe!
I made these for dinner last night and they were fabulous! Thanks for sharing!
Oh my! This was seriously one of the best meals I’ve ever had!!!! Thank you. You have blessed my families lives with your wonderful recipes. P.S. Do you have any smoker recipes?
Hey Robyn – glad you loved these! I don’t have any “official” smoker recipes, I usually just kind of fly by the seat of my pants and do a lot of looking online for tips. And I don’t really go crazy – we do smoked turkey, ribs, brisket and that sort of thing.
I’ve made these twice recently. I love them! But you must be one fast chopper–it took me more than 20 mins! 🙂
Delicious! I made these tonight for my husband and two girls. One of my girls is especially skeptical of new foods. The girls just ate the chicken plain (no lettuce), but that’s still a win in my book. We all loved them!
When I look at the picture I feel like I am looking at bell peppers but when I checked the recipe for bell peppers they weren’t listed. Was it just carrots and onions posing as red and yellow bell peppers?
Those are just carrots that probably look a bit dark in the picture but you could certainly add bell pepper (especially a sweet red bell pepper would be delicious!).
We just ate this for dinner and my family devoured it. They were scraping the pan to get out every last bit! I will definitely double the recipe next time. I’m not on a Whole30 but we do eat paleoish. I subbed coconut amino for the soy sauce and it tasted great. You can’t taste the maple flavor at all either. Can’t wait to make it again.
Hi Mel!
First of all, I’m a huge fan of your recipes! I’m planning on making these tonight and have a silly question. Would Log Cabin syrup count as real maple syrup?
No, I’m afraid not – it’s a little to sickly sweet; you kind of want the pure maple flavor. Did you try it?
Made this for lunch the other day on a whim – which is funny because I never cook myself lunch. But it was so worth it! And really, it was super fast to put together, especially since I used cooked rotisserie chicken to save time. I used liquid aminos, and it seemed to work fine, and roasted salted cashews, I just watched the salt level closely. SO AMAZINGLY GOOD.
Made this tonight, and forgive me, but I have never done lettuce wraps for my family ever, and my oldest is 18, I know. I have been missing the boat. Anyway, I made this tonight , and my whole tortilla/rice/noodle loving family devoured them! yum! So easy and sooooo good! Thank you Mel!
I love this recipe. It is delicious and pretty quick to put together.
Delicious! I liked them even better with a bit of chili-garlic sauce for a little kick and extra flavor!
We loved them!
These were fantastic!!! Thank you!
Just wondering if you think it would work to use honey instead of maple syrup? I’m not a fan of maple flavor.
I think so, Anne – of course the flavor will change but that may be a good thing if you want a change from the maple (which doesn’t lend a super strong maple flavor BTW).
This was delish!! I was skeptical of the sauce only being soy sauce + maple syrup, but it really turned out great. Also, we added the cashews to our wraps after cooking everything because one person in the family is allergic to nuts and it worked out just fine. Thank you!
Well I made this tonight and made it whole 30 compliant by not using any make syrup, and using coconut aminos in place of the soy sauce. Oh, and walnuts just because we didn’t have cashews. It was incredible!!! All those textures together are amazing, and the sweetness of the carrots really adds to the flavor!! Thank you so much Mel!! I can’t wait to make this again with the right ingredients!!
Just finished having them for dinner tonight! They are soooo good! I am not an avid fan of lettuce wraps as I find most tasteless but these packed a punch and you were right adding the cucumbers and tomatoes add another dimension. The only change I will do in the future, is be more careful with the salt; I may have gone a bit over when seasoning the chicken.
Made this last night – huge hit with all and kids wanted left-overs in their lunches today. Tried the cheese buns as well and even though delicious, couldn’t get first batch out of pan – so used papers the next time- then couldn’t get the papers off!? Not sure what I did wrong – but dinner was tasty regardless!
This looks awesome! But what if I only have lightly roasted and salted cashews… would that ruin it?
No…but if they are salted you might want to adjust the salt in the recipe.
I didn’t have lettuce, but had everything else including a cucumber that needed to be used…so made the filling and had it over cold soba noodles – delicious! I added a teeny bit of toasted sesame oil, but otherwise as written.
Yum! That sounds delicious, Liz.
So.freaking.delicious.
I just made this tonight, and my family loved it! My husband doesn’t even like anything Asian-inspired, but even he liked this recipe! It was super quick to put together and will definitely go in my rotation. Thanks for a yummy, healthy recipe!
Sorry, this one just didn’t do it for my family. The maple syrup gave it a flavor that we didn’t like. Considering I’ve made most of the recipes on your site and this is the first we didn’t like, I’m not complaining!!
Try it without the maple! We loved it that way
Just made these and they have that simple, old-time recipe charm, have a lovely and delicate flavor and were super easy to make (and eat too many of! Lol).
Thanks for the great recipe.
Oops my comment was supposed to go to the soft sour cream cookies lol
These are great, we make a similar recipe.
These were SO good! My family devoured them, & I wished I’d doubled the recipe. I added some water chestnuts to give it a little more crunch, but otherwise followed the recipe as written. We loved them! Thanks, Mel!
You had me at “cashew” 🙂 Looking forward to trying these!
Happy new year Mel!! This recipe looks so darn delicious!! So, I 100% trust your recipes, as does my grateful family, but I am doing this thing called whole 30 this month, and I can’t have any sweeteners (bye bye, sugar in all forms! :). Anyway, I was wondering your opinion about whether these would be worth making without the maple syrup, or if I should just wait until I’m done and make them correctly. Thoughts? Thanks!!!
Hey Meg – I think you could make them without the maple syrup – I mean, the flavor will obviously be different and you might want to cut down on the saltiness (the soy maybe). I assume you’ll use coconut aminos for the soy? I think it’s a bit less salty but not much. If you make them now, just be sure to make them again after your Whole30 is done and taste the difference. 🙂
Perfect! Yes, I’ll be using coconut aminos. I’ll try them now without the maple, and next month with it! Thanks so much Mel:)
We love lettuce wraps in our family! The cashew chicken sounds delicious, we’ll definitely be giving it a go soon!
Paige
http://thehappyflammily.com
Oh my goodness Mel, this is dinner soon at my house! Love the simplicity but all my favorite things.
Yay! To healthy simple dishes. These flavors look fabulous together.
Happy New Year!
I was hoping you would post something healthy today. This fits the bill plus it sounds absolutely delicious and easy! Thanks Mel ( and Tiffany)!