Food & Drink Magazine

Spicy Vegan Lettuce Wraps

By Chuck Underwood @brandnewvegan

Move over Chang’s, there’s a new wrap in town, and it’s 100% oil-free and Vegan! These Spicy Vegan Lettuce Wraps use my famous ‘taco meat‘ to make them super healthy and delicious!

Spicy Vegan Lettuce Wraps

That’s right, I’m taking on the big boys this week, with another copycat recipe.

My daughter, who loves P.F. Chang’s lettuce wraps, challenged me with a “Can You Make This Vegan?” request. If you know me, I love a good challenge, so I HAD to try.

Besides, how can I possibly say no to my daughter?

I replaced the chicken with my infamous Amazing Cauliflower Taco meat, using just the soy sauce and leaving out all the taco spices. I also left out the walnuts to cut as much fat as possible.

Then I seasoned it with a deliciously spicy, homemade Hoisin Sauce, that whips up in minutes with everyday pantry ingredients. Add some water chestnuts and chopped green onions for crunch and you have a very simple, and a very healthy snack, that comes together in minutes.

You’re not going to believe how easy these are to make, so without further ado – let’s make some wraps.

Spicy Vegan Lettuce Wraps

Spicy Vegan Lettuce Wraps
Spicy Vegan Lettuce Wraps | Brand New Vegan

We start my preparing our filling.

I used pre-packaged riced cauliflower that I found in the produce section of my grocery store. You’ll need about 2 cups.

If your riced cauliflower was purchased frozen, remove 2 cups and let it thaw first. And of course, you can always use fresh cauliflower, you’ll just have to chop it into fine crumbles or use a food processor.

Add your 2 cups of riced cauliflower to a non-stick skillet and set aside for now.

Next, chop one 6oz package of Shiitake Mushrooms into the same-sized crumbles as your cauliflower. Again, a food processor makes this easy.

I received this Kitchen Aid mini chopper for Christmas and I absolutely love it for small jobs like this. Here is my Amazon Link if your interested, and note that as an Amazon Affiliate, I do earn from qualified purchases but at no extra cost to you.

Add your diced mushrooms to the skillet and set aside.

Next, we dice half of a yellow onion and add that to the skillet as well. Turn on the heat to medium, add the low-sodium soy sauce to prevent anything from sticking, and stir in the minced ginger. (all amounts are in the recipe box below).

The onion and the mushrooms will release a lot of liquid, so stir often. Once it cooks down a little and the veggies look softened, stir in the minced garlic and turn down the heat to low.

Next we prepare our sauce.

In a small bowl, whisk together the molasses, vinegar, PB2, sriracha, and 5 Spice Powder, then slowly stir this into the filling.

Mix well to make sure all of the filling gets coated, and let it simmer for a minute or two while we prepare the garnishes.

  • 5 Spice Powder is a popular Asian spice and can easily be found in the spice section of your grocery store.
  • PB2 is powdered peanut butter that is much lower in fat, and you should be able to find this in the Peanut Butter section of your store.

Note: This will make enough sauce to flavor the veggies but not enough to use as a dipping sauce. If you want a little extra for dipping, I suggest you double this sauce recipe.

Lastly, drain and chop an 8oz can of Water Chestnuts, and roughly chop 3 or 4 green onions, and add them to the mixture.

Remove pan from the heat, and stir well.

Finally, the assembly.

Traditionally, I think butter lettuce is the preferred lettuce to use in making lettuce wraps. Butter lettuce is a very soft, delicate lettuce, and is sold with the root ball still intact. I think on my package it said “living lettuce“.

But any lettuce will work. Romaine, iceberg, loose leaf, whatever you happen to have is perfect.

Simply take a leaf of lettuce, spoon on a tablespoon or two of the filling, and wrap it up like a burrito. Yum.

As I said, the dipping sauce is up to you, but they were pretty darned good right out of the pan (hey, I had to taste it – don’t judge me) 😉

There ya go.

Spicy Asian Lettuce Wraps. I hope you enjoy them and if you do, please drop me a comment below.

Until next week, keep on quarantining and keep on cookin’!

brandnewvegan
Spicy Vegan Lettuce Wraps
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Spicy Vegan Lettuce Wraps

Spicy Vegan Lettuce Wraps

5 from 1 reviews
  • Author: Brand New Vegan
  • Spicy Vegan Lettuce Wraps
    Prep Time:
    30 min
  • Spicy Vegan Lettuce Wraps
    Cook Time:
    30 min
  • Spicy Vegan Lettuce Wraps
    Total Time:
    1 hour
  • Spicy Vegan Lettuce Wraps
    Yield:
    3-4 Servings
  • Spicy Vegan Lettuce Wraps
    Category:
    Appetizer, Snack
  • Spicy Vegan Lettuce Wraps
    Method:
    Stovetop
  • Spicy Vegan Lettuce Wraps
    Cuisine:
    Asian, American
  • Diet: Vegan
Spicy Vegan Lettuce Wraps
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Description

Move over Chang’s, there’s a new wrap in town, and it’s 100% oil-free and Vegan! These Spicy Vegan Lettuce Wraps use my famous ‘taco meat‘ to make them super healthy and delicious!


Ingredients

The Filling

  • 2 cups riced cauliflower
  • 6 oz shiitake mushrooms, diced
  • 1/2 yellow onion, diced
  • 3 Tbs low sodium soy sauce
  • 1 Tbs minced ginger
  • 1 Tbs minced garlic

Hoisin Sauce

  • 2 Tbs molasses
  • 2 Tbs rice vinegar
  • 1 Tbs powdered peanut butter (PB2)
  • 2 tsp sriracha
  • 1/4 tsp 5 spice powder

Wraps

  • 8 oz water chestnuts (diced)
  • 34 green onions (diced)
  • Your favorite lettuce  (I used butter lettuce)

Instructions

  • Add the riced cauliflower, mushrooms, onions, and soy sauce to a large skillet and simmer over medium heat until veggies become softened
  • Stir in ginger and garlic, mix well, and reduce heat to low.
  • Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together all the sauce ingredients until smooth, 
  • Slowly add sauce to filling, mixing to ensure everything is evenly coated.
  • Reduce heat and simmer 1-2 minutes. 
  • Add chopped water chestnuts and green onions, and stir well. 
  • Wrap in your favorite lettuce leaves and serve.

Notes

If one serving =  4 lettuce wraps, this will easily serve 3 or 4 people.  

Tips Are Always Welcome!  Thank You!!

Keywords: vegan lettuce wraps

Spicy Vegan Lettuce Wraps

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