Vegan Lettuce Wraps
With East Asian cuisine, you can always expect the explosion of amazing flavors and ultimate satisfaction. These vegan lettuce wraps are no exception.
When it’s hot outside, your food choices often become reduced to refreshing cold dishes such as salads and smoothies. For someone who loves stir fries and curries, this could be a challenge (trust me, I know!). These vegan lettuce wraps allow you to enjoy the decadent Asian flavors even in the peak of the summer!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- These wraps combine the comforting flavors of a takeout and the convenience of hand-held foods. Kind of like tacos!
- If you are looking for a high-protein snack that isn’t boring, you have found it! These lettuce wrap are healthy, delicious, and packed with nutrients.
- Crispy tofu is one of my favourite go-to snacks. These vegan lettuce wraps just elevate it to the next level.
- Perfect for meal prep! Once the tofu is ready, the wraps can be thrown together in about five minutes.
How to Make This Recipe
Start by making the crispy tofu, and preparing the tahini chili dressing. To make the dressing, simply whisk all the ingredients together in a jar or small bowl.
Seperate your iceberg lettuce into leaves that can be made into “wraps”. I find the easiest way to do this is to carefully pull away the leaves from the root of the lettuce.
Fill each leaf with a heaping spoon full of the crispy tofu, a drizzle of the tahini chili dressing, some kimchi, red cabbage, green onion, crispy noodles, crushed peanuts, sesame seeds and hoisin sauce. Enjoy immediately.
Hack It!
- If you are really short on time, you can forego the dressing. Just drizzle the wraps with tahini and sweet chilli separately.
- Iceberg is a great choice for this recipe because the leaves have a rounded shape, like a small bowl. They also stay crispy and fresh. However, you can use other types of lettuce or even kale leaves, as long as they can accommodate the toppings.
- Speaking of toppings, let your creative genius run wild. Grated carrot, fresh bean sprouts, edamame, cucumber… You can modify the fillings for the vegan lettuce wraps at your convenience.
- If you want to make this into a meal prep snack, just make the crispy tofu in advance. You can always heat it back up in an air fryer before serving. You could also prep your other ingredients, making the dressing and dicing veggies. This way, you have a healthy, indulgent snack waiting for you!
- If you can’t have soy, you can still enjoy a variation of this dish. Tofu can be replaced with seitan or roasted chickpeas. Alternatively, you could use chickpea tofu, pumpkin seed tofu, or lentil tofu.
Other Recipes You’ll Love
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In case you haven’t heard, the PlantYou Cookbook came out earlier this year, which ALSO features 140 unique vegan recipes. If you like having your favorite recipes in one place, you have to get your hands on this book! Thanks to the amazing support from the plant-based community, the book has been a huge success already. If you can’t find a copy in your local bookstore, you may want to grab a digital copy to enjoy these recipes!
The Recipe: Vegan Lettuce Wraps
Ingredients
- 4 servings crispy tofu recipe
- 2 heads iceberg lettuce, separated into leaves
- ¼ red cabbage, thinly sliced
- 1 cup kimchi
- 2 green onions, diced
- ½ cup crispy fried noodles
- 4 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 3 tbsp peanuts, crushed
- 3 tbsp sesame seeds
Tahini Chili Dressing
- 4 tbsp tahini
- 2 tbsp water
- 2 tbsp sweet chili sauce
Instructions
- Start by making the crispy tofu, and preparing the tahini chili dressing.
- Seperate your iceberg lettuce into leaves that can be made into "wraps". I find the easiest way to do this is to carefully pull away the leaves from the root of the lettuce.
- Fill with a heaping spoon full of the crispy tofu, a drizzle of the tahini chili dressing, the kimchi, red cabbage, green onion, crispy noodles, crushed peanuts, sesame seeds and hoisin sauce. Enjoy immediately.
