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!
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
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’!
Spicy Vegan Lettuce Wraps
- Prep Time: 30 min
- Cook Time: 30 min
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 3–4 Servings 1x
- Category: Appetizer, Snack
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Asian, American
- Diet: Vegan
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)
- 3–4 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.
Keywords: vegan lettuce wraps
Sandy
I was looking for a good Asian lettuce wrap recipe last week and went to your site first Chuck. When I saw this today I had to try them. Indeed move over PF Chang there is a new wrap in town!
Cate
I made these using Napa cabbage leaves and it was wonderful!
Peggy
I made them, but left out the five spice powder, as i don’t care for it. I had soy curls on hand, so used that instead of cauliflower. SU-PERB, Chuck! Thank you so much!
★★★★★
Michelle
Oh wow! These sound so good. I love your cauliflower taco meat! We make it a few times a month. Looking forward to trying these lettuce wraps out.
Diane Barnett
The Vegetarian Lettuce Wraps at Changs use a spiced firm tofu. Can you make a recipe that tastes close to this tofu which I assume is sauteed in oil because it is so firm. but freezing tofu and then defrosting it before pressing it as dry as possible, does firm it up a lot. Thanks, it you can mimic this flavor..
Sheri
I can’t wait to try this one! I’ve been using and recommending BNV for months now. I have never been disappointed when I make your recipes! My friends think I’m a genius and an amazing chef even after I tell them “it’s another one of Chuck’s recipes!”! Thanks for making me look so good in the kitchen! Thanks for all you do! Stay healthy…we need you Chuck! Keeping you in my prayers as are many of your followers.
★★★★★
Judith Ralston
I made these last night, my husband went back for more. I didn’t have the PB2 powder so used regular PB instead. I made my own 5 spice as well. Thanks, Chuck! Will make them again!
★★★★★
Jan
Judith, how much peanut butter did you use?
Fran
Hi there, these so so good can’t wait to make. Do you think I can use dates instead of molasses? Or raising?
Thank you!
Josie
When I made this, I didn’t have cauliflower so I just used rice instead. This is a very good recipe. I like that it doesn’t call for sugar or dates or anything frivolous. Tastes very good. This is one recipe I will save. Usually I try one recipe and delete it, but this one’s a keeper in my recipe folder. Incidentally, after I made it my mom texted me and said she had three heads of cauliflower to give to me!
Maggie
So good! Sriracha kicks my beehind so i only put a little in and only 2tbls aminos. Didn’t have lettuce so used green cabbage leaves. This is amazing! Thank you! Glad you’re feeling better!
Kathleen
I was also wondering about using tofu. Do you still eat tofu now ?
Chuck Underwood
Very, very sparingly.
Rose
LOVED the filling but felt the sauce tasted too strongly of molasses. Not sure what I did wrong. I Used regular rice vinegar but perhaps seasoned would have been better. I ended up finding another recipe for the hoisin sauce. I made my own riced cauliflower and just wanted to pass on that I discovered the texture was a better using a box grater instead of food processor. Thanks for the great recipes.
★★★★
dee
Hi Chuck,
Is molasses to make homemade hoisin sauce healthier to use instead of regular hoisin ??
Is that why u made a home made version of it.
Chuck Underwood
Some store-bought hoisin sauces have oil
Mary
These are amazing. What a nice appetizer for holidays!