Fresh mid summer veggies and seared shrimp are tossed with a delicious peanut sauce, then nestled inside lettuce cups. Shrimp Lettuce Wraps are low in calories but high in flavour and wow factor!
I developed this recipe as part of a collection for members of a local CSA Program. If you’re lucky enough to live in an area where seasonal produce is plentiful, you’ll have lots of options for your filling. The most important thing is choosing ingredients you like and making sure there’s lots of colour. A fresh crunch is also important, that’s why the veggies are added to the shrimp at the end of cooking and just tossed around in the sauce. No need to cook them.
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You can actually make the shrimp filling in advance so your wraps can be served cold. Or, you can have your lettuce cups rinsed and dried and ready for filling so you can enjoy the filling warm. Either way they have loads of flavour.
Using a tip from taco trucks, sometimes 2 lettuce cups work better than one. Lay one leaf of lettuce on top of the other, slightly offset so you have a little more space to pile the fillings. This gives you a little more support when folding your wraps too. Not to mention even more nutrition! In fact, 2 Shrimp Lettuce Wraps are just over 250 calories which is pretty good if you consider the calories in a restaurant meal or take out.
The size of shrimp you choose is up to you. I like to use mid sized shrimp. The larger ones are a little too big for one bite and the smallest ones can dry out quickly if you cook them too long which is easily done with shrimp. A quick sear in a hot pan is all it takes. You can cut the shrimp in half after cooking if you like or serve them whole which looks much more impressive.
Peanut sauce has loads of interesting flavours. Sesame oil may not be something in your pantry but I highly recommend picking up a small bottle. You don’t need a lot because it has a strong flavour but it keeps for ages. It’s featured in many of my recipes here, including Sweet and Sour Pork, which is very popular. Rice vinegar is a slightly milder seasoned version of regular vinegar. I also suggest grabbing some for your pantry, but you can substitute regular vinegar in the peanut sauce. Just use a tiny bit less.
Toss most of the sauce with the shrimp and veggies but save some to drizzle over top. These Shrimp Lettuce Wraps are the perfect combination of sweet, sour, hot, zesty and delicious. Top with some chopped peanuts, fresh cilantro and green onion.
If you try this recipe, please consider leaving a comment or rating. Here’s the recipe:
Ingredients
Marinated Shrimp
- 454 g raw peeled and deveined shrimp about 1 lb
- 2 tsp sesame oil divided
- 2 tsp fresh ginger, minced
- 1 clove garlic, finely minced
- ½ lime, juiced about 1 Tbsp
- salt and pepper
Peanut Sauce
- 2 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp sesame oil
- 1 Tbsp smooth peanut butter
- 1 Tbsp minced ginger
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 tsp rice vinegar or a little less regular vinegar
- ½ lime, juiced about 1 Tbsp
- ½ tsp white sugar
- pinch of salt
Lettuce Wraps
- 1 - 2 heads Boston Bib or Romaine Lettuce see note
- 2-3 radishes or 1 spring turnip
- 1 carrot
- 1 kohlrabi or jicama, optional
- ½ sweet red pepper
- ¼ red onion
- 4 green onions
- ¼ cup chopped peanuts
- fresh chopped cilantro
Instructions
- If using frozen shrimp, defrost over night in refrigerator. Rinse and drain well. Pat dry and place in bowl. Add marinade ingredients. Stir to combine, cover and marinate in refrigerator for at least one hour but not more than 2 - 3 hours.
- Prepare peanut sauce by combining all ingredients in a blender or food processor. Use only 1 tsp of peanut sauce for sauce, reserve second tsp for searing the shrimp. Pulse until smooth.
- Shred or julienne carrots and peppers. Thinly slice radishes, turnip, red onion and kohlrabi/jicama if using. Chop peanuts, green onions and cilantro and set aside.
- Rinse lettuce and pull off 8 or 16 largest leaves. Use 8 leaves per wrap or double up lettuce for extra nutrition and more stable wraps. Spin dry or blot with paper towel. Arrange on serving platter.
- Heat reserved tsp of peanut sauce in a large skillet or wok. Add shrimp, along with marinade when oil is quite hot. Sauté quickly until shrimp are pink, turning or tossing as needed. Take care not to overcook shrimp, less than a minute on each side. Add about ¾ of peanut sauce to shrimp and stir to combine and heat through, about a minute. Turn off heat and add rest of fillings, except for green onion, peanuts and cilantro. Stir, toss to combine well.
- Assemble wraps by spooning filling evenly into leaves. Top with green onions, chopped peanuts and cilantro.
- Serve with extra peanut sauce drizzled over top.
You made these for me for lunch once – they are fantastic!
Thank you my friend. Always good to have taste testers!