Vietnamese Peanut Sauce Lettuce Wraps
User Reviews
5
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Prep Time
20 mins
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Servings
4 as a meal
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Calories
320 kcal
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Course
Main Course
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Cuisine
Vietnamese
Vietnamese Peanut Sauce Lettuce Wraps
Description
This recipe involves preparing quick-pickled carrots and daikon by soaking them in a hot vinegar-salt-sugar solution, which adds brightness and mild acidity. The peanut sauce blends smooth peanut butter with hoisin, lime juice, coconut milk, garlic, sambal oelek, soy sauce, and sugar, offering creamy, tangy, and mildly spicy notes. Cooked and deveined shrimp are halved and combined with soaked vermicelli noodles to provide protein and body.
The dish is assembled by layering ingredients on fresh lettuce cups: noodles first, then pickled vegetables, bean sprouts, cucumbers, shrimp, fresh herbs like mint and coriander, and finally garnished with chopped roasted peanuts and sliced chilies. Each bite balances crispness, softness, tanginess, and savory flavor.
Customizations include skipping some vegetables for personal preference and cooking fresh shrimp with simple seasoning if preferred. Notes mention that natural peanut butter creates a runnier sauce with more intense peanut flavor, and alternatives for soy sauce and coconut milk are suggested. Leftover peanut sauce and pickled vegetables keep well under refrigeration.
Ingredients
The lettuce cups:
- 300g / 10 oz Shrimp medium (600g/1.2lb unpeeled whole prawns - this is what I use) - Note 1, peeled, whole, cooked
- 75g / 2.5 oz vermicelli noodles or glass noodles or rice, dried
- 12 large or 16 -20 small lettuce I used baby cos/romaine), eg iceberg, butter lettuce, leaves
Veg and herbs:
- 1 batch carrot below *recommended* OR 2 carrots finely julienned (use plain, quick pickled
- 1 batch daikon below *recommended* OR 2 carrots finely julienned (use plain, quick pickled
- 2 cups beansprouts
- 2 cucumber julienned
- 2 cups mint leaves
- 2 cups coriander sprig sub with chives + extra mint, aka cilantro sprigs
- 3 bird's eye chili finely sliced (optional, red
- 1/4 cup peanuts finely chopped (recommended, roasted
Vietnamese Peanut Sauce:
- 2 tbsp peanut butter smooth (ie not sweetened) - Note 2, natural
- 2 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 1 - 2 tbsp lime juice , sub rice vinegar
- 1/3 cup coconut milk Note 3, low fat
- 1 garlic finely grated, large clove
- 1 tsp+ Sambal Oelak (or other chilli sauce/paste of choice), can omit (adj to taste)
- 1 tsp soy sauce Note 4, dark
- 1 tsp white sugar
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt or cooking salt
Quick pickled vegetables
- 2 carrot peeled cut into 2 mm / 1/10″ batons, medium
- 1/2 daikon peeled, cut the same as carrots, large white radish
- 1 1/2 cups water boiling
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 4 tsp kosher salt or cooking salt
- 3/4 cup rice wine vinegar (sub apple cider vinegar)
Instructions
- Pickle first - Put the boiling water, salt and sugar in a bowl. Mix to to dissolve, then add vinegar. Submerge vegetables and leave for 2 hours. Drain then use per recipe (or store in fridge submerged in liquid).
- Peanut sauce - Mix the peanut sauce ingredients and set aside for the flavours to meld while you prepare the platter. Start with 1 tbsp lime juice and add more if you want tarter.
- Prawns (shrimp) - Cut the prawns in half horizontally and remove the vein.
- Noodles - Soak the noodles in boiling water per packet directions. Rinse under cold water (to prevent stickiness) then drain very well.
- Lay it all out - Pile everything onto a giant platter or put things in little bowls, then let everybody help themselves!
- Assemble - Here's my order: lettuce leaf, noodles first, then veg* (carrots, bean sprouts etc), prawns, stuff herbs down the side, drizzle with sauce, sprinkle with peanuts and chilli. Bundle and bite!
Notes
- Adjust vegetable amounts to taste; it’s fine to omit some for smaller wraps.
- Fresh cooked shrimp can be made by sautéing seasoned raw peeled shrimp until lightly cooked.
- Use natural peanut butter (unsweetened, smooth) for a more intense peanut flavor and thinner sauce; regular peanut butter results in a thicker sauce.
- Low-fat coconut milk is preferred for a thinner sauce, but full-fat can be diluted with water.
- Dark soy sauce enhances color and flavor but can be substituted with light soy sauce.
- Peanut sauce keeps refrigerated up to 4 days, frozen up to 3 months; pickled vegetables keep for weeks.
Nutrition Information
Show DetailsNutrition Facts
Serving: 4as a meal
Amount Per Serving
Calories 320 kcal
% Daily Value*
| Calories | 320cal | 16% |
| Carbohydrates | 40g | 13% |
| Protein | 18g | 36% |
| Fat | 9g | 14% |
| Saturated Fat | 3g | 15% |
| Polyunsaturated Fat | 2g | 12% |
| Monounsaturated Fat | 3g | 15% |
| Trans Fat | 0.01g | 1% |
| Cholesterol | 95mg | 32% |
| Sodium | 1075mg | 45% |
| Potassium | 748mg | 16% |
| Fiber | 6g | 24% |
| Sugar | 13g | 26% |
| Vitamin A | 7316IU | 146% |
| Vitamin C | 30mg | 33% |
| Calcium | 167mg | 17% |
| Iron | 3mg | 17% |
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
User Reviews
Overall Rating
5
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