Homemade Lettuce Wraps | Instant Pot recipe
This easy Asian-inspired Lettuce Wraps recipe is a breeze to whip up in the Instant Pot! Cook the filling then add the lettuce for a fabulous appetizer or meal.
Why You’ll Love Our Lettuce Wraps
You can get this one-pot meal on the table in about 30 minutes. The chicken cooks right on top of the rice, which makes it easy to remove and shred after cooking.
PF Chang’s made lettuce wraps famous! However, we wanted a less-fried version, so we created a homemade version that has been a staple at our house since we wrote the Electric Pressure Cooker Cookbook.
Recently, however, our grocer started carrying a different brand of ground chicken, which really changed the taste of this dish. (Honestly, I was surprised at how much difference a brand change made.)
We adapted this recipe for shredded chicken thighs, and we’ve never looked back. It’s easier to eat AND has better flavor than before!
✅ This easy recipe will work in any brand of electric pressure cooker, including the Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi, Cosori, or Power Pressure Cooker XL.
Frequently Asked Questions about Lettuce Wraps
Our very favorite is Butter lettuce. Our grocery store calls it Living Butter Lettuce and sells it with a little more of the root on there. You have to wash these a bit more carefully, but they have a great taste and a perfect bowl shape for holding the chicken.
Bibb lettuce, Boston lettuce, or even iceberg or Romaine lettuce are also good options.
You can in a pinch. Just know the chicken thighs give this dish a richer flavor and don’t dry out the same way chicken breasts do.
We haven’t tested it, but if you do choose to use chicken breasts, I’d start with a 5 or 6 minute cook time with a 5 to 10 minute release to make sure the rice is cooked all the way through. (If you do try it, please leave a comment with what worked for you!)
Honestly, when I’m cooking for my family, I just use matchstick carrots in this recipe. When I want to make it fancy, I’ll pulse the carrots in a food processor or use a small size on my cheese grater to get the shreds small enough.
Store the lettuce and filling separately. Keep the leftover filling in an air-tight container in the fridge for 3 to 4 days.
You can also freeze this in individual portions. (Just keep in mind that rice that has been frozen and defrosted can have a slightly different texture.)
Want more in-depth information about making this recipe? You can now find it below the recipe card.
Do you LOVE this recipe?
Leave us a review below to tell us why!
Shredded Chicken Lettuce Wrap
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 small onion diced
- 1 cups long-grain white rice
- 1 1/4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
- ½ cup hoisin sauce
- ¼ cup low-sodium soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons chili-garlic sauce plus more for serving
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 6 boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 2 heads butter lettuce well rinsed and dried, for serving
- 3 green onions white and green parts sliced thin, plus more for garnish
- 2 carrots shredded, or 1 cup matchstick carrots
- Juice of 1 lime
- 1 can 8 oz water chestnuts, drained and diced into small pieces, optional
- Drizzle of sesame oil optional
- Toppings optional: avocado, cucumber, diced canned mushrooms, fresh cilantro, peanuts, sesame seeds
Instructions
- Select Saute to preheat the pressure cooking pot and add the vegetable oil. When hot, add the onion. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes until softened. Stir in the rice and saute for 1 minute. Add the broth, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, chili-garlic sauce, and salt and stir until well mixed.
- Place the chicken on top of the rice and DO NOT STIR.
- Lock the lid in place. Select High Pressure and 8 minutes cook time.
- While the chicken is cooking, I like to rinse the individual lettuce leaves and allow to dry. (If needed, pat the lettuce dry with a towel before serving.)
- When the cook time ends, turn off the pressure cooker. Let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes and finish with a quick pressure release. When the valve drops, carefully remove the lid.
- Shred the chicken with two forks and stir into rice. If needed, let the chicken and rice rest a few minutes to absorb any extra liquid in the pot.
- Stir in the green onions, shredded carrots, lime juice, and water chestnuts, if using.
- Serve the chicken and rice wrapped in lettuce leaves and finished with your prepared toppings.
Nutrition
How to Make Lettuce Wraps in an Instant Pot
These lettuce wraps are pretty easy to make! I like to stir the sauce ingredients together before I start the saute process, but you don’t have to.
Get the Saute setting hot, then add the vegetable oil. Saute the onion and the rice, then add all the sauce ingredients and stir together until well mixed. The hoisin sauce and the chili garlic sauce really make a big difference in the flavor without adding too much heat.
Then layer the chicken thighs on top of the rice mixture. Set the Instant Pot to High Pressure and the cook time for 8 minutes, with a 5-minute natural release. (You need the natural release to make sure the rice is tender.)
While the chicken cooks, wash and prep the lettuce leaves. (Some people swear by keeping the cleaned leaves in ice water until just before serving. I usually don’t take the time when I’m just cooking for my family.)
Shred the chicken and return it to the pot along with some green onions, shredded carrots, lime juice, and water chestnuts. (We really like the crisp texture the water chestnuts give the finished dish.) Add a small drizzle (between 1 teaspoon and 1 tablespoon) of good-quality sesame oil if you like.
To serve:
Allow your guests to scoop a little of the chicken and rice mixture into their individual lettuce leaves and choose their individual toppings.
My favorite toppings to add to my wraps are avocado, sesame seeds, and a little more chili garlic sauce on top.
At our house, we usually serve these wraps as a standalone dinner. However, they’re great with steamed veggies, pot stickers, or egg rolls to round out the meal.
Quick shout-out for adding avocado to your lettuce wraps! It’s not a traditional ingredient, but it adds a lovely creamy texture and fresh flavor to every bite.
More Asian-inspired Recipes
Craving some amazing Asian flavors from the comfort of your own home? Here are a few options to make next:
- Steamed Dumplings
- Spicy Orange Beef
- Sweet and Sour Chicken
- Beef and Broccoli
- Spicy Chicken Stir Fry, on Barbara Bakes, for an amazing stovetop recipe
FOR MORE FROM PRESSURE COOKING TODAY
🥘 Browse our collection of the best pressure cooker / Instant Pot recipes.
💬 Follow Pressure Cooking Today on Facebook and Instagram for the latest updates.
👥 Join our Electric Pressure Cooker Facebook Group. Our positive community of pressure cooking fans use all brands of electric pressure cookers, so it’s a great resource if you have questions about your particular brand.
We loved this recipe and it sure made a lot!
I used eight skin on, bone in rather large chicken drumsticks because I got them for a great price and I do like to cook bone in as much as I can. They cooked perfectly, skin slipped right off, meat fell right off the bone and the meat was easy to shred. I love the seasonings and I wouldn’t change anything.
We had them in bib lettuce but for some of the leftovers we will put the filling and some grated cheese in flour tortillas, fold them in half and brown them in a cast iron pan.
Thank you for this delicious recipe.
Thanks for letting us know how much you liked the recipe and sharing your changes, Linda – it’s so helpful to others.
These wraps are delicious, and using chicken thighs really adds so much more flavor. Thank you.
Thanks for the great review Joan! Love hearing they were a hit.
Loved the original. Was not fond of the ground chicken I bought recently for chicken burgers. It was Perdue and vey dry. But now there’s a new version I’m raring to go. As for matchstick carrots, do you remember that Pampered Chef chpooer we all bought in the 80s at one of those marriage-threatening parties when we snuck in the hundreds of dollars worth of what ended up in donations boxes? Well I took mine into my RV to use to save time on chopping, likely 20 yrs ago. It turned out to be a great tool! And it will reduce bagged carrots to the correct size. Only one warning – the carrots stained the white plastic.
If I was making half the recipe how would that affect the cooking time? Looks yummy!
Thanks Gem! Your cook time would be the same if you halve the recipe. Enjoy!
Being an Asian family, lettuce wraps were enjoyed with many leftovers. We even stuffed the lettuce with leftover baked spaghetti. Any of your favorite entrees may be used to stuff a lettuce wrap, just think of it as bread and the wrap as a sandwich, and enjoy!
That’s a fun way to think of it. Thanks for sharing!
As you two know, I now live in a retirement facility that provides 3 meals a day so I rarely cook. However our chef is willing to try recipes folks give him and I think this one would be delicious and I want to share it with him. He doesn’t have a pressure cooker but certainly knows how to cook chicken and I think this recipe would be something a little different.
How nice that he’ll try new recipes. I agree, Sigrid, this one would be a hit at the center.
Foo LOW CARB I cooked rice the day before and refrigerated overnight to make it resistant starch. I used low sodium & sugar free. Used sweetener substitutes. Half of carrots. Added shredded cabbage. Cooked chicken on top of sauces and all ingredients, not but rice. When cooking complete, shredded chicken and stir in refrigerated rice. Yum ! Thanks for the recipe and directions.
Assuming the rice is precooked?
Hi Judy – no you don’t precook the rice. One great thing about this recipe is that the rice cooks along with the chicken.