Hello, my beautiful chickpeas! This is the time of year that I start craving fresh veggies and bright flavors. Luckily, these Vegan Lettuce Wraps With Grilled Avocado are perfect for that spring produce craving! Between the crunchy Asian Cucumber Salad, Coconut Curry Noodles, and Creamy Peanut Sauce, this recipe is bursting with Thai-inspired flavor.
This recipe is perfect for a spring or summer lunch. Plus, I love that I can set out all the individual components and let the family build their own wraps! Let's get cooking.
Inspiration for Vegan Lettuce Wraps
If you're vegan and you've been to the Cheesecake Factory, there's a decent chance you've had their Avocado Thai Lettuce Wraps. The Cheesecake Factory doesn't have many vegan options, but this is one of the few and it's actually my go-to! Today's recipe is my at-home twist on it.
These Vegan Lettuce Wraps combine fresh veggies, grilled avocado, Coconut Curry Noodles, Asian Cucumber Salad, and a Creamy Peanut Sauce. The flavors work together beautifully and make a wholesome yet delicious meal!
Ingredients
This recipe has a number of parts so the ingredients list may look long, but I promise it's worth it! These flavors all come together beautifully, and make a fun combination of textures.
- Cucumbers, salt, rice vinegar, tamari, coconut sugar, & sesame seeds: these come together to make our Asian Cucumber Salad. This adds some crunch to our Vegan Lettuce Wraps!
- Peanut butter, maple syrup, tamari, & lime juice: these make up our Creamy Peanut Sauce! This gets drizzled on top of our lettuce wraps for an ultimate flavor boost.
- Garlic, veggie broth, red curry paste, curry powder, coconut milk, tamari, & ramen noodles: for our Coconut Curry Noodles! These noodles are a bit on the spicy side, but compliment all of our other Thai inspired flavors perfectly.
- Avocados, lime juice, smoked paprika, & garlic salt: for our grilled avocados, the star of the show!
- Carrot & cilantro: the finishing touches for our Vegan Lettuce Wraps.
- Butter lettuce: our lettuce of choice! These are the perfect shape to make a little bowl for our fillings, and can be easily picked up for easy eating.
How to Make
This recipe has a number of components you need to make. However, none of them are difficult! You've got this. Let's break it down a bit.
- Make the Asian Cucumber Salad: Add salt and cucumber to a bowl and let refrigerate. Strain off excess water and pat dry. Combine with all other ingredients and refrigerate until serving.
- Make the Creamy Peanut Sauce: add all ingredients too a blender and blend until smooth. Taste test and adjust as desired, then refrigerate until ready to serve.
- Make the Coconut Curry Noodles: briefly boil ramen noodles for 1-2 minutes, then drain. Sauté garlic, then add all other ingredients to the pot and bring to a simmer. Add in the partially cooked noodles, and cook until the noodles are fully cooked.
- Make the Grilled Avocado: Preheat grill to medium/high heat. Brush the lime juice onto the avocados, and then season with garlic salt and smoked paprika. Grill for 6-8 minutes.
- Assemble the Vegan Lettuce Wraps: Add a bit of all components to a large leaf of butter lettuce. Drizzle with Creamy Peanut Sauce and enjoy!
Tips & Tricks
This recipe is a bit more complicated than my others simply because there are multiple parts to prepare. But none of them are particularly difficult, and it all comes together so beautifully that it is worth it! Here are some of my tips and tricks to most enjoy this recipe.
- Be sure to taste test as you go! This recipe is easy to alter based on preferences - add more curry paste to the noodles for more spice. Add more tamari to the sauce for a stronger umami flavor. Make it based on your preferences!
- To get the FULL experience I highly recommend preparing this recipe the way it is written. However, if you are short on time and want a simpler version, you could replace the Grilled Avocado with regular avocado slices, or the Asian Cucumber Salad with sliced cucumbers. It won't be as flavorful this way, but it's an easy way to simplify things a bit in a pinch!
- If you have leftovers, I suggest storing each component individually in the fridge and then combining into the lettuce wraps when serving. The grilled avocado doesn't save well in the fridge, so this should be made as served. But everything else can be made ahead of time!
- The Creamy Peanut Sauce in today's recipe is a slightly different version of the Peanut Sauce in my FREE ebook! A version of this sauce is also used in my Vegetable Summer Rolls. Be sure to check those out if you want more peanuty goodness!
Enjoy!
📖 Recipe
Vegan Lettuce Wraps With Grilled Avocado
These Vegan Lettuce Wraps With Grilled Avocado are perfect for that spring & summer produce craving! Between the crunchy Asian Cucumber Salad, and the Coconut Curry Noodles, and the Creamy Peanut Sauce, this recipe is bursting with Thai-inspired flavor. *Note that From Start to Finish is an estimate that includes time to prep all of your ingredients beforehand. This time assumes that you will make your Creamy Peanut Sauce and Coconut Curry Noodles while the cucumbers refrigerate during step 2 of the Asian Cucumber Salad.
Ingredients
Asian Cucumber Salad
- 3 mini cucumbers - sliced & quartered (approximately 2 cups)
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoon rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon tamari
- 1 teaspoon coconut sugar
- 1.5 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
- Optional: ½ teaspoon chili oil
Creamy Peanut Sauce
- ¼ cup natural peanut butter*
- 1.5 tablespoon pure maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon tamari
- ½ tablespoon lime juice
- 2-4 tablespoon water - (exact amount is based on how thick you want your sauce, the thickness of your peanut butter will also affect this!)
Coconut Curry Noodles
- 2 cloves garlic - minced
- ¾ cup veggie broth
- ¾ teaspoon red curry paste
- ¼ teaspoon curry powder
- ¾ cup coconut milk
- 1.5 teaspoon tamari
- 3 oz uncooked ramen noodles
Grilled Avocado
- 2 avocados - halved, pits removed
- 1.5 tablespoon lime juice
- ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
- ⅛ teaspoon garlic salt
Other veggies:
- 1 large carrot - julienned
- cilantro, for garnish
- 12 leaves butter lettuce
Instructions
Asian cucumber salad:
- Add salt and cucumber slices to a small/medium bowl. Toss to combine.
- Set the bowl in the refrigerator and refrigerate for at least 20-30 minutes to allow the cucumbers to release some water. You can use this time to prepare the Creamy Peanut Sauce and the Coconut Curry Noodles.
- After refrigerating, strain the excess water from the cucumbers & rinse them briefly under cold water. Gently pat the cucumbers dry with a towel.
- Return the cucumbers to the bowl. In a separate small container, combine all the remaining Asian Cucumber Salad ingredients. Pour the mixture over the cucumbers, and toss to combine.
- Place back in fridge and let refrigerate until ready to serve.
Creamy Peanut Sauce
- Add all Creamy Peanut Sauce ingredients to a blender (For the water, I suggest starting with 2 Tbsp. You can add more in the next step if you want). Blend until very smooth.
- Taste test and adjust as desired. Add more water to thin out your sauce, or more tamari for a stronger umami flavor.
- Let refrigerate until ready to serve. (Note that it may thicken a bit in the fridge if left for more than 30 minutes).
Coconut Curry Noodles
- Bring a small pot of water to boil on the stovetop. Add the uncooked ramen noodles to the boiling water and cook for 1-2 minutes. Drain immediately (the noodles won't be fully cooked yet - they will cook further once added to the broth later!)
- Bring another small/medium pot to medium heat on the stovetop. Add just a bit of water to prevent sticking. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant (usually 1-2 minutes). Add more water as needed to prevent sticking.
- Add broth, curry paste, curry powder, coconut milk, and Tamari to the garlic. Bring to a simmer.
- Add the partially cooked noodles to the pot. Let the mixture simmer until the noodles are fully cooked (about 3-5 minutes). If there is too much liquid after the noodles are fully cooked, you can drain off some of the sauce - though the noodles typically absorb most of the liquid, so this step usually is not necessary.
Grilled Avocado
- Preheat grill to medium/high heat. (I love my Indoor Electric Grill for this).
- Using a pastry brush, brush lime juice onto the fleshy side of the avocado halves. Sprinkle with smoked paprika & garlic salt.
- Place avocados on the grill, flesh-side down, and cook until grill marks appear (about 6-8 minutes, but may vary depending on your grill's heat)
Assemble the Vegan Lettuce Wraps
- For each wrap: start with a large leaf of butter lettuce. Add a small pile of the Coconut Curry Noodles, a large spoonful of the Asian Cucumber Salad, a few slices of the Grilled Avocado, a bit of carrot, and a few sprigs of cilantro. Drizzle with the Creamy Peanut Sauce and enjoy!
Notes
*Natural peanut butter: ideally you want to use peanut butter with no added sugar so things don't get too sweet - look for a brand that lists "dry roasted peanuts" as the only ingredient! (If you do have to use sweetened peanut butter, you may want to leave out the maple syrup to tone down the sweetness).
Did you make this recipe?Mention @joyfulbalanceofficial on Instagram and show the world your plant based creation!
Happy cooking! If you made this recipe don’t forget to tag me (@joyfulbalanceofficial) on facebook or instagram so I can cheer you on for your lettuce-wrap-making ways.
Stay joyfully balanced!
lainey says
This looks amazing- especially the peanut sauce! Can't wait to give this a try!
Delaney Marie says
The peanut sauce is my favorite part! Enjoy!!
Lisa Porter says
These are absolutely delicious! Great recipe, thank you.
Delaney Marie says
So glad you loved them!
Sonia says
Thank you so much for this recipe - I really love the combination of lettuce and avocado, these are perfect!
Delaney Marie says
Thank you for the comment! So glad you enjoyed!
Laurie says
Love using delicious fresh ingredients. I'll be trying this one out soon!
Delaney Marie says
Hope you love them as much as I do!