By Cybelle Tondu
Published June 20, 2024
- Total Time
- 20 minutes
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 10 minutes
- Rating
- 5(290)
- Notes
- Read community notes
Salad and stir-fry in one, lettuce cups are a relaxed summer dinner that combine textures and temperatures to great effect. Cool, crunchy lettuce leaves smeared with hoisin sauce are all that are needed to contain this quick-cooking filling on a hot day, although steamed rice and a cold beer would make lovely accompaniments. The filling can be adapted easily by substituting ground pork for the turkey, firm tofu for the mushrooms, carrots or peas for the celery and peanuts or pine nuts for the cashews.
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Ingredients
Yield:4 servings
- 3tablespoons Shaoxing wine or dry sherry
- 1tablespoon oyster sauce
- 2teaspoons soy sauce, plus more to taste
- ½teaspoon ground white pepper, plus more to taste
- 2tablespoons peanut or sunflower oil (or another neutral-tasting oil)
- 1pound ground turkey
- 4ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms, tough stems removed, torn into 1-inch pieces (about 2 cups)
- 2scallions, thinly sliced, dark green slices reserved for garnish
- 2celery stalks, diced (about ¾ cup), tender leaves reserved for garnish
- 2tablespoons roughly chopped cashews
- Cold, crisp lettuce leaves, such as iceberg, little gem or butter lettuce
- Hoisin sauce, for serving
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Preparation
Step
1
Whisk the wine, oyster sauce, soy sauce and white pepper together in a small bowl or cup; set aside.
Step
2
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high until just beginning to smoke. Add turkey and, using a wooden spoon or spatula, spread the meat to the edges in an even layer. Let cook until the bottom of the meat is deeply browned, 4 to 5 minutes. Then stir the turkey, breaking up the meat into small pieces.
Step
3
Stir in the mushrooms and white and light green scallion slices and cook, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan if anything begins to stick, until the mushrooms are glistening and scallions have softened, about 2 minutes.
Step
4
Stir in the reserved sauce, the diced celery and the chopped cashews and cook until celery is warmed and meat is cooked through, about 1 minute. Immediately remove from heat. Taste and add soy sauce and white pepper as needed.
Step
5
To serve, transfer to a platter and scatter with reserved scallion greens and celery leaves. At the table, smear a small amount of hoisin sauce on a lettuce leaf and fill with a spoonful of the turkey mixture.
Ratings
5
out of 5
290
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Cooking Notes
megan
I added 1 tablespoon of fresh ginger and a bunch of fresh cilantro. The butter lettuce fell apart so I turned it into a salad. It was delicious!
David Morris
Cashews raw or roasted? Salted?
Marcie
So delicious. Couldn’t find oyster sauce, (I live in a rural community), so used some anchovies in olive oil.
CJHarris
Our local “upscale” Chinese takeout in Northern California does a version of this with small diced jicama. And pine nuts instead of cashews. Both which I added successfully, plus some grated ginger. Some of us always play around with these basic recipes. Thanks for the great reminder. Will make this again.
Jennifer
I used 93% fat free dark meat turkey, it was rather dry, next time I'll get a higher fat %. I found it rather bland so added more oyster and some hoisin sauce to the turkey. I thought cashews were an odd choice, next time I'll use peanuts.
Jessica
I used half ground pork, half 93% lean ground turkey and reduced the oil a bit, and that went well. Raw cashews. Yummy!
Ellen
Could I sub in Tofu for the Turkey?
D
Added more soy sauce and hoisin directly to the meat mixture. Enjoyed by all!
Marilyn
David, the cashews aren’t cooked long enough in the recipe to affect their flavor. In my opinion, roasted cashews have more flavor, so I would use roasted ones, salted if salt isn’t an issue for you.
Ken
New to me.
Aidan
Just made it, fantastic. Unlike other recipes, the total cooking time was spot on for me (i.e., quickly!) -- if you're gonna make rice like I did I'd make sure to start the rice cooker a decent amount of time ahead.If I would make again, I'd put something with a little kick into it (chopped up serranos?) and maybe 1.5x the amount of sauce.
Ann
I didn’t have sherry on hand and used dry Vermouth in its place, which worked well.
Betty
This was delicious! Would definitely make again. I made the following changes: subbed ground chicken for turkey, added minced garlic, used one can each of water chestnuts and bamboo shoots instead of celery. Freshly ground white pepper is a must. Used roasted salted cashews and sprinkled them on top of lettuce cups right before eating. Only thing I would do differently next time is season the meat with some salt while it's cooking, when you get a larger chunk it's pretty bland.
Sharon De Cook
Added minced garlic and ginger to oil before meat. Next time, I would make twice the sauce, or do as a commenter suggested, more soy and some hoisin to turkey at the end.I used bok choy instead of celery. Served Vietnamese style in a bowl. First shredded lettuce and herbs, then rice noodles, then turkey. We used left over nuoc cham and peanut sauce, and pickled carrot and radish.The turkey is a really good idea.
Patty S
Very good. I left out the celery (my husband hates it) and doubled the cashews. Since sh*taki mushrooms weren’t available I used baby Bella’s cut in fourths. I served it with both hoisin sauce and chile crisp. I will make this again
Susan A
Very tasty! But I had to add more oil to brown the turkey without sticking—it may have been too lean—which raised the calories. And the diced celery needs to go in earlier, in my opinion, to give it more time to soften. Will tinker with it a bit next time!
Eric
Agreed with comments…added garlic and ginger to meat. Hoisin and red pepper to marinade. vermouth worked well as substitute in marinade. I would add water chestnuts next time for added crunch. We also grilled fresh corn and cut off cob. Delish!
SHARON
Family loved this recipe. Made just like the recipe, used 93% ground turkey so would not dry out.
Marysam
This was a hit for my husband and me. I'm always looking for new low-carb(ish) recipes since he's diabetic, and the lettuce wrap caught my eye. Did it pretty much as written, just threw on a few more cashews in my wrap because why not? It was delicious and will be added to my repertoire.
AL
Added red pepper and peas for color. Used ground chicken rather than ground turkey.
Pat
Great as is, easy and delicious. I used romaine leaves instead of butter lettuce because I already had them in my fridge. Will definitely put this in our regular rotation.
Beezelet
Easy quick and delicious! We didn't bother with the lettuce cups and instead put some 'shrettuce' on rice and the turkey on top.Will definitely add this to the rotation!)
Malika
So good! Just made sure to add enough hoisin sauce and some garlic and ginger for added flavor.
Julie
Added diced carrots, jicama and pickled shallots. Great easy weeknight dinner.
MJ
This ends up presenting as a fast, easy moo shu variant. You can probably stir a tablespoon or so of hoisin into the sauce. Adding garlic and ginger is a must, and stirring in cilantro at the end is great, and helps make it pretty (instead of all brown).
Martin R.
Regarding cashews, I roast them in a 350° oven for 8 to 10 minutes. I do this regardless of whether they’re raw or already roasted. (Credit goes to Pailin’s Hot Thai Kithcen).
Kristine W
Made it exactly as written and used raw cashews—I felt they had the right texture and soaked up more flavor than roasted would. Used baby romaine leaves from the farmers market and it was so good that two of us ate almost the whole recipe without feeling stuffed. Yikes!
liz
Like many others, I can’t make a recipe without some variations. Doubled the sauce (glad I did). Added a very small bell pepper, a little Thai basil and a little cilantro. Added some crispy shallots and fresh jalapeño as a garnish. Came out great. Next time I’ll also add water chestnuts.
Christa T.
I made this as written. It's good, but I'd prefer it with a little more kick. Next time, I'd add grated ginger and some chile heat to the sauce (whether diced chiles, dried chile or gochujang). I used roasted, salted cashews and wouldn't change that (although I would add more, at least 1.5x the recipe amount).
ShannonW
Delicious! I doubled the shiitake and the cashews, but otherwise followed this well-balanced recipe. I always appreciate something that combines fast, tasty, and healthy.
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