Light, fresh and crunchy these pork san choy bau are oh-so delicious!
A quick and healthy weekday meal everyone will love. These delicious Chinese pork lettuce wraps are a mix of crisp lettuce with a sweet and savoury sauce and pork mince filling. Creating textures and flavours that are a match made in heaven!
Ready for a new favourite? Let us show you!
Dishing up this healthy weekday dinner for the family brings back memories of one of my favourite restaurants in Sydney.
After finishing a late shift in the kitchen, we would head into Chinatown. Where we treated ourselves to Peking duck san choy bau, which was always next-level delicious.
This recipe is our healthy quick mid-week version of the dish. Served with pork mince, wok-fried in a sweet and savoury Chinese sauce, mixed with water chestnuts and mung beans. All wrapped up in crisp lettuce leaves.
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Easy San Choy Bau recipe
We think you we love how quick and easy this recipe is. Perfect for whipping up at the end of a long day and a get way to feed a crowd.
These pork lettuce wraps are great for beginners cooking Chinese or Asian cuisine. With simple ingredients and techniques but still full of delicious flavour!
Ingredients
For the filling:
- Pork mince
- Garlic cloves - finely sliced
- Fresh ginger - grated
- Spring onion (Scallions) - finely sliced
- Cooking oil - we use canola, your preferred non flavoured cooking oil will work to.
- Sesame oil
- Water chestnuts - Finely diced or sliced depending on how you like the texture.
- Mung bean sprouts (Beansprouts)
- Fresh coriander - chopped (optional)
For the sauce:
- Light soy sauce
- Oyster sauce
- Rice wine vinegar - can be substituted with mirin.
- Sugar - we used caster sugar
- Cornflour
For the wrap:
- Lettuce leaves - in the images we used iceberg lettuce, as it's in season here. But you can also use smaller lettuce leaves like baby gem, baby cos or softer butter lettuce. These leaves are perfect for creating a shared appetizer or bite-sized canape.
Toppings (Optional):
- Fresh coriander
- Hot sauce - for those that like a little extra kick, we use sriracha.
How to make san choy bau
- Prep all the ingredients - as this is a quick dish to cook we recommend having all the ingredients prepped ready to cook.
- Make the sauce - mix the soy sauce, oyster sauce, rice wine vinegar and sugar until the sugar has dissolved. Then add the cornflour and mix well to make a slurry.
- Chef's tip - to create the lettuce cups, remove the core from the iceberg lettuce using a sharp knife or by banging the base of the lettuce on the bench. Then twist out and remove the core. Carefully peel away the leaves keeping them whole. Wash the leaves in cold water then tip them upside down and allow to drain.
- Cook the pork mince & aromatics - place your wok on a high heat. Add the oils and pork mince, cook the mince until evenly browned. Remove the mince from the wok and sit to one side, leaving the leftover oil and juices in the wok. Add your garlic, ginger and spring onion and wok fry for around a minute then add the pork mince back in.
- Add the sauce - add the sauce to the wok. Stir and allow the sauce to thicken a little, you may need to add a few tablespoons of water here, but add slowly and stir well as you go. Then add the water chestnuts and mung beans, chopped coriander, and mix well. Take your pork mince filling off the heat.
To assemble:
Serve the pork filling alongside the lettuce cups and topping ingredients. To build your San Choy Bau, simply take a lettuce leave fill it with some pork mince filling and top with some fresh coriander and sriracha, or your toppings of choice.
Then simply wrap and enjoy!
Toppings
We love to serve these pork lettuce wraps with various toppings so everyone can make the dish their own, adding what they like. A great way to get the kids involved in creating their own flavours too!
You can also add:
- Chopped roasted peanuts
- Fresh corriander
- Vermicelli (or rice) noodles
- Grated carrot.
Variations
We use pork mince for this recipe but you could also use:
- Roasted chopped duck
- Shredded chicken
- Chopped prawns
- Tofu
- Shitake mushrooms
Serving suggestions
You can serve san choy bau alongside a range of other Asian dishes and create a real feast for your family and friends!
This dish would pair well with homemade sushi, a Thai seafood salad, or Asian-inspired oysters. YUM.
These san choy bau, pork lettuce wraps are a quick and easy recipe to whip up for friends and family. It is a fun social meal that is healthy too. Just have those paper towels ready it can get a bit messy! Enjoy!
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Happy cooking!
Recipe
San Choy Bau
Ingredients
- 500 g Pork mince
- 2 tablespoon Cooking oil Your preferred non flavour cooking oil
- 2 Tbsp Sesame oil
- 3 cloves Garlic Finely sliced
- 2 inch Fresh ginger Peeled, fine grated
- 2 stalks Spring onions / scallions Finely sliced
- 1 Small tin water chestnuts (approx. 227g) Finely diced or sliced
- A bunch fresh coriander / cilantro Chopped (Optional)
- 2 tablespoon Light soy sauce
- 2 tablespoon Oyster Sauce
- 1 tablespoon Rice wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Caster sugar
- 1 tablespoon Cornflour
- 100 g Mung bean sprouts (Beansprouts)
- 1 Iceberg lettuce See note 1
- Sriracha Sauce (Optional)
Instructions
- Heat a large wok or pan on a high heat and add the oils. Then add the pork mince, breaking it up with a wooden spoon and brown evenly
- Once the mince is browned remove it from the wok and set aside. Leave the pork fat and juices in the wok, add the garlic, ginger and spring onion, wok fry for about a minute then place the pork mince back into the wok.
- In a bowl mix the soy, oyster sauce, rice wine vinegar, sugar and cornflour into a slurry.
- Add the slurry to the pork mince and stir through, the cornflour will thicken the sauce. Add a tablespoon or two of water to this stage if required. Then add the water chestnuts, mung beans and chopped fresh coriander, and mix well.
- For the lettuce cups remove the core from the iceberg lettuce using a sharp knife or bang the base of your lettuce on the bench and twist out the core.Carefully peel away the leaves keeping them whole, give them a wash in cold water and place them upside down to allow to drain.
- Serve your pork mince in a bowl in the centre of the table with the lettuce cups and toppings. Simply fill the lettuce with some mince filling add your toppings wrap and enjoy!
AISilva
This san choy bau lettuce wrap recipe sounds so good. I've been looking for more easy quick weekday meals, and this one will be perfect. Thank you!
Mirlene
Such a refreshing healthy meal to pack for my lunch. I love this lettuce wrap and the crunch from the chestnuts!
Beth Sachs
A delicious low carb recipe! The kids loved these lettuce wraps too..
Natalie
Interesting dish. I never tried it before. But definitely will now. Looks quite delicious.