Featured comment
Easiest dinner ever! Topped ours with peanuts and Trader Joe’s crispy jalapenos. It was on the table in 15 minutes with little effort, and we loved it. Will make again!
Sarah
This is a fan favorite recipe that’s part of our Fall 2022 SOS Series! View the full series.
How much do I love a quick pan-fried crumbled tofu and brown rice filling, coated in peanut sauce, tucked into tender little butter lettuce leaves, and crowned with a drizzle of spicy mayo and – obviously – a couple little crunchy fried onions? Judging by the tens (hundreds?) of these that I’ve eaten, the answer is: A LOT.
There’s just something about these flavors and textures that makes a person feel good in their heart. It’s light but it’s filling, it’s savory but a little sweet and spicy, it has a complexity of texture with a delicate, fresh crunch and an almost-meaty-like filling, and it comes together so ridiculously fast – I mean, let’s just go ahead and accept right now that this is a recipe that cannot be made just once.
This recipe has absolutely been our most-made meal of the summer.
In This Post: Everything You Need For These Lettuce Wraps
- Our Short and Sweet Ingredient List
- What I Love About These Lettuce Wraps
- Frequently Asked Questions About This Recipe
- VIDEO to Make Lettuce Wraps
Our Short and Sweet Ingredient List
- tofu
- lettuce
- brown rice
- sriracha
- teriyaki sauce
- orange
- peanut butter
If you like a little spicy mayo on top (and I do, thank you very much) then grab your mayo and sriracha out of the fridge, and if you like a little crunchy onion action (also yes) pull those out of the pantry.
And there you go: saucy, peanutty, flavor-packed tofu and brown rice lettuce wraps, coming right up.
What I Love About These Lettuce Wraps
There’s just so much to tell!
- Most lettuce wraps leave me wanting more, I think because they lack a carb element. Having brown rice (or quinoa, or another grain) in the filling solves this problem and makes them super satisfying in a full-meal kind of way.
- The tofu is just so low maintenance. Give it a quick squeeze over the sink and then plop it in the skillet and crumble it up, or shred it on a box grater like this. SOS-style.
- The peanut sauce is semi-homemade, using a bottle of teriyaki to start you off. If you wanted to make your own peanut sauce, this is my go-to. I’ve done it both ways and it’s great no matter how you choose to peanut sauce it.
- It makes great leftovers! The filling lasts for days, and it can be used in your extra lettuce leaves or over a salad or in a stir fry… endless options.
- It’s family-approved! At least in my house it is: my husband raves every time I make these and my toddler gets *so* excited for what we’ve come to call “lettuce wrap night.” We put yogurt on hers instead of spicy mayo, and she will eat 2, 3, sometimes even 4 of these. 😂 You just never know with these little people.
This recipe has landed on our table so many times in the last 6 months and it is just everything I love in life: creamy, salty, saucy, spicy, a little bit sweet, and light, crunchy, and filling. Not to mention SOS-level easy.
Blessings on your lettuce wrap journey! I hope you love them. ♡
Tofu and Brown Rice Lettuce Wraps: FAQs
Fresh garlic, scallions, or ginger are great additions to your filling mixture. And obviously homemade peanut sauce is fab (love, love, love this one). Go with whatever works! This recipe is meant to be flexible and easy.
Only swap you’ll need to make is using a plant-based mayo!
3-5 days is ideal here for leftovers.
The easiest sub would be to use ground chicken or turkey instead of tofu!
Prefer To Watch Instead Of Read?
Watch Lindsay Make This Recipe on Stories!
Print
Tofu and Brown Rice Lettuce Wraps with Peanut Sauce
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 4–5 servings 1x
Description
These lettuce wraps are ridiculously good! Crunchy, fresh, and packed with tofu, brown rice, crispy onions, plus a drizzle of peanut sauce and spicy mayo. Delicious!
Ingredients
Lettuce Wraps
- olive oil
- One 14-ounce block extra firm tofu – minimally pressed to remove water
- about 2 cups cooked brown rice and/or quinoa or other grains – I use the 8.5 ounce precooked packages so it’s very, very easy
- butter lettuce or leaf lettuce for wrapping
- spicy mayo (see notes)
- chopped peanuts or crispy onions for topping
SOS Peanut Sauce
- 1/2 cup teriyaki sauce
- juice of 1 orange
- 1/4 cup peanut butter
- a squirt of Sriracha or other chile sauce if you want
If you have a bit more time, you can also use this amazing homemade peanut sauce.
Instructions
- Cook the tofu: Heat a few swishes of oil in a nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add the tofu and crumble in the pan. Cook until slightly browned. While that’s cooking, whisk up all sauce ingredients in a bowl.
- Add rice and sauce: Add the rice and most of the sauce to the pan. Sauté for 5 minutes or so – just enough to get some browning / light caramelization and get everything nice and yummy. Season with salt to taste.
- Fill and serve: Spoon your tofu and brown rice filling into crispy little pieces of lettuce. Top with something crunchy (peanuts? crispy onions?) and something creamy (spicy mayo all the way) and drizzle with a little extra sauce, and now tell me this isn’t your favorite meal of the week.
Notes
Spicy Mayo: I usually just mix about 1/4 cup mayo with about 1 tablespoon sriracha. But super easy to make it more or less spicy depending on your heat tolerance!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Sauté
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: lettuce wraps, vegan lettuce wraps, tofu lettuce wraps
More Lettuce Wrap Recipes To Swoon Over:
- Chicken Lettuce Wraps with Lime Drench (crumbly-crispy and tangy to the max)
- Firecracker Vegan Lettuce Wraps (kinda similar to these but with slurpable noodles)
- Roasted Cauliflower Lettuce Wraps with Korean BBQ-Inspired Sauce (hurry up and make these!)
- Creamy Miso Peanut Chicken Lettuce Wraps (the grapes on these cuties are a must)
Time To Show You Off!
Was this one delicious! Sooo tasty. (I used my favorite teriyaki sauce – ‘Bachan’s Japanese BBQ sauce’) (and sprinkled goat cheese in the wraps too – but it didn’t need it)….I just want to say how much I appreciate your sense of high flavor in your recipes – I’ve made about 15 of them so far, and all are very punchy with the spices – very consistantly yummy indeed!!
Yum. 10/10 and we loved how easy it was.
This is always so much better than I expect! Did the fancier peanut sauce and served the leftovers as a bowl situation on a bed of shredded lettuce (it was so much easier to eat, I have the worst luck with lettuce wraps).
Oh, my gosh!!! This was amazing! Will make again. This was a five star recipe. And so crazy easy. We loved it. And we don’t do tofu.
I have made these countless times and they are always delicious! I usually make a double batch of the sauce and then they are so easy to make again later in the week. My non vegetarian father in law requests these when he comes to visit!
These were amazing! Quick, affordable, customizable, hearty, delicious. This was everything we could want in a dinner! Can’t wait to make it again and again.
My husband and I and our two toddler boys love this recipe! It’s incredible and we aren’t even typically tofu eaters. The crunch, the sauce, and how easy it is too. We make this every two weeks and I had to start making double batches because we eat it so fast and we all love it so much!
Tofu lettuce wraps are absolutely delicious I’ve made them several times using peanut sauce recipe My doesn’t like lettuce so he wrapped his with flour tortillas Thank you again for another great recipe Barbara T
Tofu, peanut sauce and crispy lettuce – my new favorite combination for a quick dinner! Thanks for the inspiration
Oh my word! This is amazing. My husband, myself, and 3 year old loved it. We are not usually tofu eaters but I was determined to try one more recipe and see if there was anything with tofu that we all liked. The crunch of the crispy onions, both sauces, the lettuce and the rice tofu mix was all the perfect combination. I made a side of sriracha mayo for my husband and I ( not the kids) and it was great!
How well does the tofu/rice keep in the fridge? I’m thinking this might be a meal prep kind of thing for lunches.
Hi Megan! The tofu and rice keep well in the fridge, and are great when reheated. Enjoy!
What would be one serving size for this recipe? 1, 2, or 3 lettuce wraps? My apologies if it’s there and I just didn’t see it! Thanks!
This recipe is in our regular rotation. Everyone we have served it to loves it!
Question: do you think the filling could be frozen? I have frozen rice and tofu before individually, so it seems plausible…
I think it could work – rice usually freezes pretty well!
This recipe sounds wonderful, but I have the peanut allergy so I don’t have any idea what to use to replace the peanuts in the sauce. Any suggestions?
Almond butter or tahini might be good options!
You’ve probably answered this before, but what mayo do you use?
Hellman’s or Duke’s are my favorites!
Why did I wait so long to make these? Super quick to make and seriously delicious! I didn’t have the peanut sauce ingredients, so made with your gochujang sauce and I would do that again! I don’t mind the messiness of lettuce wraps, but my husband is a neatnik (NO complaints because he loves to clean the kitchen!!!) so he put his in a tortilla and that worked great too.
Seriously. Make these. Even if your husband wouldn’t admit to eating tofu and feels the need to tell you soy is bad for men to eat while you are making his dinner…or your kids only like it floating atop miso soup, or you personally can’t get past the texture of tofu. MAKE. THESE. Super delish, lightening fast prep and make, flavors that made my heart sing, and nutritious. Everyone loved them and after two plates hubs says a little soy here and there is probably fine 😉🙃👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
5 stars 🌟 – my ten year old just yelled when I asked how are the lettuce wraps (he’s a HUGE fan of the Firecracker tofu lettuce wraps!) and he responded AMAZING! and this is so stupid easy!!
This has become a staple in our house now. Everyone loves it, even our little ones! I use ground chicken instead of tofu but the flavors are amazing and it’s super quick to make on a busy weeknight!
This recipe is amazing! It is now on the regular rotation in our house. My carnivore husband loves it and I don’t mind making it even after a long day at work!
What a great recipe! For anyone leery about tofu – this recipe is excellent to change you mind. My family had no idea it was tofu in this recipe because the texture was a lot like ground meat and the sauce made it so flavourful! Feel like this is a great recipe to customize to your liking. Next time I plan on adding mushrooms, onions and peppers to up the veg component. Thanks POY for another fantastic, easy recipe.
This is one of my most favorite dinners! So easy to throw together, and absolutely delicious!! Would make it for company, even if they were meat eaters! So flavorful and interesting. I’ve made it several times and used romaine lettuce if I can’t find Boston or butter leaf.
I’m so glad the meal plan introduced me to this SOS recipe. I have made it multiple times already. This comes together SO quickly and is delicious!
These were AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have a love/hate relationship with tofu and this one was a definite love. Thanks so much for the recipe!
Amazing! My new favorite tofu recipe, so easy and delicious. Served with steamed broccoli