Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps are a delicious and nutritious alternative to traditional wraps. Crispy lettuce leaves are loaded with crispy marinated chicken pieces, crunchy veggies, topped with crumbled blue cheese and a drizzle of your favorite dressing!
I don't know about you, but sometimes I just crave a lighter meal that still delivers delicious flavor and irresistible texture. Like my Shrimp lettuce Wraps, these Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps don't disappoint. Plus, they're super healthy!
🌟 WHY I LOVE BUFFALO CHICKEN WRAPS
Loading the crispy chicken pieces and veggies onto sturdy lettuce leaves instantly turns this meal into a keto-friendly and low-carb dish. It's maximum satisfaction without the guilt!
The buttery hot sauce marinade is finger-licking good! It infuses into the chicken pieces, adding a lovely kick of heat and tenderizing the chicken at the same time.
These Buffalo chicken lettuce wraps are crispy and crunchy with easy ingredient swaps to suit your personal preferences. Enjoy them as a light lunch or dinner with a variety of side dishes.
🍽 KEY INGREDIENTS
Chicken – I use boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite size pieces of 1-2 inches thickness.
Lettuce – What are lettuce wraps without sturdy lettuce leaves?! My choice of lettuce is Butter lettuce, Boston Bib or Romaine lettuce.
Marinade – This is a combination of hot sauce (Frank's or Valentina hot sauce is great), melted butter, and seasoning. Feel free to use your favorite brand of hot sauce and add an extra tablespoon of melted butter to reduce the spicy flavor, if you prefer.
Breadcrumbs – Use Panko breadcrumbs or homemade breadcrumbs. You can also opt for gluten-free breadcrumbs, if needed.
Salad ingredients – Carrots, red onion, and celery add delicious crunch to these lettuce wraps. Bell peppers would also be a lovely addition to these chicken lettuce wraps.
Salad dressing – These Buffalo chicken lettuce wraps are delicious with a drizzle of blue cheese or ranch dressing.
Swaps
Chicken – Boneless skinless chicken thighs can be used instead. You could also use chicken cutlets or even turkey breast as a completely different choice of meat for these lettuce wraps.
Lettuce – The lettuce leaves make this recipe low-carb, but you could opt for regular flour tortilla wraps instead or load the Buffalo chicken mixture onto sandwiches.
Marinade – Use a completely different marinade to change up the flavor of these chicken lettuce wraps, such as a sweet and spicy BBQ marinade. You can also easily increase or decrease the spicy kick in this recipe by adjusting the hot sauce or by including cayenne pepper into the seasoning of the chicken.
🥣 EQUIPMENT
You will need mixing bowls, a sharp kitchen knife and cutting board to prepare the chicken and salad ingredients, a baking tray, plastic wrap, and parchment paper.
🔪 HOW TO MAKE
These Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps only take 15 minutes to prepare. The combination of lean crispy chicken pieces with fresh salad ingredients make it a healthy option for lunch or dinner. Here are my step-by-step instructions for making irresistible low-carb Buffalo chicken lettuce wraps that everyone will love.
Preparations
Preheat the oven and cut the salad ingredients and chicken breast.
Cooking Instructions
Step 1
Melt the butter and add it to a mixing bowl together with the hot sauce and seasoning. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Step 2
Once marinated, coat each piece of chicken in breadcrumbs and transfer to a plate. Repeat this until all the chicken pieces are coated.
Step 3
Add the coated chicken pieces to a parchment-lined baking tray, making sure that the tray is not overcrowded.
Step 4
Bake the chicken pieces at 375 degrees F for 30 minutes. Remove the chicken from the oven and allow the pieces to cool for a few minutes.
Step 5
Add the chicken to another bowl and toss in extra hot sauce to coat. This is an optional step which you can skip if you prefer to.
Step 6
Start to assemble your Buffalo chicken lettuce wraps by adding the cut veggies, crispy chicken pieces, crumbled blue cheese, and drizzle of salad dressing on top.
💭 COOKING TIPS
Don't overcrowd the pieces of chicken on the baking tray. The chicken will only get crispy if there is enough space for the heat to penetrate all sides.
You can opt to cook your pieces of chicken in an air fryer to speed up the cooking time and to get extra crispy pieces of chicken. You will likely need to cook the chicken in batches to prevent overcrowding in the air fryer basket.
Try to cut the chicken into uniform sizes so that it cooks evenly and at the same rate.
🥗 WHAT TO SERVE WITH BUFFALO CHICKEN WRAPS
SALAD DRESSING
I love to drizzle blue cheese dressing or ranch dressing over my Buffalo chicken lettuce wraps. Store-bought or homemade dressings are great.
SIDE DISHES
These Buffalo chicken lettuce wraps can be paired with Air Fryer Sweet Potato Wedges, Summer Couscous Salad, or even garlic bread if you aren't worried about the added carbs.
🙋 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Insert a meat thermometer into the thickest section of the chicken. It should register an internal temperature of 165F for the chicken to be safe to eat.
Absolutely! Serving these chicken wraps on crispy lettuce leaves significantly reduces the total carbs in each serving, which is great for anyone following a low-carb diet. These chicken wraps are also loaded with healthy veggies and lean chicken breast.
This depends on the brand of hot sauce you use as well as how much you add. I enjoy my food with a slight kick of heat. You can reduce the spicy heat by adding another tablespoon of melted butter to the marinade and by skipping step 5 of this recipe.
🧊 STORING AND ♨️ REHEATING
FRIDGE
Store leftover Buffalo chicken in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Any leftover salad ingredients should be stored in a separate container in the fridge and used within a day or two at most.
FREEZER
Store leftover Buffalo chicken in an airtight container or Ziploc bag in the freezer for 2-3 months. Thaw in the fridge and reheat to regain some crispy texture.
REHEAT
You can reheat any leftover chicken pieces in the oven or in the air fryer at 35 degrees F as a great way to regain some of that delicious crispy texture.
🍳 OTHER BUFFALO-FLAVORED DISHES
👪 SERVING SIZE
This recipe makes 7 Buffalo chicken lettuce wraps. You can easily halve or double this recipe to suit your specific needs. Make sure that you bake the chicken in batches to avoid overcrowding the tray if you choose to double this recipe.
Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-star 🌟 rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page.
Be sure to check out my FREE Meal Planner and Kitchen Organizer!
📋 RECIPE
Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Ingredients
- 1 cup breadcrumbs or panko breadcrumbs more texture and crispiness
- 1 tablespoon olive oil or vegetable oil
- 1 large boneless skinless chicken breast cut into bite size pieces 1-2 inches thick
- Salt to taste
- Black pepper to taste
- 2 garlic cloves minced (1 tablespoon)
- ⅓ cup hot sauce such as Frank's or Valentina
- 2-3 tablespoon butter melted (use 3 for not so spicy)
- 1 large head Butter lettuce boston bib or romaine lettuce
- 1 large carrot cut into matchsticks
- 1 large red onion finely diced
- Blue cheese or ranch dressing for serving
- Blue cheese crumbles for serving optional
- Celery stalks for serving
Instructions
- In a large bowl combine hot sauce, butter, salt and black pepper. Add chicken and toss to coat. (You can make a little extra sauce and keep it separately for later to drizzle over chicken once baked).
- Cover with plastic wrap and let marinate in the fridge for 30 min.
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Dip each chicken piece into breadcrumbs. Arrange the chicken on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper or foil keeping them apart from one another. Bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and let cool for a couple minutes. Here you can toss the chicken in more hot sauce mixture (that’s what i did)
- Meanwhile assemble the wraps by combining carrots, red onion, bell peppers on top of lettuce. Add chicken pieces, drizzle with ranch dressing or blue cheese sauce and serve.
- Flavor and texture: chicken pieces are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Tossed in more hot sauce after baking adds more heat and the texture will change slightly.
Notes
Reheat in air fryer or oven at about 350 F until crisp again. Try to cut chicken into uniform bite size pieces for even baking. Smaller pieces will cook faster and will be dry. Boneless skinless Chicken thighs are a great alternative for chicken breast and tend to be more flavorful and bake even more soft inside. I baked mine for 30 minutes but I recommend checking on your chicken at about 20-25 minute mark. Test with a kitchen thermometer if not sure. (165 F is cooked through according to USDA)
