It’s a new day with a new way sandwiches. More nutritious and more creative, lettuce wraps can be a great substitute to reduce the calories, carbs, and sodium found in bread.
Choose sturdy vegetables for best results when holding and wrapping ingredients like creamy chicken or turkey salad. Greens options like bibb, Romaine lettuce or small gem lettuces work well. Some whole leaf lettuce will also work for wrapping or containing ingredients.
Six ways to successfully wrap lettuce.
1. Select your protein: If you don’t have cooked turkey as directed in our turkey salad wraps recipe, leftover chicken works just as well. And if you like tofu, leftovers containing this healthy protein can also work in a wrap.
Still looking for a quick protein? Open a couple of cans of tuna, drain, rinse and add to the salad ingredients.
2. Adjust your sauce: Typical salads are loaded with fat and calories from the sauce. In our recipe, we’ve reduced the fat and calories and added some nutrients, like protein and calcium, by using reduced-fat mayonnaise and nonfat Greek yogurt.
3. Includes vegetables: Our recipe calls for celery and onion, but feel free to add more. Chop up some cucumbers, red bell peppers, or carrots for crunch, flavor, and nutrition.
4. Add fruit: We’ve added dried cranberries to our recipe, but if you don’t have cranberries in your cabinet, you can use raisins, sliced strawberries, halved grapes, or chopped apples.
5. Test the texture: For the crunch, we use walnuts, but any nut or seed works well too. For extra flavor, try toasting them. Here’s a quick “toasting” trick: Simply place the nuts or seeds on a plate and microwave them, 30 seconds at a time, until evenly toasted.
6. Substitute Wraps: If you don’t have lettuce or other large leafy vegetables, consider putting the turkey salad in a hollowed-out bell pepper half.
MORE RECIPES: The Last Caesar Salad Recipe You’ll Ever Need
The secret of these wraps is the variety of textures and flavors. Our lettuce wraps can stay fresh and travel to provide a satisfying lunch at work or school. Simply place them in a container with a lid and keep them cold until serving time. And while you enjoy your lunch, you can relax knowing you’ve packed a whole host of nutrients into one meal.
turkey salad wrap recipe
Does: 4 servings (2 wraps each) / preparation time: 15 minutes / Total Time: 15 minutes
2 ½ cups cooked turkey, shredded
¼ cup reduced sugar dried cranberries
¼ cup chopped walnuts
½ cup celery, finely chopped
2 tablespoons red onion, minced
¼ cup low-fat mayonnaise
½ cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt
¼ teaspoon white pepper
8 full romaine or bibb lettuce leaves
In a medium bowl, combine turkey, cranberries, walnuts, celery, red onion, mayonnaise, Greek yogurt, and white pepper. Divide mixture among eight lettuce leaves and wrap. If you are not going to eat right away, place the wraps in a covered container and refrigerate. Use in a few hours. You can also store the salad separately until you are ready to make the wraps.
From Henry Ford LiveWell.
290 calories (41% of fat), 14 grams fat (2.5 grams he sat. fat), 10 grams carbohydrates30 grams protein200 milligrams sodium70 milligrams cholesterol24 milligrams calcium1 gram fiber. Food exchanges: ½ fruit, 4 proteins.
Bethany Thayer is a registered dietitian nutritionist at Henry Ford Health. For more recipes and health information, visit henryford.com/blog. If you have questions about today’s recipe, email [email protected].
