Craving Cheesecake Factory Lettuce Wraps? This Copycat Recipe Nails It

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There's no denying that the Cheesecake Factory has a seemingly never-ending menu, but if you're anything like recipe developer Patterson Watkins, there's one thing you're ordering from said oversized menu at every visit: the Thai lettuce wraps. These lettuce wraps have been Watkins' go-to ever since her first visit to the beloved restaurant, and thanks to her copycat Cheesecake Factory Thai lettuce wraps recipe, you can skip the dine-in experience and make the impressive dish right in your own kitchen.

We're not going to pretend like this isn't an all-out, maximized recipe — but we can assure you that the results will be well worth your time and effort. "Everything about this dish is awesome," Watkins describes, "The trio of dips are fab, offering a variety of flavor sensations: sweet, savory, rich, zesty, vibrant, fresh ... The wrappers and fillers have an engaging variety of textures: springy, crispy, crunchy, and velvety. Everything from dips to the crisp lettuce and cabbage wraps, the chicken, the cucumber salad, and the curry noodles provide "an exciting cacophony of flavors, a total tongue experience, with this dish," Watkins says. Despite the sheer variety of ingredients, everything works in perfect harmony. 

"The acidic elements (like the cucumber salad) balance the sweet and make the vibrant components pop," she explains, whereas "the richer elements soothe and pleasantly coat the palate." The crunchy elements on top add the perfect pop of freshness. These copycat Thai chicken lettuce wraps are over-the-top, they're positively decked-out — and, dare we say, they're even better than the OG Cheesecake Factory version.

There are quite a few components to this recipe, and as such, it requires quite a few ingredients. So, before beginning, consider organizing them/measuring them out for the specific component that they'll be contributing to.

For the sweet chili sauce, you'll need rice vinegar, water, soy sauce, granulated sugar, garlic, fresh ginger, cornstarch, and sambal oelek. The next sauce up is the tamarind cashew sauce, which requires rice vinegar, honey, hoisin sauce, olive oil, tamarind paste, cumin, turmeric, garlic, fresh ginger, cilantro, scallions, and chopped cashews. Rounding out our trio of sauces is peanut sauce, for which you'll need peanut butter, some of the sweet chili sauce that you'll have already made, soy sauce, lime juice, water, and sesame oil. 

Now, onto the wrap fillings. For the coconut curry chicken, you'll need yellow curry paste, honey, lime juice, coconut milk, olive oil, garlic, ginger, salt, and raw chicken tenders. The cucumber salad calls for hot water, granulated sugar, rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, sliced cucumber, and sliced red onion. For the curry noodles, you'll need yellow curry paste, unsweetened coconut milk, sesame oil, salt, and cooked ramen noodles. 

Once you have all of the sauce and filling components ready to go, all that's left to do is assemble. For wrap assembly, you'll need bibb lettuce leaves, red cabbage wedges, julienned carrots, bean sprouts, fresh cilantro, white and black sesame seeds, and chopped peanuts.

To make the sweet chili sauce, place the vinegar, ¾ cup water, soy sauce, sugar, garlic, and ginger in a small saucepan, whisk to combine, and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Combine 1 ½ tablespoons of water with the cornstarch, stir to combine the slurry.

Add the slurry and sambal to the saucepan, whisk to combine, and continue to simmer for 5 minutes or until thickened. Remove from the sauce from the heat and set it aside to cool.

To make the tamarind cashew sauce, place the vinegar, honey, hoisin, olive oil, tamarind paste, cumin, turmeric, garlic, and ginger in a small skillet or saucepan and whisk to combine.

Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat and cook, whisking frequently, for 3 minutes.

Transfer the sauce to a food processor and add the cilantro and scallions. Pulse until combined.

Transfer the sauce to a sealable container, add the chopped cashews, stir to combine, and refrigerate until ready to serve.

To make the peanut sauce, place the peanut butter, cooled sweet chili sauce (¼ cup), soy sauce, lime juice, water, and sesame oil in a medium bowl, whisk to combine. (Refrigerate the peanut sauce and sweet chili sauce until ready to serve.)

To make the chicken marinade, place the curry paste, honey, lime juice, coconut milk, olive oil, garlic, ginger, and salt in a medium bowl, whisk to combine the marinade.

Place the chicken in a zipper bag, add the marinade, and coat. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour (up to overnight).

To make the cucumber salad, place hot water and sugar in a medium bowl, whisk until the sugar is mostly dissolved.

Add the vinegar, soy sauce, and sesame oil to the bowl, whisk to combine.

Add the cucumbers and red onion to the bowl, stir to combine, cover, and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Once the chicken has marinated, preheat a grill or grill pan to medium-high heat.

Once hot, add the chicken, and grill for 10 minutes, flipping the tenders halfway through.

Remove the chicken from the grill and set it aside to rest.

To make the curry noodles, place the curry paste, coconut milk, sesame oil, and salt in a large bowl, whisk to combine.

Add the cooked ramen noodles to the bowl and toss to coat.

To assemble the lettuce wrap platter, transfer the sauces into little dipping bowls, and place them in the center of a large serving platter.

Place the bibb lettuce leaves in the 12 and 6 o'clock position, Place 4 large red cabbage wedges around the edges, creating little natural bowls.

Place the carrots, bean sprouts, cucumber salad, and curry noodles in the red cabbage wedges.

Place the grilled chicken on top of the bibb lettuce leaves in the 6 o'clock position and garnish with fresh cilantro leaves.

Lastly, sprinkle the cucumber salad and noodles with sesame seeds. Sprinkle the chicken with chopped peanuts and serve.

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If you're overwhelmed by the sheer number of steps and ingredients that this recipe requires, fear not. Watkins has tips to break this recipe down into more manageable chunks, so you can prepare certain elements days in advance. "First, tackle the sauces," Watkins advises. "These tasty dips can be made a few days in advance (2 to 3 days) and refrigerated until ready to serve." She notes that you can also make the chicken marinade a few days in advance, but once you actually add the chicken, make sure it doesn't marinate any longer than overnight. 

The cucumber salad is another component that you could make earlier in the day, a few hours before you make the rest of the recipe. "Just be mindful that the cucumbers will start to get soft after a day or two in the acidic mix — a few hours, and they'll be perfect," Watkins says. The chicken would also fare well once it has been cooked, and you can transfer it to the fridge overnight before serving it the next day (it tastes great hot or cold with the wraps). If there's one component that you should prepare fresh, however, it's the curry noodles. Prepare those too early, and they'll get mushy, so that's one easy step to save for when you're ready to serve the wraps. 

Most of the ingredients in this Thai chicken lettuce wrap recipe are fairly easy to source at just about any grocery store. In case your local store is a bit limited in its Asian ingredients section, then you may not be able to find tamarind paste or yellow curry paste. If so, you'll have much better luck finding these ingredients at an Asian grocery store, and Southeast Asian grocery stores in particular will almost absolutely have them (they'll be with other shelf-stable sauce ingredients). 

If a trip to the grocery store simply isn't in the cards, then Watkins notes that she simply ordered her tamarind paste online, so you could follow suit. As for the yellow curry paste, that's an ingredient more likely to be found at most grocery stores, and it is one worth stocking up on. "Yellow curry paste is awesome with its tasty combination of turmeric, lemongrass, garlic, shallots, chilies, and sweet and savory spices," Watkins says, so if you do end up with a mini tub of it, you will find plenty of ways to use it up.

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