Juicy chicken, diced apples, crunchy celery, topped with tart cranberries and wrapped in buttery greenhouse grown lettuce. This curry chicken salad is an easy summer lunch that you can throw together quickly. With a simple and tasty homemade curry mayo, you’ll enjoy the blend of sweet, earthy, and creamy flavors in every bite.  

We’re at that time of year when it’s hot outside, and you don’t want to cook in fear of the house getting even hotter. However, you still want to make a nutritious, affordable, and well-balanced meal for your family. 

We get it.

Curry chicken salad lettuce wraps are sponsored by Tanimura & Antle.

Curry chicken salad lettuce wraps require minimal cooking, so your house stays cool all summer long. Make a large batch of the filling for a simple lunch in between extracurricular activities, and keep your kids full and cool for your next summer adventure. 

Let’s get started!

Lettuce Wraps vs. Bread

You know all about the afternoon slump you can feel after eating a chicken salad sandwich at work and school. Or maybe you’re gluten-free and just want another alternative. Lettuce is a great substitution for bread because it doesn’t have gluten and is low in carbs to help fight that food coma feeling after lunch. 

Leafy greens even have a specific type of sugar that helps your gut produce healthy bacteria to supply your body with nutrients and help with digestion.1 Use lettuce as a wrap for your favorite sandwich or burrito filling to make it paleo, keto, and gluten-free. It’s quick, easy, affordable, and your kids will love them too.

Must Have Ingredients

Here are a few ingredients you should add to your next shopping list to make this simple lettuce wrap recipe.

Greenhouse Grown Boston Lettuce

You may be thinking, why greenhouse grown lettuce? Tanimura & Antle use greenhouses to grow buttery Boston lettuce. And you can taste the difference in its delicate, mild flavor. Tanimura & Antle is able to produce more lettuce with less resources because they have control over the environment. That means you get a soft, easy-to-work-with (and eat) head of lettuce, while also supporting a sustainable food chain. It’s a win-win!  

Related: Tanimura & Antle Farming Heritage

Chicken 

Chicken is an affordable lean protein and a great addition to your lettuce wraps. Tender, juicy bits of chicken make your lettuce wraps a complete and filling meal. We love to make a big batch of chicken to have on hand all week. 

Dice the chicken and eat your wraps with a warm, fresh filling. Store left-over chicken in the fridge for a chilled curry chicken salad later on. Chicken is versatile and can be eaten warm or cold, as long as it’s cooked.

Apple 

It’s best to look for a sweeter apple to balance the acidic, earthy, and pungent curry mayo in your wraps. Balancing out flavors can be tricky, so a half cup of apples is just the right amount of sweetness for your lettuce wraps. 

To make smaller diced apple pieces, cut thin slices on one side of your apple. Then stack your slices on top of each other and use your knife to cut thin, vertical slivers. Cut crosswise, and you’ve got baby diced apples.

Artisan Sweet Red Onion

Tanimura & Antle prides themselves on growing red onions that are sweet and not too intense or overpowering. Their Artisan Sweet Italian Red Onions are ideal for picky eaters who aren’t a fan of traditional, raw onions. These are more subtle and may be received better. Look for onions with little to no scent and store them in a cool, dry place with good circulation. Each 2 poubd bag of red onions has 10-12 servings.

Related: How to Cut an Onion

These are just a few of the ingredients that make this summer lunch fresh and tasty. Be sure to check out the recipe card below for the full ingredient list.

How to Make Lettuce Wraps

Step 1

Stir mayonnaise, lime juice, cilantro, curry powder, and salt in a bowl. 

Add chicken, apples, celery, and onion to the same bowl and mix.

Fold in the cashews. 

Step 2

Rinse the Tanimura & Antle Greenhouse Grown Boston Lettuce and pat dry with a paper towel. Put a large spoonful of the filling onto each piece of lettuce.

Step 3

Top with dried cherries or cranberries and serve.

How to Eat Lettuce Wraps 

Depending on the age of your kids, you can serve your wraps open-faced style and let them wrap it themselves, or you may want to wrap their curry chicken salad before you serve it. 

Put a large spoonful of the chicken salad on each piece of lettuce. The easiest way to eat the lettuce wraps it is like a taco. Expect this to get messy — the filling will likely fall out on the sides. 

For an easier and cleaner option, try the burrito method. Roll your lettuce halfway lengthwise, fold in the ends, and continue rolling your wrap. Folding in the ends keeps everything inside the wrap — so no worries about any additional clean up.

There isn’t a right or wrong way to wrap your chicken salad, and it may take some practice. But you’ll get it.

Can Lettuce Wraps Be Made Ahead of Time?

Feel free to make the filling ahead of time so you can quickly mix your ingredients in a bowl and serve it with your Tanimura & Antle Greenhouse Grown Boston lettuce. However, if you assemble your lettuce wraps ahead of time, they can become soggy. Lettuce wraps usually keep for about a day. If you plan to make them for summer camp lunches or for work, it’s completely fine to make them ahead. But they taste better the fresher they are.  

Why We Love Tanimura & Antle®

Tanimura & Antle’s fresh produce is perfect for people who care about flavor, health, and the environment. They aim to serve the freshest produce year-round, and they have a portfolio filled with greenhouse grown, artisan, organic and field fresh produce. Their greenhouse grown product family uses 100% recyclable packaging and provide numerous jobs in their local community. 

For almost 100 years, they’ve been implementing cutting-edge technology learning the newest ways to combine farming and science to improve sustainability. They ensure their greenhouses host the perfect balance of nutrients, minerals, light, and temperature – and you can taste the care they put into growing their produce. 

For more information on their growing practices, check out Greenhouses and Sustainability.