Stir Fried Lettuce is a quick and easy vegetable side dish that you can make in under 10 minutes. All you need is romaine lettuce, garlic, and fish sauce. Super simple and packed with flavor. Great with rice or noodles!
Why This Recipe Works
Whenever someone in the family goes to Costco (fyi: make sure to check out Costco Hawaii), we often end up with a giant 6-pack of romaine lettuce. It's purchased with the best of intentions. We'll definitely finish it all! We can make salads everyday!
The first two heads of romaine lettuce goes by quick and everyone is happy and excited. But then everyone gets tired of lettuce by the third head. Fast forward a week later we are left with two to three about-to-wilt heads of romaine lettuce that everyone pretends to not see in the refrigerator.
But we also don't want to waste the lettuce. So what to do? Make stir fried lettuce! Many people don't know that you can stir fry lettuce. It's delicious. I actually prefer cooked lettuce over raw lettuce. It's hot, fresh, and crunchy. And most importantly, good with rice!
We pair the lettuce with garlic and fish sauce to make it super flavorful. You can use anchovies in place of fish sauce if you prefer. The whole dish comes together in under 10 minutes and is easy to put together.
Bonus part is that the flavors feel quite complex! Garlic and fish sauce is a very popular ingredient combo that we use for other vegetables like ong choy and my most favorite eggplant dish in the world.
This makes a great vegetable side dish, or just eat it with a big bowl of rice for a simple lunch.
Stir Fried Lettuce
We always use romaine lettuce for this recipe, but you can also make it with iceberg lettuce. I wouldn't do it with butter lettuce or any of the "softer" types of lettuce.
The idea of stir frying lettuce might sound unusual, but it's actually pretty popular in Chinese cooking. I didn't grow up eating too many salads, so my natural inclination is to always cook a vegetable ^_^
Ingredients
Here's what you'll need to get started:
- Romaine lettuce
- Garlic, minced
- Fish sauce (nuoc nam)
Step by Step Directions
Let's get cooking!
Prepare lettuce.
Wash, dry, and chop the lettuce into 2-inch pieces.
Brown garlic.
In a large pan over medium-high heat, add a little oil and the minced garlic. Saute for 2 minutes until garlic is just starting to turn golden.
Tip: We use one head of garlic for every two heads of romaine lettuce. It's quite a bit of garlic, so I hope you love garlic as much as we do. For super garlic lovers, you can add even more garlic.
Stir fry lettuce.
Add all the lettuce to the pan. Turn the heat to high. Let the lettuce sit for 1 minute in the pan (to get some color on the bottom). Then stir fry for 30 seconds until the leaves start to wilt but are still crunchy.
Add fish sauce.
Add the fish sauce to the pan, stir fry for 1 minute.
Tip: This dish comes together very quickly! You don't want to overcook the lettuce or else it will get soggy. You want it *just* cooked, only slightly wilted and still crunchy.
Enjoy!
Slide onto a plate. Eat hot and enjoy ^_^
FAQs and Tips
Best to eat this dish hot, as soon as you're done cooking it! Leftovers will keep in the fridge 2-3 days, you can just warm it up in the microwave. But definitely try your best to eat it hot and fresh.
We always keep a giant bottle of fish sauce at home because we use it in many recipes. But if you don't have fish sauce, you can substitute 2-3 anchovy fillets (just for this recipe only). Add the anchovies the same time you add the garlic and saute it together.
P.S. Here are a few other recipes using fish sauce, it's worth buying a bottle because you will use it up for sure:
- Garlic and Fish Sauce Ong Choy
- Garlic and Fish Sauce Eggplant
- Thit Kho (Vietnamese Braised Pork and Eggs)
- Pancit Bihon
- Steamed Pork With Salted Fish
- Cha Trung (Vietnamese Egg Meatloaf)
- Yang Chow Fried Rice
Oh there are many! We love it most with a big bowl of rice and another meat or fish or dumpling/wonton dish. Here are a few pairing ideas:
- Pork Hash
- Meat Jun
- Steamed Ginger Chicken
- Pork Wontons With Sesame Sauce
- Local-Style Chicken Tofu
Stir Fried Lettuce Recipe
See below and enjoy ^_^
Stir Fried Lettuce
Stir Fried Lettuce is a quick and easy vegetable side dish that you can make in under 10 minutes. All you need is romaine lettuce, garlic, and fish sauce. Super simple and packed with flavor. Great with rice or noodles!
Ingredients
- 2 heads of romaine lettuce
- 1 head of garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce (nuoc nam)
Instructions
- Wash, dry, and chop the lettuce into 2-inch pieces.
- In a large pan over medium-high heat, add a little oil and the minced garlic. Saute for 2 minutes until garlic is just starting to turn golden.
- Add all the lettuce to the pan. Turn the heat to high. Let the lettuce sit for 1 minute in the pan (to get some color on the bottom).
- Stir fry for 30 seconds until the leaves start to wilt but are still crunchy.
- Add the fish sauce to the pan, stir fry for 1 more minute. Slide onto a plate. Eat hot and enjoy!
Notes
Tip: If you don't have fish sauce (nuoc nam), you can substitute a few anchovy fillets. Add the anchovies the same time you add the garlic and saute together.