Lettuce

Lactuca sativa

Lettuce is a leafy vegetable. Its leaves can be eaten raw or boiled, simmered, grilled, or stir-fried, and paired with vinegar.

Plant-based
Gluten-free
No listed allergens

About the plain ingredient, not packaged products; general information, not medical advice. Details

Category: Vegetables
Part used: Leaf
Family: Asteraceae
Cooked most in: The Americas, Asia, Europe
Top country: United States
Dishes: 11 in the catalogue
Energy: 17 kcal per 100 g

Photo: Rainer Zenz · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

In the kitchen

How to use lettuce

Typical ways to cook or use it

Boil simmer
Grill
Raw
Stir fry

Goes well with

vinegar

Nutrition

What 100 g of lettuce holds

Per 100 g, raw. Averages from USDA; real values vary by variety, season and growing conditions.

Protein 18%Fat 2%Carbohydrate 80%of the macronutrients by weight

Nutrition per 100 g of lettuce, raw
Energy	17 kcal · 58 kJ
Protein	0.74 g
Fat	0.07 g
of which saturated	0.02 g
Carbohydrate	3.4 g
of which sugars	2 g
Fibre	1.2 g
Sodium	16 mg
Cholesterol	0 mg

Nutrition per 100 g of lettuce, raw: minerals and vitamins
Potassium	139 mg
Calcium	14 mg
Iron	0.03 mg
Magnesium	6.3 mg
Zinc	0.17 mg
Vitamin C	2.8 mg
Vitamin A (RAE)	25 µg
Folate	29 µg

Source: USDA FoodData Central (foods 169248, 2346388), public domain. Minerals and vitamins are listed only where USDA measured a non-zero amount.

Around the world

Where lettuce is cooked

11 dishes in the catalogue use lettuce. Here is where they come from.

Dishes by continent

Countries whose dishes use it most

Counts are catalogued dishes from each country that list lettuce among their ingredients.

Origins

The 1400s · Europe and Americas
Columbus brought lettuce from Europe to the Americas in the late 15th century.

On the table

Dishes made with lettuce

10 of the 11 catalogued dishes that use it, spread across the countries they come from.

Thiebou Yapp
Senegal
Selat Solo
Indonesia
Hamburger
Germany, United States
Mesclun
France
Amtrak Natural Angus Burger
United States
Enchilada potosina
Mexico
Gỏi cuốn
Vietnam
Alligator po' boy
United States
Big Mac Bao
Green chile cheeseburger

Dish lists come from Wikidata; a dish counts when its recorded ingredients include lettuce.

Good to know

Diet and allergens: lettuce in detail

These notes describe the plain ingredient. Packaged and prepared products vary, so read the label; for allergies and medical diets ask a doctor or dietitian.

Allergens: None of the 15 listed allergens foundChecked and not found: soy, eggs, fish, milk, lupin, wheat, celery, sesame, mustard, peanuts, molluscs, sulphites, tree nuts, crustaceans, gluten cereals.
Animal origin: No animal ingredients foundChecked and not found: egg, fish, meat, dairy, honey, insect, gelatin, poultry, bone char, shellfish, other animal, animal fining, animal rennet.
Gluten: None
Alcohol: None
Caffeine: None
Pork: None

Family

Related forms

Kinds: romaine lettuce
Varieties: romaine lettuce

Around the world

What lettuce is called

Names in 28 languages, from Wikidata.

Spanish
Lechuga
French
laitue
Italian
lattuga
Portuguese
alface
German
Salat
Dutch
sla
Russian
Салат
Polish
sałata
Chinese
生菜
Basque
uraza · letxuga
Belarusian (Taraskievica orthography)
салата
Bulgarian
Маруля

Show all 28 languages

Burmese
ဆလတ်ရွက်
Catalan
lletuga
Croatian
Salata
Czech
locika
Danish
Salat
Estonian
Salat
Finnish
salaatti
Hungarian
saláta
Irish
Leitís
Latvian
salātlapas · salātlapa
Lithuanian
Salota
Norwegian Nynorsk
hagesalat
Romanian
salată
Shan
ၽၵ်းၵၢတ်ႇယေႃႈ · ၽၵ်းၵၢတ်ႇသလၢပ်ႈ
Slovenian
solata
Swedish
sallat · sallad

Sources and credits

Data

GlobeCooks editorial: descriptions, kitchen notes and classification, written by GlobeCooks from checked sources
USDA FoodData Central (Foundation, SR Legacy): nutrition values (Public domain (US government work, CC0))
Wikidata: names, classification and dishes (CC0 1.0)
Wikimedia Commons: photos
Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Wikidata item: Q104666136

Photos