Wrap Filling Ideas & Tips for Healthy Wraps
Wraps can be a great way to use last night’s leftovers for lunch or a quick dinner. Check out these 11 filling recipes and more wrap filling ideas for inspiration.
In my quest to be a better steward of food and money, I have discovered wraps as a great way to repackage leftovers. In truth, you could easily ‘repackage’ the leftovers between two pieces of bread, but sometimes I find wraps a better option for us because:
- You taste less of the bread and more of the flavoring inside.
- Depending on the filling, a wrap will contain it where it would just escape from between two slices of bread.
- Related to the previous point, wraps may be a better option for ‘on-the-go’ food for travel, work lunch, and picnics.
Case in point, we love hummus, and I make it quite a bit along with this walnut topping. A hummus sandwich would just be messy, while tucking everything inside a wrap makes a great lunch or dinner option.
I know wraps get a bad ‘rap’, (I couldn’t resist), but it’s all dependent on what wrap and wrap filling you use. There was this misperception that because they are thinner, they are surely healthier. Well, that’s just not true, as we discover below.
Table of Contents
Healthy Wraps
So, I did a bit of dive into different wraps. I looked at three different wraps; Mission Spinach Wraps, Tumaro’s Multi-Grain Wraps, and Maria and Ricardo’s Whole Wheat Soft Taco Tortillas.
In a nutshell, the Tumaro’s Multi-Grain Wraps, on a per gram basis, are far healthier than the other two. The Tumaro’s only has 1.5 calories per gram, compared to 2.9 calories per gram for the Maria & Ricardo and 2.4 calories per gram for the Mission. And even though it is a smaller wrap (8″), it offers 8 grams of total fiber, compared to 5 grams of fiber in Mission’s 10″ tortilla and 6 grams of fiber in Maria & Ricardo’s 12″ tortilla. Lastly, Tumaro’s has 2.5 grams of fat, compared to 5 grams for the Mission and 7 grams for Maria & Ricardo.
The downsize of the Tumaro’s is that it is a small wrap, 8″, which means it is a little difficult to put a meal-size portion of food in it, and it makes it a little harder to wrap.
And I found this interesting; when we eat sandwiches, we use Dave’s Killer Bread because of all the added fiber in their 21 Whole Grain Bread. But one slice of the bread is the exact size (45 g) as a Mission Tortilla and has the precise amount of calories, fat, and fiber!
So, in a nutshell, all wraps are not created equal, and they are not necessarily a healthier option than bread. As in all things, read the labels.
Use Leftovers as Inspiration for Wrap Filling Ideas
- Leftover steak? Tuck some blue cheese, lettuce, tomato, and onion alongside your steak in a wrap. Or go spicy by mixing a little chipotle in adobo into some mayo or Greek yogurt. Spread that mix onto your wrap and layer some spinach, avocado, and your favorite vegetables with the steak. Go Greek by using some tzatziki as a spread with feta.
- Leftover chicken? Think about Greek chicken wrap, similar to the steak version above. Or, go, Cobb, with lettuce, tomato, avocado, bacon, and blue cheese tucked in with your chicken.
Honestly, the filling possibilities for wraps are ENDLESS…open your fridge and see what inspires you!
Toast Your Wrap!
Lightly brush oil on your wrap before or after you fill it, and lightly toast it in a large skillet.
How to Make a Healthier Wrap
- Look at the ingredient label.
- Find wraps that have the lowest carb to fiber ratio.
- Tuck lots of vegetables in your wrap! Some options are:
- Spinach
- Shredded Carrots
- Shredded Cabbage
- Tomatoes (hard to add ahead of time as they will make your wrap soggy)
- Sprouts! We particularly light broccoli sprouts as they are loaded with nutrition.
- Swap your mayo for Greek yogurt, reduced-fat mayo, or avocado mayo.
How to wrap a wrap!
- I find that a little more than 1/2 cup and a little less than 3/4 of a cup of ‘filling’ is just right for a 9.5 – 10″ diameter wrap. That doesn’t include lettuce, spinach, and other thin vegetables.
- Once you have all your ingredients on your wrap, move them slightly off-center, towards you. When you watch the GIF below, notice that before I start to wrap the filling magically moves closer to me.
- Then, fold in the sides, snugging them against the fillings.
- Snuggly close up the end closest to you.
- With your fingers, hold down the fold at the top of the wrap while you begin to roll up from the bottom.
- As you get closer to the top, use your fingers to further fold in the top half of the wrap.
- Fold as snugly as you can without breaking your wrap.
What are some of your favorite Wrap Filling Ideas? I’m always looking for suggestions!
Bookmark this page or pin the following image to return to this list of wrap filling ideas in the future.
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Such a timely post! I just bought some tortillas in the hopes of making quick and easy wraps for my kids – saving this post 🙂
Oh yay!!! So many things you can put in them. I bought all those wraps for the post and now we are eating them 24-7! I’m going to have my fill of them soon, I fear.