Korean Sizzling Beef Lettuce Wraps
These popped up on my menu recently, and more than one of you asked for the recipe.
I have very few photos (apologies), but I wanted to get the recipe up here for you without waiting until the next time I make it.
I can always add more photos later. 😉
As I said in my menu plan post, these are Korean in the same way that Taco Bell is Mexican, so don't take the recipe title too seriously. These wraps are very, very loosely inspired by Korean flavors.
The recipe is from the most recent Cook's Country magazine (June/July 2018). If you haven't subscribed yet, give it a try!
I almost always find at least one good I'll-make-this-again main dish recipe in each issue, which makes my subscription price feel totally worth it to me.
Because holy-moly, it feels really hard to find healthy-ish, not too complicated, not too expensive main dish, popular with the whole family dinner recipes. So anytime I find one, it feels like I discovered gold.
Anyway! These are easy, tasty, fairly healthy, and I believe they're gluten-free as long as your soy sauce is wheat-free.
One more thing: the Sriracha mayo sauce is super delicious.
But if you are feeding heat-averse people, you can do what I did and make some yum-yum sauce for them.
Korean Sizzling Beef Lettuce Wraps
Printable Korean Beef Lettuce Wraps
1 English cucumber, halved and sliced thin
¼ cup seasoned rice vinegar
¼ cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons Sriracha sauce
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1.5 pounds 85% lean ground beef
1 head Bibb lettuce, leaves separated
Place cucumber in a bowl and stir in vinegar; set aside.
In a separate bowl, combine mayonnaise and Sriracha; set aside.
In a third bowl, mix soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, and oil.
In a large skillet, brown the ground beef over high heat until it starts to cook in its own fat (8-10 mins). Add soy sauce mixture to skillet; cook and stir for a minute or two.
Fill lettuce leaves with beef mixture; top with cucumbers and Sriracha sauce.
Yummy! I'm still on a korean diet to lose some lbs but I can still make this...subtract the mayo 🙂
I see what you mean by vaguely Korean inspired. Nonetheless it looks quick and tasty, a win in my book. Thanks.
That is exactly how I feel about it. If it's easy and fairly healthy and my family all likes it, who the heck cares if it's authentic?
Not me!
Same here as long as it's delicious and healthy
Wow that looks super delish and healthy! I've never had Siracha and mayo before. I'm not sure why but the chili doesn't sit well in my stomach for some reason >_<
I might try to make this dish this weekend 😀
You might want yum yum sauce instead, then!
I am one of your fans who asked for the recipe, so, thanks! That was fast!
As far as finding recipes, I've been cooking for years, and I think many others here have, too! I don't really have much trouble coming up with ideas and I have lots of cookbooks. My library has hundreds more.
It would be too disorganized and confusing if we all sent you our recipes and ideas, but can you think of a manageable way we could do this?
( I'm saying this because for some it seems to be a challenge to decide what to make or how to cook something.)
Haha, yes, that would be overwhelming! The thing is, I know there are lots of recipes out there, but I think that I'm kind of a picky eater in a sense. I've tried signing up for premade menu plans, for example, and I find myself not wanting to make a lot of the recipes that they send me!
I'm kind of picky, too. Luckily my husband is not- there are just a few things he doesn't like! I guess because we each have our own "pickiness" it's harder to share our ideas, but that is sort of why this blog (WIS; WWA) helps- I take an old calendar and jot down ideas for dinners, look at our schedules, and fill in the blanks. Many times I have to make changes, but at least I have a plan and a backup plan! I get ideas from you and your readers' comments, from friends, from magazines and TV, from what's ripe in my garden, and of course my cookbook library. At the end of the year, I have a full year of ideas that I can look at for next year, and so on.
Girl, we make a similar Asian beef lettuce wrap and these little guys are SO good!
I make a spicy Sriracha sauce out of homemade yogurt; I hate mayo. We also like to put mung bean noodles on the wraps. I do a "quick pickle" by putting sliced cucumber in red wine vinegar with salt. Sooooo good.
Yes to this quote!
"Because holy-moly, it feels really hard to find healthy-ish, not too complicated, not too expensive main dish, popular with the whole family dinner recipes. So anytime I find one, it feels like I discovered gold."
This recipe does look tasty, although I confess my starch-loving family would need a little something more to fill us up. I'm getting a smile out of your "Korean inspired" description. I have a recipe from a cookbook I checked out of the library which the author describes as "Thai inspired" and goes on to say "authentic Thai food this is not". She describes it as quick, easy, and tasty, and it is! I want to prepare good food for my family without breaking the bank or living my life in the kitchen, and it can be challenging to find recipes.
I'll double the yes on that quote!
I feel like that's a huge reason I stick to simple and boring.
Yes, we often have pot-stickers or something like that when we eat lettuce wraps. Costco has some really great ones in their freezer section.
Trader Joe’s has pa Jeon or Korean pancakes - vegetable pancakes- usually in their breakfast section that we make with these. In Korea, rice would also be added to the lettuce and beef.
This recipe looks great - I'm going to try making it into Korean tacos! One, for carbs, and two, because I know lettuce wraps won't fly with the hubs.
That sounds really good! My husband LOVES sriracha sauce, so he ought to go for that mayonnaise. I'm going to have to try to re-introduce fermented soy to my diet a little early in this game, simply because I love soy sauce.
Since you love heat, have you ever tried datil sauce? It's sort of a St. Augustine (FL) specialty. My husband loves it, too.
I never have even heard of it. I'll need to google.
I'm loving the amount of garlic in this recipe!
Our family would probably serve it alongside a big portion of brown rice. Brown rice is our comfort food and go to meal extender/filler.
Looks good but as a blueberry farmer I have to say that dish on the cover looks wonderful!
It does, doesn't it? Yummier than beef lettuce wraps. Ha.
Nope! Not yummier...just a good dessert for after you eat the lettuce wraps.
These look great. Thank you for the recipe. A quick tip too, is to sub iceberg lettuce for the Bibb lettuce. I used to always search out Bibb, but was unhappy with the price and the large plastic box it always came in. I saw recently someone recommended that iceberg works just as well for lettuce wraps.
Or large spinach leaves.
I like Egg Roll in a Bowl from Trim Healthy Mama. Would help you use up more of that delicious toasted seseame oil. Just Google for the recipe. It's all over the net.
These look so delicious! I like that they don't have many ingredients and steps.
Thank you Kristen 🙂
So just to clarify, you don't drain the beef before adding the sauce?? Thanks
I haven't found that to be necessary with the ground beef I use (it's from a local farm and isn't super duper greasy). But if your browned beef is swimming in grease, you might want to drain it.
I made this on a Friday night when we needed a quick dinner option to save us from ordering out after seeing you reference them again recently . They were great!
These are so delicious! They were met with rave reviews by the whole family. They’re definitely going in the rotation! Thank you for sharing.
So glad you guys liked them!
These beef lettuce wraps look like they would make a yummy weeknight meal without a lot of fuss. I definitely have to try these on one of my carb-free nights!
My quick meal for energy before gardening.....can of sardines in mustard sauce....cut up Indian flat bread in to pieces size of crackers. Spread cream cheese on each. Add sardine chunk and slice of white onion. Have applesauce as a side.