This is a really easy, low-carb dinner that everyone’s sure to love! It reminds me of those lettuce wraps you can get at PF Chang’s that people are so crazy about. They’re also really filling – much more so than they look. Next time I make these, I want to try ground chicken or ground pork. This recipe may call for a few ingredients that you might not have in the cupboard, but it’s worth buying them so you can cook all different kinds of Asian cuisine! Recipe after the jump.
All of your ingredients.
Wash your lettuce leaves and place on paper towels to dry a bit. Put in the fridge when they’re dry so they’re cold and crunchy when served.
Brown your ground beef in a large skillet or pan.
Chop up your onion, drain the meat, set aside, and cook the onion in the same pan as the meat.
Chop your green onions and set aside.
Then mince your ginger.
Add your garlic, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, ginger, vinegar and chile pepper sauce (if you’re using it) to the onions and stir.
Chop up your water chestnuts.
And add them to the sauce mixture.
Add your green onions, then your meat and stir.
I cooked rice to go along with this as well.
Eat up!
- 16 Boston Bibb or butter lettuce leaves
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- ¼ cup hoisin sauce
- 2 teaspoons minced pickled ginger (I just used fresh ginger and I bet you could even use a teaspoon of ground ginger)
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- Asian chile pepper sauce (optional – I didn’t use it)
- 1 8-ounce can water chestnuts, drained and finely chopped
- 1 bunch green onions, chopped
- 2 teaspoons Asian sesame oil
- Rinse whole lettuce leaves and pat dry, being careful not tear them. Set aside.
- In a medium skillet over high heat, brown the ground beef in 1 tablespoon of oil, stirring often and reducing the heat to medium, if necessary. Drain, and set aside to cool. Cook the onion in the same pan, stirring frequently. Add the garlic, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, ginger, vinegar, and chile pepper sauce to the onions, and stir. Stir in chopped water chestnuts, green onions, and sesame oil, and continue cooking until the onions just begin to wilt, about 2 minutes.
- Arrange lettuce leaves around the outer edge of a large serving platter, and pile meat mixture in the center. To serve, allow each person to spoon a portion of the meat into a lettuce leaf. Wrap the lettuce around the meat like a burrito, and enjoy!
Oh great – now I’m hungry for these again! Glad you enjoyed them
Beautiful photographs!
Yummy!
I love lettuce wraps and the versatility of them.
Lettuce wraps are a fav at out house!!! I’m going to try this version next time. I love all your photos. If I had the patience, I’d try to take more pictures.
I’ve made several of the recipes listed on your site and thus far, they’ve been fantastic. These look delicious, too, and I think might make it on the menu for next week. Thanks for having such a great food/recipe blog, it’s awesome! Keep up the good work!
two things -
this looks delicious…i can’t wait to try and make it
and
i absolutely love your blog…everything entry is something simple yet yummy.
Lettuce wrap is so one of my favourite things – and you’re right, they’re so filling. Love the pictorial – so good.
Looks great, definitely a keeper!
Kory and his mother loved this recipe. It’s definitely on the “must make again” list.
So here’s the deal– I love your blog, and I LOVE making and baking things from your blog. I’ve made a lot of your baked goods for my husband and then to take to church and other events. However, two weeks ago, tragedy struck– due to a crazy medical condition I have been diagnosed with, I can no longer eat ANY CARBS!!! AHHH!!! I can’t have fruit or beans or starchy veggies, let alone actual grains! Ugh, this is going to be a rough holiday season!! Anyway, I’m going to make these lettuce wraps this week, and I’m going to attempt the meatballs sans breadcrumbs, too. We’ll see how that one works out. Hopefully the egg will do an astounding job of holding everything together. Anyway, if you have any ideas whatsoever on things that are basically meat, dairy and green vegetables, that’d be awesome. Thanks for giving me lovely pictures to dream about during this tough time.
hey bb! i was at the grocery store and they had butter lettuce (never noticed it before) so i grab it and whipped up these little babies tonight. i had to make a few changes because i didn’t have all the stuff (like ginger) so they turned out more greekish than asian, and i topped them with a yummy tzeiki sauce (ugh, i don’t know how you spell that, you know, the sour cream and dill stuff) that i made. my husband looooooved them. they were messy and fun and we’ll definitely have them again. thanks for the recipe
1 question: how do you afford all this food???? i find grocery shopping to be so expensive so i tend to stick to my 5 basic rotating recipes that involve a lot of pasta and veggies. i’d love to try more recipes and more exotic stuff but i also want to keep the bills down. any tips on grocery shopping/stretching groceries, etc, would be so helpful!
Tara – I will definitely try to think of something for ya! I hope you’re okay!
Amie – Great question! What I do is buy one or two new spices/ingredients each time I go to the store. It took me a while (about 6 months) to have the spice cupboard that I have now, but it’s definitely worth it because I can make almost anything now. I plan all of my meals in advance and buy enough food for about a week/week and a half, and between my brother, boyfriend, and I, we spend, on average, $150-$180 per grocery trip (this also includes things like paper towels, toilet paper, etc. that I buy when we run out). So for $50-$60 a person, we can each eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner for 7-10 days. I think that’s pretty good! I spend about two hours on each grocery trip (thankfully I have a Target, Fresh and Easy – which is like Trader Joe’s but cheaper – and a regular grocery store – Safeway – all within 5 minutes of each other) and really scrutinize the prices of each item I’m buying. If something I planned to buy is too expensive, I try to find something that I can replace it with. It just takes some practice! If meat is cheap, I buy more than I normally would and freeze it. You just have to figure out what goes bad, what you have to freeze, refrigerate, etc.
Easy and delicious! I added Cilantro and minced carrots and it is as good as Hon’s Kitchen back home.
Another winner in our family! The leftovers were great for my husband’s lunch, too!
Rebecca: I’m glad to hear that they worked well as leftovers!
I absolutely love this recipe! It has become a staple in my home. Thank you for the thorough tutorial.
I’m glad you liked it!