If you are looking for a quick, healthy, light and delicious summer meal, give my Asian Lettuce Wraps a try! My family loves eating wraps, and I enjoy making them because they are a great source of protein and veggies, but more importantly, they are also fun to eat! Who doesn’t enjoy assembling fun little wraps and being able to go back for seconds, thirds, or even fourths?
I am unashamedly raising my hand now; I LOVE guilt-free eating! Ground beef, ground turkey or ground chicken all taste delicious in this recipe. Experiment and play around to find your favourite meat and toppings. If you want to make your meal go farther, serving white rice on the side is an easy kid-pleaser!
Easy Steps To My Asian Lettuce Wraps
Rinse your lettuce. I usually use Boston bibb or butter lettuce. To clean my lettuce, I use a large bowl of fresh water and a few drops of my lemon essential oil and let it soak for 5-10 minutes and rinse. The lemon essential oil will help break down petrochemicals and is a great produce cleaner. Once your lettuce has soaked, rinse and pat dry or lay on a clean kitchen towel or paper towels to dry.
Brown your ground meat. Once cooked, remove and set it aside and then saute your onion, coloured pepper, and finally garlic.
Let’s talk sauce. A handful of Asian cuisine staple ingredients and Hoisin sauce (found in the Asian aisle of your grocery store) makes this sauce a breeze to put together.
Combine. Add the sauce to the meat mixture and stir together. And if you like heat, drizzle on some more sriracha (spicy Asian chilli sauce) just for an extra kick! I also add a can of diced up water chestnuts for a bit of crunch and fun texture.
Put it all together! Grab your lettuce and fill each leaf with a scoop of the meat mixture and sprinkle with your favourite toppings. I love mine with chopped peanuts, scallions, and grated carrot, and even some of those crunchy Asian noodle things if you have them on hand. Enjoy!
Asian Lettuce Wraps: Five Easy Steps
Ingredients
- 2 heads Boston bibb - or butter lettuce, rinsed and dried
1 pound ground beef (minced beef) - turkey, or chicken
1 tablespoon avocado oil - or other cooking oil
1 whole white onion - diced- 1 whole colored bell pepper - diced
2 cloves garlic - minced- 1 can diced water chestnuts
1 tablespoon soy sauce- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar - seasoned
- ¼ cup Hoisin sauce
- 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon sriracha - or Asian red chilli sauce, to taste- ½ teaspoon ginger powder
¼ cup peanuts - chopped
¼ cup green onions - chopped
½ cup carrot - grated
Instructions
- Rinse your lettuce and pat dry gently, or lay on a clean kitchen towel or paper towels to dry.
- In a heavy skillet, heat one tablespoon of cooking oil over medium heat, add in your ground meat and cook until browned.
- While meat is cooking, chop one onion and one coloured pepper.
- Remove meat from heat, add one more tablespoon of cooking oil, and saute veggies until slightly softened.
- Add two minced garlic cloves and cook for 30 seconds and remove from heat.
Sauce and Toppings
- Combine soy sauce, seasoned rice wine vinegar, toasted sesame oil, hoisin sauce, ground ginger, and sriracha. Stir together and pour over the meat mixture.
- Add in optional one can of chopped water chestnuts.
- Prepare your toppings- my favourites are grated carrot, chopped peanuts, and chopped green onions.
- Arrange the lettuce on a platter and allow people to serve themselves by scooping the meat mixture into the lettuce leaves and sprinkling with toppings. White rice makes a great side dish to pair with this meal. Enjoy!
