Asian Lettuce Wraps Recipe

Directions

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, sesame oil, and cooked beef; 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!

Reviews (1080)

911

RedRobynNAU

Nov. 19, 2007

"I wish I could give this 4.5 stars, because it's dangerously close to a 5-star recipe, but it's not quite there. I gotta tell you, this recipe is an AWESOME way to sneak in those veggie soy crumbles ..." See more(looks like ground beef, but doesn't always taste like it...except it TOTALLY works in this recipe). Definitely make the sauce as suggested by another reviewer (1 tsp sesame oil, 2 T soy, 2 T rice vinegar, 1 T chile paste)...in my opinion, the sauce makes this a 5-star recipe! I used regular fresh ginger rather than pickled, and shredded some carrots to serve on top of everything. I would have LOVED to have those nice crunchy noodle-y things, but once I heard they are fried in oil, I had to say "no thanks!" I'm definitely going to make these again (they're really easy to make, by the way) and will also pass on the recipe!"

632

MBFERGIE

Aug. 1, 2006

"Loved it! Added about 2Tbs of chili paste for spice. Next time I am going to make with ground turkey and add thinly sliced carrots and rice noodles for crunch. I made an asian dipping sauce to add ..." See moreon like at PF Changs (1tsp sesame oil, 2T soy, 2T rice vinegar, 1T chile paste, sugar and i green onion slices)"

465

RACHELLA51

Oct. 18, 2005

"I've been eating lettuce wrap at many Chinese restaurants since I was a little kid, so I have over 3 decades worth of eating this stuff. I've tried many different variations and can attest that this ..." See morerecipe is top-notch. However, instead of ground beef, most Chinese restaurants use ground pork or duck. Except for substituting ground beef for ground pork and omitting the pickled ginger (since I didn't have any in the house), I made no changes to the recipe. As a suggestion, try serving the meat over a bed of crispy rice noodles (vermicelli) as I've seen done in many restaurants. Simply heat some oil and dunk a small handful of noodles at a time...they crisp up in a couple of seconds. Not only does it make the presentation nice, it adds a nice crisp crunch to the meat mixture. Also, for extra burst of flavour, put a bit of hoisin sauce (see recipe here as well) before wrapping it up in a lettuce leaf, as one other person suggested."

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