Lettuce Wraps Recipe
Here is something different to add to my collection of Chinese recipes- lettuce wraps. I always hear people raving about P.F. Chang’s lettuce wraps and I figured I would try my own version. The result was a delicious appetizer that I couldn’t stop eating. Some might be wondering, what are lettuce wraps? Lettuce wraps are lettuce leaves filled with a meat mixture that are folded and eaten like a burrito. The lettuce gives a nice crunch and the filling is just delicious with all the Asian flavors. The filling gets its flavor from ingredients such as soy sauce, garlic, sesame oil, and hoisin sauce. I used butter lettuce but you could use other types of lettuce as well. There is a little prep work required but this dish only takes about 30 minutes to prepare. Enjoy.
Ingredients:
16 butter lettuce leaves (rinsed and pat dried)
1lb ground beef
1 tablespoon oil (for frying)
1 large onion (chopped)
2 garlic cloves (minced)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
¼ cup hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
Asian chili pepper sauce (optional, to taste)
1 (8 ounce) can water chestnuts (drained and chopped)
1 bunch green onions (chopped)
2 tablespoons dark sesame oil
Cooking Instructions:
Step 1: Heat a medium skillet to high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of oil. Add ground beef. Break beef up into very small pieces with a metal spatula and reduce heat to medium. Cook until beef is fully cooked. Drain, remove from pan and allow beef to cool.
Step 2: In the same pan add onions and stir fry for 1 minute. Add garlic, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, vinegar and chili pepper sauce to the onions. Stir to mix well. Stir in water chestnuts, green onions and sesame oil. Continue cooking for about 2 minutes. Add sauce mixture to ground beef and mix well in a bowl.
Step 3: Pile the meat mixture into the center of each lettuce leaf. Wrap the lettuce around the meat like a burrito.
(Makes 4 Servings)
Totally love ALL of your Chinese recipes and more! I will be making these for gatherings and a few just for ME. I must say that your photos are quite beautiful and brings us closer to the meal itself. Thank you for step-by-step illustration. Hopefully you’ll compose all of these a book ( or by subject, like Chinese, etc.) so that we could have our very own. Trust me, it’ll be worth paying for. Blessings to you!
I loved this recipe! Great for when you don’t know what else to do with ground beef, and at this point, I’m sick of hamburgers! I also tried wrapping them in a tortilla, too, and they were really good! Thank God for this site– I’ve been able to come up with lots of variety for dinner without stressing too much! Thanks so much!
Found your site searching lettuce wraps. Looks yummy! Thanks for sharing.
I just had PF Chang’s lettuce wraps last night and, although an avid guest on your site, have never seen this recipe posted here before. I’m really excited to try these out this week!
Would ground chicken work well in place of ground beef? I’ve never used ground chicken before and am a little nervous to try it
I had these for dinner tonight. I enjoy Asian food but was not particularly impressed with this recipe. I followed it exactly as written. Sorry, Bobby.