Ground Beef Lettuce Wraps

With summer upon us and warmer weather yet to come I love having easy stove top meals to make. They don’t heat up the house like cooking in the oven does.

I also love eating fresh vegetables this time of the year straight out of our garden.

This recipe is really easy to make. You can use any kind of ground meat or even chopped cooked meat you like. So if you have some leftover roast beef from a crock pot roast or some leftover chicken, chop it up and use it instead of the ground beef.

This recipe calls for fish sauce. I want to warn you if you have never used it before, it has quite the odor. Don’t worry it will taste great in the dish so don’t let the smell scare you away. 🙂 You can find it with the other asian food items in the grocery store.

Another plus of this recipe is, it doesn’t take too many ingredients. It’s even popular with my picky eater. Your mileage may vary on how well your picky eater eats this meal. 🙂

For the lettuce wraps I usually use iceberg lettuce but really any head lettuce will work. Even romaine if that is what you have on hand. With romaine lettuce they will be more ground beef lettuce boats instead of wraps but they will still be delicious.

Making this recipe is quick. Just brown the meat add in the sauce and simmer for a bit. I sometimes will add in a can of chopped water chestnuts for added crunch.

It never hurts to sneak in a few extra vegetables and it will stretch the meat. If you like using TVP you can rehydrate it and add it in after the meat is browned but before the sauce is added.

I like to garnish our lettuce wraps with carrot strips. You can make them by using a vegetable peeler to cut the carrots into nice thin strips. This is a great job for a child who wants to help in the kitchen.

We also like to add a little hoisin sauce to the top of our wraps before eating them. It adds a little sweet tang to an already delicious bite. You can find it with the fish sauce at the supermarket.

Ground Beef Lettuce Wraps

Shelly

5 from 1 vote

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Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 30 minutes mins

Course Main Dish

Cuisine Japanese

Ingredients

  

• 1 pound Ground Beef or Turkey
• 1-2 heads of Lettuce separated into leaves Iceberg, Romaine or Bib work well
• 1/4 cup Soy Sauce
• 2 tablespoons Water
• 4 teaspoons Fish Sauce
• 4 teaspoons Sugar I like to use brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons Ginger Root grated
• 2 Garlic Cloves grated
• 1 tablespoon of Oil
• 1 small Onion chopped
• 1 Carrot cut into strips with a vegetable peeler

Instructions

 

• In a small bowl, mix the soy sauce, fish sauce, water and sugar. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Set aside.
• In a skillet add the oil and heat over medium high heat. Add the onion, garlic, and ginger to the hot pan and give a stir. Then add the ground beef and cook until no longer pink. Breaking up the meat as it cooks.
• Add half of the sauce to the cooked ground beef and simmer for another minute or two.
• Use a vegetable peeler to makes strips of carrot for garnish.
• Serve the ground beef mixture in the lettuce leaves. Garnish with extra sauce and carrot strips.

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What’s a favorite meal you like to prepare when the weather gets warm? If you have a link to the recipe please share it in the comments below.

Looking for more recipes? Use this link to browse all of my recipes. Or if you are looking for more ground beef recipes look below.

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