Korean Lettuce Wraps
Korean Lettuce Wraps are so delicious and easy to make! With a few Asian ingredients, you have a perfectly healthy and delicious dinner for the family or for your special someone.
I have personally spent a lot of time in Seoul, South Korea and fell in love with their diversity of food. Since my husband was stationed there with the military for a year, I got to travel and really soak up the Korean culture. From their adorable clothing to their extremely spicy food (pretty much everything incorporates spice!), I fell in love. One of the things they are known for is Korean BBQ. Almost every restaurant has a small BBQ grill in the middle of their table, set up with a button to call for service (they don’t have customer service like they do here in the U.S., if you want something, you have to press the button and they come over!). When you get to the table, you order the meats you want, usually a pick of pork or sirloin beef. When you’re ready to eat, they serve you the raw meat with numerous small plates of different vegetables and lots of kimchi. Kimchi is a traditional Korean side dish that consists of pickled cabbage in a spicy red pepper sauce. There are about 200 different kinds, and sometimes it can be made with other vegetables like bok choy or even cucumbers. It may sound funky, but it’s absolutely delicious!
You then cook the marinated meats yourself on the small grill, wrap it up in lettuce and eat! It’s a really fun experience and something my husband and I loved to go out and have every once in a while (like all the time actually!).
This Korean Lettuce Wraps recipe is a version of the traditional one but with simpler ingredients and (in my opinion) a little easier to recreate.
With this recipe, you can modify the meats you have on hand really easily, and it would be wonderful with ground turkey too! The ingredients are a piece of cake to add more or less depending on your tolerance of spice and if you prefer it on the sweet side.
This is one of those one-pot wonders where no additional work or cooking is needed, you just throw all the ingredients in, everyone loves it AND it’s on the healthier side of life! I use Golden Barrel Light Brown Sugar for this recipe to sweeten things up and I also use their yummy Blackstrap Molasses for an extra depth of flavor. Molasses makes the sauce thick and well-rounded with all the other spices going on.
I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my family does!
- 2 tsp Sesame Oil
- 1/4 cup Golden Barrel Light Brown Sugar
- 4 tbsp Golden Barrel Blackstap Molasses
- 4 cloves Garlic minced
- 2 tsp ginger fresh
- 1 cup Onions green
- 1/3 cup Soy Sauce
- 1 lbs Sirloin ground
- 2 tsp Sriracha Sauce (can be replaced with 1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper)
- Carrots, Kimchi or any other veggies you like to go with the wraps
- 1 head Romaine or butter lettuce
- salt & pepper to taste
- Sesame Seeds (optional)
- In a large pan or dutch oven, brown the ground meat on medium high heat with a small amount of sesame oil. While the meat is browning, add the garlic and ginger and 1/2 cup green onions. Season with salt and pepper if desired.
- Once meat has browned, add the brown sugar, molasses, sriracha (or cayenne pepper), soy sauce, and sesame seeds.
- Cook sauce with meat for 5 to 10 minutes on medium high until thick.
- Add the other half of the green onions and serve immediately with some veggies on the side or even with rice (some people prefer it to lettuce, it's okay!)
- I like to serve the meat in a big bowl with the lettuce on the side and we all dig in making our little wraps together! Enjoy!
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