Korean-Inspired Beef Lettuce Wraps – Girls Can Grill

Transform your roast beef leftovers with these easy and delicious beef lettuce wraps. Perfect for weeknight dinners or party appetizers.

This is one of those recipes that’s easy to make on a weeknight, if you meal plan. And they’re super fun for parties or catering.

There is hardly any cooking involved because you can do so much in advance.

The foundation starts with pre-smoked roast beef leftovers, and the pickled veg and rice noodles can be made a couple of days in advance.

When it comes time for dinner or your party, all you have to do is put out the lettuce and toppings and enjoy.

What is a lettuce wrap?

Lettuce wraps come in many varieties. You basically take any kind of protein filling and wrap it with a lettuce leaf instead of a tortilla or bread. It’s a healthy alternative for those looking for dishes that are low in calories and carbohydrates.

I was first introduced to lettuce wraps when I lived in South Korea. When you go to barbecue restaurants in Korea, you’re provided with meat to cook at your table, banchan, which are small bowls of pickled veggies, and lettuce leaves.

Once you cook your meat, you pile it onto your lettuce leaf with banchan and roll it tight to enjoy it like a Korean burrito, or as Korean’s call it ssam.

Ingredients

• Smoked Roast Beef: Try my recipe for smoked top round roast or eye of round roast. You can smoke either and save leftovers in the freezer. Then, just pull them out for this easy dinner.
• Korean BBQ Sauce: Look for these in the Asian section of your local grocery store. They usually include gochujang and can be mild or spicy.
• Pickled Veggies: I’ll show you how to make a quick pickling liquid for carrots and daikon radish.
• Crispy Rice Noodles: For added crunch, we’ll fry Thai vermicelli rice noodles. They’ll puff up and get crispy.
• Boston, Butter or Bibb Lettuce: These types of butterhead lettuce varieties work best for lettuce wraps. If you can’t find butter lettuce, you can also use iceberg lettuce or romaine lettuce.
• Green Onions
• Cilantro or Parsley

Substitutions: Daikon radish can be hard to find, so it's okay to just use carrot or try other types of radishes. You can also use sesame seeds, if you don't feel like frying the noodles. 

See the full recipe card below for servings and a full list of ingredients.

How to prepare beef lettuce wraps

1. STEP ONE: This recipe calls for pre-cooked thinly sliced roast beef. I like using my Smoked Top Round Roast. You can enjoy it warm or cold with this dish.

2. STEP TWO: In a sauce pot, heat white vinegar, water and sugar over medium heat. Once the sugar is dissolved, remove it from the heat and add the sliced veggies. Let those pickle while you assemble the other ingredients.

3. STEP THREE: Heat another pan with oil over medium-high heat. Working in very small batches, drop some uncooked noodles into the oil. They will puff up in 3-5 seconds. Remove from the oil. Drain on a paper towel and salt.

How to build lettuce wraps

Open a lettuce wrap and pile on a few slices of beef. Top with a drizzle of Korean BBQ sauce, pickled veggies, rice noodles, green onions and cilantro or parsley.

Roll up and enjoy.

If you’re making Korean beef lettuce wraps for a family meal, you can place the leaves and meat on plate and all of the other toppings in bowls. That way everyone can build their own.

To serve these at a party, go ahead and assemble them all and arrange them on a platter. You can serve mild and spicy Korean BBQ sauce on the side.

Storage

Once the lettuce cups are assembled, it’s best to enjoy them right away, especially if you add sauce. You can arrange the lettuce, meat and pickled veggies and refrigerate for about an hour.

The good news though, is you can store all of the ingredients separately for several days in airtight containers in the refrigerator.