“Mom, this is really good.”
Although my girls typically enjoy the meals I make, I must admit that hearing the above comment as we were eating my Thai Steak Lettuce Wraps yesterday was music to my ears! Why? Because I’d never thought about making lettuce wraps until recently and had never even eaten them. My hubby and oldest daughter have ordered lettuce wraps at a couple of restaurants before. So, I have seen them in person. However, I’d never paid much attention to what was needed to make them until recently.
I often seek my girls input when I’m trying to figure out what to cook. And, this week was no different. So, when surveying them about which Thai dish they thought I should make this week (since that’s the cuisine that won last week’s Instagram poll), they had plenty of suggestions for me. However, my youngest one kept coming back to lettuce wraps over and over again. (I think it was because she wanted to see what she’s been missing!) In the end, the lettuce wraps won because I was able to do a bit of research and come up with a recipe that required fewer ingredients and pans than some other entrees or dishes and still fit into my 15-minute time limit!
For your convenience, I’ve listed the ingredients and directions for creating my Thai Steak Lettuce Wraps in case you’d like to serve them to your family. (If you like the recipe, you can save it to a Pinterest board using the pin I embedded below.) Speaking of the ingredients, if anyone in your family has a soy allergy, don’t worry; I don’t use soy sauce in my recipe!
I’ve also included photos of everything except for the steak and brown sugar. By the way, since I am an Amazon Associate, I will earn income from qualifying purchases if you click on any of the below products and order them.
What You’ll Need To Make 15-Minute Thai Steak Lettuce Wraps (Six servings)
*1 Teaspoon of butter
*1 1/2 lb. of flap steak (or another preferred thin cut of steak), cut into strips–You could also dice the steak if you’d prefer to have smaller pieces of meat.
*2 Tablespoons of ground ginger
*2 Tablespoons of brown sugar
*4 Tablespoons of fish sauce–I chose Thai Kitchen Premium Fish Sauce, but there are other brands that you could use.
*3 cups of cabbage mix–I used a mix that contained shredded green cabbage, shredded red cabbage and shredded carrots.
*Butterhead lettuce–Butterhead lettuce is also sold as Butter, Bibb or Boston lettuce. I used the Butterhead lettuce that is grown and sold by Gotham Greens. For six servings, you’ll need 12 leaves of lettuce, which would allow for each person to have two lettuce wraps.
*6 tablespoons of green onion
*The juice of 1 lime
*6 tablespoons of coarsely chopped, unsalted peanuts
15-Minute Thai Steak Lettuce Wraps
1. Over medium high heat, heat the butter in a deep skillet or wok. Carefully add the steak. Cook the steak for approximately 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure all of it gets lightly browned and is cooked evenly.
2. Once the steak is lightly browned, drizzle the fish sauce on it. Next, add the cabbage mix, ground ginger and sugar to the skillet and stir all the ingredients together, making sure you blend them well. This mixture should cook for about 2-3 minutes or just until the cabbage starts to slightly wilt.
3. While the steak and cabbage is simmering, place two large lettuce leaves (like the ones in the below photo) per person on a serving platter.
6. Remove the skillet from the stove and spoon a bit of the steak mixture onto each lettuce leaf. Then, sprinkle a bit of the onion and peanuts on top of each filled lettuce leaf. Finally, squeeze out several drops of lime juice on top of each lettuce wrap.
7. Enjoy!
Serving Suggestion: You could serve these alongside a side dish of Jasmine rice to round out your meal. They could also be enjoyed as an appetizer.
Substitutions: The flavors in these wraps would pair nicely with sliced or diced chicken.
Additional Tips: The fish sauce used in this recipe is a good ingredient to have on hand if you want to make marinades, salads, salad dressings, soups, poke bowls, and curries. It can also be used in recipes in place of soy if you want to avoid including that in your family’s diet.
