These Korean beef lettuce wraps are so easy and flavorful. The ground beef is savory, sweet and a little spicy and tastes like Korean BBQ. This meal is ready in less than 30 minutes and reheats well for your weekly meal prep.
Whenever I’m craving Korean BBQ and don’t want to go out for a big meal or marinate any meat ahead of time, I’ll make a quick and easy Korean beef bowl at home. These beef lettuce wraps are a low-carb version of the bowls. The ground beef is so flavorful that it works really well as a lettuce wrap filling.
Korean BBQ usually requires that the meat is marinated first so that the flavors soak into the meat. However, with ground beef, the pieces of meat are small enough that simply cooking them in the same sauces and spices is enough to get the flavor through.
This version is a quick and easy dinner recipe that only takes 15 minutes to make. I love this recipe because I usually have the ingredients on hand so it’s easy to make a batch when I know I’ll have a busy week without a lot of time to cook.
Most of the ingredients you will need are pantry ingredients, so once you buy them you will have them on hand whenever you want to make this recipe.
Because the ingredients keep well in the refrigerator it’s a great dish for weekly meal prep. I’ve listed some tips and tricks at the end of the post if you want to make it ahead.
Ingredients
- Lean ground beef
- Toasted sesame seeds
- Scallions
- Butter lettuce leaves
- Garlic
- Ginger
- Low-sodium soy sauce
- Light brown sugar
- Sesame oil
- Crushed red pepper flakes
Lettuce: For the wraps, you will want to use sturdy lettuce like romaine or iceberg lettuce. You can also use bibb lettuce or butter lettuce, but you might want to double up the leaves for each wrap.
Optional Garnishes: You can add other ingredients like sliced green onions, sriracha, or other garnishes you like. I try to keep them simple so they’re easy to make.
Other ways to serve it: Instead of lettuce, you can serve the Korean ground beef with cauliflower rice, white or brown rice, or jasmine rice.
Sauce for Korean Beef
The sauce consists of soy sauce, brown sugar, minced garlic, grated ginger, sesame oil, and chili flakes. If you are trying to follow a low carb or keto diet, you can substitute brown sugar with your favorite sugar substitute.
How to Make Korean Beef
- First, whisk together all the sauce ingredients.
- Then cook the ground beef in a pan over medium-high heat. I used 85/15.
- When the beef is almost done, drain out the excess oil. Then pour in the sauce, stir, and cook a few more minutes.
- Garnish the beef mixture with toasted sesame seeds and you’re done! It’s ready in about 20 minutes.
Meal Prep Storage Tips
For visualization purposes, I assembled all the lettuce wraps and places them in the meal prep containers but I don’t recommend storing them that way. If you are storing these for meal prep, you will want to keep the lettuce and filling in separate containers.
- I use these Meal Prep Containers*
- Stack the lettuce leaves on one side of your meal prep container and place scallions on top.
- On the other side of your container add the Korean beef.
- When ready to eat, remove the stack of lettuce and scallions from the container. Heat only the beef. Then assemble your lettuce wraps.
- If you plan on freezing your meal prep, do not place lettuce into the containers.
I really enjoy meal prep recipes – it’s nice to prep everything ahead for easy lunches and dinners during the week. Here are a few more recipes you might like to try, too.
*Some of the links contained in this post are affiliate links. Much like referral codes, this means I earn a small commission if you purchase a product I referred (at no extra charge to you).
Korean Beef Lettuce Wraps Meal Prep
Ingredients
- 1 lb lean ground beef
- 2 tsp toasted sesame seeds
- 2 scallions thinly sliced
- 1 head butter lettuce leaves removed and washed
Korean Beef Sauce
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tsp ginger grated
- 3 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
- 3 tbsp light brown sugar
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
Instructions
- In a small bowl, add all sauce ingredients and whisk together. Taste and adjust as needed.
- Bring a large skillet to medium heat. Add in the ground beef. Cook and crumble the beef until browned and meat is no longer pink. Drain off excess oil.
- Pour sauce over beef. Cook a few more minutes until sauce soaks into the beef.
- Garnish with sesame seeds. If you are eating right away, garnish with scallions. If you are not eating right away, save scallions for garnish right before eating.
- To assemble meal prep, stack a few lettuce leaves on one side of your meal prep containers. Place scallions on top. Add beef to the other side of your container. Seal containers and store in fridge. When ready to eat, remove stack of lettuce leaves and scallions. Heat the filling. Then assemble your lettuce wraps.
Notes
- If you are trying to follow a low carb or keto diet, you can substitute the brown sugar with your favorite sugar substitute.
- I used 85/15 ground beef. You can use leaner if desired.
- For visualization purposes, I assembled all the lettuce wraps and places them in the meal prep containers but I don’t recommend storing them that way. If you are storing these for meal prep, you will want to keep the lettuce and beef separate.
- I use these Meal Prep Containers*
- If you plan on freezing your meal prep, do not place lettuce into the containers.
- *Some of the product links contained in this post are affiliate links. Much like referral codes, this means I earn a small commission if you purchase a product I referred (at no extra charge to you).
Nutrition
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
