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sizzling beef lettuce wraps
Lettuce belongs in more than just salad! This hands-on meal is packed with tender beef, tangy pickles, fresh herbs, spicy sauce, and—of course—crunchy lettuce. You can find this recipe and many more in our cookbook Kids Can Cook Anything!
Prepare Ingredients
Gather Cooking Equipment
In small bowl, use spoon to stir mayonnaise and sriracha until well combined; set aside.
In second small bowl, combine soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, and oil.
In medium bowl, use wooden spoon to mix beef, water, and baking soda until well combined. Let beef sit at room temperature for 5 minutes.
Add beef mixture to 12-inch nonstick skillet. Cook over medium-high heat, breaking up meat into small pieces with wooden spoon, until no longer pink, 8 to 10 minutes.
Carefully add soy sauce mixture to skillet (sauce will bubble up) and stir to combine (ask an adult for help). Cook until most of liquid evaporates, 3 to 4 minutes. Turn off heat.
Carefully transfer beef to 1 side of serving platter (ask an adult for help). Arrange lettuce leaves on other side of platter.
Place pickled cucumbers, cilantro, and scallions in individual serving bowls. To serve, fill lettuce leaves with beef mixture and top with pickled cucumbers, cilantro, scallions, and sriracha mayonnaise.
Food for Thought
Try a Little Tenderness
For ground beef that’s moist and tender instead of tough, we turn to an ingredient that’s more common in cookie and cake recipes: baking soda. Mixing the raw ground beef with baking soda changes the meat’s pH (how acidic it is), making it harder for proteins to link up as the beef cooks. (Too many linked-up proteins create tough meat.) The result: a tender filling that’s a perfect match for crunchy lettuce, tangy pickles, and a spicy sauce.
