Sweet and Spicy Pork Lettuce Wraps

Name: Sweet and Spicy Pork Lettuce Wraps
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 2 teaspoons fresh ground ginger; 2 cloves garlic (minced); 1 tablespoon honey (omit for whole30 option); 2 tablespoons coconut aminos (or soy sauce); 2 tablespoons nut butter (peanut butter or cashew butter is best); 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar; 2 teaspoons sriracha (more or less to adjust spice level); 1 lb ground pork; 1 (8 ounce) can water chestnuts (drained and diced); 1 red pepper (diced); 1 cup shredded carrots; 1 small yellow onion (diced); Butter lettuce leaves for serving; Topping: green onions, cilantro and crushed peanuts; 3 tablespoons coconut aminos (or soy sauce); 1 tablespoon nut butter; 2 teaspoons honey; 1 teaspoon sriracha

Updated: March 21, 2023 | Published on: April 20, 2022 - Molly Thompson37 Comments

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Insanely delicious and easy pork lettuce wraps will become your favorite easy, healthy dinner. The sweet and spicy (not too spicy!) sauce covers ground pork and veggies inside crisp lettuce cups for a flavorful, low-carb dinner!

pork lettuce wraps on a white serving tray with spicy sauce and scallions on the side

Watch the video below to see how to make quick and easy pork lettuce wraps!

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Why We Love Pork Lettuce Wraps
Ingredient Notes and Brands We Used
How to Make Pork Lettuce Wraps
Prefer to watch instead of read?
Best Kind of Lettuce for Lettuce Wraps
Must-Read Recipe Tips
Sweet and Spicy Pork Lettuce Wraps
Comments

We're always on the hunt for dinners done in 30 minutes. Some of our favorites are fiesta lime shrimp bowls, blackened salmon, air fryer stuffed peppers and now these ground pork lettuce wraps!

And if you want a quick ground turkey recipe, try this ground turkey teriyaki rice bowl.

Why We Love Pork Lettuce Wraps

Pantry staples: this recipe is made up of only pantry staples. There aren't any fussy ingredients that you'll use once and forget about in the back of the pantry. Coconut aminos (gf version of soy sauce), nut butter, rice vinegar and honey are the only pantry ingredients you need!
Low carb: if you're balancing blood sugar or being mindful of the carbs you're eating, this recipe is a great option. It has 15 net carbs in a serving, but if you want to lower that you can omit the honey so it's 12 net carbs. All the flavor from the sauce and veggies will keep you satisfied and full.
Eat more veggies: These pork lettuce wraps are 5 different kinds of veggies. We love to eat the rainbow and this recipe makes eating veggies so fun! You don't even know your plate is packed with vitamins and nutrients.
Great for kiddos: we gave this recipe to our daughter and she smashed it! She was getting protein and veggies in without knowing it.

crispy pork lettuce wraps with red pepper, carrots, water chestnuts and onion in a bed of butter lettuce topped with scallions and cilantro

Ingredient Notes and Brands We Used

For the sauce:

Fresh ginger and garlic: this is an essential part of these lettuce wraps and adds a ton of asian flavor.
Honey: you can omit this if you're eating whole30.
Coconut aminos: this is the gluten free version of soy sauce. If you aren't gluten free and have soy sauce on hand you can use that.
Nut butter: we used peanut butter, but cashew butter works great for paleo or whole30 options.
Rice wine vinegar: this adds acid to balance out the sauce.
Sriracha: this is where the spicy comes into play and can be customized to your taste! If you like spicy food you can add more or omit it if you don't like spice.

For the wraps:

Ground pork: it has minimal fat so it doesn't need drained after cooking. Love that for an easy, one-pot meal! You could also use ground chicken, but it won't have as much fat/flavor.
Water chestnuts: these come in a can in the international aisle in the grocery store.
Veggies: red pepper, carrots, yellow onion
Butter lettuce: this is the best lettuce for wraps in my opinion!
To top: scallions, cilantro and crushed peanuts

three ground pork lettuce wraps on a white serving tray with sweet and spicy sauce and scallions on the side

How to Make Pork Lettuce Wraps

Add all of the sauce ingredients to a small bowl, whisk well then set aside.
Heat olive oil in a large skillet or wok then cook the ground pork until no pink remains.
Add the veggies and cook until soft then stir in the sauce, turn the heat to low and simmer for 5-8 minutes to thicken the sauce and develop the flavor.
Spoon the pork mixture into lettuce wraps, then garnish with scallions, cilantro and crushed peanuts.

Prefer to watch instead of read?

Best Kind of Lettuce for Lettuce Wraps

Our very favorite lettuce to use is butter lettuce. It's crisp and has the perfect circular shape to hold all the filling. I like to double up the lettuce to make sure it doesn't break when you're eating it.

How to get it off the core: remove any out layers of lettuce that are browning or old then cut the piece of lettuce at the stem.

We also like to use romaine lettuce if we have that on hand!

Must-Read Recipe Tips

Make the pork extra crispy: when you're browning the ground pork, don't continually stir it. Let it sit in the sizzling hot oil for a bit to get brown and crispy then stir and do the same thing.
Serve with sauce: while the pork filling is simmering, whisk together some honey, coconut aminos, nut butter and sriracha for a quick sauce to drizzle on top.
Only pull off the lettuce you need: to keep the lettuce fresh, only use the lettuce leaves you need while you're making the cups.
Perfect for meal prep: If you're making these as meal prep, you can store the lettuce separately until you're ready to assemble and eat.

a woman picking up a pork lettuce wrap topped with cilantro and peanuts

If you make this recipe, I’d love for you to give it a star rating ★ below. You can also tag me on Instagram so I can see it!

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