One-Pan Ginger Beef Lettuce Wraps
With Zucchini, Gochujang Sauce & Pickled Carrots
- Soy
- Wheat
“Hot beef, cold lettuce, can’t lose!” That’s what we think the rallying cry should’ve been on that high school football drama. This winning combo takes a page from the Korean barbecue playbook. Here, we cook ground beef and zucchini in a savory sauce that gets sweet heat from gochujang, a Korean chili paste. Crisp romaine leaves cradle the gingery beef filling along with tangy pickled carrots. This is definitely a meal that’ll have you cheering for the home (cooking) team!
Ingredients
1 unit
Baby Lettuce
4 ounce
Shredded Carrots
1 unit
Onion
1 unit
Zucchini
1 unit
Lemon
5 teaspoon
White Wine Vinegar
10 ounce
Ground Beef
1 teaspoon
Garlic Powder
2 tablespoon
Hoisin Sauce
(Contains: Soy, Wheat)
1 thumb
Ginger
1 ounce
Gochujang Sauce
(Contains: Soy, Wheat)
Not included in your delivery
teaspoon (tsp)
Salt
teaspoon (tsp)
Black Pepper
Nutrition Values
Utensils
Cooking Steps
• Wash and dry produce. • Halve, peel, and finely dice half the onion (whole onion for 4 servings). Trim and dice zucchini into ¼-inch pieces. Peel and mince or grate half the ginger (all for 4). Quarter lemon. Trim and discard root end from lettuce; separate leaves.
• In a medium microwave-safe bowl, toss carrots with vinegar, 1 tsp sugar (2 tsp for 4 servings), and a pinch of salt and pepper. Microwave for 1 minute. Set aside, tossing occasionally.
• Heat a drizzle of oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add onion; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender and lightly browned, 5-8 minutes. • Add another drizzle of oil, zucchini, garlic powder, and ½ tsp salt (¾ tsp for 4 servings). Cook, stirring occasionally, until zucchini is slightly softened, 3-5 minutes. • Add beef* and ginger; season with pepper. Cook, breaking up meat into pieces, until browned, 3-4 minutes. TIP: If there’s excess grease in your pan, carefully pour it out. • Stir in gochujang, hoisin, and ¼ cup water. Cook, stirring, until beef is saucy and cooked through, 2-3 minutes. • Remove from heat. Stir in juice from half the lemon; season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Divide lettuce between plates; fill with beef mixture. Garnish with pickled carrots (draining first). Serve with remaining lemon wedges on the side. TIP: Alternatively, serve beef mixture, carrots, and lettuce in separate bowls and let everyone assemble their own wraps!
Customer reviews
Review summary
Updated on Dec 2025- Flavor: Many loved the tasty, flavorful beef filling, though some found it too sweet; adding extra herbs or richer stock boosted depth 🍲.
- Ease of prep: Customers appreciated the quick, one-pan preparation and easy cleanup, making it great for busy weeknights.
- Suggestions: Consider adding crushed peanuts or water chestnuts for crunch; some preferred ground turkey or pork over beef.
- Portions: Several felt it was light for a full meal; pairing with rice or soup made it more satisfying.
- Texture: Double up small lettuce leaves for easier eating; some found zucchini's texture odd and preferred crunchier vegetables.
Reviews from our home cooks
Very fresh flavors. The fresh ginger is awesome and not overwhelming. The lettuce wraps were so crispy and fresh and perfectly shaped for holding the meat. I did not care for the carrots. Use less carrots otherwise the taste is too overpowering.
These were awesome - I served the filling in a small bowl and we each made our own lettuce wraps. Instead of pickling the carrots, I served raw carrot shreds along with red cabbage shreds as a topper to the lettuce wraps. This was delicious
I loved the zucchinis in this and the meat sauce was delicious. If I were in a rush, I would just leave the carrots as is and use them as garnish or cook them with the meat. Nice and quick to make and a delicious crunch with the lettuce.
We really liked these lettuce wraps. We elected not to use the hot sauce and they were perfect for us. The carrots were surprisingly tasty.
My produce was not fresh...had probably been crushed because it had soft mushy and sometimes rotting places in both zucchini and onion. The lettuce was fresh and intact though! I had to add about 4 oz mushrooms to make it stretch far enough. The flavor was almost, but not quite right compared to similar Gochujang dishes I have eaten and the quick pickling recipe is just ok.
I would give this 4 stars but I think I put too much ginger so the meat came out tasting too much like ginger but all in all super easy and yummy. I will def be trying the lettuce wraps again with a recipe of my own. Great idea
Very flavorful! For this meal I made a bag of the microwave organic rice as a side. I love PF Chang's lettuce wraps and this is right up there.
We love all of these romaine lettuce wraps. They are a little messy to eat but are such a lighter version of wraps made with tortillas and we love the added crunch of the romaine.
Really good. Husband described it as "Asian sloppy Joes." The only problem I have with these lettuce wrap meals is that it never feels like a meal, more like an appetizer. Could something else be served with this that can be provided, like a veggie side?
Easy to make, tasty to eat, and good for you. I would recommend doubling up on the lettuce for the wraps so they aren't so flimsy. All the yummy goodness kept falling out the ends.
