Lettuce Wraps with Rice & Veggie Burger Filling

By the Gracious Vegan

You certainly don’t need meat to make a fantastic lettuce wrap. These wraps contain a wonderful play of textures and flavors that never gets old for me. Many lettuce wrap recipes use hoisin sauce, which contains refined sugar. I deconstructed hoisin sauce and added just those elements that work in this dish. You could turn this into 16 wraps by adding 1/4 cup of rice under the filling on each lettuce leaf and using half the filling. Yum yum!

Makes 8 wraps 

Water-sauté the following ingredients in a large skillet on the stove about 3 minutes, just to soften the vegetables. (What is water-sauté?)

• 8 scallions, sliced

• 4 cloves garlic, minced

• 1/2 cup grated carrots (one medium carrot)

• 2 Tablespoons finely chopped fresh ginger

Add the following ingredients and stir until everything is well incorporated.

• 2 Tablespoons soy sauce

• 1 Tablespoon peanut butter

• 2 teaspoons rice vinegar

• 1.5 teaspoons maple syrup

• 1/2 teaspoon (or more) Sriracha sauce 

• 1/8 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder 

Then stir in the following ingredients

• 2 veggie burgers (any kind, homemade or store-bought), cooked, crumbled (substitution: or 1 cup of other “crumbly” ingredient, e.g., rice, cooked tofu, ground beef substitute)

• 1/4 cup chopped peanuts or 1/4 cup chopped water chestnuts (i.e., something crunchy)

Spread out lettuce leaves on a platter

• 8 whole leaves from one head Bibb, Boston, or butter lettuce

Spoon the skillet mixture on the top of each wrap and serve. Garnish with additional scallions or roasted sesame seeds if desired. The wraps are eaten like tacos – just grab, fold, and eat.

If desired, serve with dipping sauce, such as the one I provide in my Baked Spring Rolls recipe.

Timing: About 15 minutes

Gluten-free if the burgers and soy sauce are gluten-free