Portuguese Beef Lettuce Wraps Recipe

The best beef lettuce wraps recipe you will ever try! Our Portuguese Beef Lettuce Wraps combines the powerfully delicious flavor of Portuguese recipes with classic Chinese lettuce wraps. 🥬

You are going to love making these easy lettuce wraps. Peri-Peri sauce and the perfect blend of spices come together for a punch of flavor in every bite. These beef wraps are simply amazing!

Your New Favorite Ground Beef Lettuce Wraps

We have your new favorite ground beef lettuce wraps here. Just one bite will convince you!

What makes this wrap recipe so special is the combination of Portuguese flavors and the style of traditional Chinese lettuce wraps.

Portuguese cuisine has so much flavor! Sweet paprika, garlic, bay leaves, and a spicy Peri–Peri sauce give these ground beef wraps a sweet-and-spicy quality we guarantee you will love.

Portuguese Beef Lettuce Wraps Recipe Ingredients

• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 lemon
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup Peri-Peri sauce* or hot sauce of choice
• 1 cup grape tomatoes, cut in half
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 1 cup radishes, thinly sliced
• 2 small heads of bibb or butter lettuce, separated

Our Portuguese beef lettuce wraps recipe calls for Peri-Peri sauce and other simple, fresh ingredients you can easily find at the store.

What is Peri-Peri sauce?

Peri-Peri sauce, also known as Piri-Piri sauce, is a spicy sauce recipe developed by Portuguese settlers in South Africa. It uses the African bird’s eye chili, which is a small red pepper with a lot of flavor.

This spicy Portuguese sauce recipe pairs well with everything from chicken to beef. It is both spicy and tangy, and will leave you wanting more!

Best Lettuce for Wraps

Bibb or butter lettuce is the best lettuce to use for a lettuce wraps recipe. Both are sweet and soft lettuces that pair deliciously with the beef and cup the ingredients perfectly.

How to Make Lettuce Wraps with Beef

1. Combine 1 pound lean ground beef, 2 minced garlic cloves, 2 teaspoons sweet paprika, and 1 bay leaf in a large bowl.
   
2. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for approximately 4 hours or overnight. This necessary step will give your ground beef lettuce wraps so much flavor.
   
3. Heat a skillet over medium-high and add 4 tablespoons olive oil.
4. Remove the bay leaf from your beef mixture. Add the beef to the skillet and saute for approximately 5 minutes, until browned and fully cooked.
   
5. Stir in 1/2 cup Peri-Peri sauce or hot sauce of your choice, and continue to cook for 5 more minutes.
   
6. Remove the skillet from heat. Add to lettuce wraps using 2 small heads of bibb or butter lettuce, and 1 cup each of shredded carrots, halved grape tomatoes, and sliced radishes for serving.
   

And there you have it! What could be easier? These ground beef lettuce wraps are super simple to make, and taste amazing.

The flavor developed from allowing the beef to refrigerate for a few hours is intensely delicious. The beef in these lettuce wraps is guaranteed to taste incredible!

Depending on how spicy you like your wraps, you can use more or less Peri-Peri sauce. The amount we use in this recipe gives the wraps a medium level of heat, so if you like it a little spicier, add a little bit more!

Are these keto lettuce wraps?

Yes! Carrots have the most carbs of the ingredients in these Portuguese-style beef lettuce wraps, so if you want to make this recipe even more low-carb, leave them out.

Peri-Peri sauce has about 7 carbs per serving. However, this recipe is very friendly for a low-carb diet, and we know you will love it!

Are these gluten-free lettuce wraps?

They sure are! None of the ingredients in this lettuce wraps recipe include gluten.

This is an amazingly tasty dish if you are following a gluten-free diet. You will not be missing out on any flavor!

What to Serve with Lettuce Wraps

Beef lettuce wraps pair deliciously with a side of Portuguese rice or Instant Pot White Rice.

Other great choices are zesty Spanish potato salad, air fryer frozen French fries, or a lemon orzo pasta salad. You could even serve them with just the salad from our Vietnamese Steak Salad recipe!

Try topping them with other favorite veggies and herbs, like sliced green onions and cilantro! You could even try a fried egg on top.

If you enjoy recipes like this, you will love our favorite Asian beef recipes:

Did you try our Portuguese Beef Lettuce Wraps? Let us know in the comments below, with a rating, and by sharing on Pinterest! We love to hear from you.

Photography by Megan Schetzsle