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This is a staple rotation for us. My daughter will eat these 24/7. She is 9 and loves them! Thank you for all your yummy recipes!
Tracey
Whoa-ho-ho-ho. Just hold it right there.
I have a new conviction to share with you today, which is that tender butter lettuce was specifically put on this earth for the sole purpose of being stuffed with roasted cauliflower, generously tossed in a sweet and sticky Korean BBQ- inspired sauce, topped with chives and peanuts and spicy mayo, and finding its way straight to your mouth.
If these cauliflower lettuce wraps do not make their way into your hungry little hands this week, can you even say that you’re living? Just please reflect on that right now.
Cauliflower Lettuce Wraps – Here We Go!
Okay. Things are very easy here! My favorite kind of recipe.
First: we roast some cauliflower.
Then, we toss the cauliflower in a sauce that we made.
And finally, we tuck it into lettuce, go wild with toppings, and FEAST!
OMG THESE ARE SO GOOD.
We had these at our dinner club last month (Korean-fusion theme) and oh baby, they were so good between bites of Korean mandu dumplings and sips of summery watermelon mojitos.
I don’t mind them as a cauli stand-alone because I load them up with peanuts and spicy mayo and it all just reeeally works for me.
But I’ve also made them with ground turkey, chicken, and tofu mixed into the cauliflower situation for a more substantial meal. And that works, too.
Bottom line: HURRY UP AND MAKE THESE. Like, wow. Yum. New favorite.
Check Out Our Video For How To Make Roasted Cauliflower Lettuce Wraps:
Watch How to Make This Recipe On Stories!
Source notes: This recipe came about from making a quick appetizer for a Korean-inspired / themed dinner club with my friends. Roasted cauliflower in a lettuce wrap with spicy mayo is certainly not an authentic Korean BBQ recipe, but I used this yummy Korean BBQ sauce on the cauliflower on a whim and fell in love. The company is owned by two Korean American women, Ann and Janet Chung, and this sauce is their “family recipe” and I would highly recommend it. So yummy. Plus, their website has lots of fun recipes for ways to use the sauce in all kinds of creative fusion-style recipes. For the final version of this recipe, I made a from-scratch version inspired by the flavors and texture of their Korean BBQ sauce, but honestly, not a bad idea to just stock up on the pre-made stuff because it’s very delicious. For a more in-depth outline on the history, methods, and all-around experience of authentic Korean BBQ, check out this post from Serious Eats. 😍
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Roasted Cauliflower Lettuce Wraps with Korean BBQ-Inspired Sauce
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 6–8 servings 1x
Description
Roasted Cauliflower Lettuce Wraps with Korean BBQ-Inspired Sauce! Crispy roasted cauliflower tossed in a sweet and sticky Korean BBQ sauce, all topped with chives, peanuts, and spicy mayo. YUM.
Ingredients
Cauliflower Lettuce Wraps:
- 6–8 cups small cauliflower florets (1 large or 2 small heads)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- butter lettuce cups (6-8 large leaves)
- 1/4 cup crushed peanuts
- 2 tablespoons minced chives
- spicy mayo (1/4 cup mayo with a 1 teaspoon of sriracha)
Sauce:
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 clove garlic
- 1-inch knob fresh ginger
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon sambal oelek (or a spicy chile paste, or sriracha – use less for a milder sauce)
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch
Instructions
- Roast the cauliflower: Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Toss the cauliflower with a drizzle of oil and a pinch of salt. Roast for 30 minutes.
- Make the sauce: Blend everything in a food processor or blender until smooth. Simmer in a saucepan over low heat until it thickens slightly.
- Cauli meets sauce: Pour sauce directly onto the roasting pan – just enough to get the cauliflower nice and saucy. Toss gently to combine.
- Make it pretty: Arrange the sauced up cauliflower in lettuce cups. Top with extra sauce, crushed peanuts, chives, and a drizzle of spicy mayo. Mwah!
Notes
Spicy mayo: mix about 1/4 cup mayo with a squirt of sriracha! Thin it out as necessary, and adjust to taste. That’s it.
For the sauce: you can also just mince and whisk everything by hand, but I find it easier to use the food processor!
This is great with additional protein if you want to make it more substantial. I like it with ground chicken, turkey, or tofu.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: Korean-Inspired
Keywords: korean bbq cauliflower lettuce wraps, cauliflower lettuce wraps, lettuce wraps
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our easy summer dinners page. Check it out!
You suggest tofu as an add-in. I’m not super experienced cooking tofu. Should it be sautéd? Marinated? Thank you!
Any of these methods are great! https://pinchofyum.com/how-to-cook-tofu
This was delicious! Only recommendation would be to use a sturdier lettuce leaf. The butter lettuce was a bit to fragile to hold the ingredients. Definitely a keeper!!
OMG this was SOOO good!
Savoury, crunchy, and flavourful. This is one of those dishes that are crave-worthy.
Instead of the 2nd cauliflower I used 1 package of extra firm tofu for a more protein rich dish. I first put the cauliflower in the oven then prepped the already pressed tofu in say 5 minutes, then baked in the oven alongside the cauliflower. I did oil, salt, pepper, and a dash of each of soy sauce, garlic powder, turmeric.
Finally, I halved the Sriracha mayo recipe this time, and next time will also half the soy sauce mixture.
These are the BEST!! I’d made them at least 3 times since getting the recipe in the meal plan and crave them constantly! So delicious…highlight recommend with the crumbled tofu too, extends the recipe so you have lunch to look forward to the next day.
See… Now I am getting hungry! And it’s middle of the night here 🙂
Will go lightly on the cauliflower though 🙂
My new favorite! Easy and DELISH!! Passed the husband and kids test too!!
Great!
These were delicious! I added quinoa to them to boost the protein. I think they would also be great with chicken. The sauce is amazing!
Lindsay,
I recently discovered your blog which is outstanding, congratulations. I just have to add that I am from St. Paul, Mendota Heights to be exact and still have family there. I know how much you love your cute puppy Sage so on that note, my brother is a Veterinarian in W. St. Paul if you are interested. Tommy is an outstanding Vet the worlds best and his wife Teri is also a vet. Tommy says Teri is the smartest person he knows. Their practice is Skadron Animal Hospital, next to Target. Just an FYI!
One of our go-to recipes! Sometimes we serve it with rice instead of lettuce wraps. We love it!
I love the idea of this recipe. It was way way too salty for our family. I think 1/2 the amount of soy sauce would do?
Sorry to hear that, Hannah! Yes, you can definitely cut back on the soy sauce.
THIS. BBQ. SAUCE. IS. EVERYTHING.
This recipe is sooooo good. I used to make a chicken version (knock off of PF Changs) and this one when I had guests over. But even the meat eaters liked this one better, so now I just make this one for everyone!
Made 2 heads of cauliflower. This goes fast. The sauce had too much soy sauce for our liking.
So Good!!!!!! My kids (6 and 8) and husband loved it! I ended up cooking a couple shrimp and then tossing it in the sauce before serving along with the cauliflower. We also used head lettuce since I couldn’t find boston. Will deff become a family staple.
I’ve probably reviewed this recipe already but can’t remember if I have because I visit this website so frequently, specifically to cook this! My kids ask me for it regularly! It’s also a great meal to provide with/for friends who are lactose intolerant, gluten free (assuming to get GF soy sauce) or who want to eat less meat. We love this meal!
Omg this was amazing!! I added tofu and used kimchi to make the spicy mayo. Devine!!
Wow these are amazing!! I added the sauce and then threw the cauliflower back in the oven for a few minutes. Then I topped my wraps with raw red onion, avocado, jalapeños, peanuts, spicy mayo and more of the sauce. Every bite had so much flavour! Thank you for the perfect vegetarian, simple and easy recipe!
Wow. Amazing recipe. I made a few modifications based on what was in our pantry (coconut aminos instead of soy sauce) and I didn’t have brown sugar so I used dates instead and added a bit more liquid- turned out fabulous, didn’t need to thicken the sauce with cornstarch either. This will definitely be on a regular rotation at our house! In addition to several more recipes of yours. 🙂
Really delicious. I only had about a quarter cup of soy sauce left so I subbed fish sauce for the rest. Served with rice on the side. 😋
These were a WFH hit! Instead of using sambal oelek, we used gochuchang (Korean chili paste) — such a great recipe!
Glad to hear it!
Hello. I love this recipe and am making it for a family who daughter is in the hospital. If I make it today and keep it in the fridge will it be yummy tomorrow?
It’d probably work to make the sauce beforehand, but the cauliflower probably won’t be as crispy compared to having it fresh out of the oven.
I made this, and the flavor and texture combination was perfect, except so salty. I followed your directions exactly, so I’m not sure what went wrong. Did you use a low sodium soy sauce?
Hi, Holly! Yep, we’d just recommend a low-sodium soy sauce for the next round.
Great sauce! I combined the cauliflower (riced it) with turkey and added cashews, a yellow pepper and it turned out great.
Yum!
Made this tonight somewhat reluctantly – I had cauliflower to use and was looking for a different recipe than my usual rotation- I have to say I was so pleasantly surprised, the flavors blew my mind! I added the roasted chicpeas from your Golden Soup recipe and it was delicious! Due to my pantry limitations, I subbed white wine vinegar for the rice vinegar, avocado oil + sesame seeds for the toasted sesame oil, and thai red curry paste instead of siracha in the spicy mayo. I’m looking forward to picking up the correct ingredients for next time!
Glad you enjoyed these lettuce wraps, Janine!