THAI MEATBALL LETTUCE WRAPS
INGREDIENTS
For the meatballs:
- 1.5 pounds lean ground pork
- 4 scallions, thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon ginger, finely minced
- 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 1½ teaspoons fish sauce
- ½ teaspoon sriracha
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons lime juice (1 - 2 limes)
- 1-2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce (for coating the meatballs once they are cooked)
For the cole slaw:
- 1 14 oz bag cole slaw mix (the kind with regular cabbage, purple cabbage, and carrots)
- 10 basil leaves, rolled up and sliced
- 5 mint leaves, rolled up and sliced
- 3 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
- 1 scallion, finely sliced
- ¼ cup rice vinegar
- 5 teaspoons light mayonnaise
- 4 teaspoons sweet chili sauce
- 1 head of iceberg lettuce or romaine lettuce (either will work for the lettuce wraps)
- Extra lime for garnish
- Extra cilantro for garnish (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees
- For the meatballs, mix all the ingredients except the sweet chili sauce in a medium bowl with your hands until evenly combined (the pork, scallions, ginger, garlic, fish sauce, sriracha, salt, and lime juice)
- Dampen a paper towel with some vegetable oil (canola or coconut oil works too), and wipe it onto a baking sheet to grease it
- Using about 1 heaping tablespoon of meat mixture each, form meatballs and place them on the baking sheet
- Bake the meatballs for 15 minutes or until they are fully cooked through in the middle, flipping once half way through with a spatula
- Meanwhile, make your coleslaw
- In a medium bow, combine all your coleslaw ingredients (the bag of coleslaw mix, basil, mint, cilantro, and scallions)
- To make your dressing, whisk together the rice vinegar, mayonnaise, and sweet chili sauce in a small bowl and pour over the coleslaw, tossing to coat
- Set aside until the meatballs are finished baking
- When the meatballs are done, transfer them to a bowl and toss with 1-2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce (they should just have a very light coating)
- To assemble, start with a lettuce cup, spoon in a pile of coleslaw, and top with three meatballs
- Top with a little extra cilantro (optional), and an extra squeeze of lime juice (highly recommended!)
- Note: if you don't want to deal with the lettuce wrap (they can get a bit messy!), just serve the meatballs on a bed of the coleslaw, squeeze a little lime juice on top, and eat with a fork!