This easy lettuce wrap burger recipe is the perfect way to enjoy a flavorful burger without needing low-carb rolls or making hamburger patties! If you're on a keto diet or just want a low carb meal, these can fit nicely into your meal plans.
Keto Cheeseburger Lettuce Wraps
These Low Carb Cheeseburger Lettuce wraps are a fun take on the humble classic with a twist. Your favorite cheeseburger… but it's a bunless burger, less heavy and in one handy lettuce cup.
If you don’t have time to make keto hamburger buns, these are a great way to enjoy a lighter keto lunch or snack and curb that burger craving.
The best part is you can avoid even making a burger patty!
Served with a great sugar-free special burger sauce and lots of dill pickles! Yum!
Ingredients for Keto Burgers
This is a ground beef filling for our lettuce cups but but could easily be made into beef patties for low-carb burgers if you prefer. For exact measurements, please view the entire written recipe at the bottom of this blog post.
Ground beef
Small onion, finely diced
Garlic, minced
Black pepper
Cheddar cheese, sliced or sharp cheddar, or provolone cheese
Special Sauce Ingredients
For exact measurements, please view the entire written recipe at the bottom of this blog post.
Dijon mustard
Red pepper flakes
How to Make Keto Lettuce Wrap Burgers
Step 1
Add the ground beef to a non-stick large skillet over medium-high heat and fry for 2 minutes, breaking up the beef with a spatula. Add the onion and garlic and cook for a further 4 - 6 minutes or until cooked through.
Meanwhile, prepare the burger sauce by adding all the ingredients to a small bowl and stirring to combine.
Add the cheddar cheese slices to the top of the beef. Cover with a lid and allow the cheese to melt for 2 - 3 minutes. If the beef is dry looking, add a touch of water.
Step 2
Slice the hard white stalks off the butterhead lettuce leaves.
Step 3
Lay 3 very large lettuce leaves on a sheet of parchment paper (2 on the bottom and 1 on top).
Leaving enough space to roll up.
Top the middle of the leaves with a little cheeseburger beef, tomatoes, dill pickles, burger sauce and optional sesame seeds.
More optional items; avocado slices, red onions, sugar-free ketchup and dijon mustard.
Step 4
Cut the woodier part out of the stalk from your swiss chard or cavolo nero leaf. About ⅓ of the way from the bottom. This will help it roll.
Step 5
Place rolled up lettuce leaf inside larger swiss chard and rollup. Slice in half.
Serve with extra burger sauce. Serving size is 2 large rolls or 4 halves per serving.
Best Tips for Cheeseburger Lettuce Wraps
Type of Lettuce to use:
Iceberg lettuce and Romaine lettuce aren't ideal as they don't fold as well as other kinds of lettuce. Use the largest fresh lettuce leaves you can find.
Butterhead is the best, but Boston lettuce and Bibb lettuce also works well.
Just make sure the leaves are big. I chose lettuce because it’s always what’s in a burger and then I used a slice of cavolo nero, or you can use swiss chard if you prefer, to secure the lettuce in place.
Alternatively, you can use all swiss chard or any greens with large leaves. The larger the leaves the less fiddly and easier to roll.
When using cavolo nervo or swiss chard, cut out the stem along the middle - not all the way though (see step photo above) so it’s easy to roll up.
How to Store Lettuce Burger Wraps
Best if served fresh. You can make the filling and refrigerate that in an airtight container for up to 2 days until ready to serve with lettuce wraps.
Serve with Low Carb Zucchini French Fries
Keto Low Carb Cheeseburger Lettuce Wraps
Keto Low Carb Cheeseburger Lettuce Wraps
Ingredients
Ground Beef
- 15 ounces ground beef (10 - 15% fat)
- 1 small onion finely diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- ½ teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- ½ teaspoon pepper (or to taste)
- 5 slices cheddar cheese (or provolone)
Burger Sauce
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 1.5 tablespoons sugar-free ketchup
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard 1
- 1 teaspoon coconut aminos
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ⅓ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper ground
Roll Up
- 8.5 ounces butterhead lettuce leaves (approx 2 - 5 leaves per roll depending on the size of your leaves)
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes quartered
- ½ cup pickles sliced
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds toasted (optional)
- 10 large chard (or cavolo nero stems)
Instructions
- Add the ground beef to a non-stick frying pan and fry for 2 minutes, breaking up the beef with a spatula. Add the onion and garlic and cook for a further 4 - 6 minutes or until cooked through.
- Meanwhile, prepare the burger sauce by adding all the ingredients to a bowl and stirring to combine.
- Add the cheese slices to the top of the beef. Cover with a lid and allow the cheese to melt for 2 - 3 minutes. If the beef is dry add a touch of water.
- Slice the hard white stalks off the butterhead lettuce leaves.
- Lay 3 very large lettuce leaves on a sheet of greaseproof paper (2 on the bottom and 1 on top). Leaving enough space to roll up, top the middle of the leaves with a little cheeseburger beef, tomatoes, pickles, burger sauce and optional sesame seeds.
- If your leaves are big enough you can tuck the wides in and rollup like a burrito. If not add 1 - 2 lettuce slices on top and roll up. Don’t overfill the middle or you won’t be able to rollup. Don’t worry if it’s not perfect as we’re going to secure it all with a large chard or cavolo nero leaf.
- Cut the woodier part out of the stalk from your chard or cavolo nero leaf. About ⅓ of the way from the bottom. This will help it roll.
- Place rolled up lettuce leaf inside larger chard / cavolo nero leaf and rollup. Slice in half. Serve with extra burger sauce. Serving size is 2 large rolls or 4 halves per serving.
- Option to use all chard leaves if you can’t find really large lettuce leaves as this is easier to roll.
- Storage: Best Fresh
Notes
Nutrition
About Brenda
Brenda Bennett is a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, certified Sugar Detox Coach, certified Keto Coach and certified Life Coach. She has been Sugar Free & Refined carb free for 17 years and has written 2 cookbooks, Sugar-Free Mom, and Naturally Keto and her 3rd book The 30-Day Sugar Elimination Diet, is a four part program to help you detox from sugar, eliminate cravings, balance blood sugar and lose weight all while eating a delicious, nutrient dense whole foods. Meal plan offers two tracks to follow, low carb or keto. She is the founder of the Sugar Free Fresh Start course and Sugar Free Tribe weight loss membership. Learn more.
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