Korean Beef Lettuce Wraps (Ssam)
Ssam literally means “wrapped”, and in Korean cuisine it usually refers to meats wrapped in leafy vegetables. This recipe involves slow cooking beef on a low temperature until beautifully tender, and wrapping into fresh leafy lettuce wraps.

For this recipe we use braising steak cut into small strips, but you could use any cut of your choice. We recommend browning the beef first in a pan with some hot sesame oil -it locks in the rich beef flavour and adds some extra colour. It will really only need a couple of minutes at most.
The rest of the ingredients are designed to balance sweet, spicy and umami flavours. After slow cooking, serve in fresh lettuce wraps and enjoy.

Slow Cooker Korean Beef Lettuce Wraps (Ssam)
Equipment
- Slow Cooker
- Frying Pan
Ingredients
- 800 g Beef braising steak Cut into small strips
- 2 tbsp Sesame oil
- 4 tsbp Honey
- 2 tbsp Rice Vinegar
- 3 tbsp Light soy sauce
- 3 tbsp Brown sugar
- 2 cloves garlic
- 30 g Red chilli peppers 1-2 chillies, finely chopped
- 200 g Iceberg or romaine lettuce For the wraps
Instructions
- Cut the beef into small strips. Add the sesame oil in to a high heat pan and brown the beef for 4-5 minutes. Do this in batches if needed.
- Add all other ingredients to the slow cooker (minus the lettuce) and stir well.
- Cook for 7-8 hours on low.
- Stuff the beef in lettuce wraps and enjoy. Add extra toppings of your choice, such as sesame seeds, fresh chilies or sriracha sauce.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition note
Nutrition calculations only account for the ingredients stated in the slow cooker recipe. Serving suggestions such as rice and potatoes are not included. Remember to account for the nutritional values of anything you choose to accompany the recipe with.
Why not try?
Want a slow cooked beef recipe, but don’t fancy this one? Then take a look at all of our beef recipes here. Or for all our recipes, use our recipe finder to narrow down a recipe choice!
You can also check out our YouTube page for all of our video recipes, including some longer form follow-along recipe videos.