Jump to Recipe

These Saucy Southwestern Lettuce Wraps are so flavorful and fun to eat. Swapping in some crunchy, cool Romaine lettuce leaves for the more standard tortillas helps cut calories and carbs, but it’s also a nice way to change up your dinner routine. Finding ways to make dinnertime more interesting is what we’re all about here at MKL. Read on for a few tips and ingredient swaps, or you can jump ahead to the recipe itself.

Saucy Southwestern Lettuce Wraps

What is Ancho Chili Powder?

One thing worth noting here is the fact that I call for some Ancho Chili Powder in this recipe. Now, you could absolutely use good ole’ chili powder – the regular kind.

But ancho chili powder is the dried and pulverized form of the poblano pepper – my favorite pepper! The powder is slightly smoky and almost sweet. It has a beautiful roasty flavor and is widely available. I think it’s a great spice to have in your arsenal, as it’s wonderful in everything like:

Saucy Southwestern Lettuce Wraps

Alternate ways to serve these Smoky Southwestern Lettuce Wraps

You can really riff on this base recipe until your heart’s content. Play with the type of meat you use! Chicken is great, and so are beef and pork. If you want to take things to a more vegetarian place, use a crumbled meat alternative and veggie stock concentrate instead.

The type of cheese you use is also up to you. I just really enjoy smoked cheddar sometimes, and like to find ways to sneak it into my dinners. I love it on burgers a lot, but it’s also really great in this filling. It melts into the mix and just makes for a crazy tasty bite.

You could serve the cheese on top, along with the salty, garlicky lime cream. But I really like to melt it right into the filling.

Saucy Southwestern Lettuce Wraps
Saucy Southwestern Lettuce Wraps

What You’ll Need to make these Saucy Southwestern Lettuce Wraps

INGREDIENTS

1 to 1.5 lbs. ground meat of your choice

Cooking oil, as needed

Salt and pepper, as needed

2 Anaheim peppers, seeded and diced (long, mild, light green peppers)

1 large yellow onion, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced or grated, divided

2 teaspoons cumin

1.5 tablespoons ancho chili powder (or regular)

1 chipotle in adobo, minced (optional, for spice and smoke)

2 teaspoons chicken or beef stock concentrate

1 cup grated smoked or regular sharp cheddar cheese

1 heart of Romaine lettuce, leaves separated, washed, and dried

â…” cup sour cream

1 lime

Saucy Southwestern Lettuce Wraps

How to make these Southwestern Lettuce Wraps

This is a really easy recipe, y’all. It’s fast and void on unnecessary steps, which we love in our recipes here on My Kitchen Little. I suppose you could even strip away a step and just brown the meat and veggies in the pan together, without even bothering to drain the fat off (fat is tasty, after all). But when I’m cooking a particularly fatty meat (like pork, for example), I typically like to drain some off. But do what you like there!

If you do choose to do what I’ve suggested above, you wouldn’t need to use any cooking oil. The onions, peppers, and spices would cook in the rendered fat. Easy!

DIRECTIONS

  1. Add a small amount of cooking oil to a large skillet over medium-high heat. When it’s good and hot, brown the meat; takes about 5 or 6 minutes. Transfer to a plate for now, draining off any excess fat (if using ground chicken, this won’t be necessary).
  2. Add a little more oil to the pan (a TBSP or so), and with the heat still on med-high, cook the peppers and onion until softened; about 5 minutes. Add â…” of the minced garlic, the cumin, chili powder, chipotle pepper (if using), and the beef stock concentrate. Stir and cook for a minute or so.
  3. Add ¾ cup water and stir to combine, creating a sauce (you can add more water as needed). Add the cheese, stir to melt it in, and taste/ season with salt and pepper to your liking.
  4. In a small bowl, stir together the sour cream, remaining grated garlic, and the juice of ½ the lime. Season with salt and pepper.
  5. Serve the saucy filling in the lettuce cups, topped with some lime cream. 
Saucy Southwestern Lettuce Wraps

If you like the looks of these Saucy Southwestern Lettuce Wraps, you might also enjoy:

Cocoa Curry Pork Shoulder with Frizzled Chickpeas and Dates

Spicy Pork Tacos with Roasted Zucchini

Blak Bean Taquitos with Honey Caramelized Poblanos and Onions

Print

Saucy Southwestern Lettuce Wraps (with smoked cheddar and salted lime cream)

Saucy Southwestern Lettuce Wraps
Print Recipe

An easy, fast meal that boasts great flavor in a short amount of time. The addition of smoked cheddar creates a great smoky note, but feel free to sub whatever cheese you like (regular sharp cheddar, Monterrey Jack, pepper jack, etc).

Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 1 to 1.5 pounds ground meat of your choice
  • Cooking oil, as needed
  • Salt and pepper, as needed
  • 2 Anaheim peppers, seeded and diced (long, mild, light green peppers, poblano can be subbed if you want spicy)
  • 1 large yellow onion, diced
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced or grated, divided
  • 2 teaspoons cumin
  • 1.5 tablespoons ancho chili powder (or regular)
  • 1 chipotle pepper, minced (optional, they’re spicy!)
  • 2 teaspoons chicken or beef stock concentrate
  • 1 cup grated smoked or regular sharp cheddar cheese
  • 1 heart of Romaine lettuce, leaves separated, washed, and dried
  • 2/3 cup sour cream
  • 1 lime
  • Crushed tortilla chips, for topping (optional)

Instructions

  1. Add a small amount of cooking oil to a large skillet over medium-high heat. When it’s good and hot, brown the meat, breaking it up as you do; takes about 5 or 6 minutes. Transfer to a plate for now, draining off any excess fat (for pork or beef; if using ground chicken or turkey, this won’t be necessary).
  2. Add a little more oil to the pan (a TBSP or so), and with the heat still on med-high, cook the peppers and onion until softened; about 5 minutes. Add â…” of the minced garlic, the cumin, chili powder, chipotle pepper (if using), and the beef stock concentrate. Stir and cook for 30 seconds or so.
  3. Add ¾ cup water and stir to combine, creating a sauce (you can add more water as needed). Add the cheese, stir to melt it in, and taste/season with salt and pepper and any additional seasonings as you see fit.
  4. In a small bowl, stir together the sour cream, remaining grated garlic, and the juice of ½ the lime. Season well with salt and pepper.
  5. Serve the saucy, cheesy filling in the lettuce cups, topped with some lime cream and crushed tortilla chips.