Thai Beef Meatball Lettuce Cups
- 20 mintotal time
- $3.49£2.42a serving
- 651603calories
- 2932 gprotein
Serves 4; price is an estimate. Dinner Plan is a paid weekly plan for your household and budget. You see your week before you pay.
Fish sauce and garlic beef meatballs in crisp lettuce cups with rice noodles, carrot and a sweet lime dip.
Ingredients
Serves 4.
- 1 lb ground beef (80/20)
- 1 oz panko breadcrumbs
- ½ bunch green onions, finely sliced
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 8 oz flat rice noodles
- 2 limes
- 1 iceberg lettuce
- 5 oz carrots
- ¼ bunch cilantro
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
Contains: wheat (gluten), fish, soy. Check the label: milk. Always read the labels if you cook for someone with an allergy.
Method
- Put the kettle on and heat the air fryer to 400°F. In a bowl, mix the ground beef, panko, half the green onions, the garlic powder, 1 tablespoon of the fish sauce and the soy sauce with a fork until well combined.
- Roll into 12 balls and put them in the air fryer basket in a single layer, then wash your hands in hot, soapy water. Brush with the vegetable oil and air-fry for 10–12 minutes, shaking halfway, until browned and cooked through with no pink inside (160°F).
- Meanwhile, soak the rice noodles in a bowl of just-boiled water for 6–8 minutes until tender, then drain well. Mix the brown sugar, the juice of the lime, the rest of the fish sauce and 3 tablespoons of water until the sugar dissolves.
- Separate the leaves of the lettuce into cups and coarsely grate the carrots.
- Fill the lettuce cups with noodles, carrot and a meatball or two, scatter with the rest of the green onions and the cilantro leaves, and spoon over the lime dip.
Leftovers: Cooked meatballs keep in the fridge for 2 days; reheat until piping hot and assemble the cups fresh.
Ingredients
Serves 4.
- 500 g beef mince (20% fat)
- 30 g panko breadcrumbs
- ½ bunch spring onions, finely sliced
- 25 ml fish sauce
- 250 g flat rice noodles
- 2 limes
- 1 iceberg lettuce
- 150 g carrots
- ¼ bunch coriander
- ½ tsp garlic granules
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp soft brown sugar
Contains: gluten, fish, soya. Check the label: milk. Always read the labels if you cook for someone with an allergy.
Method
- Put the kettle on and heat the air fryer to 200°C. In a bowl, mix the beef mince, panko, half the spring onions, the garlic granules, 1 tablespoon of the fish sauce and the soy sauce with a fork until well combined.
- Roll into 12 balls and put them in the air fryer basket in a single layer, then wash your hands in hot, soapy water. Brush with the vegetable oil and air-fry for 10–12 minutes, shaking halfway, until browned and cooked through with no pink inside (71°C).
- Meanwhile, soak the rice noodles in a bowl of just-boiled water for 6–8 minutes until tender, then drain well. Mix the soft brown sugar, the juice of the lime, the rest of the fish sauce and 3 tablespoons of water until the sugar dissolves.
- Separate the leaves of the lettuce into cups and coarsely grate the carrots.
- Fill the lettuce cups with noodles, carrot and a meatball or two, scatter with the rest of the spring onions and the coriander leaves, and spoon over the lime dip.
Leftovers: Cooked meatballs keep in the fridge for 2 days; reheat until piping hot and assemble the cups fresh.
Nutrition per serving
| Calories | 651 |
|---|---|
| Protein | 29 g |
| Carbohydrate | 69 g |
| Fat | 28 g |
| Fiber | 5 g |
| Sodium | 1218 mg |
| Calories | 603 |
|---|---|
| Protein | 32 g |
| Carbohydrate | 64 g |
| Fat | 24 g |
| Fibre | 6 g |
| Sodium | 1218 mg |
Worked out from the ingredients, 422 g a serving; optional extras and salt to taste aren't counted. US and UK values differ a little because each uses that country's food data and products. US values from USDA FoodData Central.UK values from McCance and Widdowson's Composition of Foods Integrated Dataset 2021, under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
What it costs
About $3.49 a serving in the US (range $2.67–$4.63) and £2.42 in the UK (range £1.85–£3.20). That's the share of each ingredient this recipe uses; basics like oil, salt and spices aren't counted.
Prices are estimates. Item prices come from public price data where available (US: Bureau of Labor Statistics and USDA; UK: Office for National Statistics). Where that data has no match, we use our own estimate. Ranges set using Open Prices data (Open Food Facts, ODbL). Prices as of October 2026. How we estimate
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