Quick & Easy Grilled Beef Lettuce Wraps with Yogurt Garlic Sauce
Imagine biting into a tender grilled beef patty with delicious Greek flavors wrapped in fresh, crisp lettuce. Now, imagine you can do that in just 30 minutes with these grilled beef lettuce wraps! Easy to make and incredibly satisfying beef patties are flavored with feta cheese, garlic, and oregano, and topped with a tangy yogurt garlic sauce. With options to bake the patties and serve them wrapped in pita for a change, you can make these any time of the year!
Just one more quick healthy recipe to make dinnertime easier!
It’s easy to notice around here that I love foods with classic Greek flavors. Whether it’s pasta salad, shrimp orzo, pizza, classic Greek salad, or more salads I’ve always been a believer that feta, garlic, lemon, and oregano make so many things better.
And I even fell more in love with Greece and these wonderful flavors after our wonderful trip, if you can believe it.
While we were in Greece we were often served Greek bifteki, a small beef oval-shaped patty, mostly served baked with a sauce. They were delicious with a flavor that was different from beef patties at home.
I was given a lovely recipe for traditional bifteki made with bread crumbs, similar to meat loaf, which I adapted to be firmer and hold up easier to being shaped and grilled.
The result are these Greek style patties (vs. classic bifteki) that include the classic Greek flavors of oregano, mint, onion, garlic – and than add feta with all beef like a grilled burger.
Wrapped in lettuce (or pita – your choice, really) and drizzled with a tangy yogurt-garlic sauce, it’s a quick meal that the whole family will enjoy – it’s SO good.
If you’d like to use a traditional tzatziki sauce you can add grated cucumbers to the sauce, I’m not a fan of cucumbers so I leave them out. (TIP: we never saw chopped cucumbers in any tzatziki during our travels – only grated).
Ingredients
You’ll need the following ingredients to make these beef lettuce wraps:
Ingredient Notes & Substitutions
- Ground beef: while this is classic with beef, you can use any ground meat.
- Feta cheese: I love the flavor this imparts to the patties, but leave it out if you’d prefer. You can also substitute with grated parmesan for a different flavor profile.
- Fresh mint: again this a classic Greek flavor, but if you don’t have it you can leave it out or use a teaspoon of dried mint.
- Parsley: Use either fresh or dried if you don’t have access to fresh.
- Yogurt: thicker Greek yogurt is preferred, but I’ve made this sauce many times with regular yogurt, so use any plain yogurt you have.
- Lettuce: Use any type of lettuce that has large leaves that you can wrap the patties in.
How to Make Beef Lettuce Wraps – Grill or Bake
Here are a few helpful visual instructions to this 30 minute meal – the full instructions with exact ingredients can be found in the printable recipe card below.
Step 1: Make the sauce. Mix up the yogurt garlic sauce first so it has a chance to allow the flavors to develop while you’re making the patties.
Step 2: Mix up the beef ingredients. Here’s a quick tip to make similar size patties: Mix patty ingredients well in a bowl and then flatten mixture evenly in bowl. Use a knife to evenly separate beef mixture into 8-10 sections.
Step 3: Shape into patties. Use a spatula to remove one section of meat mixture at a time to shape into small oval patties. Set the shaped patties on a lined baking sheet. Cook right away or keep in fridge for a few hours before cooking.
Step 4: Grill or bake. Grill over medium heat for 3-4 minutes each side or until desired doneness. As an option, you can bake the patties on the lined tray at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until an instant read thermometer reads 150-160.
Step 5: Assemble the wraps. Serve the patties on individual lettuce leaves and drizzle with the yogurt sauce.
As an alternative, you can wrap the patties with chopped lettuce inside a flat pita and then add the sauce.
Storage and Reheating
- Store uncooked patties in the fridge for up to a day, covered, before cooking.
- Store cooked patties in airtight containers for 4-5 days (a great meal prep idea). Reheat in a microwave, toaster oven, or air fryer.
- Cooked patties can be frozen in ziplock freezer bags for up to four months. Thaw and reheat in a microwave for a minute or air fryer for 3-5 minutes.
Grilling the feta cheese into the beef along with the other seasonings is what sets this recipe apart, in my opinion. However, if you don’t have feta, you can leave it out and you’ll still have great grilled beef for lettuce wraps or pita wraps. As with all my recipes, make this work for you!
What to serve with beef lettuce wraps
Hummus and cut vegetables would be a perfect accompaniment, along with pita bread. Of course, if we were really in Greece you’d also be served a plate of French fries (they serve them with everything!).
More 30 Minute or Less Recipes To Try
- Sriracha Beef and Vegetable Rice Bowls
- Chicken Lime Lettuce Wraps – a 10 Minute Meal
- No Bake Greek Nachos (15 Minute Recipe)
I hope you love these Greek beef patties as much as we do! If you make them, be sure to leave a recipe rating and review so I know how you liked it!
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Quick & Easy Grilled Beef Lettuce Wraps with Yogurt Garlic Sauce
Ingredients
Yogurt Garlic Sauce:
- 3/4 cup yogurt, Greek or regular
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon fresh chopped dill or 1/4 teaspoon dried
- 1/2 teaspoon salt to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Beef Lettuce Wraps:
- 1 pound ground beef*
- 1 small onion, grated
- 4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley or 1 teaspoon dried
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons chopped mint
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 8 large lettuce leaves (or flat pita bread variation)
Instructions
- Prepare sauce by mixing all ingredients in a small bowl, stirring to blend well. Taste to adjust salt and pepper if needed. Set aside in refrigerator.
- Mix beef and remaining ingredients except lettuce leaves in a medium bowl. Press into bowl and use a knife to divide the mixture evenly into 8 parts (divide mixture in half first, then in half again, and so on to make the patties similar sizes).
- Remove one of the portions in the bowl, shape into a small oval patty and set on lined baking sheet. Repeat with remaining meat portions. TIP: The patties can be made a few hours (or up to a day) in advance and kept in the refrigerator until needed.
Grill:
- Heat a grill to medium-high and cook patties until done, about 3-4 minutes each side or until an instant read thermometer reaches 150-160 degrees (or to your desired doneness).
Bake Option:
- Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place lined baking sheet of patties into hot oven and cook for 20 minutes, or until thermometer reads 150-160 degrees.
- Assemble: Place each patty in a lettuce leaf* and drizzle with yogurt garlic sauce. Serve immediately with remaining sauce.
Notes
- Substitute ground turkey, chicken, or pork for the beef.
- Wrap in flat pita bread with chopped lettuce inside, drizzled with the sauce.
- Store uncooked patties in the fridge for up to a day, covered, before cooking.
- Store cooked patties in airtight containers for 4-5 days (a great meal prep idea). Reheat in a microwave, toaster oven, or air fryer.
- Cooked patties can be frozen in ziplock freezer bags for up to four months. Thaw and reheat in a microwave for a minute or air fryer for 3-5 minutes.
Nutrition
This recipe has been updated – it was first published in 2015.
I made this when you first posted it a number of years ago and just looked it up again. I made it with ground lamb this time. Great recipe. Made a tzatziki (similar to your recipe but with grated cukes). Yum
Oh, I bet they were good with lamb!
(Yes, I don’t like cucumbers so my sauces are always “garlic-yogurt” sauces.😂)
Tried your Greek Beef Lettuce Wraps tonight and they were delicious. Kind thanks for sharing your recipe.
So glad you gave these a try, Connie – thanks for the review!
Hi Jamie, this sounds delicious & I plan to make these soon. Some time ago you talked about painting woodwork and found just the right color or shade of white that worked out so well for you. I was going to remember the color and brand but somehow I have misplaced my notes. If you still remember would you let me know what the color was & where to purchase. I am about to do a little redecorating & my woodwork needs help. Thanks, Betty
Right now I’m loving Benjamin Moore’s “Simply White” and plan to use it all over in the farmhouse. 🙂
This sounds tasty! We just tired geek food for the first time this year and loved it so can’t wait to give this recipe a go! 🙂
Well, this is my version, but definitely inspired by the food we ate in Greece, so I hope you guys like it!
These sound amazing! I love that you can grill them and that they’re not overly crumbly like meatloaf. I think I’ll try making these very soon! Pinned.
Yeah – that’s what I was going for, Malia, it’s so fun to grill them and then wrap them and eat them with the yummy sauce. 🙂
Jami, my husband loves Greek food so I am definitely going to try and make this. Thanks so much for sharing your recipe:). Take care, Tara
I hope you guys like them as much as we do, Tara!