Vietnamese meatball lettuce wraps from Milk Street Tuesday Nights: More Than 200 Simple Weeknight Suppers that Deliver Bold Flavor, Fast (page 151) by Christopher Kimball

Ingredients

scallions
grapeseed oil
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Where’s the full recipe - why can I only see the ingredients?

Always check the publication for a full list of ingredients. An Eat Your Books index lists the main ingredients and does not include 'store-cupboard ingredients' (salt, pepper, oil, flour, etc.) - unless called for in significant quantity.

Notes about this recipe

jamiemiller on June 03, 2026

Baked at 400 for 10 min then broiled for 2 min. Only made through the meatballs.
Shewi128 on March 26, 2026

We loved this. We added a little bit of rice within the lettuce wraps to help absorb some of the sauce. I also don't add as much fish sauce as recommended, so I did 2 TB fish sauce and 1 TB soy sauce in the chile sauce. When we were eating this, we said, "why would we pay to go out to eat when we make food this good?"
Soulkitchenjen on January 05, 2026

So good and so easy. The meatballs will barely be ball shaped. Don’t try too hard. Quick and easy.
thefritschkitchen on June 29, 2025

Whole family loved this. Definitely double the meat - need two pounds of pork. Baked at 425 for 20-25 minutes, then finished with a 3 minute broil. Ran out of fish sauce, had to substitute soy sauce (it worked, but full fish sauce obviously better!)
rhb on December 24, 2024

Great meatballs! Shaped with oiled hands and put on parchment for the fridge. Baked in oven, re convection at 375 degrees for 10+ minutes then broil for abut 2 minutes.
averythingcooks on August 25, 2024

I made these meatballs for last night's glazed meatball, veg & noodle bowls. They were good but certainly not the best I've made. I started them in a 425 oven then finished them in the pan with the simmering glaze. I'm sometimes leery of too much fish sauce but it does work nicely here with Thai basil (replacing the cilantro) & the sugar.
stockholm28 on December 12, 2021

I liked these, but I prefer the meatballs from Diva Cooking. Next time I will combine parts of both of these recipes. I like the carrots and nuoc mam from the Milk Street recipe.
ksg518 on June 01, 2021

Very good. I didn't have the chiles and I think they could have used the heat. Next time I'll follow Zosia's idea of broiling them to avoid splatter all over my cooktop. They are a little awkward to eat but perhaps my lettuce leaves weren't as big as they should have been.
Zosia on October 22, 2020

These had great flavour and the meatballs were wonderfully tender. I broiled rather than fry them and included julienned cucumber with the carrots but otherwise made the recipe as written.
angrygreycat on January 19, 2019

These were delicious - the fish sauce really adds a lot of flavor to the ground pork. The variety of textures was excellent with the spongy texture of the meatballs and the crisp fresh lettuce and then the dressed shredded carrots. The only negative is that it is not really easy to eat. To wrap three meatballs up in lettuce and then pick up to eat like other lettuce wraps was a little challenging. Perhaps make meatballs smaller next time or my daughter suggested placing the whole thing inside of a tortilla to hold it together.