Cooking with Sprouts Founder: Thai Larb Recipe - Sprouts Chef Training (2024)

Cook With Sprouts Founder: Thai Larb Recipe

Cooking with Sprouts Founder: Thai Larb Recipe - Sprouts Chef Training (1)

What is Thai Larb?

Thai Larb, also known as Laab or Larp, is a popular dish in Thailand and is a versatile and flavorful dish made with ground meat, herbs, and spices. It can be served as a salad or in bite-sized lettuce cups, known as larb bites, for a delicious appetizer. This dish is a perfect blend of sweet, spicy, salty, and sour flavors that makes your taste buds dance.

Here is a Thai Larb recipe that you can easily prepare at home:

Thai Larb salad is probably one of the easiest and tastiest Thai dishes to make. A ground beef dish that originated from Northern Thailand. The larb is sweet from the natural taste of beef and the sugar, yet slightly tart from the lime and fish sauce. The cilantro, mint, ginger and green onion mix adds a freshness and clean taste to the dish.

Your Instructors

In this video, you’ll cook with Kate Rogers, founder of Sprouts Chef Training, and Mikey, a Sprouts Chef Training graduate. Sprouts is a 501(c)(3) charity equipping youth like Mikey to rise from hardship through culinary training and job placement.

Learn More | Read Mikey’s Story

Recipe for Thai Larb

Ingredients

Meat:
1 lb ground beef (or ground chicken, turkey, tofu, etc.)
3 garlic cloves minced

Produce:
4 tbsp lime juice
3 green onion stalks minced
¼ cup green onions minced
¼ cup mint minced
¼ cup ginger minced
¼ cup cilantro minced

Pantry:
Honey
4 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp thai chili, minced
4 tbsp water

Wrap:
Lettuce
Rice


Step-By-Step

First, put the ground beef and garlic in a non-stick pan and brown. You can add some coconut oil, but there’s not much need to add extra oil because there’s enough fat in the ground beef itself. On medium flame, flatten the beef out into a pancake shape. Toss and stir with a spatula as needed, optionally adding a touch of honey. When the beef is evenly browned, it is ready. This takes about 5-10 minutes, depending on your stove.

Next, create the sauce by whisking together 4 tbsp fish sauce, 4 tbsp lime juice, 4 tbsp water, and the thai chili. Then, add in the green onions, mint, ginger, and cilantro, whisking to combine. Add in the cooked beef and stir evenly.

Finally, to assemble the wrap, add a couple tablespoons of rice as a base, then spoon the larb on top. Garnish with extra mint, and green onions, and enjoy! Quick, simple, extremely delicious Thai Larb Lettuce Wraps that are ready in less than 30 minutes!

Don’t Be Afraid To Experiment!

This Thai Larb recipe is perfect for a quick and easy weeknight meal or as a party appetizer. It’s also a great way to experiment with different proteins, herbs, and spices to create your unique twist on the traditional Thai Larb dish.

For an extra crunch, add some toasted almonds or peanuts to your larb. Swap out the beef we used here with ground chicken, turkey, and even tofu.

Don’t be afraid to experiment! After all, it’s hard to go wrong with mint, cilantro, ginger, and green onion.

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Cooking with Sprouts Founder: Thai Larb Recipe - Sprouts Chef Training (2)
Cooking with Sprouts Founder: Thai Larb Recipe - Sprouts Chef Training (2024)

FAQs

Where did Larb come from? ›

While typically perceived as Thai, larb actually originated in Laos — where it is largely considered the national dish! Over time, the dish migrated and became popular in Thailand. Today, the dish is regional to both Laos and Isan, the northeastern region of Thailand.

What does larb mean in English? ›

Meaning of larb in English

a meat salad often made with ground pork (= the meat from a pig) and common in southeast Asian cooking: I was served larb, a spicy minced pork salad, with mint and cilantro on radicchio lettuce leaves. In certain parts of Thailand the leaf is eaten with raw beef larb.

What are some ingredients of Thai larb? ›

larb Isan is known for its robust spiciness. Minced meat is usually seasoned with lime juice, fish sauce, chilli powder, grounded roasted rice, shallots, and spring onions. Some recipes also include coriander and mint leaves.

What is the difference between larb and laap? ›

Laap is the way you handle the produce. Larb means that the dish is chopped. Chopped to the max. And how you add flavor to these chopped creations varies vastly from region to region.

Why does larb smell? ›

Why? Authentic larb gai is made with padaek which is a fermented fish made into a thick fish sauce. Fermented fish is what makes larb smell. If you can't get over the smell, this is one of the ingredients that can be omitted from the recipe without any substitutions.

Where did Thai street food come from? ›

History. Floating market in Thailand offers a selection of fruits and food. Although street food culture is well established in Thailand today, it is a relatively new phenomenon that grew out of the ethnic Chinese enclaves of Bangkok and only became commonplace in the 1970s.

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