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Spicy Larb with Cabbage Cups

Image may contain Plant Food Produce Lentil Bean Vegetable Dish and Meal
Photo by Stephen Kent Johnson, Food Styling by Rebecca Jurkevich, Prop Styling by Kalen Kaminski

Larb will not only fill your belly, it will teach you how to balance sweet, sour, salty, spicy, funky, and umami flavors. Larb hails from Laos and gets its addictiveness from the way it stitches together ground meat and crunchy, juicy textures. When you get the balance right, this dish sings, each bite creating a craving for more.

Ingredients

4 servings

½

cup raw skin-on peanuts

2

Tbsp. vegetable oil

4

garlic cloves, crushed

1

lb. ground pork, beef, or lamb

Kosher salt

1

large shallot, thinly sliced into rings

5

scallions, thinly sliced

4

red or green Thai chiles, thinly sliced

1

lemongrass stalk, bottom third only, tough outer layers removed, thinly sliced

2

Tbsp. fresh lime juice

1

Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. fish sauce

1

cup torn mint leaves

¼

head of green cabbage, halved crosswise, leaves separated

Cooked short-grain rice and lime wedges (for serving)

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Preheat oven to 350°. Toast peanuts on a rimmed baking sheet, tossing halfway through, until skins are slightly darkened and nuts are golden brown, 6–8 minutes. Let cool, then coarsely chop or crush into small pieces.

    Step 2

    Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high until shimmering. Add garlic and cook, smashing down on cloves to break into smaller pieces with a wooden spoon, until some parts are golden brown, about 3 minutes. Push garlic to one side of pan, then add pork and a pinch of salt to the other side. Cook, smashing and stirring pork and garlic together, until no clumps remain and meat is no longer pink, about 4 minutes. Be careful not to overcook; as soon as you can’t see any pink, remove from heat. Mix in shallot, scallions, chiles, lemongrass, lime juice, fish sauce, and half of peanuts. Let larb cool slightly, then stir in mint. Taste and season with more salt if needed.

    Step 3

    Transfer larb to a large bowl. Serve with cabbage, rice, lime wedges, and remaining peanuts.

    Read More: The 29 New Essential Recipes from the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen

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  • This is a favorite "go to" for a quick, healthy, and super tasty dinner! I usually use ground turkey, and just chop up the cabbage into thin slices and toss it in at the end of cooking. It's a crowd pleaser!

    • Magnolia Mer

    • Seattle, WA

    • 10/6/2021

  • Really good with ground chicken. I have made it many times and use Serrano chiles as they are easier to find in the Southwest. I love this as a FAST healthier alternative to takeout.

    • New mexico

    • 7/19/2020

  • Excellent. Doubled the recipe, added toasted rice powder and a bunch of red pepper flakes + more fish sauce. Tasted exactly how it should and came together in under 30 minutes.

    • SrAsparagus

    • Oakland, CA

    • 4/7/2020

  • This is so yummy! I make a boiled style of larb as well, this one is a bit cozier and richer, but they both have their place. For me, I like to add some cilantro and a little toasted rice powder; but the recipe is great as is. Good in cabbage or lettuce.

    • Anonymous

    • NYC

    • 1/23/2020

  • We raise lamb and I'm always looking for great ways to prepare it. This larb recipe was indeed easy and very very tasty. We'll use our precious ground lamb on this again! I think it needs more saltiness and I didn't have hot enough peppers on hand. I had softball-sized tiny cabbages from the cabbage plants in the garden that just kept producing, these provided super cute bright purple cups.

    • Jill Pridgeon

    • Newport OR

    • 10/29/2019

  • Delicious and easy. Used Chicken for health reasons, but would rather have used lamb. Still yummy.

    • Anonymous

    • Seattle

    • 10/7/2019

  • Wowee! This is an amazing dish! I combined the mushroom recipe with this one using ground pork and was pleasantly surprised. I can't believe how easy it is. Definitely adding this into our dinner rotation. Thanks BA! 👍😍

    • thekiku

    • San Diego, CA

    • 5/20/2019

  • Delicious, and quick enough for a weeknight. If you're a fish sauce fan like I am, give it a taste before serving -- you may even want to add extra :) A keeper!

    • Anonymous

    • California

    • 5/16/2019

  • So so good, and so easy! For those of you that are uneasy with fish sauce, it tastes great with soy sauce too.

    • Anonymous

    • san diego

    • 1/16/2019

  • Holy shizzzzz. This recipe is 100% a keeper. I sprung for some really good quality ground lamb, and it was so incredibly tasty. I left out the lemongrass since I spent all my pennies on the lamb and didn't even miss it, but I will add it next time because I'm definitely making it again.

    • kenzieforrest

    • ohio

    • 8/24/2018