Fast and flavorful, Turkish Lamb Wraps are a simple weeknight dinner made with savory ground lamb infused with Turkish spices and ready in under 30 minutes! GF-adaptable.
Here’s a very simple, flavorful meal made with ground lamb- Turkish Lamb Wraps! This weeknight dinner is fast and easy, with bold flavors. If you are feeling ambitious, you could make manoushe (Lebanese flatbread) and use it as the wrap, as we do in our Halloumi Wrap!
For this recipe, I am partnering with American Lamb to create a quick and easy recipe for all the working parents out there. This time of year can often be hectic, so here’s a flavorful, wholesome dinner that’s on the table in under 30 minutes.
Ground lamb is not only full of flavor, but it’s also time-saving in the kitchen because it cooks up so quickly. I always like to have a package of ground lamb on hand in the freezer, using it like I would ground beef or ground turkey. Also, check your local farmers’ market - always the best option!
Why you’ll love these Lamb Wraps!
Rich with flavor. Made with savory ground lamb generously seasoned with Turkish spices and fresh mint, a slathering of labneh (or yogurt), and topped with crunchy cucumbers and end-of-summer tomatoes.
Quick and easy. Made with simple, familiar ingredients and ready in 30 minutes or less!
Makes great use of seasonal ingredients. I love making this wrap in late summer when tomatoes are at their best, and I can use fresh ingredients (cucumber, herbs, onions, lettuce) from the farmers’ market. If available, pick up your ground lamb at the farmers’ market, too!
Lamb wrap recipe Ingredients
- Ground lamb: Using lamb helps make this an easy meal, as it cooks up more quickly than other ground meats. One pound of ground lamb will make four lamb wraps.
- Onion and garlic cloves: Add aromatic flavor to the lamb.
- Spices: Cumin seeds (or ground cumin), ground coriander, sumac, cinnamon, chili flakes (urfa biber), and salt.
- Tomato paste: For savory flavor and depth.
- Tortillas or wraps: We also like this wrap with thin pita bread or our Lebanese flatbread, manoushe. Feel free to use gluten-free wraps!
- Labneh: Or use plain Greek yogurt, Tzatziki, Tahini Yogurt Sauce, or hummus.
- Veggies: Diced tomatoes (or halved cherry tomatoes) or sliced radishes, diced cucumber, and thinly sliced onion.
- Fresh herbs: Use fresh mint or parsley in the meat mixture, plus reserve fresh leaves for the wrap. You may also want to add scallions.
- Greens: Arugula, spinach, or watercress work best!
What Kind of Lamb is Best for Wraps?
Ground lamb cooks up quickly and is the easiest to eat! It’s also easy to add flavor with onion, garlic, spices, and herbs. However, you could change it up and try this with our Lamb Shawarma or Grilled Lamb Kofta if desired.
How to make Lamb Wraps
1. Brown the lamb and sauté the onion. Sear the ground lamb and onion in a cast-iron skillet, breaking it apart with a metal spatula. Add the garlic and the flavorful spices: sumac, cumin seeds, cinnamon, and fresh mint. Cook for about 15 minutes.
2. Prep the wrap ingredients. While the lamb is searing, prep the wrap ingredients.
3. Add tomato paste and water to the lamb mixture. Add a little tomato paste and a splash of water, stirring well to combine.
4. Heat the tortillas. Heat a large tortilla over a gas flame directly on the stovetop or warm it in a microwave.
5. Assemble the lamb wraps. Lather each wrap with labneh (or Greek yogurt, Tzatziki, Tahini Yogurt Sauce, or hummus), and top with the seasoned lamb.
6. Add toppings. Layer with the cucumbers, tomatoes, herbs, and peppery watercress (or arugula or spinach). If you like heat, sprinkle with chili flakes - Urfa Biber (Turkish chili flakes) is especially nice here.
7. Roll and serve. Roll up the Turkish Lamb Wraps and cut in half. You could also stuff this in pita bread or manoushe if you prefer. Drizzle with your favorite tahini sauce!
A simple, easy, and fast meal perfect for busy weeknights!
More Toppings Ideas
- Pickled onions
- Feta
- Zhoug
- Beet Tzatziki
- Tahini Yogurt Sauce
- Fresh lemon juice
- Fresh dill
Chef’s Tips
- For even more flavor, double up on each of the spices!
- If you are sensitive to red onion, soak the thin slices in cold, salted water for 15 minutes, then drain. This dilutes some of the sharp, pungent flavor.
- Don’t skip the mint! The fresh mint really makes this, so don’t leave this out.
- Meal prep: Make the lamb filling on Sunday for quick assembly during the week. Reheat the filling and assemble the wraps.
Serving Suggestions
Serve Lamb wraps with a light, refreshing salad or vegetable side.
- Lebanese Slaw
- Tabouli Salad (Tabbouleh)
- Egyptian Okra
- Lemony Quinoa Chickpea Salad
- Farro Tabbouleh Salad
- Couscous
Storage
Store leftover lamb filling in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Reheat on the stovetop.
Hungry for more? Check out all of our Easy Weeknight Dinner Recipes!
More Favorite Lamb Recipes
- Turkey Zucchini Meatballs
- Halloumi Wrap
- Thai Larb Salad
- Homemade Gyro Recipe
- Grilled Chicken Shawarma Salad
- Turkish Eggs
After you try this Turkish Lamb Wrap recipe, let us know how it turns out in the comments below. Your review will help other readers, too! Sign up here to join our community and receive our latest recipes and weekly newsletter! xoxo Sylvia
Turkish Lamb Wrap Recipe
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 20
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: sandwiches, wraps
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: American, Turkish
Description
Fast and flavorful, Turkish Lamb Wraps are made with savory ground lamb seasoned with flavorful Turkish spices, wrapped up in a tortilla with labneh, cucumbers, tomatoes, mint, parsley and peppery watercress. A simple weeknight dinner that can be made in under 30 minutes.
Ingredients
Lamb filling:
- 1 lb ground lamb
- 1 onion, diced
- 4 garlic cloves, rough chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds (or ground)
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon sumac
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon chili flakes or urfa biber
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1/4 cup chopped mint (or sub parsley)
Turkish Wraps
- 4 large tortillas, wraps or thin pita bread
- 1 cup labneh , plain greek yogurt or Tzatziki
- 1 cup diced tomatoes (or sliced radishes)
- 1 cup diced cucumber
- 1/2 cup very thinly sliced onion
- 1/2 cup chopped parsley (or sub mint and scallions)
- 1–2 cups greens ( arugula, spinach, watercress)
Instructions
- Make the lamb filling: Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Add lamb and onion. Using a metal spatula (easiest), break lamb apart into little bits, and cook for 5 minutes until lightly browned. Add the garlic and salt and continue browning until the lamb releases all it's moisture and fat, and begins to brown, about 5-7 more minutes. Drain the fat.
- Add the cumin seeds, sumac, cinnamon, optional chili flakes and saute 2 more minutes. Add the tomato paste and water, incorporating it into the lamb. Stir in the chopped mint.
- Taste, and adjust salt, spices and heat level to your liking.
- Assemble the wraps: Lather 4 large wraps ( fee free to warm them first) with labneh, divide and top with the lamb filling, add the tomatoes and, cucumbers, (sprinkle them with a pinch of salt), red onion, parsley, mint and peppery greens. Roll them up and cut them in half.
Notes
Lamb filling can be made ahead, refrigerated, and reheated.
Use GF wraps if needed or serve over basmati rice.
For even more flavor, double the spices.
If you are sensitive to red onion, soak in cold, salted water for 15 minutes while you make the wrap. Drain.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 595
- Sugar: 8.7 g
- Sodium: 1289.1 mg
- Fat: 33.7 g
- Saturated Fat: 13.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 41.6 g
- Fiber: 2.6 g
- Protein: 32 g
- Cholesterol: 92.2 mg
This was so good and SO easy. Cooking + eating + cleanup was less than an hour. Not many recipes out there you can say that for! It does need a little acid, so we’ll be using pickled red onions and a little lemon next time. This is going to be one of our go tos from now on!!
Great to hear Kate! Really appreciate your review, so helpful!
So so flavorful! The rest of my family says they don’t like lamb…so I didn’t mention what the wrap was made with…and they raved about it! Delish and on my list!
Perfect Mary, glad all enjoyed!
Yum, yum, yummy! This dish was so flavorful. I loved the addition of all the fresh greens and herbs; so healthy and clean. I used microgreens instead of arugula and watercress. Next time, I’m going to try making this as a bowl with rice in place of pita bread. Thank you!
Great to hear, super helpful review Melissa!
Delious! I used frozen lamb mince and then added a tin of mashed chickpeas to add extra fibre. A quick, tasty meal that I could make from the freezer and store cupboard!
Perfect Ali! Appreciate you circling back to review!
I made this with ground turkey and it was delicious! I did amp up the spices a little bit as turkey has less flavor than lamb, and added a little extra tomato paste and water. Excellent results and glad I made a full batch; the leftovers will be so tasty!
Oh good! Glad you made it work Cheryl. Thanks much for the review!
Hello, just wondering if anyone has tried making these wraps ahead of time? (like possibly to store in the fridge overnight for lunch the next day? Just wondering if the wrap gets soggy. Thanks in advance!
Hi Sarah, I think it depends on the wraps. Try toasting them a bit first?
We made these with ground chicken and they were so flavorful and amazing! We also made your tzatziki as well, yummy!
Great to hear Natalie!
Amazing! Husband loved it
Great!
This was amazing! My son & hubby agreed as well.
We subbed tzatziki as that’s what we had on hand & parsley for mint. Otherwise made as directed.
All came together quickly too !
Glad you enjoyed this Penelope!
Highly recommend this recipe.
Turkish lamb wraps.
I subsituted beef for lamb bc martins was out, subsitute za’atar instead of sumac, smoked paprika instead of Chilli flakes, and parsley instead of mint. I also put double garlic lol.
It was very delicious. I would like to try it with the sumac and lamb and mint some time. I’d have to order the sumac and the store would have to have the lamb.
Glad you made this work for you! The sumac, lamb and mint are a delicious combo, for sure!
Made this recipe today and added some additional spice. I used 2 tablespoons of Cote D’Azure Morocco spice rub purchased from The Gourmet Warehouse. Love the North African spices. The wraps were delicious with the ground lamb.
Glad you enjoyed Susan!
I confess that your recipes are usually out-of-this world fantastic, and your blog is my go-to site. But I’m sorry to say that this is your first recipe that I’ve found to be somewhat disappointing. We eat a lot of middle eastern foods and found the lamb in this recipe to be way under spiced- I’d probably double or more likely triple the spices. In the absence of labneh we used Greek yogurt which I found to be way too thick. The recipe might lend itself more to a tsaziki-style sauce. Sorry to seem negative because, honestly, your recipes are overwhelmingly fantastic and we love your site! Just being honest in case other may want to adjust the recipe accordingly.
Thanks for your honest feedback Mary- it is always appreciated and we never take offense. this is how we improve the recipes, so we rely on honest feedback- even if it is negative! I’ll have to remake this one. Quick question- did you cut back on anything, or change anything that you can remember, including the salt?
No, I used the spices exactly as indicated and served it with arugula (a good pairing!), garden tomatoes and cucumbers as well as fresh mint and parsley from our garden. That being said, I served the leftovers tonight. I adjusted the remaining lamb to be equal to 3x the spices, served it with tzatziki on whole wheat wraps with garden cherry tomatoes (halved), parsley and arugula. It was excellent! I will definitely make it again with the spice adjustment and tzatziki in place of the plain Greek yogurt.
Fascinating. I too find Sylvia’s recipe’s almost never have to be adjusted. I made this and we really liked it, but now that you mention it, I’m really interested in trying it with a lot more spice, I can imagine how that would be even better. Thanks Mary!
By the way, when I tripled the spices in adjusting the recipe I did NOT increase the salt.
Can this be easily adapted to a slow cooker meal? Flavours look yum!
Great question- I’m not a slow cooker expert, but I’m sure it can be done!
5 stars! I subbed a beef/veal/pork mix, bumped the cinnamon to 1/2 tsp, added a 1/4 tsp black pepper, and used parsley instead of mint. Amazing with the arugula! Can’t wait to try it with lamb.
Perfect, love it Maria!
Made this with ground elk (because I had it) and it was fabulous!! Added extra mint just because, ate it in a collard green because no gluten. 9yo boy approved!
Delicious. I had lamb kebabs planned for tonight, but found this recipe and it was much easier and full of flavor. My family loved them.
I just made these and I will definitely make it again. It is so packed with flavor, delightfully fresh given all the veggies, and deceptively simple to cook. Incredible recipe!
These are Oh So Good!!!!! I had a hard time finding ground lamb, but when I did, I made these right away and they are a huge hit with my family. I loved wrap stuffed with arugula – the flavors are incredible together. So tasty!
Awesome Lisa- I’m so glad you liked these!
Quick, delicious, easy, delicious…did I forget to mention delicious?! It was a hit with everyone. Served it on garlic naan and added zhoug and garlic sauce. Thank you!
Just as delicious every time! Now a staple in our house. Tonight I used a lamb/ground beef mix from our local Middle Eastern grocery store. t cuts the richness of the lamb nicely for those who get overwhelmed by all lamb. Everyone loves it. And I love how quickly it comes together. Thank you! Thank you!
Thanks so much Heather!
Wow. Super tasty, love the flavors here.
Super delicious, healthy, easy, and cheap. And minimal cleanup. Made a vegetarian version for myself with seitan—so great. The little store nearby was out of lamb so I used shaved steak for my husband and he was none the wiser, actually thought it was lamb. I added some lemon zest to the yogurt. The mint makes it special.
Awesome!~
I commented but forgot to rate 😉
I made it last night! So delicious. I doubled the spices in the meat and it was so flavorful. I used whole wheat tortillas and added hummus and tzaziki to the wrap. Paired with a Greek-style salad. So good!!
Awesome Nicole! great to hear!
Yum! So good and easy to make. Everyone loved it