Our PF Chang’s lettuce wraps are a super-easy copycat recipe that’s unbelievably delicious, healthy, and ready in 20 minutes! Great for a quick weeknight meal!
I love Copycat recipes. They’re seriously one of my favorite things out there. Not only are they super yummy, but they also reduce the cost of eating out and allow you to make a restaurant dish healthier and oftentimes tastier.
This copycat recipe is one of the best I’ve found. It tastes just like the original restaurant version while simultaneously allowing you to make the dish fresher, healthier, cheaper, and even more delicious!
This dish is incredibly simple to prepare—it takes just 20 minutes to prepare, making it an ideal option for weeknight dinners. While pf chang’s lettuce wraps recipe is categorized as an appetizer on their menu, these flavorful chicken bundles can easily serve as a satisfying entrée. I enjoy using them in both ways: they make a great appetizer for parties and family gatherings, and can also be a hearty main course for my weeknight meals.
PF Chang’s Lettuce Wraps Ingredients
- Vegetable Oil: Use any neutral-flavored oil.
- Sesame Oil: This oil adds a distinct nutty flavor that is a quintessential flavor in American Chinese food.
- Onion: I use a yellow onion.
- Garlic: Please use fresh garlic.
- The Meat: Ground chicken is my first choice for this recipe. I love the way it tastes in the filling. Fortunately, it’s become relatively easy to find at most supermarkets. If, for some reason, it’s not available in your area, you can always grind your own or chop it very finely.
- Try using ground turkey as a substitute if you want to mix it up. Turkey lettuce wraps will taste significantly different, but really delicious, in another way.
- In my ever-so-humble opinion, chicken and turkey are really the only acceptable meats for this dish. They’re both types of meat that are light and mild—they’ll absorb the flavor of the sauce nicely. Other meats are just too rich to blend in well.
- Truthfully, in this recipe, the chicken is really just a method for consuming the amazing sauce. It’s like a delivery truck for delicious. So don’t worry too much about prepping the chicken “just right.” You don’t need to make it fancy or use crazy spices. Just make up solid ground chicken (or turkey), and let the sauce do the rest.
- Hoisin: This is the key to this excellent sauce mixture. For those who don’t know, hoisin is a sweet Asian sauce with just a tiny bit of a kick. It’s made from fermented soybean paste.
- Soy Sauce: I like to use low-sodium soy sauce to control the overall salt in the dish. If you’d like, you can substitute the soy sauce with tamari or coconut aminos.
- Rice Wine Vinegar: Add the perfect mild acidity. Rice vinegar and rice wine vinegar are the same thing@
- Mirin; This is a rice wine similar to sake. It gives the sauce a subtle, clean, sweet, and salty flavor and helps create a nice complexity.
- Ginger: This is the fresh ginger in your vegetable section. Peel the ginger with the edge of a teaspoon and grate it on a ceramic ginger grater or a microplane.
- Hot Sauce: I use Sriracha. This is an Asian hot sauce with just a wee bit of sweetness. It rounds out the flavor of the sauce, but ironically, it doesn’t really add any “heat” to it when used in the quantity called for in this recipe.
- Water Chestnuts: These add some crunchy texture to the filling with just a little sweetness.
- Green Onion: Adds the perfect mild onion flavor.
- Carrots: This adds a little sweetness and crunch.
- Lettuce: See below,
Recipe Notes For PF Changs Lettuce Wraps
- The Sauce: In this dish, the sauce is king. Without the sweet, slightly spicy sauce mixture that makes this dish what it is, you’d just be eating lettuce and chicken. Not so great. But when you whisk in the wonderful sauce, you get a delicious, satisfying meal that’s an excellent cure for a boring weeknight meal routine. Here’s the trick, though: don’t skimp on the sauce. Period
- The Lettuce: Because lettuce is such a big part of this dish, you’ll want to use the freshest darn lettuce your local grocery store has. I recommend bib or butter lettuce if you can find it. However, even something as simple as romaine lettuce will do as long as you buy it really fresh. Look for small heads of lettuce that have really fresh outer leaves. I found beautiful butter lettuce heads individually packaged at Costco. Fabulously fresh, delicious lettuce at a really great price. These will give you the best end results. Avoid heads with any—any—signs of wilting. Only use iceberg lettuce in a pinch.
- Extra Hoisin Sauce: I like to serve these with a small bowl of extra hoisin.
Cocktail Drinks To Serve With P.F. Chang’s Lettuce Wraps
This is one of my husband’s and my favorite happy hour appetizer. So, if it’s yours too, you just might like the whole happy hour experience and add a cocktail!
My gin and ginger ale is super easy to make and totally refreshing. When the dog days of summer approach and the heat of summer is getting you down, try my strawberry frose!
Planters Punch is the perfect combination of sparkling and sweet, a refreshing summer drink for every gathering! Make it by the glass or pitcher. Speaking of pitcher-sized cocktail recipes, try my Hippie Juice when you’re serving a crowd!
Storing + Freezing + Make-Ahead
- How Long Can You Keep This In The Fridge? Yes, sans lettuce. The leftover filling can be stored in the fridge for 3-4 days.
- Can You Freeze This? Yes, leftovers can be frozen for 2-3 months.
- Make-Ahead Tips: This is so easy to make, but you can go the reheating route.
How To Make PF Chang’s Lettuce Wraps Recipe
-
In a large skillet or pan, add vegetable oil and sesame oil and saute the onion and garlic over medium to medium high heat until they begin to soften. Add chicken and cook, crumbling as it cooks, until it’s browned. Drain off any excess fat.
-
Add hoisin sauce, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, mirin, ginger, Sriracha sauce, and water chestnuts and stir to combine. Continue to cook until heated through, 2-3 minutes. Adjust seasoning. (You may want to add salt or black pepper)
- When ready to serve, spoon about 1/4 cup of chicken mixture into the center of the lettuce leaf. Garnish with green onions and carrots.
More Appetizers To LOVE
- Bisquick Sausage Balls
- Classic Deviled Eggs
- Southern Deviled Eggs
- Baked Jalapeño Poppers
- Bacon Wrapped Smokies
- Crab Stuffed Mushrooms
- Cowboy Queso
- Cheesy Baked Tomatoes
- Crack Dip
- Jalapeño Popper Dip
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PF Chang’s Lettuce Wraps
PF Chang's Lettuce Wraps~this super easy copycat recipe is unbelievably delicious, healthy, and ready in 20 minutes! Great for a quick weeknight meal!
Servings: 4 servings
Ingredients
Filling:
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 cup chopped yellow onion
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 pound ground chicken
- 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon mirin
- 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon Sriracha sauce
- 8 ounces water chestnuts drained and diced
Lettuce and Toppings:
- 6 green onions thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup shredded carrots
- 1 head butter lettuce or romaine
Instructions
- In a 12-inch skillet, add vegetable oil (1 tablespoons), sesame oil (1 tablespoons), and saute the onion (1 cup) and garlic (4 cloves) until they begin to soften. Add chicken (1 pound) and cook, crumbling as it cooks, until it's browned. Drain off any excess fat.
- Add hoisin sauce (1/4 cup), soy sauce (3 tablespoons), rice wine vinegar (1 tablespoon), mirin (1 tablespoon), ginger (1 tablespoon), Sriracha sauce (1/2 teaspoon), and water chestnuts (8 ounces) and stir to combine. Continue to cook, until heated through, 2-3 minutes. Adjust seasoning.
- When ready to serve, spoon about 1/4 cup of filling into the center of the lettuce leaf. Garnish with green onions and carrots.
Fans Also Made:
Notes
- The Meat: Ground chicken is my first choice to use in this recipe. I love the way it tastes in the filling. Fortunately, it’s become relatively easy to find at most supermarkets. If for some reason it’s not available in your area, you can always grind your own or chop very finely chop it.
- Try using turkey as a substitute if you want to mix it up. Turkey lettuce wraps will taste significantly different, but really delicious, in another way.
- In my ever so humble opinion, chicken and turkey are really the only acceptable meats for this dish. They’re both types of meat that are light and mild—they’ll absorb the flavor of the sauce nicely. Other meats are just too rich to blend in well.
- Truthfully, in this recipe, the chicken is really just a method for consuming the amazing sauce. It’s like a delivery truck for delicious. So don’t worry too much about prepping the chicken “just right.” You don’t need to make it fancy or use crazy spices. Just make up solid ground chicken (or turkey), and let the sauce do the rest.
- The Sauce: In this dish, the sauce is king. No joke! Without the sweet, slightly spicy sauce mixture that makes this dish what it is, you’d just be eating lettuce and chicken. Not so great. But, with the wonderful sauce, you get a delicious, satisfying meal that’s an excellent cure for a boring weeknight meal routine. Here’s the trick, though: don’t skimp on the sauce. Period ♥
- Hoisin: is the key to this excellent sauce mixture. For those who don’t know, hoisin is a sweet Asian sauce with just a tiny bit of a kick. Remember when I said don’t skip on the sauce? Don’t skimp on the hoisin either.
- Mirin: This is a rice wine that’s similar to sake. It gives the sauce a subtle, clean, sweet, and salty gentle flavor and helps to create a nice complexity.
- Sriracha: This is an Asian hot sauce that has just a wee bit of sweetness to it. It rounds out the flavor of the sauce but ironically doesn’t really add any “heat” to the sauce when used in the quantity called for in this recipe.
- The Lettuce: Because lettuce is such a big part of this dish, you’ll want to use the freshest darn lettuce your local grocery store has. I recommend bib or butter lettuce if you can find it. However, even something as simple as romaine lettuce will do as long as you buy it really fresh. Look for small heads of lettuce that have really fresh outer leaves. I found beautiful butter lettuce heads individually packaged at Costco. Fabulously fresh, delicious lettuce at a really great price. I’m in! (and No. this isn’t a paid endorsement 🙂 ) These will give you the best end results. Avoid heads with any—any—signs of wilting. Only use iceberg lettuce in a pinch.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 299kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 24g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 98mg | Sodium: 1171mg | Potassium: 1022mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 4205IU | Vitamin C: 11mg | Calcium: 66mg | Iron: 3mg
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