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These chicken lettuce wraps take 20 minutes and I never end up with leftovers. Savory ground chicken coated in a sweet hoisin sauce with real crunch in every bite, spooned into a cold lettuce cup. They taste like the P.F. Chang’s appetizer and they are gone before I sit down.
I have made these enough times to know the recipe does not need a thing changed. They started as a party appetizer at my house, and now they are dinner as often as they are a starter.
Here is the difference. Most lettuce wrap filling comes out too salty, and mine does not, because the salt goes in last instead of first. Seasoned right, every time.
When these are the starter, my copycat Mongolian beef comes right after them. Both sit in my collection of copycat Asian recipes.
MY GO-TO STARTER
How These Became a Tuesday Night Thing at My House
Chicken lettuce wraps were the whole reason I would suggest P.F. Chang’s for a night out. I would order them for the table before anybody had opened a menu.
The first time I made them at home was for a party, mostly to see whether I had gotten it right. My kids ate them, which told me everything. Now I make them on a random Tuesday and call it dinner.
What Makes This Filling Work
- Ground chicken: Cook it until the pan looks dry before anything else goes in. Ground chicken releases a lot of water, and a wet pan gives you a loose filling that runs straight out of the lettuce.
- Hoisin sauce: This is the backbone of the sauce and the reason the filling tastes like the restaurant version. Thick, sweet and salty all at once, and nothing else gets you close. Look for it in the Asian aisle near the soy sauce.
- Mirin: Mirin is a sweet rice wine, and it keeps the sauce from tasting sharp. I call for it instead of a straight rice vinegar swap because that subtle sweetness rounds the sauce out in a way vinegar alone does not manage. If you cannot find it, rice vinegar plus sugar gets you there.
- Water chestnuts: These are the crunch, and the one thing here I would not skip. Celery and carrots go soft the second they hit a hot pan, and water chestnuts do not. Buy them canned, then drain and rinse them before you dice so they do not carry that tinny flavor from the can.
- Garlic paste and ginger paste: The tubes do the job here and save you the mincing and the grating. Both go into a sauce that cooks down, so nothing is lost. A teaspoon of paste stands in for about a clove of garlic.
How to Make Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Step 1: Cook the Chicken Down Heat the canola oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the ground chicken and diced onion and cook, sprinkling with a little black pepper as you go. Hold off on any salt until the sauce is in and you can taste the full seasoning. Keep cooking until all the moisture has evaporated, the chicken is no longer pink, and the onions are soft.
Step 2: Add the Garlic, Then the Sauce Add the garlic and cook only until you can smell it, then stir in the ginger, sesame oil, Sriracha, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, and mirin. Cook and stir until everything is well blended and simmering. Taste it before you decide about salt.
Step 3: Finish the Filling
Stir in the water chestnuts and sliced green onions and heat through. Scatter the sesame seeds over the top.
Step 4: Fill the Lettuce Cups and Serve
Spoon the filling into the butter lettuce cups and serve. Let it sit a minute first so the heat does not wilt the cups.
Getting the Lettuce Right
The leaf you grab changes how these eat, so I filled all three to see how they actually hold up.
Butter lettuce. My call every time. The leaf curls into a cup on its own, so the filling sits down in it instead of sliding off the sides. Bibb and Boston are the same thing under different names.
Iceberg. The crunchiest of the three and the widest leaf. It comes off the head in ragged pieces though, and it will not hold a cup shape, so the filling spreads out and rides the edges.
Romaine. A long narrow boat. Sturdy, and it will not tear on you, but it holds the least of the three, so count on more of them per person.
Whichever one you buy, get the leaves off the head without wrecking them. Cut the core out first, then peel the leaves back from the base one at a time. Pulling from the top rips them.
- Rinse the leaves and pat them dry. Water sitting in the bottom of a cup thins your sauce out.
- If the leaves have already gone limp, drop them in a bowl of cold water for 15 to 30 minutes. They come back firm.
- To hold them, roll the dry leaves in a paper towel and keep them in an open bag in the fridge. The towel takes up the extra moisture and the open bag stops them from sweating.
Easy Ways to Switch It Up
Swap the protein. Ground pork or ground beef both work in place of the chicken.
Make it meatless. Sautéed vegetables in place of the meat is how I have done it, and shiitake mushrooms are what I add for a meatier bite.
How to Store and Freeze the Filling
Store the filling and the lettuce separately. Together, the lettuce goes limp and the filling gets harder to reheat properly.
The filling keeps in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Reheat it in a skillet over medium heat until it is hot all the way through.
It freezes too. Put the cooled filling in an airtight container and freeze it for up to 3 months, then thaw it in the refrigerator and reheat it gently on the stove, but never freeze the lettuce.
Fill the cups right before they go to the table. Assembled wraps do not hold.
More Asian Takeout Recipes
Chicken Lettuce Wraps (PF Chang’s Copycat)
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground chicken
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- ⅓ cup diced yellow onion
- 1 teaspoon garlic paste
- 1 tablespoon ginger paste
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- ½-1 teaspoon Sriracha
- ¼ cup hoisin sauce
- 2 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 2 tablespoon mirin or rice wine vinegar
- 5 ounces canned water chestnuts drained and diced
- 3 green onions
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
- 1 head butter lettuce leaves separated, rinsed, and patted dry
- ground pepper (to taste)
Instructions
- Saute ground chicken and onion in the oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Sprinkle with a bit of black pepper while cooking, but do not add any salt until all of the sauce ingredients have been added, and you can taste the finished seasoning.1 pound ground chicken, ⅓ cup diced yellow onion, ground pepper (to taste), 1 tablespoon canola oil
- When all the moisture has evaporated from the skillet, chicken is no longer pink, and the onions are soft and translucent, add the garlic and saute a bit longer until the garlic is fragrant.1 teaspoon garlic paste
- Add ginger, sesame oil, Sriracha, hoisin, soy sauce and mirin to the skillet. Cook and stir until the ingredients are well blended and simmering.1 tablespoon ginger paste, 2 tablespoons sesame oil, ½-1 teaspoon Sriracha, ¼ cup hoisin sauce, 2 tablespoon light soy sauce, 2 tablespoon mirin or rice wine vinegar
- Add in water chestnuts and sliced green onions and heat through. Garnish with sesame seeds.5 ounces canned water chestnuts, 3 green onions, 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
- Spoon chicken mixture into lettuce leaves and serve.1 head butter lettuce
Jenn’s Notes
- Salt goes in last, after every sauce ingredient is in, and only if the taste tells you it needs it.
- Mirin is similar to sake with less alcohol and more sugar. If you cannot find it, use rice vinegar plus sugar.
- Adjust the Sriracha up or down for more or less heat.
- Let the filling sit for a minute before you spoon it into the cups so the heat does not wilt the lettuce.
