Make chicken or beef lettuce wraps, a PF Changs copycat, at home. This is an easy recipe you can make in under 30 minutes. Who needs takeout when you can make this at home!
Ohio is blessed to have some great Asian restaurants. We have PF Chang’s, Yard House, Molly Woo’s, Jason’s Restaurant and a few secrets like Sesame Sea.
They’re all known for their version of chicken lettuce wraps. And I do love them all!
But it was a recent visit to PF Chang’s for a family dinner that my teenage son decided to try this famous appetizer for the first time.
We had two orders on the table and it was love at first bite. Literally!
Can I make PF Changs Lettuce Wraps at home?
I had to replicate this recipe at home. I searched the web and found popular recipes for chicken or beef lettuce wraps.
But I needed simple ingredients with ground chicken as the main that wouldn’t scare my teen.
I needed to stay away from onions, which is why they are optional in this recipe. His favorite vegetable is carrots which is why I added them.
Trying new foods can be scary right? But he has always loved my homemade chicken fried rice.
And he is now a fan of chicken teriyaki. Kind of crazy for a boy who loves a good filet mignon. Anyway, back to the recipe.
The chicken lettuce wraps needed to be flavorful. I added sweet diced carrots to the ground chicken and the water chestnuts contribute crunch.
Next, I created a flavorful Asian sauce to punch up the flavor of the chicken. Otherwise it can be pretty bland.
I have sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, soy and hoisin sauce regularly stocked in my pantry and fridge.
The addition of fresh garlic and ginger was expected. But I discovered that my chicken was still missing that punch of flavor. Luckily I had fresh ground ginger in my fridge. And that was the missing ingredient.
I used Bibb lettuce but butter lettuce would work well too. Both heads of lettuce are smaller than your typical iceberg.
And easier to hold in your hand. A scoop of seasoned ground chicken spoons perfectly into each lettuce leaf.
My homemade copycat Copycat PF Changs Lettuce Wraps were successful. We will definitely make this recipe again.
Also be sure to check out my better than takeout chicken fried rice. Easy to make and on the table in 30 minutes.
Next on my to-do list is re-create a Mongolian beef recipe.
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Copycat PF Changs Lettuce Wraps
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup hoisin sauce
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1.5 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 pound ground chicken
- 1 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 carrot, peeled and diced
- 4 ounces water chestnuts, drained and diced
- 2 teaspoons garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
- 2 teaspoons fresh ground ginger
- 1/4 cup sliced green onions, optional
- 2 small heads Bibb or butter lettuce
Instructions
- In a small bowl whisk together the hoisin sauce, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and sesame oil. Set aside.
- Clean and rinse the lettuce. Set the entire heads of lettuces on a plate for easy grabbing or separate the leaves and stack..
- Over medium heat, brown the ground chicken in the olive oil for about 6-7 minutes. Add in the diced carrots, ginger, garlic and water chestnuts. Stir for about a minute before adding the hoisin sauce mixture. Mix well to incorporate. Transfer to a bowl and serve alongside the lettuce heads or leaves.
These look so good! We have a PF Changs near us and I have had them a few times. They were expensive! Your version looks much easier on the wallet too!
They are so easy to make and my teen loves them. Easy dinner too:) Thanks Beth.
yours look better than the restaurants. We do order these whenever we go there though….
Thank you so much…we love them and they are great with turkey too.
I am a huge sucker for lettuce wraps — and the ones at PF Changs are dynamite! I need to try this!
They are a hit in my house and are requested often. Promise you’ll love them. 🙂
What do you do to grind 2 tsp fresh ginger? Is that a powder form?
You’ll want to look for a root of ginger in the produce department. You can mince that after peeling. I also like to look for a jar of fresh ground ginger, which is a paste, in the produce department with the fresh herbs or sometimes in the Asian foods aisle. Either way stick to fresh ginger. Here is a handy guide how to peel and prep ginger that I hope helps. Good luck. https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/how_to_peel_and_chop_ginger/
Can this be made with ground pork? If so would you change the seasonings used?
Yes….this could be made with pork. Just be sure to use ground pork and not mild or hot sausage which has seasonings already in the links. Let me know how it turns out. 🙂
I make these all the time and we love them. We are great fans of PF Changs and these are very close.