These Chicken Lettuce Wraps are a healthy, light and fresh dinner option when you’re craving your own Chinese take-out at home.
Chicken Lettuce Wraps might be the most underrated appetizer on Chinese food menus. Every time I see a chicken lettuce wrap, I just have to order it. How can you resist the fresh flavors and the crunch in the wraps?!
The best part is that you don’t have to wait to order them out or wonder just what ingredients they put in those wraps. Start with our tips on how to make the best lettuce wraps then read on for our favorite PF Chang’s copycat Chicken Lettuce Wraps.
They’re a great lunch idea, a healthy and delicious dinner option, or a party appetizer. You can read more about making this tasty dish below, or click here to jump straight down to the recipe.
The Key Ingredients
- Ground chicken (or turkey, if you can’t find chicken)
- Garlic
- Onion
- Ginger
- Soy sauce
- Rice wine vinegar
- Sesame oil
- Chili paste (like sriracha or sambal oelek, which you can read more about in our Shrimp Lettuce Wraps recipe)
- Sugar
The Secret Ingredients
Next come the secret ingredients! Hoisin sauce and water chestnuts. Hoisin sauce gives the chicken a beautiful and sticky sauce-like consistency, while the water chestnuts give an extra crunch factor.
Both Hoisin sauce and water chestnuts should be available at your local Asian grocer, or most likely in the ‘Asian food’ aisle of larger supermarkets. You can also find sriracha or sambal oelek (chili paste), rice wine vinegar, and sesame oil in this section of the supermarket as these are all common ingredients found in Asian cooking.
Choosing the Right Lettuce
Look for large, leafy lettuce leaves that will be able to hold your filling. I love using iceberg lettuce because I find it to be very crunchy and fresh, but if you can’t find iceberg lettuce, romaine lettuce or Boston or Bibb lettuce also works. Any large leafy lettuce leaves are fine.
Garnish Your Lettuce Chicken Wraps
To garnish your lettuce chicken wraps, use some green onion or chopped peanuts. If you want, you can also add some crispy noodles or cilantro as well.
I love how easy these lettuce chicken wraps are to make. You really can’t go wrong with this quick, easy and fresh dish.
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Chicken Lettuce Wraps Recipe
These Chicken Lettuce Wraps are a healthy, light and fresh dinner option when you’re craving your own Chinese take-out at home. A PF Chang’s copycat recipe that is super easy to make and tastes just as good as the real deal restaurant version.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 servigns 1x
- Category: Entrée
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
- 1 lb. ground chicken
- 1/2 yellow onion, finely diced
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 tsp. grated ginger
- 8 oz. can of water chestnuts, finely diced
- 5 Tbsp. Hoisin sauce
- 2 Tbsp. soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar
- 2 tsp. sesame oil
- 1 tsp. chili sauce
- 1/4 cup sliced green onions
- 1 head of iceberg lettuce
Instructions
- Heat the vegetable oil in a medium-sized skillet or fry pan over medium to high heat. Add the chicken and onion, and cook for 5 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. Use a wooden spoon to break up the chicken into smaller chunks.
- Stir in water chestnuts, ginger, and garlic and cook for 3-5 minutes.
- Combine the Hoisin sauce, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, and chili sauce and stir well.
- Pour sauce into the chicken and simmer for 5 minutes, or until sauce thickens slightly.
- Spoon chicken into washed lettuce leaves, garnish with green onions and serve.
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This post originally appeared in May 2019 and was revised and republished in January 2023.
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