P.F. Chang’s Chicken Lettuce Wraps are a healthy and easy-to-make appetizer. It’s one of the most popular recipes on their menu! Try today!
P.F. Chang’s Chicken Lettuce Wraps are an integral part of most people’s P.F. Chang’s experience. The crunchy lettuce, amazing dipping sauce, and flavorful chicken make them addicting. And the best part is that they are one of the most healthy dishes on the menu! It’s no wonder when you go to the restaurant you’ll see a plate of them on most people’s tables!
If you’re looking for more healthy Asian Recipes, be sure to check out my other popular dishes like Asian Tuna Salad Lettuce Cups or this easy vegetarian Tofu Stir Fry.
Table of contents
Sabrina’s P.F. Chang’s Chicken Lettuce Wraps Recipe
Ground Chicken Lettuce Wraps are unique in that they’re so popular and so healthy at the same time. It’s the perfect weeknight meal or light appetizer, especially when it’s hot out! They are almost like Asian tacos but with sweet and salty dipping sauce. Not only are they deliciously addicting, they are super quick and easy to make. You will need to pick up some specialty ingredients from the store, but since you use small amounts, you’ll already have everything you need to make these wraps the next time you get a craving.
Ingredients
- 1 pound Ground Chicken: The lean ground chicken soaks up the delicious sauce flavors and has a good size and texture for the light lettuce leaves. Substituting with ground beef isn’t recommended but you can use ground turkey.
- 2 tablespoons Granulated Sugar: Sugar is needed to give a slight sweetness to the background.
- ½ cup Water: This is needed to help give a sauciness to the dish.
- 3 tablespoons Reduced Sodium Soy Sauce: Low sodium soy sauce is great for being able to control the saltiness of the dish.
- 1 tablespoon Rice Vinegar: This is slightly sweet vinegar that is used in many Asian recipes, like the rice in my Maki Roll recipe!
- ⅛ teaspoon Chili Oil: Adds great flavor, and just a hint of spiciness. If you heat, add up to ¼ teaspoon.
- 1 tablespoon Chopped Chives: Chives are more tender than scallions and are the perfect addition to the sauce.
- ¼ teaspoon Chinese Hot Mustard: This has a sharp, spicy flavor similar to horseradish or wasabi.
- 1 teaspoon Sriracha: You need this in your kitchen, it is the perfect way to add a nice even heat to dishes and has a nice sour balance to it.
- 4 tablespoons Vegetable Oil: This is for frying. You can use canola oil or regular vegetable oil.
- 18 ounces Water Chestnuts: You can find these diced water chestnuts in any Asian grocery store, or in the international food section of many large grocers.
- 16 ounces Straw Mushrooms: These small, delicate mushrooms are commonly found in many Chinese recipes like this one! Substitute with equal parts Shiitake mushrooms or Oyster mushrooms.
- 1 clove Garlic: minced: Just enough to add a bit of flavor but without being too garlicky.
- 2 stalks Scallion: These green onions are needed for their zesty onion flavor and pop of color in the dish.
- 2 tablespoons Mirin: This is Japanese Sweet Cooking Rice Wine and has a unique flavor. It is slightly salty, tangy and sweet all at once.
- 2 tablespoons Oyster Sauce: This is a unique flavor and ingredient. If you avoid seafood and want another option you can get Vegetarian Oyster Sauce (made from mushrooms) but I don’t recommend you swap this out for something else altogether. I know sometimes people recommend Hoisin Sauce as a replacement, it would not give you the authentic flavor here if you do that though.
- 1 tablespoon Rice Vinegar: Readily available in almost all grocers these days, this is a great vinegar to keep on hand. It does have a hint of sweetness to it, so don’t replace with any other vinegar except perhaps a tablespoon rice wine vinegar if you absolutely need to.
- 4 leaves Iceberg Lettuce: You can use these large lettuce leaves or easily substitute with Bib lettuce or butter lettuce leaves that are similar in shape and easy to fold.
- Maifun Rice Sticks (Optional): These are the little white rice sticks the P.F. Chang’s Lettuce Wraps and other menu items are frequently served on. There isn’t a whole lot of flavor in these, but for presentation you fry them for a few seconds then when they rise to the top of the oil you take them out, let them dry and break them into pieces.
How to Make
Time needed: 25 minutes.
- Prepare Dipping Sauce
Combine granulated sugar, soy sauce, rice vinegar, chili oil, chopped chives, Chinese hot mustard, and Sriracha in a bowl. Whisk the sauce ingredients together and then set the sweet and savory sauce aside while you cook the chicken.
- Cook Chicken
Brown the ground chicken in a skillet on medium-high heat with half the vegetable oil until fully cooked. Heat until chicken crumbles easily. Remove the ground meat mixture from skillet and set to the side to cook the veggies.
- Saute Vegetables
In the same skillet, add the rest of the vegetable oil and sauté the minced water chestnuts, mushrooms, garlic, and scallions for about 5 minutes.
- Combine and Serve
Finally, put the chicken back into the skillet with the veggies, add soy sauce, mirin, oyster sauce, and rice vinegar and stir for 2-3 minutes. Serve the chicken mixture in lettuce cups and serve with the dipping sauce. Enjoy your Asian lettuce wraps with juicy chicken!
Recipe Card


Ingredients
Dipping Sauce
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 3 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1/8 teaspoon chili oil
- 1 tablespoon chopped chives
- 1/4 teaspoon Chinese hot mustard
- 1 teaspoon Sriracha
Main Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 pound ground chicken
- 18 ounces water chestnuts , one can drained and minced
- 16 ounces straw mushrooms , one can drained and minced
- 1 clove garlic , minced
- 2 stalks scallion , chopped
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons mirin
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
Serve With:
- 4 leaves iceberg lettuce
Instructions
- To make the dipping sauce, add the ingredients (from the sugar to the sriracha) in a small bowl and whisk until fully combined.
- In a large skillet add two tablespoons of oil and brown the chicken in it on medium-high heat, about 7-8 minutes.
- When browned remove chicken, add in the rest of the oil and sauté the water chestnuts, straw mushrooms, garlic and scallions for 3-5 minutes.
- Add the chicken back into the skillet along with the soy sauce, mirin, oyster sauce and rice vinegar and stir to coat and combine everything.
- Serve in lettuce cups and top or dip into the dipping sauce as desired.
- To serve these as they are in the restaurant with the white crispy garnish, you can purchase and fry up maifun rice sticks.
Notes
- Change Serving Size: Click on the yield amount to slide and change the number of servings and the recipe will automatically update!
- Conversion: To convert measurements to grams, click on the Metric option next to Ingredients in the recipe card.
- Kitchen Timer: Click on times in the instructions to start a kitchen timer while cooking.
Nutrition
Can This Be Made Ahead?
Yes, you can prepare the chicken filling and dipping sauce ahead of time. Store the filling and flavorful sauce in the fridge for up to 2-3 days and assemble with fresh lettuce leaves before serving.
Chef’s Note: Buying Asian Cooking Ingredients
There are ingredients here that are unique to Asian recipes and will add the specific Asian flavors this lettuce wrap recipe needs to taste authentic. It’s completely understandable if you love this copycat recipe but don’t want to buy 3-4 bottles of sauce. BUT if you can find a local Asian grocer you’ll be pleasantly surprised how low the prices should be and that the investment in the ingredients is worth it, especially if you plan to try other Asian recipes. It’s worth it to get that perfect balance of flavor you’re looking for!
Also, if you are considering these purchases and are still on the fence, I have a ton of recipes that use them and most of these specialty sauces have a long shelf life and you usually you only need a little at a time. I have recipe indexes for Panda Express Recipes, Chinese Food, and other Asian cuisines that use many of the same ingredients to get more bang for your buck!
Nutritional Facts
How to Store
- Storing: To keep Chicken Lettuce Wraps fresh, store the leftover chicken filling separately from the lettuce leaves in airtight containers in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- Reheating Tips: Reheat the chicken filling in a skillet over medium heat or in the microwave until warmed through.
- Freezing: Cool the chicken filling completely before transferring it to freezer-safe containers, bags, or other airtight containers and store for up to 2 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight before reheating and serving on fresh lettuce.
Frequent Questions
Dijon or spicy brown mustard will give you the same consistency but not the flavor. If you decide to use either, try adding prepared horseradish or Wasabi to it as well but just a tiny amount (a dab) because they both pack a lot of heat.
Keep the lettuce leaves separate from the warm chicken mixture until ready to serve. And then serve immediately. If serving at a cocktail party, have the lettuce be kept separate so the guests can assemble themselves when ready.
Salt isn’t included in the recipe but you can easily season with salt by adding a teaspoon of kosher salt to the chicken while cooking.
Variations
- Extra Asian Flavor: Use two tablespoons hoisin sauce or teriyaki sauce instead of oyster sauce and add 2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger and chopped cilantro along with a teaspoon sesame oil for frying for a flavorful variation.
- Spicy Wraps: Double the sriracha or add extra chili oil or crushed red pepper flakes for an extra spicy kick! Keep your favorite hot sauce nearby for an even spicier kick!
- Vegetarian Wraps: Substitute the ground chicken with crumbled tofu and make sure the rest of the ingredients are vegetarian based, like using vegetarian oyster sauce.
Related Recipes
More Copycat Asian Recipes

Photos used in previous versions of this post.



KFC chicken has been helping with my son’s gastritis l will be trying this recipe with my son tonight.
How did he like the Lettuce Wraps?
Hi I tried this recipe at 5 times the normal proportion and it turned out tasty but there was a lot of liquid and I did not get that nice dark brown color
What can I do to thicken the sauce? I did not want to saute for too long to remove the water in case I lose that nice chestnut crunch.
Thanks,
Priya
How much water did you use!
Just found your website. I have been making my own version of these for a while, using hoisin. I really can’t wait to try your version and never used rice wine or vinegar in mine! Do you have a suggestion on how to cook the ground chicken to get finer and smaller crumbles of meat?
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Hi Pam, I’m sorry I didn’t see this comment until now. Did you have a chance to try the P.F. Chang’s Chicken Lettuce Wraps yet? There are a variety of manual and electric choppers to get that finer meat crumble. As a Chef, I just use the chopping skills I had to learn to get the smaller crumbles of meat!
Is the Chinese hot mustard that you use the liquid hot mustard, or the powder? Thx!
thank you- recipes are great! WE ALWAYS DINE AT THE P.F. CHANGS IN FREEHOLD. OPEN ONE IN MONMOUTH COUNTY. BELMAR AREA
thank you- recipes are great!
You’re welcome.
Love your recipes. Please send me more.
Not easy to find all the ingredients i a small town. Ha to o a little substitution.
I’m so glad you’re loving them. Sometimes, Amazon even has some of the pantry items so don’t forget to check there.
I’ve tried other recipes for this & they don’t compare!! It’s,worth going out & finding all these ingredients! Superb! Thank you!
Thanks, Dee!
Do you think the mixture would freeze well??
Certainly. Just freeze the meat mixture after cooking. When you are ready to eat, thaw and reheat and make the dipping sauce.
Great recipe! I made this recipe for a party and it was a hit. Everyone was impressed and I received a lot of praise. Such a big hit and so easy to make. It was difficult to find straw mushrooms so I use common white mushrooms instead. I added fried maifun rice noodles as a crunchy topping as well. Thanks for this delicious simple recipe!
Sounds like a great substitutuion. So glad everyone enjoyed it!
What is the calorie count on these? I have made them and they’re great!
I just updated the nutritional information in the recipe card. 🙂 So glad you enjoyed them!
P.F.Changs also makes a vegetarian lettuce wrap. I love it and wonder if it is the same as this chicken version except for omitting the chicken .
It seems like that would be the case.
I’ve tried several online versions of ‘P.F. Chang’s Lettuce Wraps’ and some are good, some are bad – but these are the best I’ve tried and the closest to the real thing. The inclusion of the maifun rice sticks was great, fun to cook too. Thanks!
So glad you enjoyed it, Michael!
Great recipe, my fam loved it. I couldn’t find straw mushrooms, so i
I used mushrooms in a glass container. I also added carrots.
So glad you all enjoyed it, Vivian!
I couldn’t find the canned mushrooms… I’m assuming I can just use fresh mushrooms, right?
If you’re having a problem finding them, try checking in the ethnic food aisle of your grocery store or at an Asain market. But yes, you can use fresh if unable to locate them. I hope you enjoy them!
Is there a substitute we can use for the chinese mustard? Regular or Dijon?
Dijon or spicy brown mustard will give you the same consistency but not the flavor. If you decide to use either, I would suggest adding prepared horseradish or Wasabi to it as well but just a tiny amount (a dab) because they both pack a lot of heat. Hope this helps!
Wonderful! Tasted just the same as restaurant and makes 4 servings!! Love it! Thank you!
Thanks for the 5 stars! So glad you enjoyed it!
Absolutely loved these and they did taste exactly the same!! Thank you so much for something I can really enjoy and keep losing weight!
So glad you enjoyed it! If you haven’t already, you should check out my other site as well https://cookingwithpoints.com Lots of fast and healthy recipes.
Outstanding!
How many calories? Breakdown on nutritional value? Made these tonight, amazing! Thank you!
I’m so glad you loved it! Sorry I don’t have the nutritional facts for recipes on the site but I know there are a lot of free resources on the internet from when I’ve cooked for clients with low calorie diets.
Lisa,
I’m not sure if this recipe is exactly the carbon copy of the PF Chang’s version, however, according to the American Diabetes Association’s “Guide to Healthy Restaurant Eating”, one order at the actual PF Chang’s of the chicken version, is 630 calories, 8 g of fat, 11% Cal. Fat, 2 g Sat. Fat, non-applicable amounts of Chol. mg or Sodium mg., 92 grams of Carbs, a non-applicable amount of Fiber, and 44 g of Protein. According to the “Servings/Exchanges” regime, they amount to 5 starch, 2 veg, 3 lean meat.
By the way, Sabrina, I did actually make this and it was outstanding! Thank you!
I made these last at night, such a hit! I can’t get over how the flavor brought me back to the last time I ate PF Chang’s lettuce cups all the way back in high school! After moving abroad, I have been craving them off and on ever since, and finally got to eat them again (at home) thanks to you! Thank you for a delicious recipe, my new favorite!
So glad I was able to bring you a piece of home!
I am severely allergic to anything oyster. Is there a substitute I could use that does not have any oyster in it? I’d like to try this but don’t want to “die trying it”!
There is a mushroom version of oyster sauce you can use as a substitution.
Thanks for the tasty recipe. I managed to obtain all the ingredients except for mirin so I substituted sherry and it seemed fine. We ended up eating the chicken mixture over steamed rice with the dipping sauce sprinkled over it as the lettuce we bought had really torn up leaves. Different, but it definitely worked. My son was disappointed that there weren’t leftovers!
No leftovers is a good problem to have 😉 I’m so glad you guys enjoyed it and came back to let me know!
I LOVE lettuce wraps! I grew eating something similar at my parents’ Chinese restaurant!
That’s a delicious appetizer, I might have to make this!
You are my P.F. Chang’s copy cat hero! I love this item on their menu. Glad I can now have it at home too
Awww, thank you Sandi!
I love all of these PF Changs copycat recipes that I’ve been seeing lately and I LOVE this one too! yum! Thomas will love this!
I still cannot believe I have never made these from home!
Those sound so flavorful, yummy!
Thank you Kimberly!